Kentucky's losses have a common denominator

Yes, Kentucky was shorthanded tonight, without its first three options at point guard due to injuries to Lamont Butler (shoulder), Jaxson Robinson (wrist), and Kerr Kriisa (foot). However, it’s hard to use that as an excuse for the 82-78 loss to Texas considering they led by five with 3:51 to go.

There are several stats you can point to as factors in the loss. The eight missed free throws, five in the second half, stung. So did Texas’ offensive rebounds on their missed free throws, which came up big down the stretch. The two, nearly three, turnovers in the final 2:32 were bad. The Cats committed 15 turnovers total, leading to 21 Texas points, to just 10 assists.

However, it’s hard to ignore one stat that seems to come back to bite Kentucky in almost every loss: three-point shooting. Kentucky was just 6-24 (25%) from beyond the arc tonight, tying the loss to Georgia for the second-fewest made three-pointers this season. According to Corey Price, the Cats are 2-4 this season in games in which they make seven or fewer threes. Kentucky’s best three-point shooter, Koby Brea, has a big impact on that, going just 8-35 (22.9%) over those six games. Brea didn’t have a single field goal tonight, going 0-6 from the floor, 0-4 from the three-point line, all four of his points coming from the free throw line.

• Ohio State (LOSS): Kentucky: 4-22 3PT; Koby Brea: 2-7 3PT
• Texas (LOSS): Kentucky: 6-24 3PT; Koby Brea: 0-4 3PT
• Georgia (LOSS): Kentucky 6-25 3PT; Koby Brea: 2-9 3PT
• Clemson (LOSS): Kentucky 7-27 3PT; Koby Brea: 1-2 3PT
• Gonzaga (WIN): Kentucky 7-25 3PT; Koby Brea: 1-6 3PT
• Georgia State (WIN): Kentucky 7-26 3PT; Koby Brea: 2-7 3PT

Extend it further and Brea is just 11-41 (26.8%) from beyond the arc in Kentucky’s eight losses, failing to make more than two threes in any of those games. Tonight’s goose egg from beyond the arc ended his streak of 39 straight games with at least one three-pointer.

“They were really physical,” Mark Pope said of Texas’ defense on Brea. “The physicality of the game on cutters, on holding and grabbing cutters, is pretty extraordinary. It’s kind of like transition possessions. Sometimes you have to kind of keep fighting to get transition possessions for 40 minutes just to get six or seven. It’s the same thing. Like, it doesn’t matter how much you’re being held or how much you’re being found, you have to fight through cuts the entire game just to get enough to win the game and they did a nice job. They were incredibly physical, and were able to kind of keep Koby in check a little bit.”

We’re just a few days removed from Kentucky beating No. 5 Tennessee without Robinson and Butler for the final 8:40. A big reason the Cats were able to pull off that upset was the 12-24 mark from the three-point line. Brea had three three-pointers on Tuesday. It’s not quite as simple as “Kentucky loses when Koby Brea doesn’t shoot well,” but with Butler and Robinson both out, the latter an especially capable outside shooter, it certainly feels like it.