For once, Kentucky did not crumble in the final four minutes, yet found a way to lose. The Cats bounced back from a six-point deficit with 2:33 left to take the lead with 14 seconds left, but a questionable foul on Jacob Toppin sent Jalen Tate to the line, where he sank both free throws to to improve the Razorbacks. one with 4.3 ears. From there, chaos ensued.
Toppin penetrated the ball to Olivier Sarr, who took it to midfield and tried to pass it to Devin Askew. Unfortunately, Davonte Davis of Arkansas snatched the ball – and Kentucky’s hopes for a rare victory – from the air.
I’ve never seen anything like Kentucky’s buzzer-beater attempt in my life. pic.twitter.com/FwehDONTmw
– Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) 10 February 2021
John Calipari later told reporters the plan was to bring the ball to Sarr, then a guard, but the guards could not open. The other option was BJ Boston.
‘The ball had to go to Olivier and one of the guards, and we did not quite open it. But we’re also going to look at BJ, who was open and we handed him over if you know what I’m saying. If you look at it, it was supposed to go to any of the BJ, if he was open, throw it. He’s open, we have not, which is good, we threw it to Olivier. Olivier is catching it, throwing it at someone and our best three-point shooters are on the corners and wings. So this is what we tried to do. ‘
It was a season of disappointments, but it was especially cruel to lose this way; However, Calipari said he is proud of how his team fought to the end – even if it was not a mistake on Toppin’s.
‘This team, it’s the best we’ve finished a game, so I can’ t be so upset. There were things that happened. I have to go back and look at the last call. I mean, was it a bouncy ball, was there body contact, was it there – because this game was physical? Giving them two free throws to win the game, I do not know. We’ll see it if we look at the band. ”
“This team fought,” Cal added. ‘BJ played better. We took open shots. We did not make all of them, but we took open shots. We flew it up with the court. We posted it. We added a little wrinkle or two today. We did a few things defensively … I loved this game. I’m not going to let them hang their heads. I had to tell them we had four baskets down. There are five minutes to go. It looks like the world has ended. What? So it was a breakthrough in this way. Am I glad we lost? No. I want to watch the end of the game and make sure I know exactly what happened, other than the plays and the performance we had? Flawless. ”
Except for the last one. Ugh.