We have all talked about and seen the Collin Chandler foul call, but the game should never have been close enough for it to matter. Kentucky played one of the worst 2nd halves it had all season long, scoring just 35 points and shooting 11-30 against an Auburn team that tried to give them the game.
Take away the bad call, and look at the box score. You'll see a game Kentucky let slip away in familiar fashion. This team refuses to move the ball in a good and positive way.
Kentucky's assists numbers are holding this team back
Against Georgia, Kentucky had 13 turnovers and 13 assists. They lost to a team that had lost 5 of 6, and they did it at Rupp. That was terrible. Against Auburn, it did not look any better. The Cats had just 14 assists, but again had 14 turnovers.
Unless you have a Kyrie Irving/Carmelo Anthony/Allen Iverson/Joe Johnson level iso-scorer, you can not win games against quality opponents with a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Otega Oweh is a fine downhill driver, but he is good for 2 random turnovers and a few bad shots a game. Denzel Aberdeen is a volume shooter, but not really a rim threat.
The rest of the team depends on others to create shots for them, and the shot creators are too busy creating shots for themselves.
Moving forward, Kentucky has to value the ball more and value good passing. If they don't, 18-13 is a real possibility, and that will make for a sweaty Selection Sunday.
How can Kentucky fix this?
I think this question is on the mind of every Cats fan, and the coaches on the bench. When you have a coach with an offense built on ball movement, and a team built on isolation, what do you do?
When you have a team that has 3 injured players who all would play big minutes, what do you do?
I think it starts with a change, I think you go to Mo Dioubate at the 5, backing up Malachi Moreno. I think Trent Noah needs more minutes. Yes, he gives up defense, and no, his shot hasn't been falling, but he moves the ball in a way that no one else on the team does. I think it should look like this:
Denzel Aberdeen
Collin Chandler
Otega Oweh
Trent Noah
Malachi Moreno
Sub in Jasper Johnson and Mo Dioubate at the 1 and 5, bring in Jelavic for Chandler, and slide Noah down to the 3. Oweh stays in but comes out on the next sub rotation for Aberdeen. Ride this same setup all game long.
It keeps the floor spaced, the offense in a passing rhythm, and the rebounding isn't going to take a massive hit because Garrison doesn't rebound well anyway.
I think you ride your horses down the stretch, whoever is hot, and allow the team to do what they like to do, get downhill. But having Noah, Chandler, and Jelavic on the floor opens up the lane for Oweh and Aberdeen.
Of course that is just one option of many.
Whatever the fix is, Kentucky better do it quick, the season is almost over in more ways than one. The Cats head to South Carolina on Tuesday.