The Big Blueprint is a rapid-reaction, nuts-and-bolts recap of the latest Kentucky men’s basketball game. Formatted to relive the key moments from each game, the Big Blueprint will be used on the blog for road games that Cat Scratches does not attend.The skinny: Same song, different verse. In a nail-biting affair, Kentucky lost an overtime decision to the Arkansas Razorbacks by a score of 77-76 as the Wildcats’ much-talked about road woes continue. Following a UK turnover, Jeff Peterson hit Marcus Britt in the open floor for a go-ahead layup with 17 seconds remaining. Terrence Jones hit a 10-foot jumper off a Brandon Knight feed to give UK a lead with 1:21 remaining. The Cats got a defensive stop and had an opportunity to run clock and extend the deficit, but an errant Brandon Knight pass sent Arkansas on the deciding fast break. Knight, who scored 26 points on the game, had three opportunities for the win on the ensuing possession but was unable to get a bucket to fall. UK now falls to 19-8 and 7-6 in Southeastern Conference play, including 1-6 on the road in conference. Arkansas got 26 points from Rotnei Clarke and 22 points from Marshawn Powell, running its record to 17-10, 6-7 in SEC play.The difference: Two hands. One of the most familiar refrains from this season has been John Calipari pleading with him team to be aggressive and secure the ball with both hands. UK committed just eight turnovers for the game, but a number of them were errors that stemmed from poor two handed ball security. The “two hands” problem reared itself most prominently on the glass. UK allowed an astounding 22 offensive rebounds to the Razorbacks. Eight of those offensive boards were team rebounds, balls that went out of bounds last touched by the Wildcats. If UK is able to grab just one or two more of those balls, Kentucky could be looking at a huge road win.Player of the game: Rotnei Clarke. The Arkansas shooting guard had DeAndre Liggins draped over him all game but managed to find ways to get his shot off and get to the foul line. He did not score any of his 26 in overtime, but he was the biggest reason why the game got to that point. Clarke shot just 3 of 9 from beyond the arc, but UK was overplaying his outside so dramatically that he was able to get defenders in the air to either draw fouls or to create space for him to get the ball inside.Turning point: There were about a dozen candidates for the turning point Wednesday night with one standing above the rest. First, UK had surged to a 43-37 lead in the opening minutes of the second half after trailing by two at the break and appeared poised to take control of the game. Instead, when it looked like the Cats had a stop on defense, they allowed a big offensive rebound by Michael Sanchez. Then, Rotnei Clark drew a foul on Josh Harrellson on a 3-pointer and converted all three attempts. Harrellson compounded the error on the ensuing possession by committing a turnover. Clarke raced down the floor and drew a shooting foul on DeAndre Liggins, who reacted too strongly to the call and was whistled for a technical. Clarke hit all four free throws and staked Arkansas to a lead. A few mistakes by UK turned an expanding six-point lead into a deficit in a heartbeat.Play of the game: Again, there are a number of possibilities here, but Knight’s turnover and the following winning layup by Arkansas takes the cake. With 47 seconds left, UK had a full 35-second shot clock and a one-point lead. The Cats needed to bleed the clock and get a quality look. Knight simply lost control of a pass from the left wing and Arkansas capitalized. Calipari prefers to let his team play rather than call late-game timeouts, but in that situation, with a lead and needing to run clock, in the future he may indeed take the chance to set something up with his team.Key stat: It was mentioned above, but 22 Arkansas’ offensive rebounds bears a second mention. UK actually won the rebounding battle 46-43 thanks to 19 offensive rebounds of its own, but second-chance points absolutely killed Kentucky. Arkansas managed just 38.4 percent shooting for the game (14 of 39 in the second half and OT), so the Cats’ field-goal defense was solid; they simply could not close out possessions with strong defensive rebounding. He said what: “Josh was wide open right there on the block. They all ran (the play). What you’re looking at is either the guy at the rim, the guy in the corner or the guy on block. We kind of threw it to the wrong guy, but that’s not (the reason we lost). What cost us the game is the three offensive rebounds (on previous possessions). You either come up with that ball or you lose the game. Just grab it and we win the game.” — Calipari on the final play of the game
“If you’re not angry by this — like angry — that this is happening … then we won’t change.” –Calipari on the close losses
“(Arkansas) wanted it worse than we wanted it, and I don’t have the answer to that. We seem to get on the road, and I don’t know if it’s we’re afraid that we’re not winning (or) we’re playing not to lose — I don’t know. I’ve tried everything.” — Calipari on the road lossesUnsung hero(es): With Doron Lamb struggling (he only played 16 minutes), Knight, Liggins, Harrellson, Jones and Darius Miller were called upon to play nearly the entire game. All had their moments, but Knight and Harrellson stepped up in particular. Knight struggled shooting (8 of 23 from the field, 1 of 8 from behind the arc) but he survived foul trouble to post 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Harrellson posted a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. What this one means: UK now has just one more opportunity to pick up its second road win of the year. For better or worse, the NCAA Selection Committee looks heavily at performance on the road in evaluating teams and close losses don’t look all that different from blowout losses. Kentucky is in no danger in terms of making the tournament, but its seed will suffer badly as a result of their road troubles. The committee will look at UK and wonder if its inability to close road games will translate to the high-pressure environment of March Madness. After two tough home games against Florida and Vanderbilt, one last trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to play the Volunteers is on the horizon.
