Watch the Tape: UCLA Bruins

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It happened again. The Kentucky Wildcats were once again unable to closeout a basketball on Saturday evening falling to the UCLA Bruins 63-53. A new ugly statistic has emerged from the ‘Cats most recent loss as well. Since the 2019-2020 season, Kentucky is now just 4-13 versus Top 25 opponents. Big Blue Nation is growing very tired of setting new “records” like that.

The Wildcats were atrocious down the stretch offensively finishing the game 0-11 in the final 4:31. Zero points were put on the board after cutting the UCLA lead to two. The inability to win close games in the final minutes has been a lingering issue that spans the 4-13 record in Top 25 matchups of the past few seasons. Unfortunately, it is starting to look like the “reason” is that Kentucky simply isn’t very good. They are good enough to beat the weaker teams, compete towards the top of the SEC, and play the best teams close. However, they are not good enough to consistently win those games that mean the most.

As we do after every game, it is time to step inside the film room and breakdown Kentucky’s loss to UCLA. It isn’t fun and nobody should want to do it, but losing can still lead to learning. Coach Calipari and the staff will continue to try and figure out what is best for the ‘Cats. Southeastern Conference play hasn’t even started yet so there is still time. However, it is starting to look less likely that there is much light at the end of the tunnel in Lexington. Let’s dive on in and diagnose what went wrong against the UCLA Bruins.

Poor Offensive Execution – Disjointed & Unorganized

The most troubling part of watching the Kentucky Wildcats offensively is that it often isn’t clear what the plan is. Sometimes you miss shots or simply get defended well. However, the ‘Cats make it easy on their opponents by dribbling too much, not sprinting around the floor, and by seemingly not knowing their own play calls. That was certainly true on Saturday against the UCLA Bruins as Kentucky looked disjointed from the opening tip. Let’s take a look.

It didn’t take long for Kentucky to look out of sorts. On the very first possession the players look unsure of where they should be going on the floor. There is no crispness. The ball sticks in the hands of both Oscar Tshiebwe and Cason Wallace. Antonio Reeves has proven to be a liability off the ball at times. It shows that he is used to playing in a system where he has the ball in his hands the majority of the time. He is a bad cutter and often times is in the way of what the ‘Cats are trying to do. That was certainly the case against the UCLA Bruins. Embarrassing first possession.

A college basketball team should be more prepared for their first exhibition game than Kentucky looked at times on Saturday. The game was played on December 17th. This was the Wildcats 10th game of the season. To still not even be able to initiate offense is embarrassing. Disjointed and disorganized are the two words that kept coming to mind when watching the offense against UCLA. If you don’t know what to do just go sprint into a ballscreen and play.

This possession is a perfect encapsulation of Kentucky’s offensive struggles. All five players were standing on one side of the floor for essentially the entire clip and it led to a turnover. You have players tripping over each other and guys standing side by side around the basket. Offensive success isn’t even possible with this sort of spacing.

There was really no point here of Coach Calipari having Sahvir Wheeler pull the ball out to set up this action. Wheeler was probing the defense early in the shot clock, but was asked to pull it out only to get to the exact same action. With Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tsheibwe essentially occupying the same space there is just nowhere for Wheeler to throw the ball. Jumping to pass certainly doesn’t help. After several more fumbles and dribbles off the foot by Kentucky, the UCLA Bruins dunk it on the other end.

Questionable Ballscreen Defense Game Plan

Tyger Campbell is a very good basketball player. You don’t make back-to-back First Team All-Pac 12 teams by accident. However, Kentucky made it all too easy for the UCLA Bruins point guard on Saturday. Campbell is much more dangerous as a driver than as a shooter. He wants to get his defender on his hip and play in the intermediate range. The Wildcats defensive game plan, which was to have Sahvir Wheeler go over the top of the ballscreens, allowed Campbell to get exactly what he wanted. Going underneath the ballscreens would have made it easier for Wheeler to stay between him and the basket. It would be interesting to know if Coach Calipari would do it differently a second time around.

Coach Calipari was up on this one trying to get Sahvir Wheeler to back off and go under the high flat ballscreen. However, the communication came just a split second too late. Wheeler is a good on-ball defender who can disrupt the opponent’s rhythm with his ball pressure. You don’t necessarily want to take that away from him. When he gets blown by off the dribble though something has to give. It is hard to guard UCLA’s Tyger Campbell 40+ feet from the basket.

This breakdown is as much on Jacob Toppin as it is Sahvir Wheeler. There is no ballscreen defense coverage that looks like this. Why isn’t Toppin at least flat hedging as Campbell comes off? Wheeler probably should have been instructed to hop under the ballscreens, but even if he wasn’t, this defense is no good. The UCLA Bruins were able to consistently exploit the Wildcats defensive game plan on the ballscreens.

Under no scenario, regardless of defensive coverage, should you allow the ball handler to reject the ballscreen. It is especially bad when you allow him to reject going to his strong hand. Tyger Campbell significantly outplayed Sahvir Wheeler at Madison Square Garden.

Despite the UCLA Bruins success off of the ballscreen in the first half, Kentucky did not adjust their plan to begin the second half. Wheeler continued to fight over top of the ballscreens which allowed Campbell to consistently get downhill and play in his favorite intermediate range. The lack of an adjustment was most disappointing. It isn’t really Wheeler’s fault when he is doing what he was clearly told to do. The schematic mistake put the Wildcats point guard in a tough situation.

More Offensive Clips – Both Good & Bad

We’ve talked a lot about what went wrong against the UCLA Bruins. We will continue to talk about that because, frankly, a lot went wrong. However, Kentucky was still down just two points with 4:30 to go against a very good team. It truly isn’t all doom and gloom regardless of how bad it feels right now. After looking at a couple more offensive clips featuring poor execution we will end with a couple of positives clips.

Lance Ware plays very hard. He is tough. He understands his role and doesn’t try to do too much. However, having him at the 4-spot does really hinder some things offensively. Of course, Jacob Toppin doesn’t really solve those issues either because the UCLA Bruins weren’t worried about guarding him at all. This isn’t Ware’s fault, but it deserves to be addressed. Kentucky actually gets to some good offense here. Sahvir Wheeler drives, Cason Wallace relocates and cuts to the basket. Unfortunately, both Oscar Tshiebwe and Lance Ware are essentially occupying the same space at the rim. There is nobody in the weakside corner for the drift pass. It would be nice if the Wildcats could have a shooter in there to space the floor.

Kentucky’s inability to feed the post in the first half seemed to make them tentative to go to Oscar Tshiebwe later down the stretch. Just like the other clip of Wheeler turning it over on the post feed, it is really hard to enter the post directly down the lane line. He should have moved the ball ahead to Cason Wallace and let him feed the post. That would have been a much better angle.

Ball movement, player movement, and changing sides of the floor can cover up a lot of offensive deficiencies. This possession features an early ball reversal, a quick pistol type action with Wallace and Ware, and then another ball reversal. Wheeler displays some patience as the shot clock reaches 10 seconds and eventually finds Tshiebwe for an And-1 at the rim. This play brought the ‘Cats within a made free throw of taking the lead.

Coach Calipari deserves criticism. When your team consistently looks disjointed and disorganized it eventually falls on the head coach. That is fair. However, it would be disingenuous to say he isn’t trying to figure things out. It also isn’t true that he never calls plays for shooters. Kentucky has actually had quite a bit of success this season on his half-court sets like this one above. The Wildcats needed a bucket and they got a three from Reeves after using him as a backscreen in this Horns ballscreen set.