catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 02-10-2021 12:02 PM
1. The final four minutes aren’t to blame this time.
Kentucky played dead down the stretch in several of its close losses this season; tonight, however, the offense was throwing daggers to stay alive just like Calipari asked. The team looked confident and showed fight in mounting a comeback that fell just short, and though moral victories aren’t a thing around here, it was a big step in the right direction after some of the ways they’ve managed to lose other games.
Unlike the others, this one was lost in the first four minutes of the second half when a back-and-forth game became a double-digit Arkansas lead that UK almost overcame in the end.
2. Kentucky wasted its best three-point shooting night.
One of the worst three-pointing shooting teams in school history had one of the better shooting nights of the John Calipari era, and it was all for nothing. 14 of 26 three-point tries went in, a 53.8 percent clip, and 10 of those came in the second half when the two teams were trading baskets. The hot shooting made up for UK’s other deficiencies, like stopping Arkansas, and kept the game close until the very end.
A shooting night like that, and a loss to an unranked team in Rupp Arena, do not go together.
3. Should Olivier Sarr get more looks from outside?
Speaking of three-point shooting, maybe Olivier Sarr should do more of it. Sarr hit five of his 10 three-pointers on the season before Tuesday’s game, including all three of his tries in the last two games, then drained three more on five attempts against Arkansas. He’s now 6-of-9 from that range in the three February games and looking comfortable doing it.
The Courier-Journal’s Jon Hale asked Calipari if we’ll see more Sarr outside (rather than in the paint where he’s struggled) and this is the exchange from the postgame press conference:
Hale: I know you don’t like to run plays specifically to set up threes, but Olivier has shown such an attitude for that recently, is that an option to get some more offense going, to have him do what you were doing in the second half more often?
Calipari: Well, you don’t want him to take — well, how many you want him to take?
Hale: He’s 8-for-15 on the season.
Calipari: I’m asking. Do you want him to take ten a game?
Hale: No.
Calipari: How many did he take today?
Hale: Four.
Calipari: All right. So maybe he takes one or two more. I mean, yes, but he’s also pretty good when he squares up shot. He can do both. He can do both. He’s — I’ve been saying all along, you saw Davion make some shots, Devin made some shots, B.J. made some shots, Olivier made shots and I keep saying, most of this is mental for these kids. It’s hard. It’s hard. How we started this season and what the gauntlet was I threw at them, it was hard mentally. This has been hard. So they — let’s just hope this was a little bit of a breakthrough.
So, your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not Sarr’s hot hand will change the way he’s used.
4. BJ Boston did a little bit of everything.
Joining Sarr in the three-point shooting barrage was none other than BJ Boston, who desperately needed to see the ball go in after a cold game against Tennessee. The freshman got it going right away with two early three-pointers to spark a 4-for-5 performance from beyond the arc, and led the Cats in scoring with 17 points, his third-best scoring night all season.
Boston also rebounded (7) and looked under control in transition—one play in particular on that point was the lob he threw to Sarr on a fast break. A month ago Boston doesn’t even see Sarr in that situation but tonight he showed some vision and even earned some clock at point guard in an experiment that began in practice last week.
He turned heads with his comments after the game too.
Brandon Boston Jr.: “I think the refs gave them that game”
5. Isaiah Jackson got robbed of two points and if I were petty I’d point out Kentucky could’ve used those two points in the end, but I won’t.
Jackson had nine points before fouling out but it should’ve been at least 11 because the officials waved off a basket on a call Rupp Arena didn’t agree with.
Calipari didn’t agree with it either.
You know the one: Jackson tipped in an entry pass and drew a foul in the process, only for the officiating crew to signal a non-shooting foul and take the two points off the board.
Had it counted, Jackson would’ve snapped an 8-0 Arkansas run and gone to the line to add another point. Instead we saw Boston turn it over and Arkansas got an and-one going the other way to go up 10… a six-point swing that only added to the Razorbacks’ momentum coming out of the halftime locker room.
Jackson also got called for a technical in a key moment later in the game following his fourth foul. He added a fifth and final foul seconds later and that was it for Jackson with five minutes to go. Keion Brooks also fouled out.
6. Defensive breakdowns stalled the comeback.
The three-pointers were going in on one end but on the other Arkansas was getting easy baskets at the rim, which delayed the second half comeback effort. A stop here or a stop there and maybe the outcome is different, but Kentucky couldn’t keep the Razorbacks from getting their 81 points. The defense would be locked in, sometimes with a guy trapped, and then the next thing you know there’s an easy Arkansas two or a wide open three-pointer because someone got free.
7. Passing is still a problem.
So many times Kentucky was one extra pass away from a wide open look, and chose a different direction that didn’t work. It’s been an ongoing problem behind the halfcourt woes we’ve witnessed all season, and there were instances of it again tonight.
One that stood out early on, Askew had Boston wide open on the wing and drove in for a contested elbow jumper instead (a miss) without ever seeing Boston calling for the ball. Then another time Boston missed a wide open Dontaie Allen (to be fair, Allen didn’t have it tonight), and those are only a few that come to mind without watching it back.
Point being, no one in a UK uniform is good enough to create on their own so ball movement is the way to the best shot, and they missed too many best shot opportunities in this one. Their coach drove home this point after the game.
8. You don’t see many people like Connor Vanover.
It was hard to look away from the 7-foot-3 shooter who doesn’t jump to block Isaiah Jackson
9. That was a Northern Kentucky transfer who hit the game-winning free throws.
Arkansas guard Jalen Tate is a graduate transfer from just up the road at Northern Kentucky and he won the game with the two clutch free throws in the end. Only a 63 percent shooter from the stripe all season, Tate of course made all five of his attempts in the game and led his team in scoring with 15 points.
Here’s a photo of that gruesome foul. Don’t let any kids see this graphic content:
10. WTF was this final play?
An inbound to the big man to bring it up the court with four seconds left? It never stood a chance.
Calipari said afterward, “That ball was supposed to go to Olivier and one of the guards and we kind of didn’t get quite open. But we were also going to look at BJ, who was open and we passed him up if you know what I’m saying. If you look at it, it was supposed to go to either BJ, if he’s open, throw it. He’s open, we didn’t, which is okay, we threw it to Olivier. Olivier is boom, catching it, throwing it to somebody and we’ve got our best three-point shooters out on the corners and the wings. So, that’s what we were trying to do.”
Coming soon to that trying-to-do list: win the SEC Tournament because it’s the only hope for March Madness.
Link
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