You can credit Edgar Sosa’s 26-foot bomb that gave Louisville its 7-471 win over Kentucky on Sunday. You can harp on the ‘Ville’s surprisingly accurate 55 percent shooting from three-point land – previous season-best was 47.8 versus Ohio University. You can blame the Billy Gillispie technical foul that squelched his own team’s momentum. You can cite a dozen reasons for the Cats loss at Freedom Hall.
But it really boils down to one.
The same one.
Turnovers.
Same old story, same old song and dance. Broken record, yes, but it’s also true that until Kentucky cuts down on its viral tendency to turn the ball over, this ’08-09 edition will never reach its full potential, and Sunday presented a definite example as to why, or why not.
Kentucky shot 46.9 percent. Louisville shot 46.8 percent. Kentucky made 23 field goals. Louisville made 22 field goals. Kentucky made 19 of 22 free throws. Louisville made 19 of 23 free throws. Those numbers seem to suggest that the difference in the game was the fact the Cards made 11 of 20 three-pointers, while Kentucky was just six of 16 from beyond the stripe. And there is no doubting the significance of that.
But here’s the thing. Coming in, a reasonable Kentucky concern was rebounding. Talking to Mike Pratt before the game, the UK radio analyst expressed a fear that the Cats might be bludgeoned on the boards. A legitimate fear. Louisville had outrebounded its last eight opponents. The better teams had battered the Cats on the boards. UK lost the boards by 14 to North Carolina, by 19 to Kansas State, by 13 to West Virginia, even by 7 to Indiana.
But the Cats didn’t lose the boards Sunday. They actually whipped Louisville 32-22 on the glass. Even better, the Cats pulled down twice as many offensive rebounds (14-7) as did the host Cardinals. Louisville had 15 defensive rebounds, which means there were 29 available rebounds on the U of L end of the floor UK’s offensive end. Amazingly, Kentucky got nearly 50 percent of those boards.
And a rebounding edge, especially an edge on the offensive glass, normally translates into a field goal attempt advantage. Stands to reason that the more offensive rebounds a team gets, the more shots, and the more chance at makes, it gets.
Against Miami, UK grabbed 10 more offensive rebounds than did the Hurricanes, and ended up with 18 more shots. Against Tennessee State, the Cats enjoyed an advantage of six on the offensive boards, and got off 13 more shots.
That didn’t happen Sunday. Kentucky won the boards by 10, the offensive boards by seven, and yet ended up with just two more shots (49-47).
Why?
Because too may times after those rebounds, the Cats turned the ball over. Consider that Kentucky outrebounded Louisville by 10 in the first half, and somehow got off three less shots. Reason: Gillispie’s club turned it over 14 times in the first half. That’s 14 opportunities at additional shots that instead turned into empty possessions. Given that, seems a near miracle that the Cats were down just three at the half.
Plus, the turnovers had a direct correlation to Louisville’s three-pointers. Afterward, Gillispie lamented his team’s transition defense, and lack of communication in the transition game. When asked about U of L’s threes, Billy G. pointed out that several of the Cardinals’ triples came off transition, by shooters who were not picked up on the break. And there’s that old adage that a turnover is usually the first pass of an opponent’s fast break. It all fits together.
It is also, unfortunately, the story of this Kentucky. Sunday was the sixth game this season the Cats have turned it over at least 20 times in a game. Last year’s team suffered such a plight just five times all season. UK’s record this year when committing 20-or-more turnvoers: 3-3. UK’s record this year when committing less than 20 turnovers: 8-1.
