Two things that rarely occur during John Calipari's tenure at Kentucky have popped up in the Wildcats' first three games of the season.
Kentucky entered its matchup with Kansas having lost only eight times in 290 games in which it held a lead of 10 points or more under Calipari. The Cats had also suffered a loss only 13 times in 12 seasons under their head coach coming off another defeat.
Both of those anomalies unfolded Tuesday in a 65-62 loss to the No. 7 Jayhawks at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
The No. 20 Cats, who were coming off an upset loss to Richmond on Sunday, blew a 13-point first-half lead to Kansas, which methodically chipped away at the deficit over the final 25 minutes of play.
Redshirt freshman wing Jalen Wilson scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Jayhawks (2-1). He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Ochai Agbaji added 17 points, while Christian Braun chipped in with eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Kansas won despite missing 18 of its first 22 shots from the floor and finishing with a 29.9% shooting performance. It was the lowest figure by a team that defeated UK since the statistic was first officially tracked during the 1958-59 season.
The Jayhawks, however, outrebounded the Cats 47-43, and forced 16 turnovers.
"Let me just say this," Calipari said. "If I was Bill Self, I’d be so happy, because my team was held to 29% from the floor and 23% from the 3 and we win. I love those games. Just to slog it out. And let me tell you what they did to us in the second half: they punked us. They just got fed. We couldn’t even bring in the ball..
Kentucky's point guards, freshman starter Devin Askew and graduate transfer Davion Mintz, combined for half of the Cats' miscues and dished out only three assists.
"Our point guards can’t have eight turnovers between them over-dribbling and trying to control the ball versus just give it up and get away," Calipari said. "... We have to learn. You know sometimes, I think (NFL coach) Bill Belichick said: ‘You have to know things that keep you from losing to learn to win.’ Well, what keeps you from losing is not turning it over. Just not."
Turnovers weren't the only issue. Kentucky (1-2) shot just 36.1% from the field, including a woeful 3-for-21 effort from the 3-point arc two days after going 0-for-10 on 3-pointers against Richmond.
One of the lone bright spots for the Cats was the play of freshman forward Isaiah Jackson, who had seven points, a team-high 12 rebounds, and eight blocked shots.
Mintz and freshman wing BJ Boston each had 12 points to lead UK in scoring.
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RAPID RECAP:
It was nearly an instant replay of Sunday's game, although Kansas did not play nearly as well as the A-10's Richmond Spiders. Once Kentucky started reeling on the offensive end of the floor, the young Wildcats could not right the ship. It did not help that one of their only experienced players, transfer center Olivier Sarr, ran into serious foul trouble and sat for almost the entire second half. The Cats needed much more from the 7-footer than his eight points and six rebounds over 14 minutes of action against a smaller Kansas squad.
GAME BALL:
Jalen Wilson, Kansas -- Not much was made of the 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman wing coming into the matchup, but his energy and scoring punch was the difference for the Jayhawks. Kentucky may have won handily if not for his surprising performance.
KEY STAT:
Kentucky turned the ball over 16 times leading to 18 points for the Jayhawks.
QUOTABLE:
"You know, they’ve got to go through this. I mean this is all part of the growth of this." -- UK head coach John Calipari on coaching a team completely comprised of new players with sophomore forward Keion Brooks Jr. sidelined by a calf injury.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Sunday against Georgia Tech in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The game will be televised on ESPN.
