The Champions Classic is designed to expose flaws early, and Tuesday night delivered. Michigan State stunned No. 2 Duke 79-73, while Kentucky spent the entire first half digging a massive hole against Kansas, one they just couldn’t climb out of. In fact, it only got worse, and they lost 89-69.
With the Wildcats and Jayhawks still battling, here are the biggest risers and fallers after a great night of college basketball.
Fallers
Mark Fox and the Kentucky defense
Kentucky did what you cannot let Kansas do: they
messed around and let the Jayhawks get hot. The foul situation hurt, but the defense looked lost while giving up far too many backdoor cuts. Mark Fox coaches the Cats’ defense, making him a major faller tonight. Giving up 46 points and 13 assists in just 20 minutes of basketball is a terrible look. But the second half was maybe worse.
They didn’t get into Kansas; Trey Kaufman-Renn stood in the middle of the floor and picked Kentucky apart time and time again while the other Jayhawks back-cut. There was just no pressure and no fight on the defensive end at all.
Kansas shot 46.4% from the field, and Tre White had 30. Didn’t have Tre White as the leading scorer.
Mark Pope and Cody Fueger’s offense
Whatever offensive scheme the staff has installed isn’t working. In the first half, the best shooter in college basketball last season, Milan Momcilovic, was just 2-for-7 from the floor. Nothing looked easy; it was all one-on-one action.
To put it nicely, Kentucky was easy to guard.
Kentucky couldn’t get Milan free, and even worse, they couldn’t figure out how to use him as a decoy. It is early in the season, but this offense isn’t going to cut it, especially when the unforced, crappy turnovers keep piling up.
Overall, Kentucky was just 4-of-19 from deep; that is far too few attempts. The field goal percentage wasn’t terrible; they nearly equaled Kansas (45.8). But Kansas pretty much let Malachi Moreno go one-on-one after taking a 20-point lead, knowing Kentucky would have a hard time clawing all the way back.
Worse were the turnovers. Kentucky was so sloppy all night, finishing with 15 turnovers to only 13 assists.
Malachi and Zoom got numbers, but there was far too little ball movement or man movement.
Tip your cap to Kansas, though; Bill Self came out with a great game plan, and they executed it.
Duke’s offense
The Blue Devils made a late run to get within six points, but they never took the lead and shot a miserable 20-of-60 from the floor. Not much went right for a Duke team that looked disjointed all night. They struggled against Michigan State, and like Bill Self, Tom Izzo pushed all the right buttons while Jon Scheyer was on his heels.
Duke has a lot of upside, and despite the terrible shooting, they only lost by 6.
Deron Rippey Jr.
Coming in as a top freshman is never easy, but when Duke fell behind against Michigan State, Rippey’s minutes dried up. He played the fewest minutes of any Blue Devil in the rotation (12). It is early, but his stock took a hit.
Officiating
I don’t have to say much; you guys saw it. But if not, look here:
It was like that all night in both games, really.
Risers
Zoom Diallo
Where would Kentucky be without Zoom Diallo in that first half? He single-handedly kept the Wildcats breathing with 15 points, two rebounds, and a block in the opening half. The Cats were still down 10, but it could have been much worse. Zoom was 6-of-7, and the rest of the Kentucky roster shot 7-of-21 in the opening 20 minutes.
His second half was much like the rest of the team, just nothing to write home about. But he finished with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting; his effort was there all night long. Before the game, Zoom said this was a must-win. He was one of the few players to play like it.
Taylen Kinney
Kinney was a pest defensively and ran the show with six assists in the first half. He controlled the game and did a great job of baiting Ousmane N’Diaye with a little nudge. N’Diaye was actually playing Tyran Stokes tough, but Kinney’s heads-up play lured him into a technical, limiting his impact after he picked up 2 cheap fouls in the opening 20 minutes. Kinney deserves a lot of credit for running the floor like an upperclassman, finishing with 8 assists.
Jeremy Fears
His shot wasn’t falling (3-9), but Fears did everything else on the floor to lead Michigan State to a victory. The Spartans guard was on another level against a higher-ranked Duke team, stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds.
Michigan State is going to be a dangerous team this year. I know they are number 5, but if they played like they did tonight against anyone else, I would be hard-pressed to pick anyone over them.
Tyran Stokes
He did whatever he wanted on the court. Kentucky let him get off the blocks early, and he was a handful all night long. He didn’t look like he was breaking a sweat for most of the night. He had 21 points, 8 rebounds, and a ridiculous +27 +/-. He is the real deal. After the game, he told ESPN it was a little “personal.” He played like it.
There are some things to work on for both Duke and Kentucky, while Kansas and Michigan State fans have to feel pretty good about what they saw.
What is your biggest takeaway from tonight’s action?
