In some ways, the box score from Kentucky’s 96-88 loss to Louisville is deceiving. The Cats and the Cards shot almost the same percentages from the floor and three-point line, and Kentucky outrebounded Louisville and had more points in the paint, but a few stats stood firmly in the way of victory. Kentucky had 14 turnovers to Louisville’s six. The Cards finished with 20 assists to the Cats’ 14. The assist-to-turnover ratio was the difference in the game for Mark Pope.
“We were really sticky with the ball,” Pope said afterward. “The 20 (assists) to 6 (turnovers) compared to the 14 (assists) to 14 (turnovers) tells, really, the whole story of the game.