Kentucky’s residence loss to South Carolina this week was one of the crucial stunning outcomes of the season. For context: The Wildcats had been favored by extra in opposition to the Gamecocks than they had been in opposition to Saint Peter’s in final yr’s NCAA event. The loss solely additional elevated the stress in Lexington, the place John Calipari’s program has slumped in recent times. With defending Nationwide Participant of the 12 months Oscar Tshiebwe again, nobody noticed the Wildcats’ struggles coming.
Right here’s a take a look at what has gone incorrect for Kentucky because it teeters on the bubble in mid-January.
After beginning the season at No. 4 within the AP ballot, the ten–6 Wildcats are now not ranked.
Matt Stone/The Louisville Courier Journal/USA TODAY Community
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Poor Offensive Execution and Spacing
This Twitter thread from Subject of 68 analyst (and former Clemson guard) Terrence Oglesby does an excellent job of capturing a few of Kentucky’s flaws offensively. In brief, a number of of the staple actions in Kentucky’s offense which were modernized in recent times to extend spacing by different packages haven’t been tweaked by the Wildcats, and there’s a scarcity of goal to the crew’s off-ball chopping and participant motion that hurts its means to get straightforward pictures. As Oglesby places it, “It’s simply so arduous to win constantly whenever you depend on tough pictures to win.” And when groups aren’t afraid of your level guard (Sahvir Wheeler), energy ahead (Jacob Toppin or Chris Livingston) or middle (Tshiebwe) from deep, tough pictures develop into an increasing number of prevalent.
Information from Shot High quality backs that up: Kentucky ranks 342nd nationally in “rim and three fee,” which means it’s taking extra midrange jumpers than simply about anybody within the nation. That’s typically not a recipe for achievement on the offensive finish. It typically feels just like the Cats’ greatest offense is simply placing the ball on the rim and counting on Tshiebwe to go get it.
Dangerous Ball Display screen Protection
Kentucky wasn’t elite defensively final season, however the Wildcats have fallen off considerably from final yr’s Thirty sixth-ranked unit (per KenPom) to this season’s group, which ranks 92nd. That drop turns into extra puzzling when you think about that freshman Cason Wallace is an elite defensive participant, each guarding the ball and getting steals in gaps. A lot of Kentucky’s points on protection appear to stem from struggles defending ball screens, the place Tshiebwe has gotten uncovered some this yr.
Alabama had tons of success attacking Tshiebwe in pick-and-roll conditions, even enjoying him off the ground at instances. Tshiebwe’s the defending Nationwide Participant of the 12 months and a necessity for this crew on the glass, so it’s not like sitting him is an actual possibility. However his vulnerability in coping with rollers in drop protection has opened issues up for opposing offenses, and poor rotations and communication haven’t helped. A few of Kentucky’s weak three-point protection might be attributed to unhealthy luck, however not all of it could.
As Kentucky Goes, This Group Isn’t That Proficient
Whereas Kentucky has sufficient expertise to be higher than its present 1–3 SEC mark, this isn’t some overwhelmingly proficient roster. Possibly we’d understand it in another way had touted recruit Shaedon Sharpe not elected to forgo his collegiate profession and head to the NBA a yr early, however there’s just one participant on this crew (Wallace) you possibly can confidently say can have an extended NBA profession. Calipari has seemingly made a aware determination recently (till the incoming 2023 class not less than) to take extra transfers and construct a roster whose items match collectively extra easily than his one-and-done-heavy teams of the previous. The issue proper now could be that the items don’t appear to suit collectively any higher than prior Kentucky groups, and this group isn’t constructed to blow groups away on expertise alone.
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Once more, had Sharpe performed this yr in Lexington, the expertise disparity wouldn’t be as noticeable. It additionally wouldn’t shine by way of as a lot if Toppin had made the leap at energy ahead many anticipated within the preseason.
A Lack of Effort
Maybe the loss to South Carolina is sufficient to spark one thing on this Kentucky crew, however the Wildcats’ response to a disappointing begin hasn’t been the impressed one you’d anticipate from a crew that has a number of gamers of their closing yr of faculty basketball. In postgame interviews, Tshiebwe didn’t mince phrases, saying “a few of [my teammates] aren’t prepared to battle” and even suggesting Calipari ought to have put in walk-ons to attempt to spark the crew.
In some methods, Saturday’s showdown with Tennessee in Knoxville might be the most effective factor for Kentucky proper now. It’s a low-expectation recreation the Wildcats are anticipated to lose on paper, in opposition to a crew totally able to bullying Kentucky bodily if it doesn’t deliver the battle. If there’s a time a fractured group may come collectively once more, it will be for a recreation like this.
Institutional Dysfunction
The favored buzzword in faculty sports activities as of late is “alignment”—coach, athletic director, president and all the opposite stakeholders in lockstep on key points as issues change quickly within the trade. Institutional alignment seems to be missing at Kentucky proper now, most clearly illustrated by this summer time’s “basketball college” fiasco and reported on this week by The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker.
Tucker reviews that Calipari and athletic director Mitch Barnhart “now not have a relationship of any significance” and “don’t communicate to one another.” The “basketball college” feedback tied again to Calipari’s need to construct a brand new observe facility that Barnhart refuses to maneuver ahead on regardless of $30 million already pledged to the venture. Tucker additionally reported resistance from Barnhart on Calipari increasing his help workers, the kind of transfer that would probably assist Calipari from an X’s and O’s standpoint.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Mason Nicholson’s 20 points helped Jacksonville State defeat Western Kentucky 73-67 on Thursday night.
