Another game, another angry film breakdown. The loss to Richmond was an example of veterans beating up on young guys. Against Kansas, the offense simply was out of sync and couldn’t produce enough points to compliment a dominant performance defensively. Last night against Georgia Tech it was just an all systems failure on both ends of the floor. The most disappointing part of breaking this game down was that not only are the same mistakes being made game after game, but there seem to be even MORE issues as we move along the schedule.

Kentucky is turning the ball over at an alarming rate, playing scared offensively, and with a complete lack of concentration defensively. It is honestly hard to pick out just a few key points to focus on for this post after watching the film, but I’m going to do my best to not have this go on forever. Let’s just go ahead and get down to business.

Playing Scared-Turnovers

Any athlete should be offended if you call them out for playing scared. I hate to say it, but the Kentucky players look scared on the court right now. They are playing tight, completely sped up by the pace of the game, and not allowing their talent and athleticism to shine. Far too often a Kentucky player puts the basketball up over their head on the perimeter as opposed to being in an athletic stance. When we do get some dribble penetration we are either out of control leading to a charge or not playing off two feet which leads to bad passes and turnovers. On the perimeter, players catch the ball and immediately dribble it and pick it back up which completely wastes their dribble. They just look so sped up.

Take a look at this first clip. Dontaie Allen catches the ball several feet behind the 3-point line. Upon getting the catch he immediately puts the ball up over his head which means he cannot shoot and he cannot dribble. What he SHOULD do is take two hard dribbles to his right, give a high pass fake, and hit Sarr with a solid post entry pass. Instead, he throws a weak overhead pass with way too much air under it that easily gets picked off. That is not a college basketball play.

In this next clip you see an example of Devin Askew just playing too sped up. Davion Mintz throws the ball ahead to Askew in transition. First off, Kentucky needs to improve their transition decision making. We throw the ball ahead way too often. If you throw it ahead in transition it is ONLY for a shot or a drive to a layup. That is it. So, when Askew catches this ball it should signal to him that Mintz wants him to shoot it. Askew is wide open and even would have time for a rhythm dribble to set his feet and shoot it. Instead, he takes one dribble and then picks up the ball. Askew compounds his mistake by throwing a weak bounce pass that luckily isn’t stolen. This team, especially Askew, throws WAY too many bounces passes. That is a high school pass. In college you throw chest passes.

Here is another example of something Kentucky does far too often. Davion Mintz is able to get downhill off a ballscreen and is in a great position. He has a look at a little floater, he could throw the lob to Olivier Sarr since his man is helping up, or he could kick it out to a wide open Terrence Clarke in the corner. However, he decides to jump in the air and throw a two foot pass on a downward trajectory to Sarr. First off all, don’t jump to pass. Secondly, stop throwing two foot passes! Both Mintz and Askew throw way too many interior passes. Mintz should have either:

A) shot this and allowed Sarr to offensive rebound

B) thrown a lob to Sarr

C) kicked it to Clarke.

This play unfortunately leads to a 3-pointer by Georgia Tech to cap off a seven point run that quickly took the UK deficit from three points to ten.

-Good ball movement, changing sides of the floor, and a shot fake from Askew allow him to get great penetration.

-Clarke is WIDE open in the corner!!!

-Askew jumps to pass, something that he does far too often, and throws a one handed, sidearm pass that gets stolen before it even gets close to Clarke.

-This pass simply must be executed because it probably is three points. Instead, Georgia Tech hits a three on the other end.

Lack of Defensive Concentration

On the defensive end of the ball Kentucky really took a massive step back last night. After putting together a dominant performance on that end of the floor against Kanas, the ‘Cats had by far their worst defensive game of the season against Georgia Tech. Many of the mistakes are a product of not concentrating and/or recognizing the personnel. I have praised how far along Kentucky appeared to be defensively so far this season but last night’s effort left me with a lot of questions moving forward.

In this first clip you see a pretty typical Georgia Tech possession.

-Bubba Parham throws it to Moses Wright above the elbow to initiate the Princeton.

-Parham comes together on the “3-side” with Michael Devoe at the wing.

-Devoe back cuts and Parham pops for a catch.

-Wright goes and sets a ballscreen for Parham.

The issue here is that Isaiah Jackson is guarding Parham (that is how we are matched up at the time which is fine) and Olivier Sarr doesn’t yell out for them to just switch the ballscreen. Jackson and Sarr are interchangeable defensively and should switch this ballscreen every single time. It is disappointing that Sarr, a Senior, doesn’t recognize this and call it out from the beginning. Switching the ballscreen takes away this basket.

