Missing fts, no one blocking out when we are in man to man D, and our 3 % has been bad the last 3 games……and now playing a legit title contender on the road. Our bigs got abused again in the paint but hoping we learn from this game and improve come Saturday. Thought a 1-1 split would be reasonable but the W would have came last night.

Two bad teams. 11-8 Miami with 11:41 to go in the first.

Thase cayuts plaid hurible. Jus terible. Farrrr pOpe. i'm so sick of mArK pOPes cochin alredy. he aint dun nuthin at all. these plaires jus want to go nbA and don want ta play fer uK thay outa played fer us insted of them nbA fellers. thay went an embarased at us at clemsun and onli sEc teem thayt losed to thE AcC. there basketbal tema aint gud at alL.

farrrrrrrrrr pOpe!!11?!1

(Hope this made someone laugh today)

In all seriousness. Clemson played their Superbowl. We just struggled a bit on the road and still had a shot to win it after playing pretty bad. It happens, it's December. We weren't going to win every game. The eventual National Champion this year will also have losses.

Don’t despair . We have a great coach and great team . It’s early . Everybody is beating everybody this year .
It was not a SEC or NCAA loss.

We are a top ten team and it is going to be an exciting season. Our kids will learn from last night .

* The Cats lose on the road to Clemson as CMP sustains his 1st loss while head coach at UK. It was an ugly offensive performance by the Cats that exposes some concerns that the Cats must deal with moving forward. The Cats weren’t up to the challenge in their first road test.

* Cats 6-25 from 3pt line. For the way CMP wants to play, those are losing numbers ….and most of those were open 3’s. Questions will be asked why Brea only went 1-2 from 3pt line. … 11-18 from the FT line won’t get it done either. Add to that, the Cats struggle at creating their own shot, and that’s how you lose scoring 66 points.

* The bench scored 7pts … Cats cannot have the bench be a non-factor if they hope to get wins against good teams.

* If the Cats lack of physicality was a concern against a decent and below the rim Clemson team … then playing in the SEC is going to be a huge challenge for the Cats moving forward. The SEC is going to consume itself this year and the Cats won’t be immune to that …we’re going to take some losses, how many is the question, have to find a way to protect the home court.

* Butler getting in foul trouble early set the tone for the entire game. It is essential that Butler play a lot for the Cats. Butler +17 in 19 minutes of play … for me, the Butler foul trouble was the key to the Clemson win … one has to think getting Butler in foul trouble is going to be at the top of opposing teams scouting report … along with playing physical with the Cats.

* Cats did better on the glass in the 2nd half after getting abused in the 1st half … but you have to make shots.

* Up Next: Cats the only SEC team to lose tonight … disappointing. The Cats go to play at Gonzaga on Saturday in hopes of avoiding losing two,in a row.

We lost. Shot bad. Played in a tough environment and had a chance. Might loss to Gonzaga as well but could win obviously. I ain't upset. We are a team that is predicated on 3s and movement and didn't shot well . Happens. I'll still take this over any of the last 5 6 years of stall ball cal. I think a loss is good for us. Obviously I wish we won but we are fine. Chime in if u want. Eom

I think the difference in us being a decent team vs a top 10 team is simply Andrew Carr.

He has to come to play. Oweh, Amari & Butler have been pretty consistent. They have flaws, but also good points. They have showed us what we can expect from them.

We need Carr vs Duke, not Carr vs Clemson.

Always brings the Chicken Littles out in force, doesn't it? Let Pope do his thing, will ya? If you have a real coach (instead of a CEO), you learn and get better from losses. Spoiler alert...we might lose to Gonzaga, too. I hope not, but as long as when we lose, we don't lose the lesson we'll get better.

That has got to get better. No team wins games shooting like that.

Would have liked to see Oweh nail one of those two shots but you can’t question either of these guys effort. I hope guys like Carr, brea, others learn how to approach a game like this from Oweh and butler. Thought we had moments where our head wasn’t in the game. Mark didn’t have the team fully focused tonight but I feel like for butler and Oweh we can count on every night

Coach Pope was discussing earlier in the season as two of his goals this year are the :
1) developing players
2) the ability of players to make read in offense and defense so we can make the correct and quick decision.

