By the Numbers: Kentucky's 88-72 loss to Gonzaga

Another primetime game vs. a marquee opponent, another major letdown. No. 4 Kentucky’s 88-72 loss to No. 2 Gonzaga was salt in the wound for Big Blue Nation after a tough week. Just like we did Tuesday night, let’s look at the box score and pick out the worst parts (aside from the score).

25% shooting in the first half

Don’t let the 72 points deceive you; once again, Kentucky struggled to score. Tonight, the Cats were 27-69 (39%) from the field, 6-25 (24%) from three. It was even worse in the first half, with Kentucky connecting on only 25% (8-32) from the field and 0-10 from the outside to lead to a 41-25 deficit at halftime. If not for Jacob Toppin coming alive in the final ten minutes, the score would be much more lopsided.

CJ Fredrick was 1-9 from the floor, 1-6 from three. Antonio Reeves was 4-13, 2-7 from the outside. So, a combined 3-13 from your top shooters. Not great.

22-12: Kentucky fouls to Gonzaga fouls

Foul trouble doomed Kentucky down the stretch. Oscar Tshiebwe picked up his fourth foul when Kentucky was within four with 12:48 left to play. When he came back in at the 9:03 mark, the Cats were behind by eight. Sahvir Wheeler picked up his fourth foul right before Oscar came back in and didn’t return until the 4:57 mark. Lance Ware got his fourth foul at the 10:26 mark.

18 Gonzaga turnovers

Riddle me this: Gonzaga had 18 turnovers to Kentucky’s 11 and still won by 16. At one point in the first half, the Bulldogs had 8 turnovers and Kentucky none, and Gonzaga led 25-15. The fact that Gonzaga gave Kentucky the ball 18 times and the Cats only made 13 points out of it speaks to their struggles on offense.

39-29: Gonzaga wins the battle of the boards

Last season, Kentucky was one of the best teams in the country at rebounding, thanks in large part to Oscar Tshiebwe. So far this year, that has not been the case. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Cats 39-29 tonight. Oscar had 15 of Kentucky’s 29 rebounds. Jacob Toppin, who played 36 minutes, had three rebounds. Lance Ware had one rebound in ten minutes, Daimion Collins zero in four minutes, and Ugonna Onyenso zero in just one minute. Without Oscar, the Cats are hopeless on the boards, at least for now.

44-24: Gonzaga owns the paint

Tonight was supposed to be a battle of two elite bigs, Oscar Tshiebwe and Drew Timme. Looking at their individual stats, you’d think it was pretty even, with Oscar putting up 20 points and 15 rebounds in 28 minutes and Timme 22 points and 7 rebounds in 36 minutes; however, the complete box score tells the story. With Oscar battling foul trouble, Gonzaga owned the middle, putting up 44 points in the paint to Kentucky’s 24. Gross.

4-12: Kentucky vs. Top 25 opponents

Kentucky fans came in to tonight hoping for a big win to erase the memory of the loss to Michigan State. Instead, the Cats lost their third straight game vs. a ranked team. According to Mark Story, Kentucky has now lost 12 of its last 16 games to ranked teams, which is truly depressing.

Box Score

Analytics

Season Stats

Shot Charts