Why hasn't Kentucky come up big in clutch situations?
The Kentucky Wildcats hosted the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday and lost 89-85 in Rupp Arena.
This is the first time in Rupp Arena history Kentucky has lost three games in a row. The Wildcats are in a tough spot as they are 16-7 on the season and 6-4 in SEC play. With a little over ten seconds left in the game against Gonzaga, the Wildcats had an opportunity to tie the game or take a lead down two, and an interesting play call from John Calipari led to the Wildcats not getting a look. Kentucky tried to throw a lob to Adou Thiero, but it didn't seem like it was there.
It's starting to seem like Kentucky just can't make the clutch shot anymore. Steven Peake of KSR pointed out that Kentucky, since 2020, has had 27 opportunities to tie or win the game late and has only made one shot. Now, to be fair, a handful of these shots were half-court heaves, but most of them were not. In the video made by Peake, it looks like during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Kentucky was getting good looks late, and they weren't falling. Since then, it seems like the Wildcats can't even get a good look. Early in Coach Calipari's career, almost every shot fell, but lately nothing has.
Coach Calipari had this to say about the decision on the final play against Gonzaga, "The plan was Antonio if the lob wasn't there, and obviously wasn't, was to go to the top of the key. But that didn't lose us the game. 18 offensive rebounds. Fifty points in the paint. We thought we could guard them one-on-one. We probably needed to trap more. But then you are freeing up some other guys."
These shots not falling is the difference in losing or winning a game, and if Kentucky can't get clutch shots to fall, they won't last long in March.