Considering that we have one elite catch and shoot guy : Brea and everyone else is just average from 3 and that unfortunately, no one on the team can create its own shot like Rob Dilly or Monk or Murray and that one player supposed to be Robinson but his handle is suspect to say the least I think the two goals above are very important for how far this team will go.

Right now we are depending on running plays to get our guys open to shoot 3s… or getting shots in transition or via offensive rebounds but that means we should run a transition and rebo7nd the ball….which we don’t do consistently….

As other teams get more tape of Uk plays, the ability to run plays to get our guys open will decrease… sure Pope can make adjustments and tweaks but those will be also read in the next game,

This year we don’t have the high profile players so it’s normal to be on this trend where easy 3 will come harder and harder and that will be a problem in the system that Pope wants to run.

Back to the 2 goals .

Where are with developing players:
Butler definitely improved especially his ability to make plays of the two feet.
The rest I have seen very timid but inconsistent improvements: Brea to try to score more than just catch and shoot 3, Garrison to develop post play and shooting from distance, Oweh to shoot the 3.
The remaining players I didn’t see yet a significant personal skills improvement after a month of playing … a little concern of luck playing time of the 3 freshman…how are they going to contribute next year?

Making reads:
On plus Carr and Butler on offensive reads.
On negative Robinson he seems at times lost on what we are running on offense though he should have been the one player familiar with Pope system. Eberyone else on half court is average that’s why we look stagnant at times …Defense I would say the whole team is on minus especially the point guards and the center because on bad habits they have.

Pope has a good coaching team that in theory could spend time on developing players to get the most of this season and developing players for future years . In reality , once we hit our learning ceiling , considering that many of these players will not return because of expiring eligibility I think at one point the decision will be have to be made what is the priority? Continue to put the effort on this season developing players or considering developing the possible returning players…

Anyhow, we should not judge to harshly our first year Coach and a team put together in two weeks. Coach Pope will need 2-3 years to build something…

Will be the reason this team never reaches its ceiling. I don’t know how much more Pope needs to see. Williams does more harm than good.

He’s a turnover waiting to happen. He’s not particularly strong nor athletic. He’s a terrible foul shooter. He bricks layups. He is shaky at the top of the key and his handles are awful. If he continues to be the starter and play 20+ minutes a game this team goes absolutely nowhere.

The back cuts to the basket?. I thought Pope's offense ran a lot of backdoor and motion when the opponent took the 3 away.

Now that he’s lost one (a tough road game btw), are we gonna turn on the captain?

….. we shoot horribly from the field and foul line against a good team and we still only lose by 4. Hate losing, but we will learn from this. Still early in the season.

Seemed pretty much same all game

I really don't understand the majority of the posts on here tonight. Yes, we lost and yes I could even give you that we played like shit but it's one game. I think almost anyone would take a 7-1 record before the season started. Why are we this upset over our first loss? Can't we just say it was a bad game and be happy where we are at? Why do we have to attack our new head coach and the players when they have far exceeded expectations so far in the season.

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
LITTLEJOHN COLISEUM | CLEMSON, S.C.
DEC 3, 2024
ATTENDANCE: 9,000

Final Score: #4 Kentucky 66, Clemson 70

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 7-1 and Clemson moves to 8-1
• Kentucky leads the series 12-5, and is 3-2 at Clemson
• This was the first matchup between Kentucky and Clemson since November of 1997
• Mark Pope is now 194-109 as a head coach, including 7-1 at Kentucky.
• Next for Kentucky: Kentucky heads west to take on No. 7 Gonzaga in the Battle in Seattle, Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Team Notes

• UK held Clemson to 24-65 shooting (32%). Kentucky has held seven of its eight opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field this season
• The Wildcats’ 66 points scored were their fewest in a game this season
• The contest featured four ties and 13 lead changes
• Kentucky led for a total of 14:21 on the night
• The rebounding matchup finished dead even with each squad grabbing 44 total rebounds – 29 on the defensive end and 15 offensive boards
• UK had a 13-10 edge in second chance points and won the points in the paint battle, 30-26

