KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's collapse against Georgia

Right when you think you’ve figured this team out, Kentucky finds new ways to surprise you. Worried about a slow start, considering the lesser competition and sleepy 9 PM tip? The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening segment — and it should’ve been 9-2, had the officials opened their eyes to see an obvious goaltend just over a minute in — and led 27-19 with 7:34 to go in the first half. Considering Georgia’s slip to bubble status after losing five of six with four of those losses by 15-plus, Mark Pope’s group was in a position to go for the early kill, had it kept the foot on the gas.

Instead, the Cats put it in cruise control, choking away the lead before half to watch the Bulldogs go up five at the break, then push it to eight on the opening possession of the second. It would get up to as many as 12 points, forcing UK to fight for another unnecessary miracle with unanswered prayers down the stretch, despite cutting it to three with 2:13 to go. UGA would end the game on a 5-0 run to steal the 86-78 win, a deserved result for the home team that can’t seem to get out of its own way.

One step forward, two steps back.

The reality is that that was Kentucky’s second-easiest game left on the schedule with four Quad 1 opportunities to go out of five total matchups. The Cats could win out and we’d all laugh about this ahead of a Friday start in Nashville, but there is also unfortunately still time for the wheels to fall off and this season to get really uncomfortable, especially for Pope. At minimum, this one drops you a seed line and gives you three home losses on the year in a building that hasn’t seen much losing since it opened in 1976. Oh, and Vanderbilt and Florida wrap up the Rupp schedule on February 28 and March 7, respectively. Are we just supposed to assume those two games are layups?

Nothing will be easy the rest of the way, and with nine losses already, it’s the same feeling we had coming out of that Missouri loss in the SEC home opener. A lot is possible, but what is probable? Both KenPom and Bart Torvik will tell you that Kentucky is projected to lose four of its last five games for a projected 19-12 finish overall and 10-8 in league play. That’s just not good enough, nor is it understanding the assignment, should chalk hold.

For now, though, let’s talk through the issues against Georgia before worrying about what’s to come, starting Saturday at Auburn.

Another day of ho-hum shooters making open shots

Georgia came in making 9.1 threes per game (No. 84 nationally) with a hit rate of 31.7 percent (No. 298). The Bulldogs went on to hit six in the first half, then another seven in the second to finish an insane 14-31 at 45.2 percent.

Smurf Millender (4-5), Blue Cain (3-5) and Jeremiah Wilkinson (3-8) combined for 10 makes from deep while Kanon Catchings, Kareem Stagg and Jake Wilkins hit the others. Millender is the team’s best shooter at 37.3 percent — no excuse to let him squeeze off five attempts. Cain is similar to Florida’s Xaivian Lee as a capable shooter whose numbers don’t reflect his ability, starting 3-32 from three to open SEC play before going 10-21 in his last four. Wilkinson isn’t lethal at 33.5 percent on the year, but he had nine games of three-plus makes from deep heading into Kentucky. Are we stunned he shot 37.5 percent?

You have to trust your scout and choose your battles against, statistically, a bad three-point shooting team, but that doesn’t mean you leave them wide-open for H-O-R-S-E shots and let them build confidence. These Wildcats didn’t get the memo.

“We were not good defensively tonight,” Pope said. “In the second half, they shoot 57 percent from the three-point line. They are the lowest assist-per-field goal-made team in our league, and they were 20 (assists) and 7 (turnovers) tonight. That’s just a poor commentary on defensive effort. Inexplicably to start the second half, we just abandon defensive assignments and also Georgia made some good plays. 

“So that was disappointing effort from us and it’s going to be hard to win when you let people shoot that well.”

Turnovers, free throws were other killers

Georgia forced 13 turnovers, leading to 22 points the other way. That compares to just seven cough-ups for the Bulldogs and nine points off turnovers for Kentucky. Shots were falling at an uncharacteristic rate for the visitors, but if you want to get specific on how they got so many possessions to hit the 1.246 PPP mark with 14 made threes, it helps being a minus-six on turnovers and plus-13 on points off turnovers.

Elsewhere, it was a 29-8 bench advantage for UGA with 20 assists on 29 made shots compared to 13 assists on 27 baskets for UK. The Cats also went just 12-20 at the charity stripe (60.0 percent FT) compared to 14-19 for the Bulldogs (73.7 percent) — sure could’ve used those eight points in an eight-point loss!

Georgia also turned 10 offensive rebounds in the second half into 12 second-chance points while Kentucky once again failed to convert on half of its layups. Layups! It’s all part of a losing recipe.

