Kentucky Basketball Suffers Season’s First Loss to UCLA
By Chad Adams
Kentucky Basketball falls to 11th-ranked UCLA as Cats defense gives up 10 3-pointers and 53-percent shooting by UCLA
UCLA, behind double-digit scoring from six different Bruins, knocked off the top-ranked Wildcats 97-92 before a packed house in Rupp Arena.
Issac Hamilton lead UCLA in scoring with 19 while TJ Leaf poured in 17 and Thomas Welsh, Lonzo Ball, and Bryce Alford all put up 14 in a balanced scoring attack from the Bruins. Kentucky’s Malik Monk lead all scorers with 24, to go with nine assists, while fellow freshmen recorded double-doubles as well, De’Aaron Fox with 20 points, nine assists, and Bam Adebayo 18 points, 13 rebounds, both career highs.
It was all setup to be a tremendous day. National television, Rupp Arena, the two most successful programs in the history of the sport – the young Cats’ first true test of the season, on the biggest of stages. It was all setup to be a tremendous day. Until it wasn’t. And it showed right out of the gate.
This is a lesson for us. We didn’t have the energy. – John Calipari
“This is a lesson for us,” said head coach John Calipari. “We didn’t have the energy. I had to call a timeout a minute into the game. I mean, just wasn’t the same team. How about this one? We had 16 assists. Why didn’t we pass it today? Because it was national television, it’s my time? We all look bad. There are great lessons out of this. I wish we would have come back and won. I would have liked to learn from that lesson a little bit more. But sometimes you need to get hit on the chin, especially at home.”
The fast break points didn’t come, the shots didn’t fall, 50-50 balls seemed to continually go the Bruins’ way – in short, the Cats just didn’t have enough against a solid UCLA team that was extremely ready for the big stage. GAME STATS
In a game where the usually fast-breaking Wildcats only scored 10 points in transition, yet still managed to score 42 points in the paint, get 20 points off 18 forced turnovers, winning the turnover margin by nine, the defense was ultimately still the problem.
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Kentucky allowed six different Bruins to score in double figures, as UCLA shot 53-percent from the field, including 43.5-percent from 3-point range, a defensive point of emphasis by Cal for his players coming into the game. But the Bruins spotted up all game long, hitting 10 shots from behind the arc, a +6-point advantage from 3-point range over the Cats. Kentucky continually broke down as different Bruins drove toward the paint, resulting in easy layups, or kick outs for mid-range jumpers and 3-pointers.
It was everything Cal had been preaching to his players all season long, and the breakdowns and lack of defensive discipline finally showed against a team of equal ability and athleticism.
“The reality of it is, we are a defensive team. We walked into this game thinking, ‘We’re just going to try to score.’ I had a bunch of guys play that way. That’s why they had what they had at halftime. It’s okay on an out-of-bounds play to give them a lay-up? They had two of those. What? That is where we got to go with this. Again, these are all lessons. That’s why you play a season. The great thing about college basketball is you’d like to learn from close wins, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way, you got to learn from a loss. That’s what we’ll try to do.”
Big Blue Nation fans were no doubt frustrated today, watching Kentucky commit breakdowns of all types, letting a frantic, at times downright hectic-paced game, one that was winnable, get away. But this was a great atmosphere for this young basketball team, in a hard-fought game against the type of opponents they will have to learn to beat come March. Remember the ’96 team and it’s early loss to Calipari’s UMass? That worked out just fine.
Learn and get better, its early December after all.