Here are Cats Illustrated's game grades for all the Kentucky basketball players who saw a relevant amount of court time in the Wildcats' loss to North Carolina.
Devin Askew
Askew is quietly showing some improvement. He did pick up his dribble prematurely a couple of times but has made progress in that area. He got in to the lane and kicked the ball out nicely more often than in previous games. He was stronger with the ball, never gave less than full effort on both ends of the court, and scored 12 points on 3/6 FG.
Grade: B
Davion Mintz
Mintz was the best player on the court for Kentucky against the Tar Heels. He led the team with 17 points, hitting two of the Cats' three trifectas, and also led the team in rebounds with eight. He may never play a traditional point guard role like other lead guards in the Calipari era because he will have the same limitations we've known about but there's no question that Mintz must be on the court for Kentucky to be its best.
Grade: A
B.J. Boston
It's starting to look like Calipari is tolerating so much of Boston's one-on-one action because he probably realizes Kentucky does not have any alternative as offense that is preferable. Boston scored 15 points, second on the team, but he needed 14 field goal attempts to get there. He made just five of those shots. He was 0/3 from deep and 5/8 from the line. In short, Boston wasn't efficient, but UK didn't have many better options. He had seven boards, two assists, and a block.
Grade: C+
Terrence Clarke
Not long ago Calipari said he was working Clarke exclusively at point guard and giving that position to him. Now, it's not so clear. It didn't look like Clarke was actually any kind of point guard for most of Saturday's loss. He turned it over three times, didn't dish out any assists, and fouled out. Clarke was 3/11 from the field including 0/3 from deep, missing his only free throw, and was -12 in 25 minutes. He looks like a player without a clear understanding of what his role is on the team, as do so many others.
Grade: F
Jacob Toppin
Based on everything we heard about this team's potential depth before the season it's hard to believe Toppin would play 19 minutes in this game, but he did. He was 1/6 from the floor (4 points), had two rebounds, a steal, and a turnover. He tried to throw down a very low percentage dunk that would have been the lead highlight on any sports recap show. He had a team worst +/- of -14. Fouls forced Toppin to play much more than he's probably ready to against an opponent like that so early in his Kentucky career.
Grade: F
Isaiah Jackson
Jackson is Kentucky's best defensive player and it would have been very helpful if he could have played 30+ minutes against such a strong front line. Alas, he fouled out and only played 15 minutes because of those fouls. In the time he did play Jackson scored three points (1/2 FG), had five rebounds, a block, and two turnovers. He didn't have a big impact on the game and while his fouls weren't as bad as Sarr's some were also not good decisions.
Grade: D
Lance Ware
Ware was one of the real bright spots for Kentucky on Saturday. He played 21 minutes and had a bigger than expected role because Isaiah Jackson and Olivier Sarr were in foul trouble throughout the game. He only scored four points (2/3 FG) but had seven rebounds including four offensive boards and two steals. Against one of the nation's best front lines Ware held his own and battled around the hoop. UK was only -2 when Ware was in the game. He did his job.
Grade: A-
Olivier Sarr
What a head scratcher. Sarr connected on 11 field goals against Notre Dame and looked like UK's best offensive option. Against UNC, he didn't even attempt one field goal. He played 18 minutes and was saddled with foul trouble for the entire contest. He has only himself to thank for that because the fouls were not good basketball plays. Just when he gave fans reason to hope, Sarr reminded everyone today that fouls are probably going to be a headache all season.
Grade: F
Coaching
Are we grading the game and the game alone or some of the coaching or personnel management issues that led to where the team is today? It looks like Calipari challenged Kentucky to man up on the glass, and they responded. UNC was +15 rebounds per game on average and Kentucky outrebounded them. UK switched up defensive matchups and Cal tinkered with lineup combinations throughout the game in part because of fouls but he also kept UNC off balance for a while. However, the total lack of any offense or flow is on him, whether that's not recruiting the right point guard or creating a system that demands a new point guard most years. Kentucky is 1-5 and the team appears to be emotionally wrecked right now. There are questions. Why didn't Cam'Ron Fletcher and/or Dontaie Allen play more?
Grade: D
Note: Dontaie Allen and Cam'Ron Fletcher only played a combined four minutes so were not included in these game grades.
