Kentucky found themselves left without answers during Friday night’s blowout loss to Gonzaga. From the opening tip, the Wildcats were outworked in every facet of the game. From a stagnant offense with no movement or even effort, one that was left searching for ways to create some sort of offense, but the answers never came. Then, on the defensive end, Kentucky had no answers for Gonzaga’s starting big men, who torched them in different ways all night.
It was an embarrassing performance, something Kentucky fans can say they’ve seen happen multiple times already this season. Kentucky shot 16-60 for the entire game, hitting more free throws than actual shots from anywhere on the court, going 20-26 from the free throw line. That’s an embarrassing stat, but Kentucky’s offense just couldn’t find any flow, with a lot of possessions ending with forced shots due to constant passing around the perimeter, in search of someone to take over and get a bucket. No one did that.
Mark Pope was asked about Kentucky’s very slow start, where it took them nearly 9 minutes before they made their first field goal. He says his team looked ‘paralyzed’ on offense, and he’s certainly right. Not much was going on offensively for the Wildcats, literally. Kentucky had a number of different scoring droughts throughout the game, especially early, that were a microcosm of how the Wildcats performed…