The Kentucky Wildcats fell to the Clemson Tigers on Tuesday night in the Cats’ first road game of the season by a score of 70-66.

Mark Pope’s squad did not look ready in the slightest for a tough road test against a solid team. Kentucky scored well early, but the last 10 minutes of the second half were ugly. The Cats went over three minutes without scoring and were simply outfought and outhustled. Foul trouble for Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr certainly didn’t help, but the Tigers took a 37-30 lead into the half.

After the break, an all-out war ensued. This wasn’t the typical game we’ve become accustomed to watching. Kentucky looked bad all around. They had another 3+ minute scoring drought. Clemson got all the 50/50 balls and simply played harder than the Cats.

Pope’s squad drops to 7-1 on the season with a big test coming on Saturday.

Next up, the Cats will travel to Seattle to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a huge matchup on late Saturday night.

The lack of depth is concerning

Kentucky has 12 scholarship players, and all of them, except Travis Perry and Trent Noah, have shown something to warrant some kind of playing time. However, just how big is the drop-off from the starters to the bench, guys?

We saw last time out that Kentucky didn’t have much behind Amari Williams when Brandon Garrison missed the game due to a minor injury. Carr can slide down to the five spot, but unless you’re playing Ansley Almonor significant minutes (you shouldn’t), that means the Cats go really small with Otega Oweh or Jaxson Robinson at the power forward spot. The defense takes a significant hit at that point.

In this game, the lack of depth became even more concerning. Butler and Carr both dealt with foul trouble in the first half and Kerr Kriisa and Almonor simply aren’t the answer for long stretches.

Pope can’t play the freshmen in these tougher games/environments. Almonor really only shoots when he isn’t hitting, and he’s such a liability on the defensive end that it’s tough to watch. Kriisa is the same way. Koby Brea can’t really defend either, but he can rebound, and his shooting is actually really important for the Cats.

The point here is that the bench leaves more questions than answers and the starting group can’t play all game. Who will step up as the season moves along?

Physicality is the Cats’ Kryptonite

Kentucky’s ability to deal with physicality looked like a red flag against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and somewhat with the Georgia State Panthers. That reared its ugly head again in this game.

Physicality just might be the Cats’ kryptonite. It looks like over the last three games teams have come to the realization that Kentucky isn’t built to withstand a battle. If you can’t stop the offense, what do you do? Foul, a lot.

This team isn’t particularly good at shooting free throws, so getting to the line isn’t exactly a win. If teams fight through screens and contest every shot, albeit even if it’s a foul, teams know that the zebras can’t call them all.

The Tigers blocked shots, and the Cats just couldn’t get any open shots. They looked discombobulated and out of rhythm for a large portion of the game.

The best way to disrupt this team appears to be physicality and a lot of fouls.

The 3-point shooting has fallen off

What’s Mark Pope known for? His teams will go run-and-gun and spray from everywhere.

The biggest concern with that strategy is what happens when the shots aren’t falling. For the third game in a row, Kentucky hasn’t been hitting outside shots, and they’ve struggled big time uncoincidentally.

To be fair, once the shots start falling again, and they will, that will open up the floor and hopefully slow down the incessant fouling by opposing teams. For the time being, the Cats have luckily been able to rely on Robinson’s silky floater, Oweh and Butler driving downhill at will, Carr’s post-up game, and the occasional Williams put-back dunk.

Kentucky has got to get back to its bread and butter, and they better do it fast as a big test looms on Saturday night.

Now, let’s discuss the Cats’ first setback of the season.