Young Kentucky team plays with poise but can't finish off upset of No. 1 Kansas
CHICAGO — No. 16 Kentucky played with the poise of a veteran team for most of its Champions Classic matchup against No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday night at the United Center. The closing minutes? Well, that was when their youth showed up.
Often the toughest aspect of winning for a young team is to understand how to close out a game, and UK learned how not to do it in its 89-84 loss to Kansas.
UK coach John Calipari dialed up plays that were supposed to go to the post but ended in forced shots "and three of them were airballs."
"We've got to get better finishing, but a young team learns that," Calipari said. "But what I was proud of is, they fought."
The Cats jumped to a 14-point lead in the second half as if it was supposed to be that easy. Maybe that’s what finally lulled them to sleep.
They should have known the Jayhawks were going to make a surge. Two of their starters, Dajuan Harris and K.J. Adams, played in the 2022 national championship game against North Carolina in which they rallied from 15 points down to win the title.
Kansas eliminated its mistakes from earlier in the half when it made inexplicable turnovers — like a ball dribbling off a player's foot and an outlet pass thrown to courtside seats — and looked like it had completely turned the game around when Parker Braun’s dunk gave KU a 70-67 lead.
UK freshman Reed Sheppard, who finished with 13 points and was perfect from the floor in his first four attempts, calmly knocked down one of his three 3-pointers to tie the game.
They could have used more of that resolve late in the game.
Kentucky used 12 3s to nullify being at a size disadvantage to the Jayhawks. And those shots worked within the flow of the offense for much of the first half.
But the Cats relied too much on 3s in the second half, shooting 3 of 15 from behind the arc. And when the game was being decided late, they rushed shots or took bad 3s.
When KU tied the game at 83, Rob Dillingham’s response was to launch an ill-advised, well-contested jumper from the corner that missed badly. UK senior guard Antonio Reeves followed that shot by missing a step-back 3-pointer.
Kentucky did not have a field goal in the final 3:12 as the Jayhawks closed with an 11-1 run.
"I've got to do a really good job of showing them how to finish games," Calipari said. "And then part of it is who should be in when you're finishing the game."
How the Cats closed the game doesn’t erase the positive signs they showed from how they played early on.
UK fell behind 9-0 to start the game. It made just four of its first 18 shot attempts for 22% from the field. On a big stage for the first time, that alone could have rattled the Cats.
Confidence for young teams, even older ones in college, sometimes comes from making shots. Maybe the Cats were even too young to realize that.
Their boost came from going even younger when they brought Sheppard and Dillingham off the bench.
Sheppard made a pair of 3-pointers that seemed to loosen them up and helped the Cats take their first lead. Dillingham went on a tear with four straight 3s and assisted on a Reeves 3 to make it five consecutive.
“They came in the game, changed all the energy and everything,” said UK sophomore Adou Thiero, who had his first career double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Another sign of maturity early on came from UK being unaffected by the poor first-half shooting from its starting guards. Freshman D.J. Wagner was 0 for 6 from the field, including three from behind the arc. Reeves, a Chicago native, went 1 for 8 from the floor.
None of that mattered with Dillingham powering the way with 16 points in just 10 minutes and Thiero scoring 13 of his points before intermission.
Arguably, Kentucky’s most impressive stat line in the first half was its 10 assists on 15 baskets with only three turnovers. They shared the ball and took care of it, too.
There will be plenty of positives Calipari can build on from the loss, but it all starts with learning how to finish.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.