Terrence Clarke Needs Defense to Salvage Draft Stock

Something is up in Lexington. On Saturday, they lost at home to a 1-3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish team that historically under Mike Brey cares about defense as much as Leo DiCaprio cares about meeting someone his own age. The Wildcats scored only 26 points in the first-half, trailing by 22 at the half. They went 1-13 from 3-point range and looked like a complete mess on offense. The Irish could jam the lane in man coverages, play their mixture of 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones to encourage perimeter shots and there wasn't much John Calipari could do. There's no real way to manufacture spacing if your team can't shoot.

By the end of the afternoon, Kentucky had a 15-foot baseline jumper to win the game on the final possession. Such a frantic comeback wasn't fueled by offensive dynamism (they did hit a few shots, to be fair) but by relentless defensive pressure. The scoring-minded Irish were held to only 16 points in the second frame, finishing with 16 turnovers on the night, too. It was Kentucky's work on that end that completely flipped the script.

To tie this into NBA draft terms, I finally came away impressed with Terrence Clarke. After the well-documented shooting woes for the team, I was beginning to see a string of unimpressive performances from him. The second half of the Notre Dame game, particularly on the defensive end, impressed me enough to regain some hope.

Let's be clear: Clarke is still unpolished in several ways. He can be a half-second late to recognize off-ball switches with likes. He had a couple moments where hesitation dribbles got him out of his stance. He can get turned around in help scenarios when guarding a cutter, turning his back completely to a key responsibility. There's work to be done, and this is in no way an endorsement of him as a polished help defender or someone ready for NBA lottery discussion.

Still, Clarke's raw ability and upside showed just how elite his tools to work with can be. He spent most of the night guarding 3-point threat Cormac Ryan, holding him to 1-4 shooting, with the only trey coming in the first six minutes of the game. Clarke did a nice job avoiding screens, using his tremendous 6'11" wingspan to bother Ryan all night. When the Wildcats picked up in the full-court, Ryan wanted no part of Clarke's pressure and tried to get the ball to anyone willing to help.

The impressive moments came in the times Clarke switched onto Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame's top perimeter option and a fringe NBA prospect. Hubb is left-handed, loves to hit deep off-the-bounce jumpers and plays with the ball in his hands a ton. On a few possessions in the full-court, Hubb and Ryan would screen for each other, forcing the Kentucky defenders to switch and Clarke to end up on Hubb. He did a great job, including one possession of all-out denials, refusing to let the ball find the Irish's top threat.

Offensively, Olivier Sarr carried Kentucky back. Key shots made from Davion Mintz and a couple timely treys from BJ Boston propelled them to such a big second-half turnaround for sure. It was their defensive effort and intensity that cooled the Irish, and Clarke was a big part of that. He still needs to find offensive consistency, and Calipari needs to remedy putting these guys in woeful situations time after time.

But what Clarke flashed on Saturday were on-ball defensive traits which can stand out in the NBA. He may be best-served in a Kelly Oubre Jr. role, picking up full against the best players, using his athleticism on point guards to overwhelm with length and embracing the label of "disruptor". We're still figuring Clarke out as an NBA prospect. His athleticism and length are elite, so finding ways to embrace and utilize those traits will make him seem like a fringe lottery pick. The unfortunate truth is that without elite shooting next to him, the Wildcats cannot make him use those tools on offense, so it'll come down to Clarke embracing the D to salvage his draft stock.