Whose tournament game performance would you say was the most costly for the Wildcats since 2015? Preferably you don't say John Calipari's performance, because, as these box scores should demonstrate, his coaching had less to do with UK losing than the efficiency of these players in each tournament game. Some of the games had multiple poor performances.
2015: Trey Lyles and Willie Cauley-Stein v. Wisconsin. This was probably the most difficult game to pick a performance that was uniquely underperforming. Cauley-Stein and Lyles were chosen because, as starters, they combined for only 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 2/6 of UK's turnovers. UK was outrebounded by Wisconsin 30/22, and that is in large part why we lost the game. Runner-up would have been Karl-Anthony Town's defense on Frank Kaminsky, who scored 20 points and recorded 11 rebounds.
2016: Jamal Murray v. Indiana. It's really hard to fault Murray for much because he was one of the bright spots during a pretty forgettable 2015-2016 season. He was also the second leading scorer in this game. However, he shot 1-9 from three, and we lost by 6. Even if he hit only his season average (41%), UK would have won this game by a bucket.
2017: Mychal Mulder v. North Carolina. Mychal Mulder? Really? Yeah. UK lost by 2, and Mychal Mulder played for six minutes, put up five shots, missing all of them, and had one rebound. Give any of those five shots to someone else, and we most likely win the game. Kudos to Cal for only playing him six minutes.
2018: P. J. Washington v. Kansas State. Can a guy who put up 18 points really make this list? The answer is a hard, "Yes!" Washington shot twenty free throws, and made only eight of them, for 40% from the free throw line. To be fair to P. J., his lifetime average at UK was 63.2%, but even if he just hits that, UK wins by 1. If he would have hit 65%, UK would have won by two. We're talking about free throws.
2019: Tyler Herro and Immanuel Quickley v. Auburn. I didn't get to watch this game, but I listened to it on the radio. From my perspective, the officiating in this game was horrific against UK, but I won't put our loss on the officials. Herro and Quickley combined for only ten points (Herro 7, Quickley 3), and shot 24% (4/17) from the field. Herro had a season avg. of 46% and Quickley 42%. If they would have hit just three more shots, with one of those being a three-pointer, UK would have won by a point, and they still would have been under their combined season FG%.
2022: Kellan Grady. How does UK lose as #2 to #15 St. Peters? How about your shooting guard going 1/9 from the field, and 1/7 from three? If any of those shots fall before the end of the 2nd half, Kentucky would have scraped by with a win. Grady shot 11% from the field, with a season average of 47%. For a guy who was unable to miss through January and February, this was a bad day to start throwing up bricks.
Runner-up for this game would have been Wheeler and Washington, who combined for eight turnovers and only seven assists.
2023: Antonio Reeves v. Kansas State. Coming into the game v. Kansas State, Reeves scoring output in the previous six games was: 16 (@ Florida) , 21 (v. Auburn), 14 (v. Vanderbilt), 37 (@Arkansas), 22 (N. Vanderbilt), and 22 (N. Providence). Someone threw an ice bucket on Reeves v. Kansas State, because he put up fifteen shots, and only hit one of them. Coming into the game, Reeves was shooting 43% on the season, but finished against Kansas State shooting just 7%.
What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Were there other performances that you would have added to this list during this span?
2015: Trey Lyles and Willie Cauley-Stein v. Wisconsin. This was probably the most difficult game to pick a performance that was uniquely underperforming. Cauley-Stein and Lyles were chosen because, as starters, they combined for only 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 2/6 of UK's turnovers. UK was outrebounded by Wisconsin 30/22, and that is in large part why we lost the game. Runner-up would have been Karl-Anthony Town's defense on Frank Kaminsky, who scored 20 points and recorded 11 rebounds.
2016: Jamal Murray v. Indiana. It's really hard to fault Murray for much because he was one of the bright spots during a pretty forgettable 2015-2016 season. He was also the second leading scorer in this game. However, he shot 1-9 from three, and we lost by 6. Even if he hit only his season average (41%), UK would have won this game by a bucket.
2017: Mychal Mulder v. North Carolina. Mychal Mulder? Really? Yeah. UK lost by 2, and Mychal Mulder played for six minutes, put up five shots, missing all of them, and had one rebound. Give any of those five shots to someone else, and we most likely win the game. Kudos to Cal for only playing him six minutes.
2018: P. J. Washington v. Kansas State. Can a guy who put up 18 points really make this list? The answer is a hard, "Yes!" Washington shot twenty free throws, and made only eight of them, for 40% from the free throw line. To be fair to P. J., his lifetime average at UK was 63.2%, but even if he just hits that, UK wins by 1. If he would have hit 65%, UK would have won by two. We're talking about free throws.
2019: Tyler Herro and Immanuel Quickley v. Auburn. I didn't get to watch this game, but I listened to it on the radio. From my perspective, the officiating in this game was horrific against UK, but I won't put our loss on the officials. Herro and Quickley combined for only ten points (Herro 7, Quickley 3), and shot 24% (4/17) from the field. Herro had a season avg. of 46% and Quickley 42%. If they would have hit just three more shots, with one of those being a three-pointer, UK would have won by a point, and they still would have been under their combined season FG%.
2022: Kellan Grady. How does UK lose as #2 to #15 St. Peters? How about your shooting guard going 1/9 from the field, and 1/7 from three? If any of those shots fall before the end of the 2nd half, Kentucky would have scraped by with a win. Grady shot 11% from the field, with a season average of 47%. For a guy who was unable to miss through January and February, this was a bad day to start throwing up bricks.
Runner-up for this game would have been Wheeler and Washington, who combined for eight turnovers and only seven assists.
2023: Antonio Reeves v. Kansas State. Coming into the game v. Kansas State, Reeves scoring output in the previous six games was: 16 (@ Florida) , 21 (v. Auburn), 14 (v. Vanderbilt), 37 (@Arkansas), 22 (N. Vanderbilt), and 22 (N. Providence). Someone threw an ice bucket on Reeves v. Kansas State, because he put up fifteen shots, and only hit one of them. Coming into the game, Reeves was shooting 43% on the season, but finished against Kansas State shooting just 7%.
What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Were there other performances that you would have added to this list during this span?
