If you want to know why Kentucky got run out of Memorial Gymnasium, you don't need a degree in analytics. You don't have to look at the advanced stats. You just need to look at the assist-to-turnover ratio.
Kentucky finished with 8 assists and 15 turnovers and shot 19-59 from the floor and had some embarrassing moments.
For a Mark Pope offense that relies on ball movement, cutting, and sharing the sugar, that stat line is a non-starter. And the head coach knew it.
"That is really frustrating," Pope said to Tom Leach after the game. "The initial thrust and physicality of the game got us sideways... We are shooting 7 percent from the field, we are not earning the shots we earn for each other."
That is a common theme for this team, they just don't consistently pass the ball well enough, nor rebound good enough to play hero ball.
Nashville is Brick City for the Cats
The shooting numbers were just as ugly as the ball handling. In addition to the 19-of-59 (32%) from the floor, they were a frigid 6-of-24 (25%) from three.
- Otega Oweh: 20 points, but it took him 19 shots (7-19 FG) to get there. Brutal efficiency.
- Andrija Jelavic: 2 points, 1-5 FG.
- Collin Chandler: 4 points, 1-6 FG.
- Jasper Johnson: 5 points, 1-5 FG.
And it wasn't like they were burning it from the free throw line either, finishing just 11-19 (58%).
No flow, just force
Pope talked about the need for guys to be forceful, but there is a difference between attacking and forcing. Oweh tried to put the team on his back in the second half, but it often resulted in chaotic drives into traffic.
"It's important, but we need to do that to engage our team and the game," Pope said of Oweh's aggression. "That has been a space where we've been fighting a difficult battle all year long."
That is just a fancy way of saying the team does not want to compete hard enough.
When you shoot 32% and turn it over 15 times, you aren't beating anyone in the SEC. You're lucky you didn't lose by 50.