Cats Hope to Learn From Sunday Setback to Richmond

When Kentucky head coach John Calipari spoke prior to the season, he discussed how tough the 2020-21 UK schedule would be. While that’s not uncommon for a Calipari-coached Kentucky team, this season’s condensed schedule made the slate even tougher.

Fans could look at the schedule and see the names – Kansas, Louisville, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Texas and UCLA. Some of the more storied programs in college basketball history littered the UK schedule.

But Calipari also warned fans about Richmond, UK’s opponent in the final game of the Bluegrass Showcase on Sunday at Rupp Arena. And the experienced, talented Spiders were every bit of the challenge that Calipari predicted they would be.

Kentucky led 32-28 after a hard-fought first half. The Cats would stretch that lead to 36-30 early in the second half before Richmond assembled a 9-0 run to lead 39-36.

The Cats would take the lead back, 41-39, on a Brandon Boston Jr. layup. But from there, Richmond again had a spurt, this one a 12-3 run, to take a 51-44 lead with 10:45 left, prompting a UK timeout.

However, rather than allowing that timeout to stop their momentum, Richmond would continue to stretch its lead, eventually taking a 63-50 advantage with 4:40 remaining.

That’s what veteran teams are able to do. And that’s what Calipari and his staff hope his team can learn from his team’s 76-64 loss to Richmond on Sunday.

“This was a team that was going to present veteran moxie,” UK assistant coach Joel Justus said after the game. “We knew that coming in and we knew that we were going to have to play really well to win the game.”

Boston, who led Kentucky with 20 points, saw Richmond’s experience come out in the second half.

“It showed tremendously,” Boston said. “They were making plays, finishing plays and executing and those things.”

Senior Olivier Sarr, one of the Kentucky players with the most experience, put some of the blame on his own shoulders, despite scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

“The focus was, be ready because they are a really experienced team,” Sarr said. “I think I’ve got to do a better job of being a leader on the team.”

In the second half, when the game was on the line, Richmond was able to hit 19 of 32 (59.4 percent) from the field, while Kentucky was only able to connect on 11 of its 36 shots (30.6 percent). And the Cats had zero assists in the game’s second 20 minutes.

“I think that we have to become a little bit more unselfish on the offensive end,” Justus said. “I think you look at the fact we had zero assists in the second half. I think as coaches, that was something that was very obvious as we were playing and the ball was sticking a little bit. You only have five (assists) for the game and obviously all those were in the first half.”

The Cats also struggled taking care of the ball, committing 21 turnovers in the game, a number that Justus believes is too many.

“We have to take better care of the ball,” Justus said. “You know, 21 turnovers is something that’s a little too high, even as aggressive as Coach wants to play.”

And while the team never wants to take a loss, Justus sees plenty of building opportunities for the Cats after this game.

“I think this is an opportunity for our guys to learn,” Justus said. “It’s a lesson for them, especially in that backcourt, how young we are, and I think we’ll grow. We’ll get better from this.”

Sarr also knows that the Cats have a long season ahead of them and that now is not a time to worry.

“It’s a lesson for all of us,” Sarr said of Sunday’s loss. “But this is the second game of the year, we’ve got a lot of games coming.”

Justus also saw the Cats fight hard the entire game, something else that they can build on.

“What we do know is these guys are competitive, talking about our team, they’re guys that want to win, they are trying hard, they’re practicing hard,” Justus said. “And, hey, look, I think sometimes the ball doesn’t go exactly the way you want it to go, but your effort is great. To get 21 (offensive) rebounds, that means we were going. Those don’t just fall in your lap.”

The Cats have an opportunity to get back to action on Tuesday, facing Kansas in the Champions Classic. They will hope that the lessons learned from Sunday’s loss to Richmond can take effect by then.