Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win against the Brown Bears
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Game day: No. 10 Kentucky 88, Brown 54
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Brown in Rupp Arena.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 88-54 win against the Brown Bears on Tuesday at Rupp Arena.
1. Kentucky overcame a sluggish start
Blame it on the long break between games. Mark Pope’s Cats had not played since that 20-point Dec. 21 loss to Ohio State in New York City. Blame it on a post-Christmas hangover. Or blame it on a pre-New Year’s lull. Bottom line: Kentucky played a low-energy first half.
Not to worry, the Cats still led 39-27 at the break. They led despite being outrebounded 21-10 over the first 20 minutes. They led primarily because they helped Brown to commit 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. And Kentucky happily turned those turnovers into 19 points.
“Really,” Pope said afterward, “I was proud of how the guys came out.”
After all, “ball-screen defense” had been the focus of many of the post-Ohio State practices. In fact, Pope joked that there were a couple of days when the Cats were “struggling to remember if there was anything involved in the game of basketball besides ball-screen defense.”
In that aspect, Pope was happy not just with the first-half defense but UK’s defense over the entire game. The Cats ended up forcing 23 turnovers — the program’s highest opponent turnover total since Jan. 3, 2017, when Texas A&M committed 25 turnovers in a 100-58 loss to John Calipari’s Cats at Rupp.
After Ohio State averaged 1.291 points per possession at Madison Square Garden, Brown (7-5) averaged 0.798 points per possession. That was the second-lowest average by a UK foe this season, behind only Jackson State’s 0.723 on Nov. 22.
2. Kentucky’s offense woke up in the second half
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, UK’s Otega Oweh hit a 3-pointer. Then Oweh scored from the right baseline. Amari Williams scored off a lob from Jaxson Robinson. Oweh scored off an inbound pass. Lamont Butler scored on a drive. Koby Brea sank three free throws. And when Oweh scored from the right of the key with 14:26 left, Kentucky’s lead was 57-35.
By the 10:03 mark, the Cats were cruising 67-38. Their largest lead was 36 points (83-47) with 3:30 left when Trent Noah hit the first of his two 3-pointers. “If we ever need a 3, I’m just gonna sub him into the game and he’ll make a 3,” Pope said. “No warm-up time.”
After shooting 42.3% in the first half, Kentucky shot 55.9% in the second. That computed to 50% for the game — 30-for-60 from the floor. The Cats were 10-for-28 from 3-point land for 35.7%. Not great, but better by and large than UK had been shooting from beyond the arc of late.
And Kentucky finished with but five turnovers. UK dominated the points-off-turnover battle 33-4.
3. Here comes the SEC
Has been widely reported, the SEC basketball has been a juggernaut through the nonconference schedule. It annihilated the ACC 14-2 in the second annual November challenge between the two conferences. It has 10 teams ranked in the AP Top 25, including five in the top 10. Tennessee is ranked No. 1. Auburn is No. 2.
“Gauntlet” has been the word used to describe what lies ahead for SEC teams starting Saturday, Jan. 4. And Kentucky’s gauntlet begins with the sixth-ranked Florida Gators, who are one of a mere four teams currently unbeaten in Division I hoops.
Instead of “gauntlet” on his Monday radio show, Pope used the word “bloodbath.”
“There’s gonna be a little bit of an NBA feel to it,” the coach said Tuesday, “because you can’t be too high or too low.”
Gauntlet or bloodbath, it starts at 11 a.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 5:54 PM.
