QUICK TAKES: Georgetown 84, Kentucky 70 - EXH
In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky’s 84-70 loss to Georgetown on Thursday night at Rupp Arena.
JEFF DRUMOND:
While we must be quick to remind Big Blue Nation that this is (A) just an exhibition game, and (B) Kentucky played without its starting point guard and its backup point guard, I still did not have getting whipped by Georgetown on my Bingo card leading up to this game. This was a “pump the brakes” moment for the Cats after they looked fantastic last week in a win over preseason No. 1 Purdue. I’m not sure there was one player or one phase of the game that looked good for UK tonight. During Wednesday’s “Media Family Day” practice at Rupp Arena, Mark Pope repeatedly stressed “making the simple play.” It did not carry over to the game. The Cats looked flustered by an aggressive Georgetown defense that pushed them around a lot. That resulted in a lot of offensive possessions that ended with a one-on-one attempt or a turnover. The free-throw line was embarrassing with UK going 23 of 35. The Cats went 7-of-30 from the arc. And that’s just one side of the court. Defensively, Georgetown carved up Kentucky for just about anything it wanted with its slip screens. Give some credit, too, to Hoyas guard Malik Mack, who was terrific with a game-high 22 points. It reminded me a lot of the Ohio State loss early last season at Madison Square Garden. Just like that game, Pope & Co. will have a lot of teaching moments from this film.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
Well, that was ugly. The good news is you don’t expect them to be without as many pieces as they were missing tonight. With both Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen out a lot fell on Jasper Johnson and Collin Chandler. Johnson showed some bad shot selection early in the game. Kentucky didn’t shoot the eyes out of the ball and probably needed to given the personnel losses. But I think the bigger reason for the loss is just how the teams approached the game. It looked like Georgetown played against Kentucky like Kentucky played against Purdue. They took the fight right to the shorthanded Cats and their physicality caused some problems. UK didn’t run close to the best offense it’s going to and for the first time the Cats were often pretty young under Mark Pope. This isn’t a huge cause for concern given the absences but let’s keep that same energy talking about the Purdue game. This is a very good Kentucky team on paper that didn’t have it tonight and should be better with a full cast of characters. Georgetown got way too many easy looks. Though UK’s roster was built with defense in mind when you’re playing Trent Noah and Johnson at the same time there are going to be some deficiencies.