Freshman TyTy Washington had nine points in his UK debut against Duke but was only 3-for-14 from the field. (UK Athletics Photo)
Starting the season with a 79-71 loss to Duke was not what Kentucky coach John Calipari and his team wanted, especially coming off a 9-16 season.
However, this Kentucky team just has a far different vibe from last season — which should not be that hard. Calipari’s team was on the verge of getting embarrassed when it fell behind 69-54 midway through the second half. That’s when the fight in this team showed.
The Cats rode the scoring of Oscar Tshiebwe to get back within four points before Duke did what it needed to close out a win in what coach Mike Krzyzewski called an “amazing game” as he started his final season at Duke.
“They are tough and we are tough. It was a big-time game. Really big time,” the Duke coach said.
Kentucky stayed in the game despite shooting just 37 percent overall from the field because Tshiebwe had 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting and 19 rebounds and point guard Sahvir Wheeler had 16 points, 10 assists, and three rebounds. He also had seven turnovers but Calipari blamed that on him having to lay 38 minutes.
“I think we fought. We were in the game (despite the shooting percentage). We just have to make shots,” Jacob Toppin, who was 2-for-6 from the field, said. “We had good opportunities to make shots. But we fought. We have things to work on.”
They do. Duke exposed a lot of interior weakness in UK’s defense during a 22-5 run to take the 15-point lead where the Blue Devils got to the basket at will. Freshman guard Trevor Keels had 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting and Paolo Banchero, a freshman forward, had 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting. They were the two best players on the court and UK had no real answer for either one.
“We are not going to back down from a fight,” Toppin said about UK’s recovery after Duke’s 22-5 run. “If they go on a run, basketball is a game of runs. Everybody has runs. We are never going to back down from a fight. That’s who we are. If you are not going to fight, you can’t play this game.
“Defensively we have to be better individually and as a team. On the offensive end, we have got to execute better and make shots.”
Toppin was right on all points, especially the shot-making. TyTy Washington, expected to be UK’s best player, was 3-for-14 from the field. Kellan Grady was 3-for-8. Keion Brooks went 4-for-10. Davion Mintz hit his first 3-pointer and missed five of his next six shots.
Yet Calipari was surprisingly upbeat after the loss. He doesn’t like losing but you could sense he believes he has the right parts and attitude on this team.
“I loved our fight. I loved our competitive spirit. That is what our program has always been about,” Calipari said.
Well, what the program has been about most years but was not last year. However, this season just looks like it will be different despite losing this “big-time” game to open the season.
11 Responses
Really disappointed in Washington play. he really never got going. It seems the last few years the officials has the tendency to get our big man in foul trouble. I thought they call couple fouls on Oscar in the first that shouldn’t have been call. Not blaming the officials for the loss Duke was bigger and better than i thought. This cats team will be fine in time i saw a lot of upside that we didn’t have last year.
79, Coach told Ty Ty to force the action. I hope Coach isn’t developing another pet. He should let Ty Ty find his offense like he did in the exhibition games and he will be fine. We aren’t going to be in anyone’s Final Four picks at this point, but that could change by tourney time. This team has a lot of potential to be better, but it also has an almost equal amount of potential to be worse. Hopefully, Coach will earn the big bucks he is being paid and have this team ready to dance in March, if not April.
Yeah I didn’t understand why he would tell TyTy to force shots
Did not see very much that surprised me. Freshmen being Freshmen (at least in the UK uniforms). Oscar is a beast on the boards, something that has been lacking on UK’s last few teams. Wheeler is still a turnover machine, but I was surprised by his shooting ability from the perimeter.
This team will lose double-digit games this season, and will not be a NCAA Championship contender.
Hope you are wrong Professor
Really too early to tell. It takes 5 to 8 games for the noise in the data caused by game to game variations to settle down. By Thanksgiving, this team’s character will be essentially defined.
Based on what I saw last night, and what Calipari teams have done since 2015, I expect this team to be ranked in the 17-32 range (efficiency based) at season end, which should put them in the NCAA as a 5 to 8 seed.
Cal left a lot of experience on the bench most of the night. Washington should not have started or.played as long as he did. It’s not fun to watch ky bb anymore.
Yes he did Jim
I think Mintz has been given a bad deal. He was our best player last year and came back to sit on the bench? Davion should have played more point in the second half when Sahvir was forcing everything. Dontaie deserved a few minutes too, especially in the second half when our 3 point shooting cooled off. We lost the game, Dontaie could have been a difference maker. It’s hard to figure out Calipari’s approach at times. A couple of things did stand out…the lack of quality bigs on our team and teams will post up Sahvir when he gets switched to bigger guards.
I know many who feel just like you do
They will have to add 20 minutes to the game or Coach is going to have to talk to Dontaie and CJ about redshirting this year. There are already 10 players vying for 200 minutes as it is. Platooning is out as it spells trouble for recruiting. Starters….Wheeler, Washington, Brooks, Toppin, and Tisheibwe will be looking at 25 minutes as should Mintz and Grady. That only leaves 25 minutes total for Ware, Collins, and Hopkins. Hopkins might be a redshirt candidate too. But next year, only Mintz and Grady will move on unless Ty Ty catches fire and I don’t see him leaving after one season. Hopefully Oscar stays for another year or we will be in a bad way at the center position. We have 3 more guards/wings coming in next year. My guess is Dontaie will transfer. He is the one that Calipari always leaves out. Quality bigs continue to shun offers to play here and thus you have the guard/wing overload/over recruiting. I think this will come back to bite Coach in his 2023 recruiting. If that were to happen, I think Coach will call it quits after that year.
Comments are closed.