KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's 79-71 loss to Duke

Kentucky couldn’t get it done in its season-opener, falling to Duke by a final score of 79-71. With the lights at their brightest on college basketball’s greatest stage, it was the Blue Devils who took advantage of the moment, not the Wildcats.

How did the loss come to fruition? How much good came with the bad? Here are KSR’s quick takeaways from the Champions Classic:

No answer for Duke’s freshmen

Make no mistake about it, Duke’s freshmen were the story Tuesday evening. Five-star wing Trevor Keels led the way with 25 points on 10-18 shooting, followed by five-star forward Paolo Banchero with 22 points (7-11 FG, 8-9 FT) and seven rebounds.

Keels flew under the radar with Banchero receiving so much this preseason, but he clearly looked the part as a day-one star. Using his size and skill to score at will, there was nothing Kentucky could do to slow him down, much less stop him.

As for Banchero, he was what we all expected. He does things typical 6-foot-10, 250-pound forwards can’t, simple as that. Not many players in college basketball are going to be able to limit his production, and UK was the first team this season to deal with that issue.

TyTy Washington goes cold

We’ve seen past Kentucky stars use the Champions Classic as a stepping stool to stardom in previous matchups. Leading up to this year’s matchup, TyTy Washington was the player many picked to be the next man up.

He sure tried, putting up 14 shots in 28 minutes, looking for makes at all three levels. The only issue: he hit just three baskets.

Finishing with nine points (3-14 FG, 0-2 3PT), three assists, two rebounds and one steal, Washington just couldn’t get his shot to fall. He finished with zero turnovers, but still had trouble controlling the ball and let a few slip off his fingers on passes from teammates. Something about him just felt off.

After a strong preseason and start to exhibition play, the standout freshman just couldn’t make shots in the regular season opener.

Well done, Oscar Tshiebwe

Washington may not have been the breakout star many expected him to be, but Oscar Tshiebwe sure was. Finishing with 17 points (8-14 shooting), 19 rebounds (12 offensive), two blocks and one assist, the 6-foot-9 center was phenomenal from start to finish.

More than anything, it came down to effort. Late in the game when Kentucky was in need of a push, Tshiebwe gave the Wildcats extra possessions on the offensive glass. He finished easy clean-up buckets and alley-oop attempts, but also scored through the length and size of the Duke frontcourt.

Maybe most impressively, the standout big finished with just three fouls after struggling with foul trouble throughout his career at West Virginia. To avoid costly ticky-tack fouls the way he did against a very strong group of bigs was quite impressive.

In a game Kentucky desperately needed a star, Tshiebwe provided that for the Wildcats.

The give and take with Sahvir Wheeler

The best and worst of Sahvir Wheeler was put on full display in the Champions Classic. He finished with 16 points, ten assists and one steal, but shot just 6-15 from the field and turned the ball over seven times.

His ability to slice through defenders and find open teammates is second-to-none. He’s very likely the best playmaker in the SEC and showed that potential against Duke. When he played with control and patience, the Blue Devils struggled to slow him down. He played elite basketball for a strong portion of the game.

When he lost that control and patience, Wheeler really struggled. He took bad shots, dribbled recklessly through his legs and behind his back and whipped errant passes into non-existent holes.

John Calipari blamed Wheeler’s late struggles — he turned the ball over five times and shot just 2-7 from the field in the second half and — on playing too many minutes. He played a total of 38 minutes and all 20 after the break, ultimately leading to sloppy play and poor decision-making.

At his best, Wheeler was phenomenal on both ends of the floor and showed legitimate star potential. At his worst, he made costly mistakes that spread Kentucky’s deficit late in the game.

The Coach K whistle is here

At the break, Kentucky shot just four free throws compared to 17 for Duke. By the end of the game, the Wildcats finished shooting 6-7 from the line, while the Blue Devils hit 16 of 23 attempts.

4 to 17. 7 to 23.

Blame it on poor shot selection and a lack of physicality for Kentucky on the offensive end, but the differential is quite significant in an eight-point loss. Single-digit free throw attempts in a game is simply not enough, regardless of who you want to blame.

An oddly confident John Calipari

Coach Cal walked onto the floor clapping and smiling as his team started pregame warmups. He stepped up to the podium with an even bigger grin on his face to open the postgame press conference.

Throughout the question and answer session, Cal was joking, rubbing his players’ shoulders, poking jabs at himself and telling old stories. There was no defeat in his tone or demeanor. He was confident in his group.

Despite a poor shooting performance overall — Kentucky shot just 37.7% from the field and 38.9% from deep — and defensive struggles against Duke’s star freshmen, Calipari was clearly OK after the loss — maybe even pleased?

Maybe it was the return to normalcy after a year of adversity. Maybe it was his team’s ability to claw back down the stretch rather than letting go of the rope. Maybe it was the fact that Kentucky fought against an impressive Duke squad with Washington, Wheeler, Davion Mintz and Kellan Grady combining for 14-44 shooting overall.

Regardless of the reason, Calipari clearly wasn’t broken after the loss. If anything, he looked inspired.