KSR Today: Kentucky Fails First Test in Loss to Louisville

Kentucky fans are probably seeing red, like this Louisville student, after the loss to the Cards, via Matt Stone:Courier Journal : USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images — Kentucky fans are probably seeing red, like this Louisville student, after the loss to the Cards, via Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Big Blue Nation took one to the chin on Tuesday night. The rivalry matchup between Kentucky and Louisville was handicapped by many as a toss-up. At one point in the second half, the Cards had a 20-point lead. Yikes.

Fortunately, a late push prevented the game from becoming a complete lost cause. A Collin Chandler three-pointer cut the deficit to four with just over four minutes to play. Jaland Lowe had a chance to make it a 2-point game, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Mikel Brown immediately responded with an And 1, and that was all she wrote.

Louisville begged the Cats to make another by missing six straight free throws, but Kentucky did not oblige. The Cards hung on for a 96-88 win.

Mikel Brown was the best player on the floor, tallying 29 points on 8-16 shooting. When Brown wasn’t making big plays, it was Ryan Conwell, who finished the night with 24.

Denzel Aberdeen scored a career-high 26 points, but he needed 20 shots to do it. Otega Oweh struggled, taking 13 shots to score 12 points. It was not a good night for the Wildcats. At least they showed some fight down the stretch?

About That Defense

Louisville has one of the best backcourts in college basketball. They will have a Top 10 offense in KenPom for most of the season. That does not remove the questions fans are asking about the Kentucky defense.

BBN was sold in the offseason that this team was built to have better athletes who would significantly raise the floor of the defense. That additional athleticism was irrelevant in this matchup. Guys struggled against the Louisville screens, got lost in sets, and left shooters wide open out of timeouts. Louisville shot 45% from the field, and it felt significantly worse. Kentucky only forced six turnovers, while the Cards turned 14 UK mistakes into 19 points.

Kentucky’s depth and defense were supposed to be an equalizer in this matchup. It’s ultimately what cost them the most in this game.

A Few Kentucky Surprises

Instead of wondering why Kam Williams didn’t play in the first half, let’s salute the Tulane transfer for entering the game and immediately making an impact. Williams made both of his shot attempts, including a long three, grabbed four rebounds, and blocked a shot. In 12 minutes, he had a plus-minus of +11, the only Wildcat in double figures in that second half. Remarkable.

“I thought Kam gave us a little length and a little mobility, and his ability to kind of just have a little bit of gravity on the floor is important for us,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said postgame.

Another guy who plays his position was a pleasant surprise. It’s hard to handicap what Andrija Jelavic is going to bring to the table this year. The stretch-four ran the floor well and got a couple of tough buckets near the rim, tallying six points and an offensive rebound in eight minutes.

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Different Rivalry Style

There’s a lot to loathe about how Kentucky played on Tuesday night, but we all need to sit back and enjoy the way these teams played. For years, John Calipari and Rick Pitino dragged the Commonwealth into rock-fights. The highly anticipated 2014 matchup between No. 1 Kentucky and No. 4 Louisville had a final score of 58-50. Those teams combined to shoot a combined 9-28 from three-point land.

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On Tuesday night, each team attempted more than 30 threes. Kentucky and Louisville shot a combined 25-74 from behind the three-point line. The pace was frenetic at times, yet in a fun, exhausting way. College basketball fans in Kentucky expect the best of the best. Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey have created an entertaining brand that is among the best in the sport.

Pat Kelsey Injured Himself in the Win

Kinda like a 7-game series, it’s not really a rivalry until the other team wins. The Cats owned the Cards for years. In their first sell-out since the pandemic, Louisville fans exorcised some demons. Pat Kelsey was so excited after the win that he injured himself in the celebration.

“So, I don’t know if it’s broken, but I dislocated my finger,” Kelsey, wearing a finger splint, said in his postgame press conference. “It was 90 degrees. Doc was right there, and he came over and yanked that sucker right back in place.”

More from a Kentucky Loss to Louisville

Takeaways from the Defeat
More on Denzel Aberdeen’s Career Night
Turnovers Doomed Kentucky vs. Louisville
Louisville’s Best Player was the Best Player, and Kentucky’s Wasn’t
Kentucky Comeback Falls Short at Louisville

Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.

Matt Jones Trivia at KSBar

You probably need to get out of the house and shake off some mid-week blues. Test your mental fortitude with a little trivia at KSBar. Matt Jones is hosting, which means you’ll be scratching corners of your brain that are covered in cobwebs, and it also gives you a shot to get into the year-end finale worth at least $1,000. To up the ante, it’s Wings Day. Go enjoy some $1 wings with a side of trivia to take your hump day to the next level.

Kentucky Football Talk

The good news? Mark Stoops can actually give Kentucky an upper hand in this rivalry in a couple of weeks. Yes, they played the basketball game before the football one. It feels weird, but the last two SEC wins have given BBN a reason to be optimistic entering the homestretch.

Mitch Barnhart shared that optimism on Tuesday. The UK AD sees the program taking steps in the right direction. Today, we’ll hear from Mark Stoops on the SEC Teleconference before Brad White takes the podium following practice. 11 Personnel will dish on the latest at 8 PM ET on the KSR YouTube Channel.

New CFP Rankings

If you prefer storylines over watching MACtion games, Miami might have opened a path back into the Playoff thanks to chaos. Here are the rankings people will be debating feverishly over the next few days.