Point guard Davion Mintz says UK has no option but to figure out what is wrong. (UK Athletics Photo)
Okay no more excuses for Kentucky basketball. No more about how young this team is, how hard the schedule is, how 3-point shots have not been falling or turnovers have to come down.
No, let’s just be honest. Kentucky is not a very good basketball team. It might be later but today Kentucky is ordinary at best.
The Cats got manhandled by Georgia Tech 79-62 Sunday. Can’t blame this one on poor 3-point shooting because UK went 8-for-18 from 3-point range. Can’t blame this one on facing a ranked team because Georgia Tech had lost to Georgia State and Mercer coming into this game.
No, blame this one on a team that just continues to be really CARELESS with the basketball. UK had 21 turnovers and Tech converted those mistakes into 33 points. That’s right. Georgia Tech had 33 points off 21 UK turnovers.
That has been a disturbing trend. In the loss to Richmond, UK had 21 turnovers and eight assists. In the Kansas loss it was 16 turnovers and eight assists. Sunday it was 16 assists — a major improvement — but 21 more turnovers spread among eight players and all but one had at least two turnovers.
“We had 21 turnovers and they got 30 points. Probably do not need to speak any more,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said in his brief six-minute postgame press conference.
Calipari said he thought UK had a “better game plan, better idea” that would reduce turnovers.
“If you are a turnover guy, I can’t play you,” Calipari said.
That prompted me to ask Calipari who he could play then since leading scorer Terrence Clarke (22 points) had four turnovers and Brandon Boston, Isaiah Jackson and Dontaie Allen had three apiece while Devin Askew, Davion Mintz and Olivier Sarr all had two.
“When you look at this, it was spread out everywhere,” Calipari said about the turnovers.
He said he might count turnovers in practice scrimmages and make players run for each turnover they have.
“There are things we can do,” the UK coach said. “There is a lot of stuff we are working on. Losing games makes it harder. If we play bad and do stuff and then win a game, then there is some we can do this. We don’t have any wins.
“We are going to have to fight, not turn it over, play aggressive, make plays. Everybody is knocking us around right now. I have been through this but have not been through this in this environment.”
He’s right. Kentucky basketball is not used to seeing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and preseason top 15 team start the season 1-3.
Mintz, a senior point guard transfer from Creighton, had seven points, six assists, three rebounds and one steal along with his two turnovers in 28 minutes. He was just 2-for-8 from the field.
He seems to understand why UK fans are perplexed.
“We have to look each other in the face and have an understand that we are not very good right now,” Mintz said. “We have guys who have to be willing to understand that we have to change something.
“I don’t want people to stop believing in this team. We are going to figure this out. This is just a bump in the road and a big hole.”
Mintz sang part of the Calipari song about it being hard for a young team to play against older teams so early in this COVID season. But let me repeat — Georgia State and Mercer beat the same Georgia Tech team that shredded UK.
“It has been a huge smack in the face, huge eye opener and we have no other option but to figure it out,” Mintz said. “We have no option other than to step forward and figure this out. That’s all I can say about it.”
But can Kentucky figure it out because the last three games have shown a lot more the Cats need to figure out than anyone would have expected going into this year.
