What went wrong for Kentucky in the loss to Clemson

The Wildcats had their chances, but overall, it’s hard to call Kentucky’s first real road test of the season anything but a total disappointment. Mark Pope earned his first loss with the team shooting 38.1 percent overall, 25.9 percent from three and 61.1 percent from the line. Clemson opened as a home underdog and made the road favorite pay in the form of a good old fashioned court storm.

What went wrong inside Littlejohn Coliseum — besides opposing fans finding the Cats in a stampede at the final buzzer? KSR has takeaways.

Unable to overcome a disastrous first half

Kentucky set the tone early with a quick 7-2 run, but Clemson responded and really took control the rest of the first half. The Tigers didn’t shoot well, but they absolutely dominated on the glass with a 31-21 overall lead and 13 offensive rebounds leading to 10 second chances.

Even when the Cats were going well in the first half, they immediately went wrong. Down 23-19, they went on a quick 9-0 run to go up 28:23 with 5:45 left. That led to a 10-0 response and a 14-2 halftime finish, with the Tigers going into the locker room with all the momentum.

It wasn’t gone forever — Kentucky retook the lead with 15:28 left and held it as late as 10:57 — but it never felt like Pope’s team was able to run away with it. Clemson carried itself like a team that was, despite the biggest lead of the night being just eight. There was plenty to love about the team’s determination on the glass, which ultimately carried the overall margin and offensively, but the rough start gave the home team and the crowd unnecessary and avoided life.

Kentucky can’t match physics

The Wildcats said the physicality of their previous games against WKU and Georgia State would help prepare them for the game Clemson had to show inside Littlejohn Coliseum. They knew the Tigers had size and length, a tough, gritty group with plenty of experience that wouldn’t back down from the challenge. That’s what made the performance so deflating, watching Brad Brownell’s group stick to the script as a top-15 defense nationally, stifling Kentucky all night and forcing it out of its actions to limit clean looks, leading to sloppy turnover and bad shots. On the other end, Clemson brought it to the UK defense, creating and exploiting mismatches and drawing timely fouls.

“It was a really physical match” said the Pope. “It’s a credit to them, that’s how they play. Their bigs are relentless with their physicality.”

Speed ​​up to be slowed down

Clemson brought the pace no. 300 in college basketball and confidently controlled the pace against the nation’s sixth-fastest team. The Tigers messed things up to make a really comfortable offensive team, one that scores more points than anyone on a nightly basis, really uncomfortable and getting away from its identity. The off-ball movement and crisp passing we’ve grown to love disappeared in the form of 11 assists combined on 24 field goals made compared to 12 turnovers — just three dimes on ten marks in the first half.

In Pope’s eyes, the Wildcats gained momentum thanks to the defensive intensity and physicality that led to his group slowing down. Their trust in each other and the system in place translated into hero ball, which goes against everything the team stands for as an offense.

“Sometimes when you get sped up, you actually get slowed down and that hampered us a lot on the offensive end,” Pope said. “It comes with a growing confidence in the way we play and how we execute. I think we’re going to be really disappointed in ourselves and how we tried to ring the bell on the offensive end. We’re trying, from the goodness of our hearts and caring for our team, trying to fix a lot of things ourselves. That’s not how we play.”

7-27 from three

Kentucky averaged 11.1 3-pointers per game. game going into the Clemson game, good for the No. 1 in the SEC and no. 12 in Division I. That led to an average of 96.7 points per game. competition through seven outings, good for no. 1 both within the SEC and nationally. The two things have gone hand in hand.

What went hand in hand for the Wildcats at Clemson? A season-low 66 points for the Wildcats after an abysmal 7-27 mark from three. Jaxson Robinson and Butler were the only players to make more shots from the perimeter, while the rest of the team combined for just three makes on 16 attempts. They couldn’t buy a bucket with three-minute scoring drives popping up left and right as the Tigers found just enough consistency to pull out the win.

Lamont Butler dealt with foul trouble and a tweaked ankle

The San Diego State transfer was one of very few gems for the Wildcats against the Tigers, finishing with 16 points on 6-9 shooting and 2-4 from three with five assists, two rebounds and a steal. It all came in just 19 minutes, though, with Butler limited to just nine in the first due to foul trouble and 12 in the second, which involved a sprained ankle.

He scored on a quick and one to give Great Britain a spark, then earned another hard-fought game for the team’s biggest lead of the day at six before all hell broke loose down the stretch. Ball movement picked up in the second half after being stuck early, only to see Butler follow it up with the injury.

Is it a whole different ball game with the fifth-year senior out there longer as a game-high plus-17? Odds are good.

“We just didn’t execute well (with Butler out), so I wonder if there’s a way to roll the dice a little bit more and magnify those minutes,” Pope said. “Lamont kind of gave us everything he had in the second half, but he was on a little bit of a broken wheel and it definitely had some impact on the game.”

Andrew Carr and Kerr Kriisa were no-shows

Carr saved the day for Kentucky against Duke in the Champions Classic, going for 17 points and six rebounds. It was against ACC competition, just as Clemson was for the former ACC member himself as a Wake Forest transfer. His last two performances against the Tigers were for 18 points and 11 rebounds, then 17 points and five rebounds — both wins. It was reasonable to expect the fifth-year senior to be the one to step up again in a tough road environment against a familiar foe. Instead, he passed up open shots and missed them, taking them on his way to five points on 1-7 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two turnovers in 24 minutes.

As for Kriisa, his time on the floor was crucial with Butler out for extended stretches in both halves. Instead, he finished the day with zero points on 0-4 shooting with two rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes for a team-low -21 in plus/minus. He appeared to make mistakes with flops early on, but the refs caught on quickly and failed to save him, leading to transition opportunities the other way with Kriisa still on the floor. When it came to actual production, the beloved fifth-year senior fell short.