Kentucky Takes First Loss in First True Road Game at Clemson

J.D. Hall December 5, 2024

Kentucky went on the road Tuesday night to face a gritty Clemson squad in the ACC/SEC Challenge. They would come out on the short end of a physical contest 70-66 to take their first loss of the season. Clemson set the tone early with physical play and it was up to Kentucky to match it. The contest was back and forth for most of the night, with neither team leading by more than 8. Kentucky got out to leads of 7-2, 17-12 and 28-23 in the first half, but Clemson always had an answer. They closed the first half on a 14-2 run to lead 37-30 going into the break.

Kentucky would be paced in the first half by Otega Oweh (8 points 2 rebounds), Lamont Butler (7 points) and Jaxson Robinson (6 points 2 rebounds and 1 block). Butler and Carr were limited in the first half due to foul problems only playing 7 and 6 minutes, respectively. Clemson would take advantage of their absences. Their replacements Kobe Brea (-14) Kerr Kriisa (-16) and Ansley Almonor (-1) struggled to replace their effectiveness.

Clemson would be led in the first half by Ian Shieffelin with a near double double 9 points and 13 rebounds. Although he didn’t shoot the ball well, his physicality bothered UK on both ends of the floor. Clemson would lead the rebounding battle 31-21 going into halftime and it would be a major point of emphasis for the Wildcats coming out.

Kentucky would come out of the locker room with a 13-5 run to take a 43-42 lead. It would, once again, be a back forth stretch with Clemson stretching the lead out to 5 with 7:47 remaining. The next 1:10 would be a critical stretch for Kentucky’s chances to win the game. They would commence to turn the ball over 4 straight times, but it only led to 2 Clemson points.

Kentucky would cut the lead back to 3 before Clemson was able to get out to their largest lead, 8, with 4:20 remaining. It would also be the last basket Clemson would make. Kentucky though, was once again unable to take advantage of Clemson’s offensive slump, due in large part to their own scoreless stretch from 3:03 left to the :15 mark with a Butler FT. After a Williams offensive rebound, Butler would make a 3 to cut it to 68-66, but there was only :02 left on the clock. In that stretch, Kentucky would miss 4 3 point shots; 3 open looks by Oweh and a late shot clock blocked 3 by Butler. It looked to be Clemson’s night when Chauncey Wiggins banked in a 3 as the shot clock was winding down with 13 minutes left to give Clemson the lead they would relinquish just one more time in
the game. While Shieffelin didn’t shoot the ball well (4-20 and 1-8) he would end the night with a double double 11 points and a career high, 20 rebounds.

Clemson’s physical play led to the 3 rd straight game shooting below 30% from 3 for Kentucky (7-27). Kentucky was unable to make those points up from the FT line or on layups. They would only make 11-18 FTs and shoot just 11-24 on layups.

Kentucky’s physical play in the second half gave them a chance. They flipped the rebounding numbers, 23-13, to end the game tied, but they just couldn’t get over the hump. Clemson has now one 4 straight games against top 5 opponents at home, so it shouldn’t be considered a bad loss for Kentucky. KenPom even had this as a loss in his predictor, but they can’t dwell on it for long. They travel to play Gonzaga in Seattle Saturday night, a team that beat Baylor by nearly 40 to begin the season.

It will be yet another test for Pope’s Wildcats and Tuesday’s loss should provide motivation to improve on the issues that plagued them in the loss to Clemson.

The game Saturday is scheduled to tip at 10:00pm on ESPN2.