UK Athletics Photo
Kentucky might have had a fun trip to New York before Saturday’s game against Ohio State but the good times certainly ended once the game at Madison Square Garden started.
Ohio State was better in all facets and never was really threatened by Kentucky as the Buckeyes took down the No. 4 Cats 85-65.
Think about this: Kentucky outscored Ohio State 27-21 from the foul line — 16 of the Ohio State free throws came in the final 4 1/2 minutes when UK had to foul — and the Buckeyes went just 4-for-15 from 3-point range but still smacked Kentucky by 20 points because the Cats were lethargic on defense and terrible on offense going 17-for-57 — 29.8 percent — from the field.
Think about this: A week earlier Ohio State lost 91-63 to Auburn. The Buckeyes also lost 78-64 to Texas A&M in mid-November and were smacked 83-59 by Maryland.
Think about this: Ohio State’s bench outscored UK’s bench 26-11 and Ohio State also outscored UK 36-24 in the paint. The Cats went 7-for-23 on layups.
Think about this: A Kentucky offense that is supposed to be one of the best in the nation went almost 8 1/2 minutes late in the first half without a field goal when point guard Lamont Butler was on the bench in foul trouble and then went another three-plus minutes late in the game without a field goal.
Think about this: Former UK 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw played for the first time since Nov. 19 after being removed from team activities while Ohio State officials investigated a possible domestic incident at his off-campus apartment. He had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, two rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes.
Former Villanova national championship coach Jay Wright, now a CBS-TV analyst, noted at halftime that Kentucky does “some beautiful things offensively” but had a major problem against Ohio State.
“Ohio State physically disrupted them so much. They (UK players) were banged and pushed. Kentucky has got to run its offensive quicker and get stops, get out in transition before the Ohio State defense gets set,” Wright said.
He was right but this time UK coach Mark Pope had no answers at halftime like he did when the Cats overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Duke and 18-point first half deficit to beat Gonzaga.
“Sometimes you have nights where you just can’t make shots but the Ohio State defense made sure they weren’t making them tonight,” UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said after the loss. “They made it just physical enough in that they kept Kentucky off balance.
“They were physical on the perimeter. Those guards controlled our guards. The shots they got were rushed and challenged. Just one of those games for the Cats.”
Well, one of those games to forget but it also was a perfect blueprint for SEC teams to use against Kentucky when games likely will be way more physical than even what Ohio State was against the Cats Saturday.
9 Responses
Some players have resorted to their pre-UK days before Coach Pope instilled TEAM 1st BB into them. After amazing success, some players (they know who they are) will drive or take a bad shot instead of making a 1st pass – and disrupts the flow of the game for all the teammates.
11:10 Assists:TO
Such selfish play results in…
29.8 % FG overall
18.2% FG from 3
There is a major need for the 3 FR to rack up some assists, knock down some 3’s, get some steals & blocks and illustrate just how successful unselfish BB can be. The bench needs to be deep in order to be able to put some players on the bench for LONG stretches until they get the message: TEAM!
NYC has more bad than good to offer. UK need an AD with enough sense to not send UK to such a city.
“Physical Play” is the PC word for FOULS & DIRTY DEFENSE. It is a game changer anytime the refs want to be able to pick & choose whether to call a foul or look the other way.
Unfortunately, the SEC has had a lot of thug style players on teams & they really get bold on their home floor because the whistle does not seem to work at times.
Larry, when you’re right, you’re right. It’s time to get honest about this team. My dream bubble has been burst. 12 guys who have never played with each other before this Summer came to Lexington. The all said they have come to Lexington to win a national championship for Kentucky. It’s a popular answer that Coach Pope and BBN desperately wanted to hear. In the exhibition games and the first 2 cupcake games, everybody played the way Coach Pope had preached about and things looked GREAT! Then came the Duke game. That game everyone reverted back to what they trusted…playing one-on-one and hero ball. There are 7 seniors and super seniors who want to play in the NBA and realized that the remainder of this season would be their NBA draft resume. Since then, the team has stopped taking the 35 three pointers that Coach Pope assured BBN would be taken, they stopped hitting their 3 point shots at a 35% or better rate, and they started standing around waiting for a pass so they could show the NBA just how good they are.
Granted, Pope had very little time to assemble a team and also seniors can’t help but think about "am I doing enough to catch the eyes of NBA scouts"? All of a sudden, winning a national title for Kentucky has all but become a forgotten soundbite. What has become clear now is that we are not the shooters we thought we would be. We are also a suspect rebounding team at times, and are most definitely a suspect defensive team. We will enter SEC play at 11-2, but what then? I have no idea, but BBN may be in for a rude awakening as I have been today.
This is the strongest SEC league ever. There are no weak teams. Every game will be like the Clemson and Ohio State games or rougher. Will this team get better, most likely. Coach Pope will have to play more zone than man to man and will have to develop a 2-3 zone to have a change of pace from the 1-3-1 zone to keep teams off balance with spells of man to man in between. Williams is not the defensive force I hoped he would be. His offensive game is marginal at best. The offense is not being run through him. Brea, Almonor, and Perry can not guard a tree…hopefully that will get better. When Brea is face guarded, he is more of a liability than an asset. I had hoped that Perry would be a reliable 3 point threat, but I think he has only made one or two for the entire season. Almonor’s confidence in his shot has also dropped off. Kriisa’s play has been on again and off again and is now absent with his injury. I doubt that he will play again until late February, if then. Carr won the Duke game and was huge in the Gonzaga game, but he has no 3 point shot…none. At least he did attempt some this game, but missed all of them. His defense and rebounding are adequate, but his inside the arc game will suffer if he doesn’t improve his 3 point shot. Garrison is still raw, which leaves Butler and Oweh as our most consistent 1-2 punch on offense and defense, but they can’t do it all by themselves.
