Kentucky basketball can't dig out of deep first-half deficit, stumbles against Ole Miss

Kentucky basketball can’t dig out of deep first-half deficit, stumbles against Ole Miss

Posted by author February 5, 2025 Basketball

The Wildcats trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half, their largest deficit of the season.
Kentucky will look to end its two-game losing streak Saturday at home against South Carolina.

OXFORD, Miss. — At least Kentucky basketball didn’t make the wrong kind of history Tuesday. At one point during its game against Ole Miss, UK was on pace to suffer its worst loss in a series that dates back more than a century.

Instead, the Wildcats settled for a 98-84 setback at The Pavilion.

But the final score couldn’t be less revealing of the game itself.

Aside from center Amari Williams having a performance for the ages, posting only the fourth triple-double in program history, Kentucky, ranked No. 14 in both major polls (USA TODAY Coaches and Associated Press), didn’t look the part of a ranked team Tuesday. The Wildcats (15-7, 4-5 SEC) were thoroughly outclassed in their worst first half under first-year coach Mark Pope. And even a second half in which UK shot 63% from the field — including 46% from 3 — couldn’t cover up the flaws from the opening 20 minutes.

“Congrats to Ole Miss,” Pope said. “They played really, really well. They made big shots. They hurt us in a lot of different ways. … We’re dealing with some frustration right now.”

Ole Miss led by 23, 54-31, at the end of the half. It was the largest halftime deficit Kentucky ever has had against Ole Miss. And it was the biggest end-of-first-half gap for UK, in any game, since it trudged into the locker room down 24 (50-26) at Tennessee on Feb. 16, 2013. The first game after Nerlens Noel’s devastating ACL injury that brought his season to a tragic end.

That Wildcats team went on to go one and done in the National Invitation Tournament. This season’s squad is still a near-lock to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.

Still, the setback to the Rebels (17-6, 6-4) marked the Wildcats’ second defeat in as many games, following John Calipari’s triumph over his former program in Arkansas’ 89-79 win last week.

It all circles back to Kentucky’s defense.

As Pope did — repeatedly — during his postgame news conference.

Four times, he used the words “defensive” or “defensively.” Once, it occurred after Pope was asked a question about his team’s offense, which surpassed 80 points for the 16th time this season.

But that’s not the issue.

“The biggest frustration right now is on the defensive end,” Pope said. “I’m doing a poor job of finding the answers for that.”

It’s not a matter of effort, either. At least from Pope’s vantage point.

“It’s a credit to Ole Miss. And it’s a real issue for me,” he said, “and I’ve gotta figure how to help our team have more of a presence.”

Junior guard Otega Oweh said there wasn’t much mystery to the team’s first-half struggles defensively: The Wildcats simply “didn’t get stops” against the hosts, who fired at will.

“We have to be more disruptive,” said Oweh, who scored 24 points (matching Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell for the game high) to go along with six rebounds. “And then we put up a fight in the second half. But we’ve got to do that all game. Can’t just be by halves.”

And it can’t wait for a solution to materialize out of thin air. In this case, the return of defensive ace (and starting point guard) Lamont Butler, who has missed the past three games with a shoulder injury.

“We have to figure this out with the guys we have,” Pope said. “Like, that’s the job is to figure this out with the guys we have. And that’s what we’re focused on.”

Even with Butler’s status going forward unclear, Oweh said there’s no excuse for UK to be so pitiful defensively.

“We have all the tools and all the weapons to be a great defensive team,” he said. “We just have to have that urgency. We’re going to figure it out.”

Nine regular-season games are all that remain between the Wildcats and the SEC Tournament.

Even before Tuesday’s torching by Ole Miss — its point total and field-goal percentage (54.7; 35 of 64) were its best against a conference foe this season — Kentucky hadn’t been defined by defensive prowess. It was barely inside the top 300 nationally in scoring defense (76.5 points per game). And it was the worst squad in the 16-team SEC in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency (103.3 points per 100 possessions, per KenPom).

But then the Rebels went out and had a near-flawless performance.

Literally.

Ole Miss dished out 24 assists and committed one turnover.

“It helps to make shots. … I thought we just played the right way,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “We were sharing the ball. Most of our baskets were assisted. From a coach, that’s something you’re really always looking at.”

Pope does as well.

Nearly every time he speaks with media members, he’ll reference his team’s assist-to-turnover ratio — how it fared in its most recent game, his hope it’s a number trending infinitely upward. The Wildcats excelled in that area Tuesday. Even against the Rebels’ frenetic, turnover-happy defense, the visitors almost posted a 3-to-1 ratio (21 assists, eight turnovers).

But again, the defense.

“The solutions are complicated sometimes,” Pope said. “I’m doing a poor job of finding the right ones.”

UK was ever-so-slightly better on defense after halftime, particularly guarding the 3-point line. After the Rebels knocked down 52.9% (9 of 17) of their long-range attempts in the first half, they missed nine of the 13 triples they hoisted in the final 20 minutes.

Improvement for Kentucky? Yes.

Cause for celebration? Yes.

But tempered.

“I mean, come on, this is Kentucky. We don’t do moral victories at all,” Pope said. “But we’ll try and build on things.”

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.