JUST-IN: Following their loss to Clemson, Kentucky basketball is now officially prepared to make four improvements.

Kentucky must improve in these areas if they want to be a legitimate contender going forward

The Kentucky Wildcats not only suffered their first loss of the season against the Clemson Tigers 70-66 Tuesday night, but that loss also marked the first defeat of the Mark Pope era while falling to 7-1 on the season.

In their first true road game of the season, the Wildcats just couldn’t get into a rhythm on the offensive end, and every time it seemed that the offense was going to find its rhythm with a couple of made baskets, Clemson responded right back in a major way which resulted in them pulling off the upset. The Wildcats shot a season-low 38% overall from the field and a season-low 26% from 3.

The Wildcats were led by junior guard Otega Oweh, who had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds, and senior guard Lamont Butler, who finished with 16 points and five assists. In a late Saturday night showdown in Seattle, Kentucky’s next matchup will be against the No. 7 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

What stopped the Wildcats from preventing an upset? Here’s four things that went wrong that must improve moving forward.

3-point shooting woes

The Wildcats shot over 35% from 3 in the first five games of the season, but the hot start seems to have finally caught up with the Wildcats as they’ve struggled from behind the arc, shooting under 30% the last three games. That cold shooting finally ended up costing the Cats the game against Clemson. Kentucky has to get that hot 3-point shooting back, and Saturday night’s game against the Zags would be the perfect time to get it going.

Missed free throws

In a game that came down to the wire, free throws played a huge part in why Kentucky walked out of Littlejohn with its first loss of the season. You can’t shoot 61% from the free-throw line in a hostile road environment and expect to come out with a win. I can assure you that the Wildcats will be in more close affairs when SEC play begins, and whether on the road or not, free throws will most likely be one of the factors deciding a win or a loss.

Physicality

Physicality has seemed to bother the Wildcats in the past couple of games against Western Kentucky and Georgia State last week. Yes, Kentucky ended up coming away with comfortable wins in the end, but against a more formidable opponent in Clemson, the Cats ended up folding in that area.

The Cats, who came into Tuesday night’s contest averaging 97 points per game (1st in NCAA), were out of sorts on the offensive end the whole night as they were held to just 66 points.

You have to give the Tigers credit because they not only slowed the pace down for the Wildcats, but they also were the more physical team for the majority of the game. It seems that physicality not only bothers this Kentucky team, but most importantly, it seems that it could be the recipe for a win by the opposition.

Coach Pope and the staff must go to the drawing board and address that immediately because it seems that teams are starting to figure out what disrupts this team’s flow on the offensive end of the floor.

Non-Lamont Butler minutes

There were a few or so instances in the game where Kentucky struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end while Butler was on the bench with early foul trouble. I think it should also be noted that he had to come out after tweaking his ankle in the second half, and Clemson took advantage of those situations just about every time compared to when Butler was on the floor. I think it might be safe to say that this offense will go as far as Lamont Butler takes it.

I say that because of how he defends and how he’s able to get to the basket at will, and when he’s not on the floor, this group seems to be lost offensively compared to when he’s on the floor.

Is Lamont Butler the most important player to this Kentucky squad in terms of this squad’s potential? What else does Kentucky need to improve on?