Pope needs to stop being everyone’s best friend and start being their coach. Up to now he has kinda mollycoddled them. He is not going to be able to get the NBA dreams out of the seniors’ heads, so he needs to make the most of what he has, but he needs to demand more; he is the coach. Based on where the team is today, their SEC ceiling will be 12-6; their SEC cellar could be as low as 6-12. That could result in a 23-8 or an 17-14 season. Frankly, I would be happy with a 20-11 season as long as we beat Arkansas. We could win 1 or 2 games in the SEC tourney and another 2 or 3 games in the NCAA Dance. To me, that would be a successful season based on what I know now.
Who knows who will be back next year. Will Oweh and Garrison return, go pro, or transfer? Will Chandler, Perry, and Noah stay or transfer out? Moreno and Johnson will not be starters and the same can probably be said for Lewis. Will Pope sign Wilson, probably, but it’s doubtful he will be ready to start, so Pope will need to turn to the portal again. This time though, he needs to focus on 2026 sophomores and juniors and resist going after the seniors…they will have NBAitis. It will take 2 or 3 such seasons to get a solid "Pope team", but he will get there. It’s been a good preseason, but now SEC play is coming and this season will not result in a Final 4, much less bringing No. 9 home to Lexington. I am not being negative, but it just won’t happen this season.
I still think Pope was not only a good hire, but the best hire. He bleeds blue and knows the game. He will develop the younger players, recruit well, retain most, add a key player or two and eventually get us back into championship contention…it just won’t be this season. He was dealt an impossible hand this year, but has done better than anyone thought he possibly could. He will win more than he will lose. He has already made basketball fun again, but now it’s time to get ready to take the lumps that are surely coming along with some nice wins. I am confident that we will not see any more first game losses in either tourney, so that will be an improvement over the FRAUD. Pope will get us where we want to be…given a little time. Go CATS!!!
Valid comments. However, most of the top 15 have one or two losses. Most have laid an egg somewhere. I thought they looked listless from the first minute. 20 and 10ish would be great season -maybe have our shooting come alive in March ?!
good points Paul
Unfortunately gang, I think this is something we will be asked to see rinsed and repeated. My biggest, and maybe only, complaint with Pope is that he shows no emotion all game and that has rubbed off on the team and team play. All of our guys were supposed to be very good players and we were led to believe our team had 8-9 scorers..NOT. We have no bench. These guys have been together long enough now that there should be more consistency and production. I will stick with my 10 loss season and feel we will get manhandled by at least 5 times in league. Our Bigs may look the part but they don’t play it.
Maybe they should have skipped Hamilton and worked on basketball. 7 Super Seniors. Haven’t ever played together isn’t an excuse at this point. Not good after Auburn beat them by 38. I will say Pope’s first SEC game in Rupp will be a loss to the Gaturds.
Jimmy, I am afraid of the same thing. They have 2 weeks to get back on track, but I am not sure that will be good enough to win the rest of our home games, which could very well start with a loss to Florida in Rupp.
Need some selfishness cured.
Shoot 1st (hit or Miss) without a pass: SIT
Lost focus on O or D: SIT
Stupid foul: SIT
Get a few players out of the stands to fill in if necessary, but I think we have enough unselfish players to keep 5 on the floor.
100% TEAM 1st Players:
• Carr, Williams & Garrison are not selfish. Carr has the highest ANE at the very rare level of greater than 0.600 and he has stayed there all season.
• Perry, Noah & Chandler are not selfish. Give them 20 minutes uninterrupted and they will all gain confidence and all shoot the 3 better than most of the players getting the most PT.
There is a world of difference between being proud to wear UK on the jersey just because it makes you feel special & get a lot of fan love and living to wear it because you live UK & KY & want to WIN, WIN, WIN.
• Almonar is a TEAM 1st player most of the time.
• Butler is a TEAM player a lot of the time but so quickly forgets he has teammates.
Oweh has the lowest ANE of the 8 pluses who have a positive ANE, and although he contributes often, his selfish play is far too often.
• Robinson has a NEGATIVE ANE has been a drain on the team many more possessions than a contribution. He is very selfish (no passing) far too often.
The others fall somewhere in the mixed TEAM & SELFISH play.
Facts are facts and selfishnees has taken over their mentality of most of the players getting minutes.
UK is not a S16 team if they play selfish and shoot pathetic as they did last night. They will get walloped over and over if this continues.
11-10 A:TO is loser BB.
30% FG overall is loser BB
20% FG from 3 is loser BB
Coach Pope has poured his whole being into trying to mold a TEAM and the last resort is the lone solution to break the selfish renegades – BENCH, BENCH, BENCH.
The 3 bigs & the 3 FR would bring a fresh new offense and the 1-3-1 would stave off any 1-on-1 stars from overwhelming UK.
UK will not be the favorite vs FL & then 2 road games. Lose all 3 and the season is over. It means the selfishness is worse than ever and will not get better.