Despite receiving a 20-point, 15-rebound effort from Oscar Tshiebwe, No. 4 Kentucky couldn’t overcome a slow start, and a 27-of-69 shooting effort during its 88-72 loss to No. 2 Gonzaga.
Jacob Toppin got hot with the mid-range jumper in the second half and tied his career high with 16 points. Freshman Cason Wallace had 14 points, two assists and four steals. Wallace entered the weekend as the only player in the nation with at least 20 assists and 12 steals.
Antonio Reeves had 10 points, his fourth double-figure game this season.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said one of the factors in the loss was his team’s shooting.
“ Well, we missed every shot,” he said. “So you can say what you want. We missed every shot. You don’t have to make them all. You just can’t miss them all, and expect to be in the game with a good team. And Gonzaga played well. They played well. We only had 11 turnovers. You want to know, though? When we got the game to four, there were two of them right then. What? And we gave up a three and we fouled, and all of a sudden it’s back to nine. What in the world just happened?
“I had to change how we were playing offensively at halftime,” he added. “What did you see, if you know basketball? What did I do? So most of you really don’t know. I couldn’t get Oscar (Tshiebwe) to run the plays right. You know why? He hasn’t been practicing with us. So I said, go to the baseline. We’re going to play dribble drive around you. And that’s what we did the whole second half. I ran two plays. That were pass, pass, make a play. Couldn’t run a play. Told them, man, you know, we got to practice and get together as a team and get better.”
Gonzaga led all the way, as the Bulldogs got the game’s first eight points before Tshiebwe got UK on the board with a layup at 17:33.
Ahead 10-6, Gonzaga’s 9-0 run put UK in its then-largest deficit of the season, 19-6.
Later in the half, GU’s 8-0 spurt gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the half at 39-21.
Gonzaga went to halftime ahead 41-25 as UK shot only 25 percent (8 of 32), including 0 of 11 on 3-pointers. Tshiebwe’s 14 points and seven rebounds led the Wildcats.
Gonzaga got the first basket in the second half, but a 14-4 Kentucky run got the Wildcats within 47-39, coaxing a Bulldog timeout at 14:26.
Back-to-back threes by Wallace and Reeves narrowed the gap to 49-45.
UK was within 61-55 when a 7-0 GU spurt gave the home team a 68-55 cushion and the Wildcats got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Gonzaga stretched the lead to 19 at 88-69 before a UK 3-pointer settled the final score.
