KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's tough loss at Louisville

We knew both teams were good coming in — Final Four good, maybe, with a rematch potentially on the table in Indianapolis down the road. But someone had to win this first one, stupidly scheduled historically early for November 11, and it didn’t end up being the guys Big Blue Nation rooted for in a hostile KFC Yum! Center environment. Kentucky went into the hornet’s nest and got stung pretty good.

KSR has the takeaways from Louisville as the Wildcats move to 2-1 on the season following the 96-88 loss, one certain to eat away at this fanbase for a minute.

Louisville’s offense is better than Kentucky’s defense

The Wildcats entered the day ranked No. 4 nationally in defensive efficiency, holding both opponents to start the season to under 59 points. The Cardinals entered the day ranked No. 4 nationally in offensive efficiency, scoring at least 104 points in both wins to start the year. Something had to give there.

Unfortunately, it was Kentucky getting exposed on that end of the floor — an absolute disaster defensively, allowing Louisville’s best two players to score 53 points on a combined 32 shot attempts, including 20 looks beyond the arc. Mikel Brown Jr. looked like a top-10 pick, going for 29 points on 8-16 shooting with five assists and just one turnover, followed by Ryan Conwell with 24 points on 6-16 shooting. Elsewhere, Isaac McKneely somehow got seven attempts from deep off, despite being widely known as one of the best shooters in college basketball with 100 career games under his belt. That can’t happen.

There were moments when the basket felt ten feet wide for the Cardinals with soaring confidence, taking advantage of a lost group of Wildcats defensively. UofL was the hammer and UK was the nail, and that approach helped get the former to the line for an impressive 31 attempts compared to just 16 for the latter.

“All we do is work on the defensive end right now,” Pope said after the Nicholls win exactly a week ago.

That’s a tough look considering the on-court product at Louisville, no matter how you spin it.

Otega Oweh and Jaland Lowe were not good enough

Kentucky did not get enough out of its two Preseason All-SEC selections in one of the biggest games of the year, Oweh and Lowe combining for just 21 points on an abysmal 6-20 shooting with eight total turnovers.

Lowe’s struggles were more timely than anything, turning it over down eight with a chance to make it a two-score game with 7:10 to go, taking a pull-up three in transition with numbers down just six ahead of the final media timeout, then front-ending a one-and-one to potentially cut it to two with just over three minutes to go. He then fouled down five with 2:17 left to push it back up to three scores after free throws, a mark the Wildcats wouldn’t be able to clear again. Brown — now with 58 points in three games to begin his one-and-done campaign — looked like the guy with 65 career games and 50 starts under his belt, not the junior Lowe.

As for Oweh, there’s just not much to say about this one — a theme for him to start his senior season as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year. 12 points on 4-13 shooting and 1-6 from three, five rebounds, two steals, one block and five turnovers as a team-low minus-16 in the plus/minus. Not good enough for a player of his caliber and someone being leaned on as the go-to star on this roster.

“Well, I thought they were physical with him, I thought they brought a crowd,” Pope said of Oweh. “They did everything we didn’t do. They were really good at bringing a crowd and making him play through multiple defenders. We were really sticky with the ball. … It’s a credit to Louisville for playing the game the right way, and we got punished for not playing it the right way.”

More on that in a bit.

Aberdeen and Chandler led the charge in 20-point comeback

There weren’t many bright spots, but of them, Aberdeen and Chandler deserve credit for putting Kentucky in a position to have a chance in the second half as it worked its way back from down 20 points. Outside of the run, they kept the ship from sinking as Louisville’s momentum picked up, including the first mega lead the Cardinals earned early, up by 18 with 4:38 to go in the first half.

Aberdeen earned tough buckets at all three levels for a career-high 26 points on 10-20 shooting and 4-10 from three while adding a team-high seven rebounds with three assists, one steal and just one turnover in 31 minutes. As Lowe struggled to find his groove on both ends, the Florida transfer was right there to produce, making winning plays just as he did for the Gators en route to a national championship. You’ll never be able to question his heart.

As for Chandler, he continued his red-hot shooting start with a 4-7 clip for 12 points to move him to 54.5 percent on 24-44 from deep since March 1. When Kentucky needed life, he was there. When the Wildcats were making a real push in the second half, he was there, keeping that comeback dream a potential reality as the team held on for dear life.

Those two stood alone as top-tier impact pieces, giving UK a chance in a game it really didn’t deserve one.

4 points in the final 4:02

And then the wheels fell off, right when hope crept in and the nerves hit for Louisville fans in attendance, missing a chance to take advantage of the “Go Big Blue” and “C-A-T-S” chants from BBN. The crowd was a strong majority red, but the pockets of blue made their presence felt, especially up top by the rafters where that No. 1 Final Coaches Poll 2013 banner flaps in the breeze.

Down to four with 4:02 to go, Kentucky had a real chance to flip the game on its head and pull off the impossible. That led to a four-point finish in the final segment, all by Aberdeen, first on a pull-up jumper and followed by a driving layup. Those buckets were in the midst of a 7-2 run to push it back to nine with 1:33 left, making it all over but the shouting.

Like all game, when the Wildcats needed a stop, they couldn’t come up with one to put them over the edge.

Kam Williams sees a miniature breakthrough

He didn’t play a minute in the first half after starting the season in a serious shooting slump and watching his playing time dwindle, 0-5 in his first two games as a Wildcat, only to make a real impact in the second half — also during the team’s comeback push. Thrown into the game with nothing to lose, Williams knocked down his first triple of the season on a catch-and-shoot look, followed by a putback dunk to provide some energy right in the middle of the chaos.

The guy you couldn’t afford to leave on the floor quickly became the guy you couldn’t afford to take off. He finished with five points on 2-2 shooting while adding four rebounds and a block in 12 minutes for a team-high plus-11 in the plus/minus.

“I thought Kam gave us a little length and a little mobility, and his ability to kind of just have a little bit of gravity on the floor is important for us,” Pope said afterward. “… I thought he helped us tonight.”

Was this rivalry matchup all he needed to regain confidence? We’ll see how it translates on Friday.

14 assists and 14 turnovers vs. 20 assists and 6 turnovers

Ball security was nothing short of a nightmare. That was the difference in the game right there, as Pope made clear. Louisville was known for picking up 94 feet and forcing turnovers coming in, while Kentucky had a reputation for not turning teams over — again, something had to give there.

Both teams were who we thought they were in that area, unfortunately.

“The 20 to 6 compared to the 14 to 14 tells, really, the whole story of the game,” Pope said. “There are a lot of facets of the game where it got to that, but we’re gonna lose a 20-6, 14-14 game. We’re just gonna lose it.”

That goes back to the quote on the ball sticking with Oweh, who had five of those turnovers himself. It also goes back to the team’s defensive setback, unable to get out in transition because of those issues with just six fastbreak points and 10 points off turnovers.

20-6, 14-14. Ball game.