Kentucky had an eight-point lead in the first half. They were at home. They were playing a Georgia team that was desperate for a resume-building win and had not tasted victory inside Rupp Arena since 2009.
And then, the Wildcats completely unraveled like only this Kentucky team can.
After allowing Georgia to take the lead going into halftime, the Bulldogs stretched it out to double digits in the second half. While Kentucky fought back to make it a one-possession game in the final five minutes, the last two minutes of the game were absolutely terrible once again, resulting in a devastating 86-78 loss that has BBN ready to move on from Mark Pope.
The warning signs we saw against Florida flashed in neon lights on Tuesday night. The offense was stale, stagnant, and played like a team full of ball hogs. No one was making the extra pass to help their teammates out, and the defense was a complete liability.
The mess of a 13-assist team
If you want to know why Kentucky lost this game, look directly at the assist column, and you will find out why.
Georgia finished the game with 20 assists on 29 made field goals, that is good offense. Kentucky finished with just 13. Otega Oweh had a massive individual scoring night with 28 points, but as a collective unit, the Wildcats simply refused to share the basketball, a problem this team has not gotten over all season.
Mark Pope did not mince words about the selfish play during his postgame radio interview with Tom Leach.
"We are stuck in the mess of a 13-assist team, we're just not very good," Pope admitted. "We shot well from the 3-point line, but we got ourselves in trouble at the rim. It's a learning process for us to make plays for teammates... we're just not going to function great as a 13-assist team."
When you refuse to move the ball, you become incredibly easy to defend, and you depend on 1-on-1 playmakers. Kentucky doesn't have that. And when the game was on the line, that stagnant offense reared its ugly head. Out of a timeout with 1:17 remaining, Georgia switched to a zone. Kentucky threw a deep inbound pass to Oweh. Oweh for whatever reason decides to drive right towards Georgia defenders, dribbled it off his leg out of bounds, resulting in a backbreaking turnover. He finished the game with 4 turnovers.
When asked about that specific play, Pope pointed to a familiar, frustrating excuse: "We just ended up turning the ball over, I think it was partly fatigue."
As we noted earlier today, fatigue is a terrible excuse for a team struggling to execute late in games, and I'm not going to let that stand. If playing 35 minutes is too hard at this level, what hope do you have of playing in the NBA?
A defensive disaster-class
If the offense was selfish, the defense was utterly atrocious.
Georgia loves to shoot the three, and Kentucky happily let them do it. The Bulldogs shot 45% from deep, draining 14 three-pointers. Time and time again, the Cats failed to close out, failed to communicate on screens, and failed to protect the perimeter. Georgia is not a team that shoots a high percentage like that, but when they are the easy ones, anyone can make them.
"Defensively, it was really frustrating... our commitment to guard our yard," Pope said. "We let them get 20 assists and 7 turnovers."
He also pointed out a massive lack of overall physicality, specifically noting that Malachi Moreno and the young frontcourt had a rough learning experience against Georgia's pressure.
"I think we were all really disappointed with that part of the game. We did not respond well," Pope said regarding the team's physicality. "We started to leak in our transition defense... We got distracted on the offensive end with poor play... It's a matter of staying focused on every single possession."
Mark Pope noted that despite a limited roster, the team cannot use that as an excuse. They just have to manage it better.
But his final quote of the night is the one that should concern Big Blue Nation the most as the SEC Tournament rapidly approaches.
"These guys will compete. We didn't play well tonight, and there were moments where we took some possessions off."
This is a team that got run off the court against Vanderbilt and Gonzaga. They were soundly beaten by Michigan State, and they still take possessions off? Those players who do need to find themselves on the bench.
It doesn't get any easier for Kentucky. They will be back in action Saturday at Auburn.