Collin Chandler is a special shooting talent (and he needs more looks)

With the worst parts out of the way, there was still some good worth mentioning. Chandler belongs in that conversation, continuing his streak of red-hot shooting from the perimeter with a 6-10 finish — including a 6-7 start — just a few days removed from his 5-7 effort in Gainesville against the Gators.

He finished with 18 points on 6-11 overall with four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes. He’s now hit that career-high 18-point mark in three of his last four games with a fifth in the win against Texas back on January 21. Since the Vanderbilt loss on Jan. 27, he’s shooting an absolutely bonkers 20-35 from three at 57.1 percent.

Captain Clutch nearly got another one, too, front-ending a bomb from the logo that would have tied it with 1:21 to go. I’m not sure Rupp Arena would have survived that celebration, one just an inch or two away from reality.

All of that being said, take away his three desperation misses in the final 2:25 of the game, how are we only drawing up two first-half shot attempts for the deadliest sniper in the SEC while a comfortable lead slips away and becomes a deficit? How does he go nearly five minutes without a single three as a one-point Georgia lead turns into nine in the second half? Chandler is on a different planet in terms of confidence and consistency; feed him.

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Kentucky isn’t in it without Otega Oweh

He was coming off an inefficient 4-14 shooting performance in Gainesville, and also went 3-13 against the Bulldogs in Athens a year ago. Oweh was undoubtedly looking for a bounce-back performance in this one with revenge on the mind, and he turned that into a career-high-tying 28 points on 11-18 shooting and 3-5 from three with four rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes. He accounted for three of the team’s eight missed free throws and turned it over four times, but you’re not going to play perfect basketball in hero mode with your teammates and coaches expecting you to save the day.

Oweh became just the third Kentucky player since 2004-05 to score at least 28 points in an SEC regular season game in consecutive years, joining only Oscar Tshiebwe (2021-23) and Joe Crawford (2006-08). Receiving his 1,000-point scorer ball before the opening tip — just the fifth Wildcat transfer to hit that milestone — he was all gas and no brakes the rest of the way, including a stretch where he scored 10 of the team’s first 13 points out of halftime to cut it back to two.

Again, like my Chandler gripes, why is he not taking a single shot between the 16:02 and 10:31 marks of the second half with the deficit growing to 11? Just can’t happen.

Now, I’d prefer he not punt the basketball out of bounds with Kentucky down three and just 1:11 left on the clock — the final nail in the coffin for the Cats — but at the end of the day, the Wildcats aren’t in it to begin with without Oweh. That was truly an SEC Player of the Year performance.

Minimal bench help for the Cats

Oweh (28), Chandler (18) and Denzel Aberdeen (14) — he had 10 in the second half with a pair of triples to make things interesting — were the leading scorers, all doing their part. Elsewhere? Not much.

Malachi Moreno had six points, seven rebounds and three blocks, but he turned it over three times and let Somto Cyril go for 14 points on 6-8 shooting with eight rebounds, two steals and a block. Jasper Johnson struggled defensively and shot just 2-8 while Andrija Jelvavic had his fair share of defensive slip-ups to go with some head-scratching turnovers. Brandon Garrison had a rough night on both ends while Mo Dioubate only scored a single point to go with his nine boards and six (massively clutch) offensive rebounds.

When your backups combine for just eight points and the entire team outside of Oweh, Chandler and Aberdeen adds a total of 18, you’re not going to win many basketball games, no matter the competition.

These double-digit deficits have to stop

A fastbreak three for Chandler cut the Georgia lead to just one point at the 13:23 mark, Kentucky down 56-55. Then the Wildcats blinked and they were down by 11 at 66-55 with 10:56 to go, thanks to four straight field goals for the Bulldogs and no points for the home team in 2:28. That 10-0 run took all of 1:45, then it got pushed to 12 with 9:20 on the clock.

Again, UK’s start was fine, up eight with 7:34 remaining in the first half. It’s just the complacency that hit this group like a sack of bricks that continues to drive fans absolutely nuts. This isn’t new, nor is it a surprise. Without fail, they will spot you a double-digit lead before fighting like hell to steal it back before the final horn sounds. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a blast when it works, maddening when it doesn’t.

Either way, the numbers are starting to turn a fun identity into a damning habit under Pope in year two. His Wildcats have trailed by at least 12 in 13 of 19 games against high-major competition. They’ve also trailed at halftime in 15 of 19 games against high-majors.

Play with fire, get burned.