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For once, Kentucky didn’t collapse in the last four minutes, but still found a way to lose. The Cats battled after 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 put the Razorbacks in place by one with 4.3 left. From there, chaos ensued.
Toppin inflicted the ball on Olivier Sarr, who took it to midfield and attempted to pass it to Devin Askew. Sadly, Arkansas’ Davonte Davis snatched the ball – and Kentucky’s hopes of a rare victory – out of the air.
I’ve never seen anything like the Kentucky Ringtone attempt in my entire life. pic.twitter.com/FwehDONTmw
– Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) February 10, 2021
John Calipari later told reporters the plan was to get the ball to Sarr and then to a guard, but the guards couldn’t open. The other option was BJ Boston.
“This ball had to go to Olivier and one of the guards and we were not quite open. But we were also going to watch BJ, which was open and we dropped it if you know what I’m saying. If you watch it it was supposed to go to one or the other BJ, if it’s open, throw it. It’s open, we didn’t, which doesn’t matter, we threw it at Olivier. Olivier booms, catches it, throws it at someone and we have our best three-point shooters on the turns and wings. So that’s what we were trying to do.
It was a season of disappointments, but losing this way was particularly brutal; However, Calipari said he was proud of how his team fought to the end – even if it wasn’t a foul on Toppin.
“This team is the best that we’ve finished a game so I can’t be so upset. Things have happened. I have to go back and watch the last call. I mean, was it a ball, was there body contact, was it – because this game was physical. To give them two free throws to win the game, I don’t know. We will see it by watching the tape.
“This team fought,” Cal added. “BJ played better. We took open photos. We didn’t do them all but we took some open photos. We got him on the court. We posted it. We added a little wrinkle or two today. We did some things defensively… I was going crazy in this game. I wasn’t going to let them hang their heads. I had to tell them we lost four baskets. There are five minutes left. Looks like the world is over. What? So, it was a breakthrough that 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 games and execution that we had? Flawless.”
Except for the latter. Ugh.
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