The Kentucky Wildcats drew a tricky matchup in the 3-14 game in the South Region. While John Calipari’s squad entered the game as overwhelming favorites to win, they had a tough opponent in an Oakland squad that played a number of games in the non-conference against Power 5 competition.
The Golden Grizzlies — particularly veteran guard Jack Gohlke, who has maybe the greenest light from three I’ve ever seen — spent the first half taking it to the Wildcats, who were clearly rattled for much of the game’s first 20 minutes. It got so bad at one point that Kentucky committed an extremely silly turnover by not realizing that a free throw was actually an and-one. Trey Townsend scored and got sent to the charity stripe, where he missed.
Thinking that the previous basket did not count, Wildcats big man Tre Mitchell tried giving the ball to the ref under the hoop. Instead, he just passed it out of bounds.
Welp, this was weird!
Kentucky may have lost track of how many free throws here… pic.twitter.com/KwHCwKCukS
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 22, 2024
A review determined that this was, indeed, supposed to be an and-one, so this stayed in the box score as a turnover. Fortunately for Kentucky, it did not hurt them too much, as Oakland was not able to score on the extra possession that they got here. Still, if we know John Calipari, we’re sure he’s going to let someone hear it over this.