FINAL: No. 4 Kentucky drops first game of the season as offense struggles in 70-66 loss to Clemson

Kentucky’s first true road game of the season also saw the first loss of the season.

On Tuesday night, the No. 4 Wildcats (7-1) struggled offensively from start to finish in a 70-66 loss to the Clemson Tigers (8-1). It was easily the worst shooting performance of the young year for Mark Pope‘s crew, which finished with a season-low 38.1 percent clip from the field and a season-low 25.9 percent from deep (7-27). Three UK players reached double figures, but the bench was nonexistent and a significant net negative.

Clemson simply outhustled Kentucky on both ends of the floor, especially in the first half. The Tigers shot just as poorly as UK, but played with more energy and fearlessness. 35 total fouls were called between the two teams. Ian Schieffelin dropped in 11 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for Clemson despite going 4-20 from the field. Otega Oweh led the way for Kentucky with 17 points and seven rebounds but missed some key shots down the stretch that could have kept his team alive.

66 points marks a season-low for Kentucky by 11. The previous season-low was 77 points in a win over Duke. It just wasn’t the ‘Cats night in Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson picked up the ACC’s first win of the ACC/SEC Challenge after the SEC won the first nine games.

If you’re a fan of messy basketball, then this was the game for you. It was a physical foul fest throughout the first half with 17 combined fouls in the opening 20 minutes. Shots weren’t falling for either team. To make up for the poor shooting, Clemson elected to dominate the glass. The Tigers outrebounded Kentucky 31-21 in the first half, including a 13-7 advantage with offensive rebounds that led to 10 second-chance points.

Both sides would trade blows late in the first half. Kentucky struck first with a 9-0 run that made it a five-point lead for the ‘Cats. But Clemson immediately responded with a 10-0 stretch of its own to take the lead back, which it would hold onto for the rest of the half. UK shot just 31.3 percent as a team while Clemson wasn’t much better at 34.2 percent. Foul trouble hurt Kentucky, but Clemson held a 37-30 lead at the break primarily by outhustling the ‘Cats.

The shots started falling all around to open the second half. Kentucky quickly got itself back into the game and regained the lead a little over four minutes in. It was back-and-forth from there though with the lead flip-flopping over the next few minutes. But another poorly timed scoring drought from UK allowed Clemson to create some separation. At the under eight-minute timeout, the Tigers led 59-54.

Kentucky managed to trim the lead down to just three, but Clemson punched right back. An and-one by Jaeden Zackery made it an eight-point game — the largest of the night — with a little over four minutes to go. UK had one more run in them and even had a chance to make it a one-point game in the final 90 seconds, but three straight missed triples from Oweh ultimately sealed the loss.

Up next: Kentucky will hit the road again as they head to Seattle for a showdown on Saturday against No. 7 Gonzaga. Tipoff is set for 10:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2.