KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's blowout win over Louisville

They are who we thought they were. Louisville, a very bad basketball team, lived up (down?) to its reputation in a blowout loss at Rupp Arena. Poorly assembled with minimal high-level talent, it would have been a shock to see Kenny Payne’s squad keep things competitive. A mini 7-0 run to open the second half made it an eight-point game, but that’s the closest it ever got outside of the first two minutes. A strong start and finish paved way for a blowout victory, winning by 23 after opening as 22.5-point favorites.

Admittedly, it was a matchup you’d fail to take anything away from, similar to an exhibition game or early-season bunny in the non-conference slate. That’s about what the competition level was. Considering Kentucky‘s recent struggles, though, it was important to make the most of it and build some semblance of momentum going into the bulk of conference play. And that’s exactly what the Wildcats did.

Jacob Toppin finally breaks through

It’s been a difficult season for the senior forward, one with sky-high expectations and underwhelming play. The tools and potential are there, but the energy and effort have limited him from being the player Kentucky needs him to be. That changed vs. Louisville, with Toppin finally breaking through for 24 points on 10-15 shooting and 4-6 from the line to go with seven rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes.

“What’s the word above awful?” That’s how John Calipari described Toppin’s play as of late. He scored a total of 13 points in Kentucky’s last four games with seven combined turnovers. Beyond the limited production and miscues, the body language has been poor and it’s seemingly been contagious. The team looked miserable in Columbia in the team’s blowout loss at Missouri, with Toppin visibly sulking on the bench in a zero-point, four-rebound, three-turnover individual effort. It got to the point where he was unplayable, actively hurting his team during his time on the floor. His minutes tanked as a result, highlighted by a season-low 13 at Mizzou.

And then he started vs. Louisville, a decision Calipari said came following a strong week of practice. “I loved what I saw,” he said. And my goodness, was he brilliant. He attacked the basket and played above the rim, finishing with purpose. His jumpers were timely and within the pace of the offense, no hero ball with an emphasis on building a draft portfolio. Defensively, he was engaged and active, just as he was on the glass.

He was the exact player Kentucky fans hoped he’d be entering the season, someone this team desperately needs the rest of the year. Like Calipari has said about other players in the past, Toppin told on himself today. There are no excuses for taking possessions off at the rate he does. When he’s locked in, he’s got very real star potential. Today was a necessary step in the right direction — the first of many.

Team morale was visibly better

Speaking of body language and chemistry — clearly abysmal at Missouri — it was a night-and-day difference back home at Rupp Arena. Credit the rivalry matchup or ringing in the new year, I don’t care, it was better. For whatever reason, the players just haven’t looked happy this season, and it really hasn’t been clear they like each other all that much. No dancing and cheering with high-fives and chest bumps, no bench celebrations, limited on-court communication, and even smaller details like not being quick to pick teammates up off the floor. It’s been a group of individual pieces, not a cohesive unit.

Saturday vs. Louisville was just different. Energy was up and body language was exactly what you hoped to see after the trainwreck that was Columbia. Toppin was the main culprit vs. Missouri — the screengrab of his death stare at Coach Cal from the bench poured gas on that fire — but he wasn’t alone. The senior forward was a brand new player from an effort perspective, but so was the rest of the team.

“They came together,” Calipari said after the win. “Look, you think — you want to do it yourself because you want to do that, and then you get overwhelmed and swamped and you look around and say, ‘I can’t do this myself. We need to do this together.’ And that’s normally when teams come together.”

It’s too early to say this team has come together — it’s been 72 hours since they got run off the floor at Missouri — but it’s a turnaround process that needed to begin right away.

Something about Louisville.

Ball movement resembled a real basketball team

If you were to narrow down Kentucky’s season issues into a single gripe, ball movement may be at the top of the list. Passing hasn’t just been bad, it’s been downright terrible from the start of the year, with the ball sticking for long stretches and setting up last-second heaves at the end of the shot clock. It’s simply taken way too long to get into offensive sets with endless wasted motion — and that’s when plays are run at all.

There’s also been the issue of poor decision-making on shot vs. pass options, opting for difficult me-first looks over making the extra pass to set up open ones. Why take the floater with two hands in your face when you have a shooter wide open in the corner or a lob opportunity at the rim?

Improved ball movement was a clear point of emphasis going into the Louisville game, specifically in making the extra pass. 18 attempts on 33 makes isn’t world-beating, but situationally, the players were making the right decisions and set up better shots for their teammates.

Calipari’s offense was under fire once again this week, with one anonymous coach calling it “archaic” and another adding that “It’s gotta be the same s— he was running with the New Jersey Nets.” The criticisms have been valid, but it also hasn’t even been the traditional dribble drive we saw when he first arrived in Lexington. That offense created mismatches and allowed star athletes to get scoring opportunities at the rim or easy kick-outs for clean looks. What we’ve seen this season isn’t even that. Instead, it’s iso-heavy with a focus on letting (making?) Oscar Tshiebwe eat down low — a one-dimensional gameplan that has been exposed on countless occasions this year.

Today was a better mix of Tshiebwe domination — 24 points (10-13 FG) and 14 rebounds — and shot creation elsewhere at all three levels. When the ball is moving, good things happen with this group.

Another star performance for Cason Wallace

Kentucky’s blue-chip freshman continues to prove his status as a breakout star for the Wildcats, finishing with 17 points on a smooth 6-8 shooting, 2-4 from three and 3-4 from the line. He added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and zero turnovers in 37 minutes, second on the team behind only Sahvir Wheeler (39 minutes).

His six makes consisted of two effortless looks from deep, a mid-range pull-up off the dribble and some smooth buckets around the basket, including a few and-ones. He came in known for his defensive production, but his offensive growth continues to shine through, no matter his role on the team. On- or off-ball, Cason Wallace is going to make plays. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than the five-star rookie becoming Kentucky’s go-to offensive option come tournament time — after all, March is all about the guards.

Calipari cuts down the rotation

CJ Fredrick will miss a few weeks with a finger dislocation, a brutal hit for a player Kentucky needs to get rolling during conference play. Can’t let a career 47.7% 3-point shooter waste away on the bench, no matter what his early-season numbers say. There’s clear value there that needs to be utilized, just like Antonio Reeves — the team’s two best shooters on paper.

With Fredrick out, Calipari said it’s an opportunity for Adou Thiero to see the floor. He played just seven minutes and didn’t accumulate any stats. Daimion Collins, Lance Ware and Ugonna Onyenso combined for eight total minutes.

Chris Livingston played 20 minutes and Reeves played 16. Six players with at least 10 minutes, five with over 20. Calipari traditionally likes cutting his roster down to seven or eight by year’s end, but with four players seeing over 35 minutes, it’s interesting to think about where Kentucky’s head coach is going with this.

Is this simply due to Fredrick’s absence throwing a wrench into things? Does Calipari truly plan on expanding Thiero’s role, or is that just coachspeak to ensure the freshman guard sticks on the promising long-term path he’s on currently? Coach Cal said after the Missouri loss that Collins was the next player set to earn playing time. Can the same be said about him? There was quite a bit of praise for Ware’s contributions while Toppin was getting in the right headspace, almost in a ‘thanks for your service, we’ll take it from here’ kind of way.

For all of the recent complaints regarding Kentucky’s rotation and the lack of clarity and consistency that has come with it, today’s game was a complete 180 flip. Rather than throwing random combinations out there and praying for something to stick, Calipari rode with his core group. And it worked quite well.

Will that remain the same going into the meat of the SEC schedule? We’ll find out Tuesday when the Wildcats host LSU in Lexington.