Kentucky had more turnovers than assists vs. Georgetown: 'You can't win games like that'

Not much went Kentucky’s way during Thursday night’s 84-70 exhibition loss to Georgetown, but there’s one stat (or two, technically) in particular that will eat at head coach Mark Pope in the days to come.

The assist-to-turnover ratio. Kentucky finished with 15 turnovers and just 14 assists against the Hoyas.

“For me, that was the indicator of the game for us,” Pope said postgame.

Last season, Pope’s first as Kentucky’s coach, the Wildcats finished with eight games where they had more turnovers than assists. UK went 0-8 in those contests. While Thursday night was only an exhibition that won’t count in the record books, that trend is not being kind to UK. What should be kept in mind, however, is that two important pieces were missing from the backcourt: Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen — expected starters at the one and two — who were sidelined with injuries that hopefully won’t keep them out much longer.

That put extra weight on the shoulders of guys like Collin Chandler and Jasper Johnson, who aren’t traditional point guards. Those two combined for seven turnovers and four assists. It didn’t help that Georgetown’s strength was in the backcourt, particularly because of guys like Malik Mack and KJ Lewis, the latter known as a premier defender. Even Otega Oweh, who had two miscues and just one helper, struggled to find a groove within the offense.

“Our guys were actually really forceful getting downhill most of the game. We just fell into the trap of not doing that to make plays for teammates,” Pope added. “You have to be good enough to actually put your head down and be insanely physical getting downhill, but still have the insight and IQ while you’re doing that to actually be a playmaker and not to lose your mental approach to the game as you bring on the physicality and kinda fall into the trap.

“I thought we were very poor at that tonight, and I’m really grateful it happened now rather than the games coming up. Because we’re going to face this challenge over and over.”

It should also be noted that Georgetown also finished with more turnovers (13) than assists (12), but the Hoya guards were able to get to their spots and hit shots. Mack and Lewis went 17-29 from the field as a duo, while Chandler, Johnson, and Oweh finished 9-31. Part of that is due to Mack and Lewis being the main ball handlers for their team, whereas Kentucky’s trio works best (outside of hot scoring stretches from Johnson) when they’re playing next to a primary point guard.

Not having Lowe and Aberdeen to help feed them certainly hurt. The absence of those two was felt throughout the rest of the roster in a way that it wasn’t when Kentucky posted 17 assists and nine turnovers in last week’s exhibition win over top-ranked Purdue. UK also just missed a ton of looks, shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from deep.

“That means that we weren’t really good at making plays for each other and that’s something we’ll continue to work on,” Andrija Jelavić said of the assist-to-turnover ratio. “And the shots will fall the next game and the next game, and it won’t be a problem.”

Exhibitions provide an opportunity to experiment. Pope had to do some experimenting against Georgetown out of necessity. If Lowe and/or Aberdeen play, there’s a good chance the playmaking numbers look much different. But there’s no denying — as evidenced by the 0-8 record mentioned at the beginning — that having more turnovers than assists is a recipe for disaster.

“You can’t win games like that,” Jelavić said.

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