UK Athletics Photo
Former college basketball coach Seth Greenberg is friends with John Calipari but the current ESPN college basketball analyst also has to be honest in his analysis about Kentucky basketball.
Kentucky lost 88-72 to Gonzaga in Spokane, WA, but the first half the Cats were atrocious. Kentucky was behind 41-25 at halftime when it missed 24 of 32 shots and got soundly whipped on the boards.
“It is communication. There is no communication with the Kentucky defense,” Greenberg said at halftime. “You got to communicate. You got to compete.”
“Right now Kentucky’s effort is unacceptable by what is the standard of Kentucky basketball.”
He was right. Kentucky — which never led in the game — was not ready for Gonzaga’s speed or zealous fans. The Cats were not ready to buckle down and play defense. The Cats either were not ready to make shots or it might be time to wonder if they can make shots in big games.
Kentucky made 32 of 67 3-pointers against Howard, Duquesne and South Carolina State. In losses to Michigan State and Gonzaga, UK was a combined 13 of 56 — a 26 percent mark. The Cats were 0-for-10 in the first half Sunday night before making six of 15 in the second half.
“What an awful half of Kentucky basketball,” former Cats’ Pause publisher Oscar Combs tweeted.
A lot of UK fans were questioning the team’s heart and desire in the first half.
“Vey disappointed in the fight level they have brought,” ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes said from court side during the game.
Not quite sure what Calipari said at halftime, but UK came out not only making shots in the second half but also playing so much harder. Kentucky got the lead down to 49-45 with 13 minutes to play but that was it as Gonzaga pulled away in the final minutes.
I like freshman guard Cason Wallace a lot. He was not really a factor in the two overtimes when UK lost to Michigan State but against Gonzaga he carried the team at times in the second half. He finished with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, four steals, two rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes.
“We got to learn how to close games. We gotta fight hard but they beat us to the punch,” Wallace said on the UK Radio Network postgame show. “They had the crowd on their side but that doesn’t excuse the way we played.”
He’s right. Kentucky basketball does not make excuses — or least did not in the past. And this was a preseason top five team and the oldest team Calipari has had at Kentucky.
“We have to come out no matter where we are playing at and give it our best,” Wallace said.
Oscar Tshiebwe again led UK with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 15 rebounds despite playing only 28 minutes because of foul trouble. Jacob Toppin had 16 points on 7-for-18 shooting but only three rebounds in 36 minutes.
Guards CJ Fredrick (1-for-9) and Antonio Reeves (4-for-13) were a combined 3-for-13 from 3-point range.
7 Responses
There no way in hell can Cal justify keeping CJ out there on the floor for 36 minutes like he did tonight he gives nothing
One of the "professional" writers at another site observed after the game that Gonzaga never broke a sweat.
UK’s highly praised defense allowed 47 points on 38 possessions in the second half, compared to 41 points on 38 possessions in the first half.
Offense comes and goes. One hopes offense does not disappear like it did against Gonzaga in the first half, but defense is something a team can control, it is effort based, or so we are told.
No team will win allowing opponents to score like Gonzaga scored last night, and in the second half, Gonzaga scored 1.24 points per possession as compared to "only" 1.08 ppp in their first half.
This team is in major trouble. What was a consensus pre-season top 5 team has shown itself as a team unworthy of the second weekend in March.
So sad, but this is what Calipari does to great talent. We have witnessed it nearly every year, and it will continue so long as this fraud remains.
why 2 minutes of PT for Collins n Owno. tall , can jump over small buildings, can block and only get a few minutes of PT . YOu play Ware for big minutes n he had 1 rebound n 2 points. same as always. less face it Theo is a hard nose scrapper n 0 PT. looks like he is the new Dontae Allen. loose passing no Defense and cold cold shooting .Cats keep this up and it is ging to a long season. Cal can’t figure whom to play. he has good talent. try the platoon system again . he didint like it but they won over 33 games doing it HMMMMM
Our once great basketball program has been hijacked and is being held hostage by a complete fraud!
Being the men’s head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky is a meat grinder at best. Rupp coached too long; Hall didn’t coach long enough. Sutton got sold out before being kicked out; Pitino got full of himself, but left when he was on top. Tubby inherited a good team, but never could recruit at the UK level. I’m sure playing Saul at the point had nothing to do with it, snicker, snicker. Billy Clyde was in over his head before he even got here even though he got plenty of consulting from his therapist…Jim Beam. Calipari was supposed to be our savior, but his coaching skills seemed to go down as his recruiting success went up. I am not sure he will ever recover from the Harrison twins. He certainly has crowed too much about not being concerned with winning titles here. Losing to St. Peters seems to have changed his tune about that, but has he lost his edge after so many disappointing seasons? Being paid $10 million dollars a year for that kind of performance may have gotten Cal too comfortable in his old age. He has his work cut out for him this year. Will he get his coaching groove back? Will this team get it together before SEC play? Let’s hope so. If he doesn’t, it may be time to get the checkbook out…no matter how large the buyout is. Maybe it won’t come to that, but if it does, we need not be paralyzed with the question of who’s next. If this season finishes like it has started, it won’t matter. The bar will be pretty low for whoever they get. Call me silly, but if this does come to pass, I would give Pitino another 3 year deal. That would be long enough for him to get us winning again, but short enough to keep him from getting laid at Joe Bologna’s…well, maybe.
Precious!!!!!!!!!!!
Coming out flat, the game was lost in the first 3 minutes. I think the cats played near even in the second half. Perhaps a twinkle in the team’s progress can be found there.