Hoop Insight: UK vs Kansas Recap, Why Isaiah Briscoe was the Key
Newsletter #2
Kansas 79, Kentucky 73: Why Isaiah Briscoe was the key
January 28, 2017
Kentucky's loss to Kansas was disappointing on a couple of levels: first, while it's no shame to lose to a top-10 team, Kentucky lost in a game with a double-digit lead for only the 4th time under John Calipari; second, this was Kentucky's 2nd loss of the week and dealt their #1 seed hopes a blow.
Most analysis of the game centers on Kansas' 11-0 run in the 2nd half that turned a 59-58 UK lead to a 69-59 deficit. That may be correct, but it's not very useful; preventing 11-0 runs isn't something teams can just dial up whenever they want. Also, there were a number of other factors during the game that whittled down the previous double-digit lead; after all, if UK hadn't lost their 12 point lead, an 11-0 run wouldn't have even given Kansas the lead. I prefer to look at the game more holistically and see if there are any patterns that can provide insight into what Kentucky did or didn't do well.
The easiest thing to point to is turnovers; UK committed 17 turnovers and average less than 12 normally. Their turnover rate was 23%, the 2nd worst of the season behind the South Carolina game (24%).While that's not a good thing, UK had no problem beating South Carolina despite all the turnovers. However, I would agree that UK's turnovers did hurt them against Kansas...so what factors caused so many turnovers?
De'Aaron Fox may still be feeling the effects of his ankle injury, and he had some ugly turnovers. However, it looks like having Isaiah Briscoe in the game as a secondary ballhandler was a huge help to Fox and UK against Kansas. When Briscoe was in the game, UK turned the ball over on just 14% of their possessions, but when Briscoe sat on the bench UK turned it over on an eye-popping 38% of their possessions. Monk and Hawkins don't offer much creativity off the dribble, and certainly very little distribution capability when driving; with Briscoe out, all of that burden falls on Fox. Watching the game you can see Briscoe's impact as a ballhandler; in fact, UK began the 2nd half with Briscoe playing point guard on offense for several possessions. Additionally, Briscoe functioned as a distributor in the middle of the zone when Kansas went to it. Without him in the game, UK became incredibly sloppy with the ball.
There's another, more hidden impact that Briscoe had on the game. I sort shots attempts into 4 categories, based roughly on how long it takes to get them: Putbacks, 1-10 seconds, 11-20 seconds, or 21+ seconds. Putbacks and 1-10 second shots (which are largely fast breaks) tend to be the highest percentage shots, and shots later in the clock tend to be tougher to hit., With Briscoe in the game, 28% of UK's shots were 1-10 seconds into the shot clock, against just 13% when he sat. Initially I figured UK got more defensive rebounds, or forced more turnovers with him in, but the opposite was true: UK got 86% of the defensive rebounds vs Kansas with Briscoe out, vs 67% when he was in, and forced turnovers on 14% of Kansas possessions with Briscoe in and 19% with him out. So, if UK got more opportunities to fast break when Briscoe was out, why did they get so few easy shots?
I went back and watched the tape and it became clear: UK almost pathologically avoided fast breaks, especially after defensive rebounds, when Isaiah Briscoe was not in the game. When he sat during the first half with foul trouble, UK got a fast break layup on the very first defensive rebound, and then missed fast break layups by Fox and Monk with about 2 minutes left. Other than that, every fast break opportunity was squandered. Contrast that with the time Briscoe played, when he personally jump-started 3 fast breaks by collecting rebounding and pushing the ball up the court. The contrast is clear: UK was reluctant to push the pace against Kansas when Briscoe sat, and it robbed the Wildcats of potential easy baskets. With Briscoe in the game, UK scored 16 points on 11 shots taken less then seconds into the shot clock; with him on the bench, they scored 2 points on 2 such shots.
With Monk, Fox, and Briscoe, UK has several players who are really good at scoring on fast breaks. This overcomes the fast that UK ins't great at defensive rebounding or forcing turnovers. They weren't amazing at either against Kansas, but the Wildcats did themselves no favors by squandering the chances they did have to get fast breaks. Kentucky has to be more aggressive with outlet passes on defensive rebounds or turnovers, and can't rely on Briscoe (or Fox) to initiate; it has to be a team-wide mentality.
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