Mid-range shooting abandons Kentucky in loss to Vanderbilt

It was a night to forget for Kentucky’s shooters.

UK shot just 32.2 percent from the field as a team on Wednesday night, resulting in a 68-66 Senior Night loss to Vanderbilt in front of the home fans. It was tough sledding from the beginning and only got worse for the Wildcats once Cason Wallace went down early in the second half with a lower leg injury. Kentucky hit 32 percent of its shots in both the first and second halves, combining for a poor 3-19 (15.8 percent) mark from beyond the arc throughout the entire evening.

Kentucky’s field goal and three-point percentages against Vandy were the second-lowest of the Wildcats’ entire season. Antonio Reeves finished 4-17 from the floor while Wallace and CJ Fredrick both went 2-7. It was an ugly performance from start to finish for the team as a whole.

“When you shoot the way we shot today, you’re going to lose a lot of games,” Head coach John Calipari said postgame. “We got open shots, a lot of misses. We missed some free throws down the stretch that could have done some things. But I told them, ‘Guys, you’re missing open shots, just keep playing, you’re fine.’ Just, somebody’s got to make a shot or two. And we made one or two.”

But Kentucky needed more than one or two. In fact, they would have been better served with an entirely different approach to where they were hunting shots. UK made it a point to take the shots it did, even when they weren’t falling. The ‘Cats went just 7-20 (35 percent) on shots outside of the paint but inside the three-point arc — mid-range jumpers, commonly referred to as the least efficient shot in basketball.

Those looks were by design, too.

“We wanted the mid-range shots, yes, because that’s how they (Vanderbilt) play and it’s one of the things we do so well,” Calipari added. “We missed a bunch of ’em today, just missed a bunch. That’s a shot we make. As a matter of fact, we play to get those too.”

Of Kentucky’s 59 total shots against Vanderbilt, 20 of them came from the mid-range area. Meanwhile, the Commodores attempted just eight while taking 10 more shots inside the paint than UK and five more from beyond the three-point arc.

Throughout the season, Kentucky has won plenty of games by consistently knocking down mid-range jumpers, but against the ‘Dores, we saw exactly why teams are beginning to abandon that shot more and more. The mid-range shooting got so bad for UK that Calipari had no choice but to force-feed Oscar Tshiebwe down the stretch, which nearly worked, but it was too little, too late.

16 of Tshiebwe’s 21 points came in the second half, as did 14 of his 15 free throw attempts. He was living and breathing at the charity stripe with the game still in the balance, keeping his team alive despite lengthy field goal droughts. But four of his five misses on the night came from the mid-range area — a shot that he was hitting in the games leading up to this one.

The mid-range shot certainly isn’t invaluable though, as Kentucky has proven time and time again this season. But that shot clearly has its faults. It wasn’t falling against Vanderbilt, which showed how easily the ‘Cats could get bounced early from the NCAA Tournament. When that’s the spot on the floor you’re searching to get shots off from, they’d better go in at a high clip. Hitting three 21-footers is worth more points than making four 19-footers.

But even with that in mind, UK still only went 3-19 from deep. They had a combined six assists as the bulk of made shots came off free throws or through individual play. In a game built around makes and misses, that’s how you lose far more often than not.