Watch the Tape: Saint Peter's Peacocks

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It is safe to say that nobody wants to relive what happened on Thursday night in Indianapolis. However, before we can close the book on the 2021-2022 Kentucky Wildcats we do have to take a look back at the film. The Saint Peter’s Peacocks played their best game of the season and pulled off an all-time upset as just the tenth #15 seed to beat a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

From the opening tip it was clear that the Peacocks had no plans of going down without a fight. They were using Kentucky’s pressure defense to their advantage, shooting the ball with confidence, and taking it right at the Wildcats for 40 minutes. It was a top-to-bottom excellent performance for Coach Shaheen Holloway and his ball club.

As we do after each Kentucky game, we will step inside the KSR Film Room and breakdown the game. Unfortunately, this time there is no moving forward. The Wildcats have a long offseason ahead after losing to the Peacocks. Thursday’s game was an all-systems failure on the defensive end by Coach Calipari’s team. Let’s watch the film one last time together and see what led to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks’ historic victory.

Back Cuts, Back Cuts, Back Cuts

One of the most frustrating breakdowns for the Kentucky defense was the number of times they got back cut. We had talked in the pregame scouting report about how good of a cutting team the Peacocks were. They back cut in their 5-Out Motion a ton, always are cutting when the ball goes in the post, and just generally have great off-ball movement. However, the Wildcats seemed completely unprepared.

It didn’t take long for the Saint Peter’s Peacocks to use Kentucky’s defensive aggressiveness to their advantage. In general, getting out in the passing lanes is good, especially against lesser talented teams, but staying between them and the basket should have been the plan. There is just no reason to be 25 feet from the basket denying #5 Banks. If you watched any film of the Peacocks beforehand you knew they would back cut a ton so playing out beyond the three-point arc was a bad decision.

Saint Peter’s was really good all season long at cutting and moving off the ball when they had the ball in the post. Staying between your man and the basket was a critical point to taking away the back cuts. On this possession, there was just way too much attention being paid to the screen action on the opposite wing. Jacob Toppin needed to jump to the ball and Sahvir Wheeler should have been further in at the midline as well to potentially save Davion Mintz when he got back cut.

Once again, Kentucky gets caught out 25-feet from the basket trying to deny on the wings. This isn’t something that the Wildcats did all season long so it seems strange that they went to this aggressive of a defensive style against a team like Saint Peter’s. #5 Banks breaks towards the basket and gets thrown open for a layup. This happened far too often early in the game.

Giving the Peacocks Confidence

Once you allow a team like Saint Peter’s to hang around for a while, they will start to believe that they can actually win the game. Quick layups and uncontested three-pointers allowed them to see the ball go in early and give them confidence. It was simply too easy for the Peacocks to operate throughout the game. Kentucky tried to deny on the wings and had the press going early, but all it led to was more open shots for their opponent. The Wildcats just needed more stops early in the game to set the tone.

The token pressure early in the game wasn’t a bad idea. It makes sense why you would want to do that against Saint Peter’s. However, the execution wasn’t there and the Peacocks did a great job of exploiting it. Their guys were taking shots with confidence that they would have turned down in every other game over the course of the season. Sometimes when you are a #15 in the NCAA Tournament you come out and just play great with supreme confidence. Credit to Coach Holloway for getting his guys to play that way in Indianapolis.

Once you give up enough open shots you allow the other team to start making some tough ones. This is not a shot that anyone on the Peacocks would typically take. However, after seeing a few early ones go in they had the confidence to come off a ballscreen and knock in a pull-up three like this. It is hard to win when you start having the other team make the tough ones.

You just need to switch the ballscreen when there is this much space. #15 Lee got downhill and Keion Brooks Jr. wasn’t active enough at the point of the screen to stop him. There is too much space, too much comfortability, and not enough pressure from the defense on this play.

Too Much Space to Play in

As the game continued to go on Saint Peter’s was simply playing like the better team. They were getting whatever they wanted offensively and scoring in a variety of different ways. Their spacing was really good and allowed for their guards to operate in space and play much more comfortability than would have been expected. Kentucky was outplayed by the Saint Peter’s Peacocks for 45 minutes. As embarrassing as that is to admit it is absolutely true and was proven when breaking down the film.

Kentucky simply cannot get whipped off the dribble by #25 Edert. He is a good player, but the Wildcats have better players that did not play well enough to win. On this possession, Davion Mintz completely opens the gate and allows a right-hand drive to a guy who wants to drive it right. Also, Sahvir Wheeler needs to be better in the gap to take away this drive and preferably get a steal.

The ballscreen defense on this possession is completely non-existent. Keion Brooks Jr. is nowhere near the point of the screen and there is no help in the gaps off of the ball. #25 Edert was way too comfortable all game long. It is no surprise that you gave up 85 points to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks with the way the defense performed.

Kentucky got whipped consistently off of the dribble in some really frustrating ways. First off, they should have just switched this handoff. Secondly, Jacob Toppin needed to be all the way into the gap to stuff that drive. The Wildcats were too aggressive on the perimeter at times and then made poor decisions to guard guys who didn’t need to be guarded at other times. Not much went right on that end of the floor on Thursday.