Kentucky has now lost four of their first 5 games of the season as they drop a close one against Notre Dame, 64-63.
An embarrassing first half found the Cats down 22 at halftime, the largest halftime deficit at home in program history. Just four players managed to score points, with one of those being Isaiah Jackson with just one point. Another chapter in the continued story of turnovers be greater than assists, shooting the bricks of the building from the three, and just getting beat all-around.
Jacob Toppin says at halftime the locker room was still upbeat, and planned to do something special in the final half. Says they weren't shutdown yet.
The Cats come out and look like a complete different team, as they strapped down and held their own on the defensive end, as the the Fighting Irish went 9 straight minutes during a stretch of no scoring. Kentucky managed to shortly after go on a 14-0 run, cutting a twenty point deficit to just 6, with 3 minutes to go. The team had fight, looked like they could play defense with the best of the best throughout the country, and converted on late buckets.
It came down to fouls and free throws as Notre Dame had a one point lead at with 7.6 seconds left, with Kentucky getting the last shot. Terrence Clarke threw the ball to Boston as he bobbled it, then grabbed it up and threw it down to Olivier Sarr for the game-winning shot. Sarr missed the 12 foot jumper, and the Cats fall 64-63.
Although Kentucky is on a four game losing streak, and is now 1-4 on the season, as weird as it feels to say this, I do have some hope for this team. They finally showed fight after 9 halves of struggling this season, and if they can just learn how to play that good for the full 40 minutes of the game, they can turn this season around.
Some Notes:
- John Calipari chose to put Terrence Clarke at the point this game, and in his postgame press conference says he like Terrence there. Not sure if I agree, but it looks like we'll be seeing more of point guard Clarke.
- Notre Dame found their first win inside Rupp in history (previously 0-8)
- Olivier Sarr had a season high 22 points