LEXINGTON — Points, which had come easy for Kentucky this season, were at a premium Saturday against UNC Wilmington.
And the Wildcats, rarely careless with the ball, struggled with decision-making versus the spunky Seahawks of the Coastal Athletic Association.
Both those factors doomed UK Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena.
After trailing 41-33 at halftime, Kentucky couldn’t muster a comeback in the final 20 minutes, falling at home for the first time this season in stunning fashion, 80-73.
“We couldn’t stay in front of the ball,” UK coach John Calipari said. “And you can scheme and do all this stuff, but when you get a lead and they go and do an and-one layup on a straight-line drive? It’s hard.”
Those defensive errors, along with the turnovers, were simply too much for the No. 12 Wildcats (6-2) to overcome. Especially when the Seahawks (6-2) kept knocking down shots from the perimeter. UNC Wilmington sank 11 3-pointers, more than double Kentucky’s five.
But it wasn’t just 3-point shooting that killed the Cats in the seven-point loss.
Saturday was an uncharacteristically sloppy outing when juxtaposed against Kentucky’s sky-high standard this season.
The Wildcats entered Saturday committing just 8.1 turnovers per game, which ranked third in the country; they had nine by the 6:37 mark of the first half. UK finished with 14 turnovers.
“They were all because we’re trying to make the hardest possible play instead of just easy plays,” Calipari said. “We’ve got stuff to learn.”
Not only had Kentucky avoided giving the ball away through the first seven games, but it also exhibited crisp ball movement, averaging an SEC-best 20.9 assists per contest which was the sixth-highest in Division I. But the Wildcats dished out just 14 assists against the Seahawks.
Saturday marked the first time this season Kentucky failed to score at least 81 points. Reaching that figure in each of their first seven outings was the Wildcats’ longest streak to start a season since the 1970-71 team.
“We came into this game selfishly, I think,” said sophomore guard Adou Thiero, who had seven points, six rebounds and three assists. “First half, we weren’t really swinging the ball to each other as much as we usually do. … Guys were trying to do things on their own — we were just out of it.”
Freshman guard Reed Sheppard was in the zone, though, pouring in 25 points, leading the Wildcats in the loss and tying his personal best set last month against Stonehill. He also pulled down a career- and team-high nine rebounds to go along with a game-high six assists.
“Any time you lose, it’s a bad feeling. Nobody likes to lose,” said Sheppard, who was 9 of 17 from the field (3 of 6 on 3s) and 4 for 4 at the free-throw line. “You have to give credit to UNC Wilmington. They played a great game, they hit shots. They did what they needed to do.”
Freshman forward Aaron Bradshaw, who made his college debut Saturday after being sidelined since earlier this year with a foot injury, had three points, two rebounds and a block in 13 minutes off the bench. Freshman guard D.J. Wagner, Bradshaw’s teammate at Camden High in New Jersey, sat out Saturday after injuring his ankle in Tuesday’s win over No. 8 Miami.
While Calipari provided no update on Wagner afterward, the coach was pleased with what he saw from Bradshaw in a limited role, pointing to the 7-footer’s plus-11 figure in the box score.
“That says he did OK,” Calipari said. “He’s still not in the flow with this stuff yet. But he did some good stuff. It’s a good start for him.”
Kentucky won’t play again until it heads to Philadelphia to face Penn next Saturday. The loss to the Seahawks was the first in what’s a relaxed portion of the Wildcats’ schedule, as they play around exams.
Kentucky has only five games in December: UNC Wilmington in the rearview mirror, Penn on deck, followed by matchups with North Carolina (Dec. 16), in-state rival Louisville (Dec. 21) and Illinois State (Dec. 29).
That leaves the Wildcats plenty of practice time to clean up their mistakes.
The same ones that reared their head at inopportune times Saturday.
“That’s part of what this team will go through. Now you guys know we can play with anybody in the country,” said Calipari, alluding to his team’s 95-73 win over No. 8 Miami earlier this week. “And we can lose to anybody in the country. We’ll play the right way. We’ll get better defensively. We’ll rebound. We’ll be fine.”
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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.