Kentucky basketball faced its biggest test of the regular season on Tuesday against the #15 Kansas Jayhawks, one that would tell us a lot about where the Wildcats are early in the season. They faced a team that would challenge them on both ends of the floor, featuring stars like Tyran Stokes and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Things started out well early, but Kansas quickly took control and closed the first half on a 30-16 run to lead 46-36 at halftime. The Wildcats were just 2-9 from three in the first, including no attempts from deep from Milan Momcilovic. They also committed nine turnovers, which Kansas got 10 points off of, as well as Tyran Stokes exploding for 13 points in the half. There was a lot to clean up, and Kentucky was playing from behind. In the second half, the hole they had to dig out of got deeper as turnovers really continued to cost them and Kansas grew their lead to 20 points early, which Kentucky never recovered from. Let’s take a look at some takeaways from the performance.
Limited looks, bad shooting from three, turnovers hurt
Kentucky had to know going in that they were going to have to shoot well to win. They didn’t to start off in the first half, as they went just 2-9 there, with no three-point attempts from Milan Momcilovic, who they needed to get going. Kansas was able to close the half on that big run in large part thanks to turnovers, too, as the Wildcats had nine, which the Jayhawks got 10 points off of. The really bad part is the fact that the struggles continued in the second half and that put them in a twenty-point hole within the first few minutes of the second half. Kentucky was never really able to comeback from that deficit, taking a rough loss in Chicago. Kentucky finished just 4-21 from deep, with Momcilovic’s first made three coming with 6:53 left. Kansas also had 22 points off turnovers to Kentucky’s zero, absolutely killing Kentucky there.
Kentucky had no answer for Kansas’ big three
This aligns with the turnovers, but Kansas’ big three of Tre White, Tyran Stokes and Trey Kaaufman-Renn all had big games. That is something going into the matchup that Kentucky just couldn’t let happen, although it was only a matter of time until we saw Stokes put on an impressive performance. All three of them put up some impressive scoring numbers and that alone proves how scary the Jayhawks can be and it brought back some real defensive concerns from the preseason for Kentucky. White finished with 30 points, while Stokes added 23 and Kaufman-Renn with 12.
Outside of Zoom Diallo, production was minimal with Kentucky’s offense. The Wildcats seemed to play out of control early and it spiraled into a big deficit. Diallo finished with by far the most points of any Kentucky player and really was the only bright spot, aside from Braydon Hawthorne getting three blocks in the first half. With the bad shooting and turnovers, not much did go right for the Wildcats and they dug themselves a deficit that they just couldn’t overcome…