This transition defense clip is simply embarrassing. At every single level of basketball you are taught that when guarding in transition:

A) matchups don’t matter, you don’t have a “man”

B) you protect the basket first, then you stop the ball, then you matchup to the next most dangerous man.

Devin Askew, as the Point Guard, is always in charge of being the first defender down the court to protect the basket. However, despite seeing #1 Kyle Strudivant run ahead of him to the basket, Askew turns around at the 3-point line in order to guard his man which is Devoe with the ball. That is a mistake that hopefully will not occur again this season. You can see Coach Calipari call a timeout at the end of the clip and he proceeds to yell at Askew for several seconds.

This next clip is an example of just getting smoked due to lack of concentration. Moses Wright catches the ball beyond the 3-point line on the wing and Isaiah Jackson starts running at him just because he has the ball. WE WANT HIM TO SHOOT THAT! If Moses Wright shoots a 3-pointer that is a “win” for the possession. Instead, Jackson runs at him and gets absolutely smoked on a right-hand drive by a guy who only wants to drive it right!

Once again, Moses Wright is whipping one of our guys off the dribble. It was clearly equal opportunity as Olivier Sarr is the culprit this time.

-Sarr actually does a good job of taking away the initial right hand drive.

-After the behind the back dribble, Moses Wright gives a little left handed hesitation that Sarr completely falls for. HE IS ALWAYS COMING BACK RIGHT!!!

-The hesitation gives Wright a clear path to the basket for a right handed layup. Again, lack of concentration on Sarr’s part to fall for the left-handed hesitation.

Where to Go From Here

So, what does Kentucky need to be doing offensively to fix the problem? I have my answer, but that is a different post for a different time (Ballscreen Continuity Offense). Besides the spacing issues and lack of movement that still plague the offense, the biggest issue is that this is a BAD passing team right now. Here are a couple of examples of possessions that need to be fixed before this team gets any better.

Look at how open Terrence Clarke is!!! This ball just absolutely MUST get to Clarke’s hands. This is the type of weak basketball that we are seeing far too often on the perimeter. After Boston takes that one dribble he should have planted, used his right foot as the pivot and stepped through to throw a hard chest pass to Boston. Instead, we get a weak, on his heels, one-handed pass as he tries to reach out past the defender.

This is an example of a good play call and execution of getting Terrence Clarke as the baseline runner wide open against the zone. The overall offensive plan is certainly part of the problem, but often times it is the execution that is the downfall.

This is a look at a called Horns set from Coach Cal. This was a massive possession after cutting the lead to four points early in the second half. I’m glad we called a set, but it was poor execution and was doomed from the start. There are several issues here so let’s break them down one-by-one.

-First off, Davion Mintz is open on his basket cut. Olivier Sarr needs to be able to deliver that pass. That is a layup.

-Secondly, Isaiah Jackson should be on the left elbow for this play. I’m not trying to say I have all the answers, but Jackson is better in that spot than Sarr.

-The play is essentially an elbow post-on-post ballscreen so why wouldn’t you run that for Jackson instead of Sarr? Jackson is really good from the elbows!

-Terrence Clarke ends up with the ball. When he makes the pass to B.J. Boston he needs to just follow that pass on through. A) that creates a little rub screen action, but B) he is too close and can’t get away fast enough to not be in the way.

-Boston beats his closeout but because Clarke is still there his defender is able to stuff the gap and Boston essentially just loses the ball.

This was WAY too important of a possession to end up with an air-ball 30 foot 3-pointer as the clock expires.

This clip here is excellent defensive concentration from Olivier Sarr. THIS is what we need to see moving forward.

-This time, Sarr recognizes that he and Isaiah Jackson are involved in a screen so he switches onto Devoe.

-Sarr does an excellent job of stuffing the drive and keeping Devoe from getting to his left hand.

-Sarr then switches once again onto #4 Usher. He goes all the way to baseline to cut off his right hand and force him to spin back left where he misses a bunny.

Kentucky just doesn’t get the rebound. Obviously need to finish the possession, but that was excellent defense from Olivier Sarr!

Last clip, I promise. Let’s end this on a high note. I love this play by Terrence Clarke. This is why he can be so special and why he needs the ball in his hands as much as possible right now. He is very deliberate with the ball and is much more confident than anyone else on the team right now.

-Lots of noise on Twitter last night about how the weak side lob was there, not true. The weak side CORNER was the pass to make like Mintz does here.

-Clarke attracts two out of control closeouts.

-Look at how far he reaches out that first dribble as he beats the closeouts. He does a great job of driving the ball hard in a straight line.

-Excellent two-dribble pull-up.

@BRamseyKSR