Kansas Beat Kentucky by 20, and Mark Pope Has a Spacing Problem to Solve

Zoom Diallo got Kentucky 24 points on 15 shots. Malachi Moreno gave the Wildcats 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Those are the kinds of performances a coach should be able to build a winning offense around. On Tuesday night in Chicago, Mark Pope watched his team lose by 20 anyway.

No. 15 Kansas beat No. 24 Kentucky 89–69 in the Champions Classic, and the most revealing part of the box score was how close the teams were in overall shooting percentage. Kansas shot 46.4 percent from the field. Kentucky shot 45.8 percent. The Jayhawks still took 10 more shots, made six more threes and put the game effectively out of reach with 15 minutes left. Kentucky’s best players were productive. Too few of their good possessions made the next possession easier.

Kentucky needs more from the space Diallo and Moreno create

Kentucky went 4-for-21 from three. Milan Momcilovic, who made six threes in the season opener against Manhattan, finished with five points on 2-for-7 shooting overall. The difference between those two performances gives Pope a concrete question to work through. How does Kentucky get its most dangerous shooter involved when the opponent has the personnel to keep track of him through multiple actions?

Diallo’s ability to get downhill gives Kentucky a starting point. Put Momcilovic on the weak side and have him lift from the corner as Diallo comes off a screen. A defender who sinks toward the lane then has a longer recovery to the shooter. Keep that defender attached to Momcilovic and Diallo has more room to attack the big man. Kentucky can also use Momcilovic as a screener and let him pop out, forcing the defense to communicate before Diallo reaches the paint.

Moreno gives Pope another way to create those decisions. His five assists suggest there is value in getting him the ball early enough to see the floor. A catch at the elbow can set up a handoff, a back cut or a pass to a shooter coming off a screen. The important part is timing. If Moreno catches while the other four Wildcats are standing in their spots, Kansas has time to recover. If he catches as two players are moving, the defense has to make choices before it can get set.

Kansas made Kentucky pay for empty possessions

Kansas committed 10 turnovers and Kentucky scored zero points off them. The Wildcats gave the ball away 15 times. That gap matters even on a night when the teams shoot similarly from the floor. Every time Kentucky failed to turn a stop or takeaway into a clean opportunity, it gave Kansas another chance to dictate the pace of the game.

The Jayhawks were also able to spread the scoring burden. Tre White went 11-for-16 for a career-high 30 points. Freshman Tyran Stokes added 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 12. White and Stokes each made four threes. White’s three to finish a 12–0 Kansas run made it 63–41 with 15 minutes remaining. Kentucky had spent the first half trying to stay within reach and suddenly needed a comeback against a team that had several ways to answer.

A box score can tell Pope how many threes Kentucky missed. The film can tell him whether those shots came in rhythm, whether the first action moved a help defender and whether a second pass would have created a cleaner look. That review should start with the minutes when Diallo, Moreno and Momcilovic shared the floor. Those three give Kentucky a driver, a passing big and a shooter who can pull a defender away from the paint. The Wildcats will look more like a ranked team when those skills start creating easy points for one another