Numbers Never Lie: Notre Dame beats Kentucky in the paint

On paper, Kentucky had a huge advantage over Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish simply did not have a good matchup for big man Oscar Tshiebwe.

That played out on the floor as the West Virginia transfer went for 25 points on 14 shots, but Mike Brey was just fine with letting Kentucky hammer the post all game. The Irish shortened the contest and owned the paint by playing team basketball.

That all added up to another loss for the Kentucky basketball program as the Wildcats are just 9-16 in their last 25 games against power conference competition.

KSR has the numbers that led to another brutal loss for the Wildcats.

Notre Dame owns the paint

Entering the matchup, Oscar Tshiebwe appeared to be the best player on the floor. The rebounding machine was set to feast against a smaller Notre Dame front line that had given up a ton of offensive rebounds this season.

Despite having that on-paper advantage, Kentucky was unable to control the paint. That allowed Notre Dame to dictate the pace of the game.

The Irish outscored the Wildcats in the paint (38-26) and got off more shots at the rim (19-11) while limiting the Wildcats to just 61 possessions on offense. On the glass, Notre Dame held a plus-five advantage over a Kentucky team that had been dominant on the boards all season.

Kentucky’s offensive possessions were mostly limited to one shot, and Notre Dame took their time on the other end as neither side had success forcing turnovers. After a high tempo start, the Irish determined the terms of the game and just hung around long enough before taking a late lead and holding on for a victory.

With Tshiebwe in the paint, Kentucky needs to be a team that owns the interior. That did not happen Saturday in South Bend.

Cold shooting

Kentucky has a roster filled with veteran pieces in the backcourt. Sahvir Wheeler is the table-setter as Kellan Grady, Davion Mintz, and TyTy Washington are to serve as floor spacers.

The Wildcats need their perimeter players to hit shots to open up room for Tshiebwe in the post and Keion Brooks in the midpost. When the shots aren’t falling things can go bad.

Those things went off the rails against Notre Dame.

Kentucky’s guards were a combined 2 of 15 from three. Kentucky did get 6 makes on 12 shot attempts from two, but this group needs to pour in some threes. Grady made a big one as the shot clock wound down late in the second half, but overall it just wasn’t enough.

Add in the worst game of the season from Sahvir Wheeler, and you have a recipe for disaster in the loss.

Stats that stood out

• For the game, Kentucky attempted 15 free throws. Kentucky is currently 314th nationally in free throw rate. The Wildcats don’t get to the charity stripe consistently and that is a glaring weakness on a night when the shots aren’t falling from the outside.
• Oscar Tshiebwe is just plain awesome. The transfer big scored 25 points on 14 field goal attempts with seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Tshiebwe stuffed the stat sheet in a loss and is putting together an All-American season.
• Kentucky shot 63.9 percent from two-point range and lost. It should be very hard for that to happen, but that is possible when you lose the three-point (21-6) and rebounding battles.
• The Wildcats are just getting very limited bench production. Kentucky got just eight points off the pine in the loss and only Davion Mintz played more than 10 minutes. For a team that has a ton of depth, that is becoming a strange development.