Numbers Never Lie: Interior defense sinks Kentucky against Duke

Leaving Madison Square Garden, West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe could be the talk of the town.

The former top-25 recruit was terrific in his debut for Kentucky scoring 17 points on 14 field goal attempts and gobbling up 19 total rebounds with 12 coming on the offensive end in 29 minutes. The 6-foot-9 big looks like he can be a force for John Calipari in the middle.

Now the Wildcats must find him some help.

In the matchup against Duke, the physicality of the Blue Devils had their way with an undersized Kentucky lineup. The Wildcats won the rebounding battle thanks to Tshiebwe’s terrific work on the glass, but it’s clear that Kentucky has major issues with interior defense.

Hammered with efficiency

In 74 possessions, Duke got up just 13 three-point field goal attempts and hit just one of them. The Blue Devils weren’t able to get out in transition a ton as No. 9 ranked Duke had just 13 fast break points. Despite the lack of big-play pop, the Blue Devils were still able to score 79 points.

How did this happen? With two-point efficiency.

Duke was 30 of 48 from two-point range shooting 62.5 percent from the floor when not hoisting up shots from long range. The Blue Devils got 48 points in the paint, were 21 of 34 on shots at the rim, and attempted 23 free throws. A young team was able to get wherever it wanted against a Kentucky team loaded with upperclassmen.

Star freshman Paolo Banchero led the way with 22 points while shooting 7 of 8 from two-point range, but Duke got efficiency from multiple players. Freshman guard Trevor Keels was 9 of 14 from two. Wing Wendell Moore Jr. was 6 of 8 from two. Duke got into the interior with ease and seemed to score with very limited disruption.

Through a couple of exhibition games and 40 minutes against a long and physical Duke team, one thing is clear about Kentucky to this point — the Wildcats have some legitimate defensive issues.

Oscar Tshiebwe can be a dude, but the junior can struggle with foul trouble and is not an elite rim protector. The 6-9 big will need help. John Calipari must figure out how Kentucky will protect the paint moving forward.

Kentucky inefficiency

While Duke was hammering away at Kentucky with body blows, Kentucky was attempting to do the same to the Blue Devils. The Wildcats attempted just seven three-pointers in the second half after the deep ball treated them well in the first 20 minutes.

Instead, Kentucky attempted to grind away at a long Duke defense. That resulted in a ton of mid-range looks on offense. That is never a good thing.

Kentucky was 15 of 29 on shots at the rim and 7 of 18 on shots from three. However, the most shot attempts came from the in-between area. When not by the basket or behind the three-point line, Kentucky was just 7 of 30 from the floor. That is not going to cut it.

On paper, it appears that TyTy Washington and Keion Brooks Jr. should be the top two options for the Kentucky offense. The box score reflects that as each had double-digit shot attempts in the game. However, both players were inefficient.

The duo combined to shoot just 7 of 24 from the floor and had just four free throw attempts between the two of them. Kentucky needs more from their two top options to beat some of the best teams in college basketball.

Creating more shots away from mid-range would also help.

Stats that stood out

• Sahvir Wheeler led Kentucky in usage rate (33.6) and minutes played (38). However, the Georgia transfer needed 15 shots to score 16 points and had seven turnovers to go along with 10 assists. The junior stuffed the stat sheet in both good and bad ways.
• Jacob Toppin played more minutes (23) than Keion Brooks Jr. (17). Kentucky needs the latter to be on the floor more for the Wildcats to be at their best.
• Duke dominated the free throw battle with 23 shots at the charity stripe compared to just seven for Kentucky. The more aggressive team won.