Did BJ Boston and the Cats learn a lesson in Saturday's loss? Jacob Toppin says yes. (SEC Photo)
I have no reason to think Kentucky sophomore Jacob Toppin was not 100 percent sincere and honest with his postgame comments after UK’s 64-63 loss to Notre Dame Saturday — UK’s second loss in Rupp Arena in three outings this year. Kentucky fell behind by 22 points — the biggest deficit in UK history for a home game — at halftime before charging back.
So guess what Toppin said was the biggest lesson the team learned?
“The biggest lesson is we have got to play 40 minutes. You can’t play 20 minutes and win. The first half we did not play to our potential,” Toppin said.
I certainly hope the first half was not UK’s potential because the Cats were just not very good overall.
But how can a team of college basketball players have to learn it takes 40 minutes to win a game? How can a team really believe it can win, especially with a 1-3 record, without giving its best effort an entire game?
So I told Toppin that surprised me a bit and asked him why it was that way.
“We are a very inexperienced team. We are still learning and trying to go get better,” he said. “Every practice, every game brings a lesson. We just have got to be hungrier come from the jump (start).”
Is he convinced now that UK learned a lesson it did not against Richmond, Georgia Tech or Kansas in losses?
“One hundred percent,” he said. “We have got to use that second half as a learning experience and use that moving forward. We have to be that team we were in the second half moving forward.”
