KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's 65-60 road loss at LSU

Kentucky’s stretch of dominant play is over, falling to the LSU Tigers on the road 65-60. Coming off four consecutive victories of 27 points or more, the Wildcats couldn’t overcome injury and poor shooting in a hostile road environment, moving the team’s record to 11-3 on the year.

How did the loss come together? And what does it mean for the Wildcats as they look ahead to their matchup against Georgia on Saturday?

Sahvir Wheeler goes down early, TyTy Washington cramps late

Kentucky was without its starting point guard for 36 minutes, with Sahvir Wheeler leaving the game with a head injury just before the first TV timeout. The junior guard ran into an Efton Reid screen with 16:07 to go and fell to the floor in pain, needing assistance from trainers walking off the floor.

Clearly shaken up from the hit, Wheeler was taken straight to the locker room and never returned. He finished with zero points, one assist, one rebound and one turnover in four minutes for the Wildcats.

To make matters worse, TyTy Washington went down with cramps midway through the second half, taking out Kentucky’s two primary ball handlers. He exited the game with 9:17 to go and returned at the 6:00 mark, but was clearly struggling on both ends of the floor. The freshman guard then subbed out for good with 3:55 to go, leaving a final lineup of Davion Mintz, Kellan Grady, Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware and Oscar Tshiebwe to close things out.

Washington would finish with five points on 2-9 shooting to go with six rebounds, four assists, one block, one steal and two turnovers.

Kentucky scores three points in 11 minutes

Kellan Grady knocked down a 3-point jumper with 13:06 to go in the game, giving Kentucky its largest lead of the day at nine points (50-41).

From there, UK scored just three points in over 11 minutes — Oscar Tshiebwe had a dunk with 6:44 to go, followed by a single free throw from Jacob Toppin with 2:25 remaining. LSU’s 20-3 run would come to an end with 1:52 to go when Davion Mintz knocked down two free throws.

Tshiebwe’s dunk was the only made basket for Kentucky between the 13:06 and 1:20 marks, a 11:46 scoring drought for the Wildcats. It was a stretch that included 13 total misses from the field or free-throw line.

Wheeler’s absence hurt, but Washington’s imploded the offense, taking out the team’s two lead guards down the stretch. Mintz was left as the only primary ball-handler, with Grady being the only other top scoring option at guard. Needless to say, the cupboard was bare when it mattered most.

Missed free throws

Playmaking was an understandable issue with Wheeler and Washington out, but missed free throws weren’t. It was simply a horrendous shooting night at the line for the Wildcats across the board, finishing just 10-20 overall, good for an abysmal 50 percent across the board.

Individually, Lance Ware and Oscar Tshiebwe combined for 0-7 from the line, making up the bulk of the misses. Mintz, Grady and Toppin added one apiece to round out the team’s struggles from the charity stripe.

Davion Mintz is a warrior

The sixth-year graduate transfer was Kentucky’s dagger thrower last season, regularly knocking down shots to keep the Wildcats in games late or lead the team to victory. After slowly ramping up production in UK’s last two games, Mintz finished with a season-high 16 points on 4-12 shooting, 3-8 from three and 5-6 from the line.

Down eight with two minutes to go, Mintz scored seven straight points to cut LSU’s lead to just one with 27 seconds to go. It wasn’t enough to pull off the win, but the sixth-year guard gave the Wildcats a shot down the stretch.

With 16 points, Mintz also reached the 1,000-point mark in his career, putting up 1,014 career points over 133 games at Creighton and Kentucky.

A tale of two halves for Kellan Grady

Coming into the day hitting 20 of his last 31 attempts from three, Kellan Grady went cold to open Kentucky’s trip to Baton Rouge. He finished the first half with just one point on 0-7 shooting and 0-6 from three, struggling to get anything to fall on the perimeter, even with solid looks.

To open the second half, though, Grady knocked down four straight 3-pointers, with his final make giving UK its biggest lead of the day. He took one more shot from deep with 11:05, but didn’t have a single attempt again until the final second of the game, a blocked three at the buzzer. 11 minutes with zero attempts in a stretch Kentucky was desperate to put points on the board.

Blame it on coaching, a lack of playmaking, Grady not being aggressive enough, or LSU’s stout defense, whatever, it simply wasn’t enough.

Jacob Toppin keeps the Wildcats in it in the first half

With Kentucky looking for scoring help in the first half, Jacob Toppin came through, putting up 13 points on 6-6 shooting and 1-1 from the line to go with four rebounds and a rebound in eight minutes.

The junior forward was a burst of energy for Kentucky on both ends of the floor, exploding for highlight plays on offense and making an impact with his length on defense. When no one else could step up for the Wildcats — no other player had more than six points at the break — Toppin was that guy.

Toppin’s impact took a hit at halftime, at least in terms of scoring. He shot just 0-3 from the field and 1-2 from the line to finish with one point after the break, clearly struggling with the ball in his hands. He did, however, add another four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal to the stat sheet.

The 6-foot-9 forward would ultimately finish with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 27 minutes.

No ranked wins for the resume

Kentucky impressed in its four-game winning streak following the team’s loss at Notre Dame, defeating North Carolina, Western Kentucky, Missouri and High Point by an average of 33.8 points per contest. The Wildcats looked like world-beaters, knocking down shots, scoring points and fighting on defense. They moved into the top-20 of both offensive and defensive efficiency in the latest KenPom Ratings because of it.

In its two tests against ranked opponents in Duke and LSU, though, UK couldn’t pull out wins. In their first two true road trips of the season in South Bend and Baton Rouge, the Wildcats couldn’t overcome the adversities to come out on top.

This team is clearly talented and capable of making a run during postseason play. Two fluke injuries and a poor shooting night leading to a difficult road loss in a hostile environment shouldn’t change the long-term outlook of this group. That being said, the Wildcats won’t be taken seriously as major threats until they start winning these sorts of games. They had their chances to make it happen this evening, but came up short — even considering the circumstances.

Respect won’t come with wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively. The next chance for Kentucky to make a statement will be on January 15 when the Tennessee Volunteers head to Lexington.