KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's 69-59 win over Yale
Through ten minutes, it appeared a path to a blowout was very clearly on the table. Kentucky had scored 25 points and held a 12-point lead, with the Wildcats hitting three early 3-pointers and controlling the paint, all while forcing some ugly looks for Yale on the other end.
Then to close out the half, Kentucky scored just eight more points, including a stretch between 7:53 and 1:24 of zero made baskets for the Wildcats.
The struggles continued for UK to open the second half, with Yale scoring eight straight to take a two-point lead with 17:37 to go. And then, Oscar Tshiebwe happened, with Kentucky’s superstar in the middle scoring 12 straight points for the Wildcats and 22 overall in the second half. The back-and-forth affair finally became a double-digit lead and victory for Kentucky, pushing the team’s record to 7-2 on the year.
How did it all unfold? KSR has the takeaways.
Oscar Tshiebwe was an unstoppable force in the second half
The story of the game can’t be told without Tshiebwe, who single-handedly willed the Wildcats to the 69-59 victory in the second half. After finishing with six points and eight rebounds at the half, the National Player of the Year took the game over with 22 second-half points to finish with 28 points (13-18 FG), 12 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals in a team-high 38 minutes.
“We’ve got an advantage, and his name is Oscar Tshiebwe,” head coach John Calipari said after the game.
Undersized in general, Yale was dealt a major blow leading up to the opening tip when star forward Matt Knowling was declared out due to injury, putting the Bulldogs at a serious disadvantage down low. Kentucky couldn’t capitalize on the clear frontcourt mismatch in the first half, but Tshiebwe went out of his way to change that after the break.
“I figured out they couldn’t guard me, so I went to the locker room and told my teammates, ‘Throw me the ball.’ Their big man couldn’t stop me,” Tshiebwe said. “… It’s very simple. You throw me the ball, it’s one-on-one, you’re not guarding me. If you double-team me, I kick it out, and we have pretty good shooters. If they miss, I’ll rebound the ball.”
Single-, double- and even triple-teamed, the 6-foot-9 center was an unstoppable force for the Wildcats when it mattered most in the second half.
Shot distribution elsewhere was a mess
28 points on 18 shots for Tshiebwe will always be acceptable. When your superstar is rolling, you let him roll. Elsewhere, though, Kentucky’s shot distribution simply wasn’t where you want it, especially considering the team’s first-half scoring struggles — and really the entire game outside of No. 34.
Sahvir Wheeler and Jacob Toppin combined for 20 shots, but made only seven for a total of 14 points in 65 minutes. Antonio Reeves and Cason Wallace — Kentucky’s first and fourth leading scorers — took just 11 total shots with five makes, combining for 18 points in 65 minutes. This comes after the latter hit the go-ahead 3-pointer to seal the win over Michigan in London, emerging as a potential top-scoring option on high efficiency (53.1% FG, 50% 3PT).
It’s not so much about Wheeler and Toppin taking too many shots, but rather Reeves and Wallace simply not going out of their way to get theirs, specifically the latter. When the offense stalls out, those two especially need to be Kentucky’s top options.
Limited gripes elsewhere — no 3-point attempts for CJ Fredrick, who is in the midst of a cold stretch and in need of a confidence boost, maybe? — but simply not enough shots for Reeves (3-7 FG) and Wallace (2-4 FG).
Kentucky has a glaring issue at the four
Guard play is fine for the most part and the center position is solidified, obviously, but it’s hard to feel confident about where things stand at the four for the Wildcats.
“We need Jacob (Toppin) to elevate his game,” Calipari said after the game. “Be more physical, go after more balls. If you jump 40 inches, how about every once in a while jump 40 inches? Like go for a ball, jump 40 inches, go get it. How about go block a ball? How about one-dribble pull-ups, which he makes?”
Toppin finished with four points on 2-6 shooting and 0-1 from three to go with five rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes. Taking over as the team’s starter at the four spot, the senior forward came into the year with star expectations and draft buzz, magnified following a standout week in the Bahamas where he led the Wildcats in scoring. Rather than utilizing his gifts as a skilled 6-10 athlete with a 45-inch vertical — a living, breathing mismatch on paper — his focus remains on launching contested jumpers and finding highlight opportunities. Calipari clearly agrees.
Elsewhere, Daimion Collins simply isn’t helping this team during his limited time on the floor — zero points (0-1 FG), two rebounds, two turnovers in six minutes — and doesn’t appear close. The above-rim opportunities he had last season aren’t there, no easy lob opportunities for someone who — again, on paper — should be one of the nation’s best in that area. Instead, we get jumpers from the mid-range and three that aren’t falling.
Could Chris Livingston be that guy? He was OK today, finishing with seven points (3-5 FG, 1-1 3PT) and two assists in 14 minutes, but had some defensive lapses that kept him off the floor in the second half.
“Just continue on this path he’s on. He mixes it up,” Calipari said of Livingston. “The only reason I took him out, he left the best shooter in the court. He left him, and they made a three. … We’re just going to keep on this path. Chris, he’s the best. He’s the best.”
He doesn’t appear to be too far off, but will he play enough minutes there? Calipari continues to bring up the possibility, but that remains to be seen.
Either way, nine games into the season, there continue to be more questions than answers at the four spot.
No, Kentucky does not have an efficient offense
While we’re digging into some Calipari quotes, let’s single out the one where he brushed off his team’s offensive issues and actually flipped it into a positive.
“I think we’re in the top 15 in efficiency. I’d like to be number one. I think we lead our league in three-point shooting,” he said. “… You miss shots, this is what it looks like. It is kind of like going 0-10 (from the field), doesn’t look very good. If you look around the country, everybody seems to be playing the same way, a lot of dribble handoffs, a lot of pick-and-rolls, a lot of space.”
Looking at the updated KenPom rankings, Kentucky ranks No. 19 overall on offense — the stat he’s certainly referring to. Elsewhere, though, Bart Torvik — another top analytics website — lists the Wildcats at No. 33 in adjusted offense and No. 93 overall in offense vs. quality opponents. The surface-level numbers may look fine at 80.5 points per game, but the eye test tells a different story. Scoring droughts like the one UK saw to close out the first half just can’t happen.
A good win for the Wildcats prior to league play
Not every game can be against Michigan State, Gonzaga or Michigan, just like it can’t be South Carolina State, Duquesne and North Florida every game. In reality, Yale is very well-coached with real talent and will very likely be an NCAA Tournament team this season, just as it has been four times since 2016 — including last season as a No. 14 seed.
Even without the team’s best player, this was a real test for the Wildcats, one that will present some nice learning opportunities on film this next week leading up to the trip to New York City to take on UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic.
The Bulldogs entered the day ranked No. 36 in the NET rankings — ahead of Kentucky, actually — and No. 88 in the KenPom. They shoot the ball well and muck things up defensively, creating some early-season blowouts in their favor. Through the offensive struggles, the Wildcats still found a way to pull off the ten-point win.
“You need some of these tough games to see where your team is,” Calipari said. “This was a good game.”
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard