The Kentucky Wildcats fell to the Clemson Tigers by a score of 70-66 on Tuesday night in the Cats’ first road game of the season.

Mark Pope’s side didn’t seem the least bit prepared for a tough test against a strong team. Kentucky scored well early, but the final 10 minutes of the second half were ugly. The Cats went over three minutes without any points and were simply out-contested and overtaken. Foul trouble from Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr certainly didn’t help, but the Tigers took a 37-30 lead at halftime.

After the break, it was all-out war. This wasn’t the typical game we’re used to. Kentucky looked bad everywhere. They had another dry spell of more than three minutes. Clemson got all 50/50 balls and simply played harder than the Cats.

Pope’s squad falls to 7-1 this season with a big test coming up on Saturday.

Next up, the Cats travel to Seattle to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a big matchup late Saturday night.

The lack of depth is concerning

Kentucky has 12 scholarship players, and everyone except Travis Perry and Trent Noah have shown something that warrants some playing time. But how big is the difference between the starters and the bench, guys?

We saw last time that Kentucky didn’t have much behind Amari Williams when Brandon Garrison missed the game with a minor injury. Carr can slide to the fifth spot, but unless you play Ansley Almonor for significant minutes (you shouldn’t), that means the Cats are very short with Otega Oweh or Jaxson Robinson at the power forward spot. The defense takes a significant hit at this point.

In this game, the lack of depth became even more concerning. Both Butler and Carr struggled with foul trouble in the first half and Kerr Kriisa and Almonor just weren’t the answer for long stretches.

Pope can’t play against the freshmen in these more difficult games/environments. Almonor really only shoots when he’s not striking, and he’s so dangerous defensively that it’s hard to watch. Kriisa is the same way. Koby Brea can’t really defend either, but he can rebound and his shots are actually very important for the Cats.

The point here is that the bench leaves more questions than answers and the starting group doesn’t get to play the whole game. Who will be promoted over the course of the season?

Physicality is the kryptonite of cats

Kentucky’s ability to handle physicality seemed to be a red flag against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and somewhat against the Georgia State Panthers. That was shown again in this game.

Physicality could be cats’ kryptonite. It looks like teams have come to the realization over the last three games that Kentucky isn’t built to withstand a fight. What to do if you can’t stop the crime? Foul, often.

This team isn’t particularly good at shooting free throws, so getting to the line isn’t exactly a win. When teams fight through screens and contest every shot, even if it’s a foul, teams know the Zebras can’t score all the goals.

The Tigers blocked shots and the Cats just couldn’t get free shots. They seemed confused and out of rhythm for long periods of the game.

The best way to disrupt this team seems to be physicality and lots of fouls.

The 3-point shooting is down

What is Mark Pope known for? His teams will run and shoot and spray from everywhere.

The biggest concern with this strategy is what happens if the shots don’t fall. For the third game in a row, Kentucky didn’t make any outside shots, and they unexpectedly struggled big time.

To be fair, once the shots start falling again, and they will, the field will clear and hopefully the incessant fouling from opposing teams will slow down. Luckily, for now, the Cats could rely on Robinson’s smooth floater, Oweh and Butler going downhill at will, Carr’s post-up game and occasional Williams put-back dunks.

Kentucky needs to get back to its bread and butter, and it better happen quickly with a big test coming up Saturday night.

Now let’s talk about the Cats’ first setback of the season.