Five bad stats from Kentucky basketball’s loss at Vanderbilt

Five bad stats from Kentucky’s 74-62 loss at Vanderbilt:

1. This was the fifth time this year Kentucky has led at the half in a road game only to lose.

UK led at Auburn 35-30 and lost 75-70. UK led at Kansas 46-40 and lost 90-84 in overtime. UK led Tennessee 42-36 and lost 84-77. UK led Texas A&M and lost 79-77 in overtime. UK led Vanderbilt 39-36 on Saturday and lost 74-62.

2. Kentucky’s offensive rebounding percentage was 24.3. The Cats grabbed just nine offensive rebounds compared to 28 defensive rebounds for the Commodores. Vandy’s ORP was 28.2, which isn’t great, but it was still better than what the Cats managed.

This has been a problem of late for John Calipari’s club, which traditionally excels on the offensive glass. In the overtime loss at Texas A&M, Kentucky grabbed just 22.2 percent of its offensive rebound opportunities. In the overtime loss at Kansas, UK’s ORP was just 17.6.

Isaac Humphries, who grabbed 12 rebounds at Texas A&M, managed just one board at Memorial Gym. In 14 minutes on the floor, he didn’t have an offensive rebound.

3. Kentucky couldn’t make free throws. The Cats were a demoralizing 10-of-23 from the stripe for 43.5 percent. If you go by games in which UK has shot at least 20 free throws, that was the lowest percentage since it went nine-of-23 from the line for 39.1 percent against East Tennessee State.

The last time Kentucky took 20-or-more free throws and shot less than 50 percent was December 29, 2012 at Louisville when the Cats were 11-of-23 for 47.8 percent in a loss to the Cardinals.

4. Alex Poythress’ gooseegg. The senior forward played 16 minutes before fouling out with no points and just three rebounds.

It was the sixth time in Poythress career in which he failed to score, the first time since the 2014 SEC Tournament. (To be fair, Poythress missed most of 2014-15 after tearing his ACL.) It was the first time in his career in which he did not take a shot.

5. Kentucky had only four players score. Murray led the way with 33. Ulis scored 12. Marcus Lee scored nine points. Isaiah Briscoe scored eight points. That’s the first time this season that UK has had only four players show up in the points column.

Little wonder the 62 points were the fewest the Cats scored since scoring 58 at South Carolina on Jan. 24, 2015. Kentucky won that game 58-43.

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 9:04 PM.