Kentucky's shooting struggles continue in the Wildcats 70-66 loss at Clemson

Kentucky suffers the first loss of the Mark Pope era in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Dec 3, 2024; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope during the first half against Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images / Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images

The Kentucky Wildcats are undefeated no longer as they lost to Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge. The SEC dominated the ACC on day one 9-1, with the Wildcat's loss to Clemson being the only loss on the ticket for the powerhouse SEC.

In the two ball games leading up to this road battle, the Wildcats were not shooting the ball well from deep, and those struggles carried over as they went 7-27 from three.

The other issue for the Wildcats was the play of the bench players. Brandon Garrison and Kerr Kriisa both struggled for the Wildcats in this ball game, combining for zero points. Kriisa has a team-worst +/- of -21, with Garrison's right behind him at -20. Koby Brea had a -15 in this game as he struggled to get any good open looks.

Andrew Carr did some good things on defense but really struggled on offense, going 1-7 from the field and scoring five points. Carr was excellent down the stretch against Duke but did not have a great showing against Clemson.

Lamont Butler was great in this game, but he got some silly early fouls that led to Coach Pope having to play Kriisa over 20 minutes, which in big games likely isn't the goal. Butler is an elite defender, so it might be tough, but he has to avoid these touch fouls.

Foul trouble had Coach Pope's hands tied in this ball game, so it will be interesting to see what lineups look like on Saturday if this team doesn't have this issue.

Kentucky fans need to not panic as the Wildcats played just about the worst game they could have played against the #18 team in the NET Ranking and lost by four points. A win in Seattle over Gonzaga would be huge for the Wildcats after their first loss of the season.