Kentucky basketball bullied in paint as defense exposed in lopsided loss to Ohio State

[ad_1]

NEW YORK — More than half of Ohio State’s first-half points Saturday — 24 of 39, to be exact — were in the paint.

On the first possession of the second half, OSU forward Devin Royal drove to the basket and finished off the glass over a pair of Kentucky defenders.

So much for halftime adjustments.

The Wildcats’ interior defense was exposed, repeatedly, as the Buckeyes bullied Mark Pope’s club all night. It wasn’t a winning formula for No. 4 Kentucky.

It ultimately doomed UK to an 85-65 loss in a CBS Sports Classic clash at Madison Square Garden.

“A ton of credit to Ohio State,” Pope said. “They beat us in pretty much every facet of the game. … Congratulations to them.”

Pope said his players did everything they could to summon more energy — or as he commonly refers to it, “juice” — and fight.

The Wildcats (10-2) simply never got into a rhythm defensively, failing to string together stops. The Buckeyes (8-4) finished with 36 points in the paint. And though Ohio State scored half as many points in the paint in the final 20 minutes (12) as it did in the opening 20, its efforts before intermission paid dividends after.

Having to account for being beat off the dribble with regularity, UK sagged off OSU shooters on the perimeter. The Buckeyes obliged by knocking down their open opportunities.

Kentucky center Amari Williams looks to shoot as Ohio State forward Aaron Bradshaw, a former Wildcat, defends during the first half Saturday.

Further proof: Ohio State set season highs for a Kentucky opponent in field-goal percentage (56.6; 30 of 53) and points per possession (1.349).

“I needed to help these guys more on the defensive end,” Pope said, “and we just couldn’t find an answer there.”

About those occasions Ohio State didn’t cap a possession at the rim with a made basket?

The Buckeyes made the Wildcats pay another way: at the free-throw line.

OSU went to the charity stripe 24 times in the second half, sinking 18 of them — a conversion rate of 75%.

“I feel like we just kept…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kentucky-basketball-bullied-paint-defense-012332228.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2024-12-22 01:23:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.