Kentucky Basketball dominated by Gonzaga Bulldogs: Final score, recap, 5 takeaways, more

Kentucky started horribly and never recovered, as Gonzaga defeated Kentucky 94-59 in dominating fashion.

Kentucky was never in this game, as Gonzaga started the game on a 21-5 run, and although the second half was slightly better, it was another abysmal performance by the Wildcats as they fell to 5-4 on the season.

This Kentucky team simply is not good right now, and it’s hard to see what this team’s path to meaningful improvement is moving forward. Maybe it can happen, but things do not look good at all for Mark Pope and the Wildcats on December 5.

Here are five things to know from tonight’s game.

It was another brutal start for the Wildcats, as Kentucky couldn’t get anything going, missing shot after shot.

The Cats missed their first 10 shots to start the game and had just two points at the under-12 media timeout compared to four turnovers.

The Cats once again came out flat, with no offensive flow or rhythm, and were unable to get anything to fall. It was a brutal night offensively overall for Kentucky, but the start was particularly brutal.

Kentucky has a horrid shooting performance

Kentucky’s shooting was absolutely abysmal tonight. Coming off a brutal offensive performance against North Carolina, the Cats once again had a hard time getting shots to fall.

Kentucky shot 26 percent from the field and 21 percent from three, and honestly, it felt like the percentages were even lower than that.

Kentucky couldn’t get anything going, taking a lot of contested threes, and even the good looks weren’t falling.

This just isn’t a good shooting team, and it’s hard to see that improving.

Graham Ike was once again a problem

In the previous two matchups with Gonzaga, Kentucky has struggled to defend Graham Ike, scoring 23 and 28 points. That problem persisted tonight.

Ike had 17 points at halftime, and at one point in the second half, Ike had 24 points while Kentucky had 26 as a team.

The Gonzaga big man finished with a season-high 28 points and completely dominated the game.

Jaland Lowe made his much-awaited return from injury, but his impact in the game was minimal.

Lowe finished with just 1 point, shooting 0-5 from the field with 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 turnover.

This was his first game back after missing several, so Lowe could still be trying to find his way, and with the shoulder injury lingering from the Blue-White game, I’m not sure he’s had a chance to really get acclimated this season.

Nonetheless, Lowe was a non-factor tonight, but hopefully he will have more of an impact moving forward.

The sound of “Boo” from Bridgestone Arena was deafening.

The Big Blue Nation that showed up in Nashville was treated to a brutal performance, and they made their feelings known, with a chorus of boos raining down from the seats at halftime and following the game.

That doesn’t really happen a lot, but when you’re defeated by more than 30 points in a game you were never in, it’s not much of a surprise.

Now, let’s decompress. What are your thoughts on the state of Kentucky basketball?