Poor Free-Throw Shooting Leads to Another March Loss for Kentucky

The Wildcats can't hit the free ones consistently in postseason play.

NASHVILLE — Free throws and Kentucky in the month of March is not exactly a compatible match.

That rang true once again on Friday night, as the Wildcats' trips to the charity stripe turned out to instead be very charitable for Vanderbilt.  UK went 11-20 from the free-throw line in its 80-73 loss to the Commodores, a dreary reminder of the woes that have plagued it over the course of the season. 

The Commodores also took 20 freebies, making 18 of them, seven more than UK, one for each point that they defeated the Cats by. Kentucky is now a 70.3-percent free-throw shooting team, easily in the bottom half of the country. 

"Vandy deserved to beat us. They made their free throws. We missed ours," coach John Calipari said after the loss. 

Kentucky had multiple chances to trim the Dores' lead in the second half via free throws, but seven of the nine misses came in the final 20 minutes, derailing its momentum in a hurry. 

Jacob Toppin, Antonio Reeves and Oscar Tshiebwe were the only Cats to take free throws, and all three missed three of their attempts.

"We got to make free throws if we want to win a game," Toppin, now a 64.4-percent FT shooter, said. "It's real tough, because we work on it every day. At the end of the day just comes down to are you going to make it or not? And we didn't make it today. So, that cost us the game."

"You're not winning a good game shooting 50 percent from the line," Calipari said. "You're just not. Especially if the other team shoots 90-some percent."

Kentucky blanking at the line isn't new. It opened the season as one of the worst FT-shooting teams in the nation, something that was highlighted in its 63-53 loss to UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic back in December. 

The Cats went 5-13 from the stripe in the defeat, bringing their percentage for the season down to 66.3, which was just the 287th-best clip in the country at the time. Calipari went on to say that "(Kentucky's) not a bad free-throw shooting team."

Things have gotten better, but not by much. In its first loss of the season to Vanderbilt just over a week ago, Kentucky shot 35 free throws and missed 10 in a game that it lost by two points. 

"We know when we get the ball and get the opportunity to get free throws, we're going to get stops on defense to make the free throws," Vandy guard Jordan Wright said postgame. 

Looking back at other postseason defeats, you'll find the connection to free-throw woes. Just last season, Saint Peter's went 16-18 from the line in the second half and overtime, while Kentucky went 10-20. In 2018, P.J. Washington alone went 8-20 from the stripe, leading to a Sweet 16 loss to Kansas State.

Friday night was just another example. Kentucky can't crack the code when it comes to knocking down its freebies in March. It adds another layer of fear that the Cats are trending toward a fourth year in a row without a win in the NCAA Tournament. 

"Amazing, at this time of the year we're still teaching and still talking them through stuff, getting them to visualize different things that are happening," Calipari said of his team. "I like the team. We got a little bit of everything."

Kentucky will find out its Round of 64 opponent on Sunday evening, when the NCAA Tourney bracket is revealed. Regardless of who the opponent is, Calipari will make one thing clear in the lead-up to next week: 

"Make free throws. Make your free throws." 

More on the loss to the Commodores HERE. 

Everything Calipari said after the loss HERE. 

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