Kentucky Basketball: 3 things we learned from Wildcats loss to Notre Dame

Olivier Sarr needs to be the focal point of Kentucky’s offense

Can we all just be honest for a second? As of right now, it doesn’t seem like Kentucky has a Tyrese Maxey or Immanuel Quickly on their roster. What does that mean? Well, it means that at the moment, the Wildcats don’t have a guy that can consistently thrive in isolation situations/break down his defenders off the dribble with no help, and score (Tyrese Maxey).

Neither do they have a guy that can continuously hit trail threes, stay low to the ground while coming off down screens or pin downs and drill threes with no issue, or replace a teammate at the top of the key or one of the wings and make triple after triple (Immanuel Quickley).

However, I think that after watching Saturday’s game, it is clear that the Wildcats do have a guy that can do major damage in the post, and that guy is Olivier Sarr. Sarr had a very efficient afternoon against Notre Dame, as he shot 11/16 from the field (68.7%), and scored 22 big-time points for the Wildcats. On Saturday, Sarr didn’t receive the touches that he needed/deserved, until the Wildcats were getting obliterated by the Fighting Irish.

It is truly a shame because Sarr has a skillset that should not be appreciated until it is too late. He is a player that makes it very difficult for his opponents to front him in the post, and when he receives the ball deep in the paint, he has a great feel for where his defenders are.

This is why he is able to figure out which side they may try to overplay, and how much of their body weight they are putting on him, and either fake like he is going to turn to one side, and then proceed to elevate for a soft jump hook, or drop-step at the correct time, and finish strong at the rim.

Additionally, he is a player that can dash to the high post/ fade to the shot corner, quickly evaluate his defender’s defensive strategy, and rise up for a 15-footer if his defender does not respect his jump shot. It would have been nice to see this intriguing skillset on display all game long on Saturday, but at least the Wildcats know what the recipe for success is moving forward.

I don’t think Kentucky should expect to win many games if their guards continue to make poor decisions. I can’t tell you how many times I was thinking to myself “If you’re going to attack then attack, don’t wait five seconds to do it if you don’t have to.” For some guys, It is okay to jab a few times on one of the wings, and wait to see how defenders to react.

However, for other guys (specifically guys that aren’t great at hitting difficult shots if necessary) attacking the basket after jab #1 and trying to get all the way to the basket makes more sense, because it puts immediate pressure on defenders, and may cause them to hand-check if they think that they may not be able to keep up.

At this point, Kentucky’s guards should start attacking the basket after jab #1, because they are having an awfully difficult time being successful when they take a long time to go at their defenders. However, one would think that after Sarr’s impressive performance on Saturday, the Wildcats’ offense would start running through Sarr, because it is evident that the guards are still in the process of figuring themselves out right now.

I can make suggestions about how the guards should play offensively all day long, but who knows if any adjustments will actually be made, which is why Sarr should absolutely be the focal point of Kentucky’s offense right now.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see if John Calipari emphasizes getting the ball to Sarr earlier in games so that the Wildcats’ offense won’t suffer the way it did for a large portion of Saturday’s contest.