’Cats don’t use strategy in buzzer-beating loss

Posted: Monday, December 12, 2011 7:01 pm

By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Everybody knew John Calipari’s closing strategy Saturday night. Everybody except his own players.
On a night No. 1 Kentucky committed 17 turnovers and allowed a season-high point total, it was the simplest of things — missed free throws and the inability to foul — that allowed Christian Watford to knock off the nation’s No. 1 team with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave Indiana a stunning 73-72 victory.
“We had two fouls to give. Two,” Calipari said in disbelief. “We’re fouling once and if they throw it to half court, just make sure they’re not in a shooting motion and we’re going to foul again. The officials knew we were fouling. They said, ‘Just make sure they’re not in a shooting motion,’ so I have no idea what went through our mind. Maybe they thought, ‘I’m not fouling, the time is going to run out,’ I don’t know.”
The late mistakes cost the Wildcats (8-1) their unbeaten season.
Anthony Davis spent most of the night in foul trouble, finished with six points and one block and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19.9 seconds left with Kentucky leading 71-70. Doron Lamb, who had 19 points, then missed the first of two free throws with 5.6 seconds to go, making it only 72-70. And then, of course, there was the Wildcats’ inexplicable inability to foul on the final possession — not once, but twice.
“We were going to foul before they made the shot, before they crossed half court,” Lamb said. “Nobody fouled them and they made a lucky shot.”
Lucky or open, the result was the same.
Published in The Messenger 12.12.11