KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's comeback win over Georgia

At this point in the year, it’s all about stacking wins and building momentum for postseason play. That’s been a struggle to open conference play, with Kentucky losing three of the team’s first four SEC games and falling out of the rankings completely. The Wildcats took a necessary step forward with a road win over No. 5 Tennessee, and then tonight, took another with a home victory over Georgia.

It wasn’t easy — it never is at this point — with Kentucky falling by as many as 11 in the first half thanks to yet another slow offensive start with a long list of defensive miscues. At the break, the Wildcats were shooting just 33.3% from the field (11-33) and 28.6% from three (2-7). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs closed out the first half shooting 55.6% from the field (15-27) and 36.4% from three (4-11), including seven makes in their last nine attempts.

Things finally got rolling for the Wildcats to open the second half, though, clawing back to retake the lead with 17:11 to go before coasting to the final buzzer. Kentucky would go on to shoot 43.9% overall (29-66), 26.7% from three (4-15) and 76.7% at the line (23-30), while Georgia closed things out shooting 46.2% from the field (24-52) and 35.0% from deep (7-20).

How did the comeback effort come together? What does it mean for the Wildcats moving forward? KSR has the takeaways from Rupp Arena.

Oscar Tshiebwe unleashes his inner ’00 Shaq

Back in 1999-00, Shaquille O’Neal averaged 29.7 points and 13.6 rebounds per game en route to MVP honors. He was the most physically dominant player on Earth, an unstoppable force inside for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Oscar Tshiebwe did his best to emulate that dominance — hell, he surpassed it — finishing with a career-high 37 points on 12-20 shooting and 13-18 from the line to go with 24 rebounds, three steals and one block in 38 minutes. Of all the unbelievable record-shattering performances we’ve seen from the senior center, this one was easily the most impressive.

For starters, he was a human wrecking ball down low, fighting through defenders for dunk and layup opportunities. Of his 24 rebounds, 11 of them were offensive, helping the Wildcats create 18 second chance points on the night. He also converted three mid-range jumpers on top of the 13 makes at the line. And for how much has been said about his inability to create buckets in the post and the forced shots and turnovers that have come as a result, he absolutely cooked in that area, too. Spin moves, jump hooks, up and unders, you name it, Tshiebwe showed off all the tricks in his bag.

And how about his defensive effort? He’s been unplayable on that end of the floor in recent weeks, destroyed in the pick and roll. His response tonight? A team-best defensive rating of 69 — points allowed per 100 possession — with 16 total stops and a stop rate of 119.7 with just 9.2 points allowed overall. As freakishly dominant as he was on offense, his numbers indicate he was just as impressive on defense.

More ridiculous Oscar numbers? No? Eh, you’re getting them anyway.

• Tshiebwe is the second player since 1950 to have at least 37 and 24 in a game, joining Bill Spivey in 1951
• He’s the first UK player since Mike Phillips (1976) to have 30 and 20 in a game
• Just the sixth Wildcat to score at least 37 points at Rupp Arena
• The third Kentucky player to score 30+ vs. Georgia at Rupp Arena — Malik Monk and Jamal Mashburn are the others
• Six 20-rebound games at Kentucky vs. five combined for all other Kentucky players since 1973-74

Stat guru Corey Price of UK Athletics had a field day putting those together. Just like Oscar had a field day against that poor Georgia frontcourt.

I mean, good grief. 37 points and 24 rebounds is just so unfathomably stupid. Hell, he had 23 and 15 in the second half alone, which would have been one of his best outings of the year as is. Unfortunately for the rest of the college basketball world, he’s got 40 minutes to work with.

Cason Wallace emerges as Kentucky’s lead guard

The Wildcats found themselves down as many as 11 points in the first half, eight points at the break. Cason Wallace played nine minutes due to foul trouble, Sahvir Wheeler played 10, staggering their time on the floor together almost completely.

In the second half, Wallace played 19 minutes compared to just one for Wheeler. Kentucky came back to not only take the lead, but cruise to a 14-point win. The freshman guard finished with a team-high +22 in the +/-, the senior was a team-low -9.

That’s not just riding the hot hand — 17 points on 7-11 shooting and 2-4 from three would qualify — that’s a changing of the (point) guard. That was a play-to-win decision that left Wheeler on the bench while Wallace led his team to victory alongside Tshiebwe. And it’s hard to disagree with the results.

With the freshman guard on the floor, Antonio Reeves and Chris Livingston split time at the three with CJ Fredrick rounding out the backcourt, giving the Wildcats shooting and scoring options for the majority of the second half. Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin joined them in the frontcourt, with the latter adding a smooth 11 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal, as well. It’s a lineup that maximized shooting and scoring while still playing through Tshiebwe in the post. It’s what allowed Kentucky to crawl out of its early 11-point hole and flip the script in the second half to pull off the convincing win.

“The game just dictated to me this is how you’ve got to play this,” Calipari said of his lineup of Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin and Tshiebwe. “It’s not brain surgery. We were all watching the same thing.”

Numbers don’t lie and neither does the eye test. UK has its lineup, and it’s led by Cason Wallace.

Two plays of the game

John Calipari singled out two plays that won the game for the Wildcats. The first was an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, with Tshiebwe reeling in the ball and kicking it back out to CJ Fredrick for an open three. It was a second-chance effort that gave Kentucky its first lead of the second half and shifted the momentum entirely. As quiet of a night it was for the senior sharpshooter — he scored just three points on 1-8 shooting and 1-5 from three to go with two assists and a rebound in 36 minutes — he may have hit the biggest shot overall.

The second winning play came from Antonio Reeves late in the second half, picking off a pass from Georgia’s Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and pushing it ahead to Tshiebwe for the and-one finish. That pushed the Kentucky lead from eight to ten with 2:40 to go, crushing what little chance the Bulldogs had to make a comeback.

“Those are effort plays,” Calipari said.

There was plenty of fight to go around for the Wildcats in the win, specifically in the second half. Those just happened to be the two effort plays that solidified the crucial victory.

Laying a foundation to close out the season

“Did you like the taste in your mouth 10 days ago or the one after Saturday? Well, then let’s get that taste back in our mouth.”

That was John Calipari’s message to the team going into the game. Would they come out flat, roll over and die like they did against South Carolina last week? Or would they rise to the challenge like they did at Tennessee just a few days later? The first half felt like the former, but fortunately for the Wildcats, the second half was undoubtedly the latter. Kentucky took a few early blows and the knees got a bit wobbly, but the team regrouped at halftime and responded with haymakers in the second to secure the win.

It’s exactly what this team needed, something to build on moving forward, a tangible sign of growth. The win at Tennessee was a step in the right direction, but was it just a fluke? Or did it indicate a real season turnaround was possible? The second half vs. Georgia favors the latter.

Now it’s on the Wildcats to show more of the same when Texas A&M comes to Lexington on Saturday.