After a disappointing loss to No. 6 Kansas late Tuesday night, the No. 20 Kentucky men’s basketball team was looking forward to getting back on the court and putting the clash against the Jayhawks behind them. But thanks to a season-high 21 turnovers, Kentucky failed to get back in the win column, falling 62-79 to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Offensively, Kentucky actually shot the ball much better than they had throughout the first three games, shooting 22-49 (44.9%) from the floor and 8-19 (42.1%) from deep. Freshman Terrence Clarke had his best game yet as a Wildcat, scoring 22 points on 9-14 shooting while connecting on three of his 3-point attempts. Brandon Boston Jr. was the only other Wildcat to hit double figures, however, scoring 11 points on 4-11 shooting. As a team, Kentucky recorded 16 assists, three more than the previous two games combined. But the turnovers proved to be too much to overcome, as four players recorded three or more TOs.
Isaiah Jackson continued his steady performance on the young season, tallying 9 points to go along with 12 rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. Through four games, Jackson has recorded 42 rebounds, 15 more than anyone else on Kentucky’s roster. To round out the scoring, freshman Devin Askew had three, Olivier Sarr had six, Davion Mintz had 7 and Lance Ware and Jacob Toppin each had 2.
As well as Kentucky played defensively on Tuesday, it was a completely different story Sunday, as Georgia Tech connected on 51.7% of their field goal attempts. Kentucky’s 21 TO’s led to 33 points and 11 more field goal attempts for Georgia Tech, as five Yellow Jackets reached double figures.
With the loss, the Cats fall to 1-3 on the season for the first time in Cal’s career at Kentucky, and are currently riding a three-game losing streak. Kentucky will be back in action Saturday for a battle with Notre Dame at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 12:00 pm ET.