KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's 80-71 loss at Auburn

Kentucky couldn’t get it done on the road, falling to No. 2 Auburn by a final score of 80-71. The Wildcats led by as many as 10 midway through the first half, but couldn’t hang on down the stretch, letting the Tigers pull ahead with 14:50 to go and extend the lead to as many as 12. Every punch for UK was met with a counter, with AU ultimately pulling out the nine-point win.

How did the loss come together? And what does it mean for the Wildcats as they look ahead to their matchup against Mississippi State on Tuesday?

TyTy Washington goes down early, Sahvir Wheeler goes down late

It was almost a mirror image of Kentucky’s road loss at LSU just two weeks ago. Then, it was Sahvir Wheeler who went down early and was quickly declared out, followed by TyTy Washington missing time late with cramps.

Today, Washington went down with a left ankle injury with 8:20 to go in the first half, landing awkwardly on a floater in the paint. He was helped off the floor and taken back to the locker room, where he was quickly declared out the rest of the way. And then with 11:28 to go in the second half, Wheeler was again hit on a brutal screen from Walker Kessler, knocking him out of the game for several minutes. He returned with 8:41 remaining, but then hit the deck on a sideline collision with Kessler, clearly out of sorts after the fact. Wheeler left the game with 1:14 to go and did not return.

When Washington went down, the Wildcats led 25-16, a nine-point lead nearly 12 minutes in. From then, Kentucky was outscored by 18 points the final 28 minutes of the game.

The offense went from great to bad with Washington out of the lineup, and then bad to horrendous with Wheeler out. The former had four points, one assist and one steal prior to injury, while the latter finished with 17 points (7-12 FG), four assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.

A solid shooting night, all things considered

How often does Kentucky lose a game it shoots 50 percent overall, 41.7 percent from three and 80 percent from the line? Those numbers aren’t surprising, especially for a team that entered the day with the No. 4 offense in the nation. Losing while hitting those marks certainly is.

Wheeler and Kellan Grady led the way with 17 points apiece, with the latter knocking down 4-7 attempts from deep while adding two rebounds and two steals. Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 16 points on 7-12 shooting to go with 14 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Keion Brooks Jr. rounded out the starters with six points and three rebounds.

The bench has been trimmed down to just two, with Jacob Toppin adding six points and Davion Mintz finishing with five. Dontaie Allen, Bryce Hopkin and Lance Ware combined for five minutes and zero points, with Daimion Collins not playing at all.

Auburn triples Kentucky in free throws

How can Kentucky lose a game by nine points while shooting so efficiently? It helps when the opponent takes 19 more free throws and makes 24 total on the day.

UK was called for 20 fouls on the day compared to 12 for AU, with the latter taking 29 total free throws compared to just 10 for the former. Both teams were physical and fought, but that wasn’t reflected on the final box score.

“When do you see us shoot 50%, 41%, and 80%? Again they tripled our fouls, but that’s all right. Sometimes that happens,” John Calipari said after the game.

Officiating didn’t decide the game, but the numbers matched the eye test.

There are at least 3 fouls on this possession on Auburn and not one was called. Just awful!! #BBN pic.twitter.com/D2bEfYeLl5

— tgh3316 (@tgh3316) January 22, 2022

No one to stop Walker Kessler

Kentucky found its match down low, with Kessler’s length being a clear issue for the Wildcats all night long. He was a constant lob threat on offense, finishing with 19 points on 8-10 shooting, with seven of his makes being dunks. On defense, Kessler blocked two shots, but altered several others in the paint.

Oscar Tshiebwe more than held his own and it was still a strong all-around performance, but Kessler’s clearly bothered the 6-foot-9 center on both ends. You can only do so much when you’re at a four-inch disadvantage to the competition.

Jabari Smith is the No. 1 pick

It was hard to imagine someone surpassing Chet Holmgren or Paolo Banchero for the No. 1 pick to open this season, but Jabari Smith has managed to jump both in recent weeks.

The 6-foot-10 forward is a dynamic scorer at all three levels and boasts unbelievable versatility with his length. He finished the game with 14 points on 5-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 30 minutes.

Smith, a former five-star recruit, knocked down several jaw-dropping jumpers and certainly passed the look test of a top draft pick. He wasn’t Kentucky’s biggest issue on Saturday — Kessler and K.D. Johnson were the top difference-makers — but Smith’s got it. That much is clear.

Self-imposed errors

Beyond the injuries, free-throw numbers and individual standouts on the Tigers, it’s also hard to ignore some of the self-imposed struggles the Wildcats had from start to finish.

Kentucky finished the day with three fouls on 3-pointers, resulting in nine free points the other direction. There were also three shot-clock violations for UK, all crucial turnovers for the Wildcats in the loss. Those made up a third of the team’s total turnovers on the day.

Mistakes are to be expected in a hostile road environment like the one Kentucky faced on Saturday, but you simply can’t expect to beat the No. 2 team in college basketball making as many as the Wildcats did. In a winnable game, the errors were all crucial.