Keion Brooks had 21 points with 12 minutes to play before Tennessee held him to one field goal the rest of the way and UK's offense collapsed. (SEC Photo)
So much for winning time the last four minutes of a game when Kentucky coach John Calipari has constantly harped that his team let game after game slip away. This time Kentucky took care of that by collapsing with 12 minutes to go when it had a 58-48 lead over Tennessee in Rupp Arena Saturday night. The Cats missed 11 of 13 shots, got outscored 24-6, and let Tennessee stage a big second-half rally to win for the second straight year in Lexington.
“Disappointing. I don’t know what to tell you at this point,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said.
What else could he say? He’s picked apart all the flaws and inconsistencies the team has but three things never change — too many turnovers, not enough physical play, and no go-to player on either end.
Tennessee had two freshmen — Keon Johnson and Jordan Springer — dominate the second half. Springer had 23 points and Johnson 27. They were a combined 18 of 33 from the field and 13 for 15 at the foul line. They also pulled off nine rebounds.
Kentucky didn’t have any perimeter player who could stop either one from getting inside to score.
“Those two bullied us too and they are freshmen,” Calipari admitted. “They were the best two guards on the court whether they were freshmen or sophomores. They were the best two because they were physical and bullied us. They just went everywhere they wanted on the court and went into our bodies and shot or jumped over us.”
Freshman point guard Devin Askew was much better offensively for Kentucky with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, five rebounds, and four assists. But he couldn’t stop either Johnson or Springer.
Davion Mintz and Brandon Boston were a combined 3-for-19 from the field and Dontaie Allen was just 1-for-6. Hard to win with perimeter shooting like that.
“Great teams have great guard play and they do not,” ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said late in the game while rattling off a list of talented guards Calipari has had at UK. “Bottom line is that they just do not have great guard play.”
That’s how you go from a team with two turnovers in the first half to have two in the first three minutes of the second half — “I was at loss for words,” Calipari said — and then again making turnovers again late in the game when there was still a sliver of hope.
Tennessee had only allowed one player to score 20 points all season but Brooks had 21 points with over 12 minutes to play and already had his first double-double of the season. He got one basket the rest of the way.
Calipari said he thought Brooks was “great” but when Tennessee started “crowding” him late in the game he was “begging” for guards to shoot who would not.
Brooks said it was more about the flow of the game.
“They started to load up to me and would not let me catch (the ball) in the post,” Brooks said.
Kentucky’s offense was never the same after the 12-minute media timeout when Calipari took Brooks out after he dominated the first part of the second half.
“After that little run we went on, I gave a tug to my jersey to let Coach know I needed one (a break),” Brooks said. “I felt winded and wanted to catch my breath and go back in. After that our offense stalled and we never recovered from it.”