Player Notes

• Otega Oweh had a game high 17 points and a season high seven rebounds. He has scored in double figures in every game this season
• Lamont Butler finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with five assists. He has now scored in double figures in five consecutive games. It also marks Butler’s fourth game this season with at least five assists
• Jaxson Robinson scored 12 points, his fifth game in double figures this season
• Amari Williams had nine points,11 rebounds and three blocked shots. It was the fifth game this year with double digit rebounds for Williams and the seventh time in eight outings that he has led the Cats on the glass
• Andrew Carr blocked two shots, his first multi-block game of the season
• Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin finished with 20 rebounds. He is the first opposing player to have at least 20 rebounds against Kentucky since Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson had 21 on Nov. 14, 2023

In the First Half

• Kentucky’s starters were Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams for the eighth consecutive game
  • First subs were Koby Brea, Brandon Garrison and Ansley Almonor at 16:11
• A 3-pointer from Jaxson Robinson on the game’s first possession opened the scoring
• Clemson took its first lead with a Myles Foster jumper at 14:11 to go ahead, 12-11
• Trailing 23-20, Kentucky went on an 8-0 run to lead 28-23
• The Tigers answered with a 14-2 run to end the half to take a 37-30 lead into halftime
• Otega Oweh led the Wildcats with eight points in the opening 20 minutes

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with the starters
• An Amari Williams jump hook with 15:28 to go gave UK its first lead of the second half at 43-42
• The Tigers took a 53-52 lead with 10:08 remaining and would hold the advantage the rest of the way
• Clemson tied for its largest lead of the night at 7:17 on the clock, leading by seven, 61-54
• The Wildcats would get back within two on a Lamont Butler 3-pointer with just two seconds remaining
• The home team sealed the victory with two free throws from Chase Hunter

** Expecting Kentucky to flip WR Cam Miller who has already decommitted from Wisconsin. Daikiel Shorts was recruiting him before and he kept up the relationship but that wasn't strong enough to win the commitment over in the first place and it obviously wasn't what it was about with him likely to pick Kentucky tomorrow. Someone UK really likes as a slot, think he can be an impact player down the road.

** Also expecting Kentucky to flip DB prospect Grant Grayton from Minnesota after talking to more folks. He's very excited about how many DBs UK has put into the NFL in recent years.

** No HS running back replacement for RB Marquise Davis following his flip. But they will be active in the portal looking for someone who can come in and play right away.

** Hearing that the belief is 4-star WR DJ Miller is expected to stick with Kentucky even with Shorts going out to Nebraska. That would give them a really nice receiver class.

** There were some wondering if Martels Carter Jr would stick with UK but the expectation is that he will.

** LSU, Florida, and Penn State made late runs at Cedric Works but the Frederick Douglass EDGE defender is going to sign with Kentucky.

** Folks I've spoken with are indeed expecting Jon Sumrall to take the North Carolina HC job, fwiw.

** I have heard the first name mentioned as a potential quarterback of interest for Kentucky but can't say anything or hint anything YET.

Open looks not going in. Hope they learn tonight. When KY is in town, it matters more.

Williams has got be better with the ball. Oweh threw up some bad shots. They were definitely rough guarding Brea. He will have to adjust from here on out.

Disappointed but not shocked. Defense was not good tonight at all imo.

About one and a half minutes into the game, my wife walked into the room and asked if I was going to be calm during the game or if I was going to be crazy. I told her I’d probably be crazy because I had the feeling we were going lose. It just had that feel to it from the get go. I hate that. Anyone else get that feeling that early in a game where it just seems nothing is going to go right? I really hate that. Pissed me off.

He has been around way too long and played way too many minutes to be disappearing against the Clemsons and Dukes of the world


38 minutes
2 for 13 from the floor
2 for 11 from 3
0 assists


He doesn't have to be a world beater when he's out there be he has to be a hell of a lot more efficient than he has been against the better competition. Have to make shots or get the other players involved. You can't be bad at both when the competition gets tougher.

put Brea in way before last 21 seconds