KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's feel-good response vs. Loyola (Md.)

Now that is how you respond coming off an ugly effort in New York City, Kentucky turning a 17-point loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic into an 88-46 blowout win over Loyola (Md.) just a few days after returning home to Lexington. Back where the Wildcats belong at Rupp Arena, they set the tone from the opening tip and controlled the game essentially every second the rest of the way — all but 24 seconds, to be specific — leading by as many as 48 points in the rout.

How did it all come together for Mark Pope’s group in game six of the season? KSR has the top takeaways from Rupp.

Bring on the balance

There were individual standouts, but nobody scored more than 13 points and no one had fewer than six — as well-rounded a performance you’ll see in a blowout victory. Not only did every scholarship Wildcat score, they all scored multiple times with eight earning at least three buckets.

The efficiency was there, too, with only two scholarship players finishing under the .500 mark — Collin Chandler (13 points, 5-12 FG, 3-6 3PT) and Jasper Johnson (nine points, 3-9 FG, 2-5 3PT), producing at a high level, but coming up just short.

As a group, UK went into halftime shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three, then finished 48.7 percent overall and 37.0 percent from deep. Tough second half, but things get sloppy when you’re up by a million. It doesn’t take away from all of the good — while still scoring 1.086 points per possession in the final 20 minutes, 1.275 for the game.

Where did this come from, Kam Williams?

There may not have been a player more impressive than the Tulane transfer, who finally saw things click for him as a Wildcat. Was it because of his first start? Could it have been the new hair? Simply more opportunities in the expanded role? Whatever it was, it worked for Williams, who finished with 13 points on 5-9 shooting and 1-4 from three — stressing his impact beyond what he’s known to do as a perimeter sniper — while adding nine rebounds, four assists and three steals with no turnovers in 26 minutes.

My goodness, he was terrific. He popped as an athlete, exploding to the basket on drives and putback efforts, but also got a buzzer-beater to fall from deep at the halftime break. Williams was excellent defensively and a terror on the glass, just giving this team everything it was looking for when they brought him in this offseason.

He replaced the injured Mo Dioubate as the starting four, so it’ll be interesting to see how his role changes when the Alabama transfer returns to game action, if it changes at all. Tonight, he earned the chance to prove himself again next go-round ahead of Thanksgiving — game-wrecking production.

Kentucky wins on the move

The game was likely decided when it was put on the schedule to begin with, but after the ball was tipped, Kentucky won the game by absolutely dominating in transition. The Wildcats scored 33 fastbreak points compared to just three for the Greyhounds to go with 24 points in transition for the former and two for the latter.

There were other numbers to back up their dominance, namely the 56-33 advantage on the glass and a 52-16 difference in paint points, but their ability to get up and down the floor and find scoring opportunities at every level while spreading the love on lobs and perimeter looks kept Loyola uncomfortable all night with no clear answers for slowing Kentucky down.

“Welcome back, my friend.”

Otega Oweh just hasn’t been himself, and he admitted that after the Michigan State loss, saying his energy and effort weren’t where they needed to be through five games and everything would fall into place for him once he got those things in order. Then he came out against Loyola like a bat out of hell, scoring in the first 15 seconds, followed by another less than a minute into the game — plus one more less than two minutes in. Those transition opportunities we talked about? Oweh was the enforcer for a lot of it, playing with the edge that made him a delight to watch all of last year.

His approach had been nonchalant and unimpressive, no matter what his counting stats suggested about his on-court impact. It just wasn’t good enough. Tonight, even scoring a season-low 11 points on 5-9 shooting with five rebounds, three steals, two assists and two steals, Oweh looked like a difference-maker on both ends. He was dominant offensively in the first half, then took over defensively in the second.

“I think he took it personally. … The passion and commitment defensively is where he’s going to build his game,” Pope said. “I felt like, ‘Welcome back, my friend.’ Like, let’s go with that, where you just refuse to let anybody get by you. … That guy is our guy, and him finding that a little bit, maybe for the first time this season, meant a lot to me.”

Brandon Garrison was ‘best story of the night’ in response to benching

Out goes BG, in comes Moreno — a deserved exchange considering both players’ recent play, the junior trending way down and the freshman trending way up. The latter enjoyed a near-double-double, going for 10 points on 5-10 shooting with eight rebounds, four blocks, two assists and a steal in 23 minutes, filling his role and doing his job in the blowout win. Exactly what the doctor ordered, and Pope was a fan.

“Malachi has been playing well,” he said.

Then he pivoted, looking to put the spotlight on Garrison for how he handled the demotion. Coming off the bench, he went for six points on 3-7 shooting while adding a career-high 11 rebounds with one assist, one steal and two turnovers in 20 minutes. Rather than pouting, he came in and made an impact — something this team will need if it plans on hanging a banner this year.

“Maybe the best story of the night, guys, the story you’re looking for is BG’s response,” Pope said. “I mean, he’s an 11-rebound guy. … Has he been an 11-rebound guy starting? That’s the beautiful thing, you know? … BG was an incredible example tonight of learning, of holding on to that lesson — at least for one night. It’s like, ‘Hey, so listen, Coach decided not to start me. I’m gonna go be unbelievable in my 20 minutes off the bench. He wasn’t perfect, but his effort was great.”

Mark Pope is a terrible loser and he knows it

Look, we’re not stupid. Kentucky doesn’t play a team with a pulse until December and we have to deal with the terribleness of Michigan State and Louisville at least until North Carolina comes to town. Until then, we have to enjoy these wins — another one is essentially guaranteed next Wednesday against Tennessee Tech — with the bad taste still in our mouths. The good news? Mark Pope is, too.

In fact, he opened up about his body language and response to those losses, especially the most recent one in New York City that saw him show up to the press conference late, give short, ho-hum answers, only to follow that up with worse appearances with Tom Leach during postgame radio and Jeff Goodman with The Field of 68.

Pope admitted that it wasn’t his best look because he’s very comfortably a ‘terrible loser.’

“I stunk after Michigan State, I was terrible. I’m just — listen, guys, I’m a terrible, terrible loser. I’m the worst. That maybe that disqualifies me from this position. I hate it with a passion that is unknown on the planet Earth. I hate it, and especially here. We’re representing this — this jersey matters, this thing matters.”

No matter how bad the appearances, it all came from a good place, his desire to win at the highest level at his alma mater. And now that he’s hit rock bottom here, he can’t wait to prove he’s capable of digging himself out of the hole and come out the other side holding a trophy above the team’s head.

“… I was so proud of myself for not saying the things that I wanted to say, actually, but we got a long slog ahead of us, and I’m hyped,” he continued. “I’m telling you, this is my heaven space, right? It’s ugly and it’s tough and it’s great. Like, that’s — man, it’s what I’m born to do, and that’s what this group is born to do. We’re gonna hit some hard space, but we’ll bring it. Let’s go. I’m actually so happy in the misery of it, I just love every second of it.

“I love the fact that we’re a little bit in the hole and we get to pick ourselves out. That’s inspiring to me. I’m so good guys. I’m really good. I’m pissy, but I’m good.”