KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's 74-71 win over LSU

Kentucky is officially in the win column in conference play, coming out victorious in its SEC home opener vs. LSU. In need of a quality victory — the team’s best win going into the matchup was vs. Yale — the Wildcats managed to get the job done.

But it wasn’t pretty.

Up ten midway through the second half, Kentucky looked to grind things out the rest of the way and nearly gave up the win. From the 10:42 mark down to 6:11, the Wildcats didn’t score a single point. Then again from 4:01 to 1:24 — a stretch that allowed the Tigers to cut the lead down to just one point.

Kentucky hit the shots to close things out, namely a banked-in three from Sahvir Wheeler, a clutch corner three from Jacob Toppin and a strong layup for Cason Wallace, followed by two game-clinching free throws again for Toppin. What could have been a double-digit win became an unnecessary nail-biter, one that fortunately favored the Wildcats at the final buzzer.

KSR has the takeaways from Rupp Arena.

Deliberate, sure, but far too much grind

For my money, it was the best 30-minute stretch of the season for the Kentucky offense. From the opening tip, the Wildcats played with energy and purpose, moving the ball effectively to find good looks. John Calipari stressed finding a healthy balance between playing with speed and being able to grind things out when necessary, and to open the game, that’s exactly what his team did. LSU responded with tough shots to keep it close — Kentucky couldn’t extend the lead past 10 — but my goodness were things running smoothly. Hell, they had 42 points at the half, on pace to score 84.

Then the Wildcats went heavy on the grind. Very heavy, to the point where seemingly every shot down the stretch was a prayer at the end of the shot clock. Thankfully, Kentucky made the shots when necessary and survived what would have been a disaster in a game it really couldn’t afford a loss.

To his credit, Calipari admitted things simply weren’t good enough down the stretch. Like most, he liked the start, but was frustated with how things unfolded late — while still appreciating the resiliency to hold on, of course.

“When you see this, we almost didn’t finish this,” he said. “So we’ve got to work on that kind of stuff. … But you know what? We made enough to win the game. We’re still learning about this team; I am. Just be patient.”

The first 30 minutes shows progress is being made. The last 10, though, shows there’s still work to be done.

Jacob Toppin stacks good on top of good

The senior forward’s breakthrough performance vs. Louisville came with an asterisk. Sure, Toppin looked fantastic, scoring a career-high 24 points on efficient shooting while also pulling down seven rebounds. But it was also Louisville, and Louisville is objectively terrible.

How would he respond against real competition? Could he stack two strong performances on top of each other? Toppin answered that with a firm yes in the form of a 21-point, three-rebound, three-assist outing against the Tigers. It gave him 45 points in his last two games after scoring a combined 39 in his previous six.

And it wasn’t just about the scoring. It’s never been about the scoring, really. Toppin’s issues have been effort-based, taking plays off on both ends of the floor far too consistently. The body language has been a problem, as well. Now for a second consecutive game, though, he was a major bright spot across the board. He made the tough shots while also fighting defensively and playing with energy. It’s exactly who and what Kentucky has been missing to open the season.

It should also be noted that Toppin is finally playing above the rim, using his physical tools to spark the team with alley-oop finishes and putback slams. That’s a two-for-one, getting the senior forward rolling individually while also giving the team some highlight plays to help shift momentum.

Oscar Tshiebwe goes for a quiet 19-16

How often do you have a player put up 19 points (7-9 FG, 5-7 FT) to go with 16 rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in 40 minutes, and he’s somewhat of an afterthought following a win? It’s because Oscar Tshiebwe makes it all look easy, no matter how unfathomably difficult it really is.

The best part about it? The 6-foot-9 center wasn’t a black hole on offense, posting up and forcing the issue no matter what the defense threw at him. It’s a key reason why Kentucky’s offense became so one-dimensional during the first third of the season, with teams catching on quickly that he’s not a great passer out of the post and struggles with pressure. Tonight, he took advantage of one-on-one opportunities, but thrived mostly as a clean-up specialist, pulling down seven offensive rebounds and following them up with putback scores or drawing fouls to go to the line. He was a complementary piece rather than the team’s entire offensive identity, a step in the right direction.

Tshiebwe is great, but he’s not invincible. He needs to be put in position to succeed just like everyone else on the team. Tonight was a great example of Kentucky putting him in position to succeed.

Sahvir Wheeler deserves credit

You won’t find a more polarizing player on the Kentucky basketball team than Sahvir Wheeler. At his best, he’s a brilliant playmaker and a game-changing change-of-pace lead guard. At his worst, though, he turns the ball over far too often and his shooting is an issue.

Tonight, we got the best of Wheeler for the majority of the game, with two late turnovers being his only real errors. In fact, for much of the game, the senior guard played brilliant basketball and deserves credit for putting his team in position to win. He flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 11 points (4-10 FG, 3-5 3PT), nine assists and six rebounds to go with just two turnovers.

His biggest struggles vs. LSU — namely the turnovers — came during Kentucky’s grind-it-out approach to close out the game. Is he to blame for that? The night-and-day difference from the start is glaring, leading me to vote no. If he’s asked to milk the clock to grind out a win, you’re going to get some uncomfortable last-second shots and turnovers.

All in all, a very solid all-around performance for Kentucky’s lead guard, one deserving of praise.

John Calipari shortens the rotation (again)

In Kentucky’s win over Louisville, six players played at least 10 minutes and five had over 20. Four had at least 35. 10 players saw the floor, but only six were in the rotation.

That trend continued vs. LSU, with five Wildcats playing at least 29 minutes, three with at least 37 and two with 40. Only two players came off the bench in Antonio Reeves and Daimion Collins, neither hitting the 15-minute mark in the win.

Calipari says that is by design, preferring to cut the rotation down and play the best of the best. That is, assuming all goes well in other areas of the game.

“We’ll see going forward,” he said. “What if there’s foul trouble? You want to play a lot of minutes,
you’d better not foul. You get two fouls in the first half, I’m sitting you out, especially if you’re one of those guys. But you’re noticing, we’re flowing more in sync. You could just see it. So it’s all the stuff we’ve been talking and working, and they have responded.”

The plan backfired a bit late, with Kentucky’s starters clearly gassed and in need of a breather to close out the game. That’s where we saw defensive lapses ramp up and ball movement decline, putting the Tigers back in position to make it close.

Finding a happy medium moving forward will be crucial.

LSU is a terrible rebounding team

It’s hard to fathom a team being less of a threat on the glass than the Tigers were against the Wildcats. They finished a bit better, closing out the game with 22 total after entering halftime with just eight, but still pretty bad no matter how you slice it.

Kentucky finished with 31 total, including Tshiebwe, who nearly topped LSU’s efforts on the glass by himself with 16. The Wildcats secured 10 offensive rebounds and turned those into 12 second-chance points.

Elsewhere, forward Derek Fountain had eight for the Tigers, including three on the offensive glass. No one else had more than three rebounds overall, with Trae Hannibal also adding three.

Calipari has been preaching toughness and physicality in recent weeks, and they certainly looked the part in those areas vs. LSU. It started and finished on the glass for Kentucky in the win.