Nicholson also contributed 12 rebounds and three blocks for the Gamecocks (9-6, 1-1 Conference USA). Quel’Ron House scored 14 points and added nine rebounds and seven assists. Jaron Pierre Jr. went 5 of 18 from the field (1 for 7 from 3-point range) to finish with 12 points.
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Enoch Kalambay finished with 24 points for the Hilltoppers (10-6, 1-2). Julius Thedford added 17 points.
House scored eight points in the first half and Jacksonville State went into halftime trailing 27-24. Nicholson scored 14 second-half points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Kentucky’s loss to Georgia felt like deja vu in that the issues that plagued the Cats vs. Ohio State and Clemson came roaring back. Once again, Kentucky let a physical team bully them around, turned the ball over too often, and didn’t create enough shots. Even though it feels like the blueprint to beat Kentucky is laminated after Tuesday night, Mark Pope believes all of those issues are fixable, even in the short term.
“Listen, it’s not triage where we have a bad team,” Pope said today. “We have a really good team. We didn’t play particularly well and so there’s a lot of things that were a little bit anomalous, where we just didn’t play great. And certainly, Georgia had some contribution to that.”
Ahead of his team’s trip to No. 14 Mississippi State, which is even more physical and talented than Georgia, Pope outlined two areas of focus: rebounding and ball protection. Georgia outrebounded Kentucky 41-34 on Tuesday, the fourth game in a row the Cats have lost the battle of the boards. On Saturday, they’ll face a Mississippi State team that ranks just outside the top 30 nationally in offensive rebounding rate (35.9%).
“We’re continuing to work on the glass right now. That’s been something interesting because we had been one of the top defensive rebounding percentage teams in the country, and that’s kind of bit us, a little bit. And so we’re rethinking some approaches there that hopefully will see immediate progress on, because we’ve been really good, right? We’ve just got to be good in this league right now, with the physicality and the way this is being played.”
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Pope seemed less concerned about the 14 turnovers the Cats committed vs. Georgia. Kentucky still ranks No. 3 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.94), but that number would be a lot higher if not for their losses.
“We’ve been really good in terms of ball protection. I think we’ve been number one in the country. I think we’re close so I don’t think it’s reinventing the wheel for us on the ball protection side. We just didn’t do it well in this game.”
“So, there are certainly areas that we’re going to continue to grow and fine-tune, but there’s not a lot of total restructuring going on.”
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All season, Pope has talked about the importance of getting his guys not to default to bad habits. The Georgia loss showed that’s still a work in progress. After the game, Pope talked about how distracted his guys seemed on the floor, whether it be from the crowd, the whistles, a shot not going in, etc. Getting them to tune that out and lock in on each other will be what determines how far they go this season.
“Our guys trust and believe in each other, but when you start talking about trust and belief in where you go for answers, that’s a process that everybody is trying to find. It’s not a matter of not being able to find it. I mean, our guys have found it a lot this season. Like there’s been a whole lot of trust and faith on this team, where we’ve gone to the well, the right well, to find answers in the biggest games that have been played all season, right? But being able to get there every single time is part of the challenge, right? At the end of the year, it’s, can you get there six straight games? Can you go to the right space with all the different distractions, different vibes? Can you keep going right to the same place and keep trusting over and over and over again?
“And so that’s kind of the space we’re living in right now, is, how consistently can we be in the right spot on the floor? How consistently can our faith be placed in the right space? How consistently can we tune out all the distractions that happen around the game and kind of be locked in just to the moment? We’re fully capable. We’ve done it. We’ve done it at the highest level. We’ve done it pretty consistently. But now can we do it every time?”
When it comes to being more physical, Pope said that’s something everyone in the SEC is striving for right now. He just wants his team to understand how to do it and when to do it.
“The game always gets more and more physical in the league, and so our guys understanding — and there’s also a part of understanding where you can be really, really physical and where you can’t, right? And that’s part of our determinations. There are a lot of facets to that. One is just the physics aspect of it, of having a low center of gravity and kind of being the hit-first guy and a first hit and second, there’s all the schematics and the skill of it.
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“And then there’s also the mentality of it, and the IQ of it. The mentality of it is kind of this aggression side of it where you’re always thinking about contact, contact, contact, and then the IQ of it is understanding when and where it’s appropriate and where it can be utilized and where it’s important.”
COVINGTON, Ky. ‒ Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Thursday a $110 million settlement with Cincinnati-based Kroger in his lawsuit against the grocer for its role in the opioid crisis.
Speaking at a press conference event at the Life Learning Center across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky, Coleman said Kroger fueled the opioid epidemic by prescribing the drugs with “shockingly” little oversight or means of reporting suspicious activity.
“(They) allowed the fire of addiction to spread,” Coleman said.
Kroger did not have an immediate response.
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Why Kentucky sued Kroger
His office said the agreement is one of the largest opioid settlements in recent Kentucky history and ends one of his major lawsuits launched in 2024.
Last year, Coleman sued Kroger and pharmacy benefits managers Express Scripts and Optum Rx in separate lawsuits for their roles in Kentucky’s opioid epidemic.
Kroger is a $150 billion retailer with a pharmacy business that accounts for $14.3 billion of its annual revenues. Express Scripts is a subsidiary of Connecticutt-based health company Cigna Group. Optum is part of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group.
Coleman, a Republican, took office last year after being elected in 2023.
