KSR's top ten takeaways from Kentucky's win over WKU to claim BBN Invitational title
It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll never complain about a 19-point victory to give the Wildcats a 6-0 start to the season. That was the case for Kentucky with its friends from Bowling Green in town, defeating Western Kentucky by a final score of 87-68.
How did it all come together for the Cats? What were the best moments inside Rupp Arena on Tuesday? KSR’s got the top takeaways.
Waiting for One Shining Moment
Let the confetti rain! The Wildcats are BBN Invitational champions, bringing home the event title with a three-game sweep over Lipscomb, Jackson State and Western Kentucky. This program hasn’t won much of anything in recent years — GLOBL Jam 2023 is the only hardware they’ve brought home since the 2019-20 SEC regular season championship immediately before the world shut down. We’ve got to celebrate the little victories when we can get them, right?
Much to my dismay there was no ladder brought out to cut down the nets, nor was there a trophy celebration. I wanted One Shining Moment and received Dumas Walker for the umpteenth time.
Why not give the fans the title party they hoped for?
Guess we’ve got bigger fish to fry this season.
WKU refuses to go away
You wanted to see what would happen when Kentucky didn’t make shots or get to play as freely as it’s used to. Blowout wins are fun, but how much can you learn from those types of performances? The Jackson State game was essentially an exhibition game, taking on one of the worst teams in college basketball. There was very little pushback in the others outside of Duke, too.
That’s what makes the Western Kentucky outcome an important one, the Hilltoppers down just three with 11 minutes to go in the first half and six with 12 minutes remaining in the second. The result never felt in question, but it was enough to light a fire under the Wildcats they haven’t dealt with much in this early non-conference schedule. Every time UK had a chance to pull away, WKU found a way to respond with a big bucket or stop.
Bettors may not have loved the result and it wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as previous outings, but we learned a little more about this team than we did Friday night against JSU. That’s what you want, right?
Why did the ball stick?
It was an offensive slog for Kentucky, shooting just 40.3 percent overall and 27.6 percent from three for a season-low 87 points inside Rupp Arena across all exhibition and regular season matchups. The Wildcats had racked up more 100-point performances on the year (three) than not (two), this one making it an even split.
A part of it? The ball stuck a little bit more than we’re used to seeing, leading to some panicked looks at the end of the shot clock and sloppy turnovers. It was a night that saw UK finish with 16 assists on 25 made baskets with 11 turnovers, seven of those cough-ups coming in the first half.
Pope credited WKU for its pressure and making UK uncomfortable — a good thing, as the competition will only get tougher as the year goes on, especially in SEC play. He said a game like this was important for the team to see as it is “the next step of evolution for the way we play.” In general, the long-term goal is to “really, really punish” teams that pressure the Cats. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
Another game hitting the magic defensive number
Make that six consecutive games to open the season with Kentucky holding its opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field, Mark Pope saying 39 was the magic number for this group defensively. The Hilltoppers didn’t even come close to that, finishing just 31.8 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three — just four makes on 26 attempts from deep on the night.
It was a rock fight with the Wildcats not getting much of anything going within the flow of the offense. WKU came prepared with an excellent game plan, not letting UK comfortably fire away with clean looks from deep all night, resulting in the team’s first performance failing to hit the double-digit mark on 3-point makes. Rather than force the issue, however, Kentucky locked in defensively and turned it into a Ball of Duty special.
Too many turnovers for Amari Williams
This was going to be a subheading singling out Williams for his first bad performance as a Wildcat, one that included some bad body language when he failed to convert around the rim and racked up three game’s worth of turnovers. To his credit, though, he finished strong and managed to put together a box score that included eight points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and three assists in 19 minutes.
Not too bad for his worst game as a Wildcat, right?
He finished just 1-4 shooting and 6-10 at the line with six turnovers and two fouls, poor decisions stacking up to the point Brandon Garrison was put on speed dial off the bench. His teammates had to calm him down when his emotions got the best of him on multiple occasions. As Williams struggled, the coaches pivoted to Garrison while also leaning heavily on small-ball lineups with Andrew Carr.
It’s good to know there are other options when necessary, but Kentucky will undoubtedly be looking for more out of the Drexel transfer.
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Andrew Carr becomes Kentucky’s go-to when facing adversity
Remember when the Wildcats needed someone to step up against the Blue Devils in the Champions Classic? Andrew Carr was the Duke killer, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds in that one, setting the tone early while also putting the game away late with a couple of massive and-one buckets down the stretch.
As WKU mucked things up for Kentucky on Tuesday, it was Carr once again taking over when the team needed a spark, finding mismatches against the undersized Hilltoppers en route to 18 points on 6-8 shooting with 10 rebounds, three assists and a block in 30 minutes. He continues to be a stabilizing presence on the floor, calculated when deciding when to let the game come to him and when to take matters into his own hands. Tonight was the latter.
Another dominant display from Otega Oweh
Carr was the most efficient go-to threat, but Otega Oweh continued to thrive in his own consistent way, just as he’s done all season long. This time, it was a smooth 18 points on 6-14 shooting to go with four rebounds in a team-high 32 minutes. His defense was tremendous, as well, working to limit easy scoring opportunities for one of the most uptempo teams in the country.
“Otega, man, he’s been like clockwork,” Pope said of his performance. “… As the game went on, he got better and better. He’s such a luxury.”
Once a potential sleeper, he’s likely just Kentucky’s best player at this point.
13 missed free throws for 69.0 percent at the line
Kentucky earned an incredible 42 attempts at the line compared to 29 for Western Kentucky. When shots weren’t falling from deep, there was a clear objective to attack the rim and draw fouls to earn points the old-fashioned way. That also helped lead to foul trouble late for the Hilltoppers with three players earning four fouls and a fourth fouling out with five — conveniently WKU’s leading scorer, Babacar Faye.
All of that is great. What isn’t, though, are the 13 points the Wildcats left on the table with missed free throws. Amari Williams and Lamont Butler missed four apiece while Brandon Garrison and Andrew Carr missed two each, plus another miss from Otega Oweh. That 69.0 percent hit rate (29-42) is down from the 75.6 percent mark (68-98) the team was hitting going into the night.
That was the difference in a 19-point win and a 32-point win — and another 100-point night for the Cats inside Rupp Arena.
Dicky Lyons Jr. was tonight’s Y
It’s been a solid run of celebratory Ys inside Rupp Arena this season, one that has included the likes of Dale Brown, Jim Andrews and Travis Ford. The latest? None other than former UK football star, two-time Music City Bowl champion and Liberty Bowl champion, Dicky Lyons Jr.
Jasper Johnson earns a roar from BBN
Speaking of special guests, how about Lexington native Jasper Johnson returning home for the Thanksgiving holiday to watch the Wildcats in action with his family at Rupp?
The Kentucky signee was introduced at mid-court during the second half, Johnson earning quite possibly the biggest pop of the night. He made sure to thank BBN for it once things wrapped up while adding his now-famous slogan, “KY Til I Die!”
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