Not only does coach Mark Pope look bewildered by a call during Tuesday's loss to North Carolina, but so does new UK football coach Will Stein (seated behind Pope grabbing his face) as he watches the game. (Vicky Graff Photo)
By KEITH TAYLOR, Kentucky Today
Kentucky is still looking for its first signature win of the season after dropping a 67-64 decision to No. 16 North Carolina on Tuesday night.
The setback was the 18th-ranked Wildcats’ first home loss of the season and dropped them to 0-3 against ranked foes a year after Mark Pope’s first squad developed a reputation for defeating teams ranked in the Top 25.
In their previous two contests against ranked teams, Kentucky came up short in a 96-88 loss at No. 6 Louisville and dropped a disappointing 83-66 setback to No. 7 Michigan State in the State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.
In what turned into a defensive showdown between two of the highest-scoring teams in the country, North Carolina held the Wildcats to just one 3-pointer and limited the hosts to just eight offensive rebounds and five second-chance points. Neither team led by more than six in a game that featured nine ties and 14 lead changes, but North Carolina stood tall on the glass.
The Tar Heels (7-1) outrebounded Kentucky 41-30 and claimed 20 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 22 second-chance points.
“That was a huge part of the game,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “We’re actually, actually one of the best percentage defensive rebound teams in the country, and credit to North Carolina. They have size and length, and their frontline really dominates. They had 12 offensive rebounds with just their starting three, four, and five. And we were really poor at our second hit, and that was really frustrating. It’s hard to win a game when you give up 20 offensive rebounds.”
Kentucky (5-3) struggled behind the arc, making just one 3-pointer on 13 attempts. The Wildcats missed their first eight treys and didn’t make a field goal for more than 10 minutes in the second half. In addition, Kentucky finished with just eight assists.
“It’s uncommon for us to be 1-for-13 from three,” Pope said. “That’s not really who we are. More disappointing is, that is the eight assists. That’s really frustrating. In the second half, our decision-making was poor and we got caught up in the moment.”
Despite the struggles, Kentucky still had its chances and tied the score at 64-64 on Collin Chandler’s driving layup. The Wildcats tried a similar play down by two, but Chandler missed a layup attempt, while the Tar Heels made one of two free throws and stole a desperate inbounds pass for their first road win of the year and first win in Rupp Arena since 2007.
Chandler finished with 12 points, while Otega Oweh led Kentucky with 16 points. Denzel Aberdeen rounded out three players in double figures with 10 points.
In the first half, Kentucky was the aggressor, scoring 10 points off six turnovers and taking advantage of the Tar Heels’ miscues, but the guests turned the tables in the second half.
“We weren’t from a defensive standpoint, we weren’t making mistakes,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “Kentucky is an unbelievable team, but I felt like, especially in the first half, they were scoring off of our mistakes, and I felt like we were sound and simple on the defensive end. We were standing between them in the basket.
“We were giving them one contested look, and then we were boxing out and rebounding. You always go back and say that rebounding is the most important factor in the outcome of a game, and we got 20 offensive rebounds. We outrebounded them by nine. To me, that’s the ball game.”
Malachi Moreno, who led the hosts with nine rebounds and finished with eight points, said North Carolina got most of the breaks on the offensive and defensive glass.
“I think there were a lot of 50-50 rebounds,” he said. “We tried to come up with a lot of them, but I think they just came up with more. That was kind of a deciding factor.”
9 Responses
Last night was another embarrassment; that makes 4 for this season if you count the Georgetown asswhooping and it's only December 5. WTF is going on with Pope and this team? The platooning is not working. It is becoming more and more clear that Quaintance will never play a game, so the calvary is not coming to the rescue. Lowe is too fragile to play in the SEC, and Dioubate looked so good last year because he was playing against us! Williams has been a flash in the pan for 5 minutes in the Michigan State game. Aberdeen is not a point guard. Drastic changes must be made if this season is to be salvaged no matter how many hurt feelings come from it.
JQ is not going to play period, so Moreno should be the starting center with Garrison as his backup. Jelavic has to start at the 4 spot to help Moreno on the boards. He can defend and can get his shot in the lane and make it. Dioubate can be his backup for no more than he will be playing, even if his ankle is still a little sore. Oweh starts at the 3 and Chandler at the 2 with Noah being the primary backup at both spots. Let Johnson play the point with the understanding that he has to be a pass first point guard. Lowe or Aberdeen can be his backup. The starters should get 30 minutes a game or more if needed. The other kids will have to be content with backup minutes or even mop-up PT. We are in danger of giving up the winningest program in men's basketball title…AGAIN! Coach Pope, the honeymoon is over! Start winning or get a good divorce attorney! We are paying you too much to be a Billy Clyde impersonator!
“Turn Out The Lights” the Party’s OVER!
How much longer are we going to have to wait for Pope to toughen his demeanor? He still doesn't show any sense of urgency at any time but seems to be a good clapper. Will we ever be able to watch a UK game again where we don't feel we are getting close to cardiac arrest from start to finish? We were very deserving of the Wilson "throat slash" at the end of the game. Will we ever be able to feel good about FB and BB at the same time? Seems like current energy has shifted to FB and Pope needs to apologize to new coach for not protecting Stein Time.
I would play Chandler/Oweh/Hawthorne/Jelavic/Potter and see what happens. All 5 guys can shoot the 3 except for Oweh. If our offense is a spread offense where we spread everyone out for one on ones. Why wouldn't you have every guy on the court that can shoot the dang ball. I would bench Aberdeen. I'm sorry but I've seen him and Mo-D already air ball at least 15 three pointers. They don't even hit the rim. Please tell them to stop shooting. If you can't do that then you can't coach basketball. In Popes offense everyone has to be able to shoot the ball. If not his offense is dead. He has nothing else. We need to play Hawthorne at least. Depending on when and if JQ plays. If he's almost ready I wojldnt burn potters redshirt but if it going to be another month we might need to burn his redshirt. Pope worries to much about getting everyone playing time. I wouldn't play Aberdeen except to give people breaks the same thing Florida's coach did. Mo-D would also come in when the other team starts breathing hard. These guys are role players not superstars. Both of them are starting for the first time. Lowe is out of control but we need him and he needs to play or he will always be rusty. Not having a point guard is what is Killin this team more than ANYTHING. We have 0 true point guards. This is why it's hard to run plays and nobody can create there own shot. We need a point guard. We really needed at least 3 PGs we have one. We have 14 guys 22 million dollars and 1 point guard who is hurt. The same thing happened last year both point guards were hurt. So you would think him being as "smart" as he is that he wouldn't be in that situation again. Next year same thing. Get 3-4 friggin point guards. I've been saying it since last year. I said it when everyone said we have two spots available we need another big. I said no we need more point guards. We have one. Everyone said but Johnson can play point guard
Yes but he's not a true point guard. Can you see that now?!
Hawthorne? Ha Ha. You are joking. Right?
Pope announced on Nov. 6 that Potter was redshirting this season.
We do not embrace physicality. On defense, we reach and grab instead of banging and bumping. On offense, we force up wild hero shots and look for the refs to bail us out. It is going to be a long, brutal season. Can you say NIT?
Hate to say it.. I'm not sure Pope is any better than Cal.
Grant, Pope is making the very same mistakes that Calipari made. Calipari continued his antics in Fayetteville and was in danger of getting fired there…then Fland got hurt and Calipari starting coaching again like he did at Memphis…and started winning again the first of which occurred in Lexington. What is it about Kentucky that makes coaches go stupid?