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After Kentucky lost by 26 points at Alabama Saturday, Kentucky coach John Calipari said he hoped his team was not as bad as it looked.
Guess what? Kentucky is that bad, or maybe worse.
Kentucky lost 71-68 in Rupp Arena to South Carolina — a team that lost by 43 points at home to Tennessee Saturday when it went 12 of 48 from the field and 4 of 26 from 3-point range. South Carolina had 17 field goals and 42 points in the first half against Kentucky’s porous defense.
“This is shocking for a Kentucky program that started the season in the top five,” SEC Network analyst Jimmy Dykes said after the game ended. “Now they are 1-3 in the SEC and lost to South Carolina that probably will finish in the bottom three of the league.”
Kentucky played without Jacob Toppin, who hurt his shoulder Saturday. The Cats had Cason Wallace for just eight minutes before he went out with a shoulder injury. That did not help UK’s defense but even when they have played the Kentucky defense has not been very good.
Dykes pointed out early in the game that UK is the worst team in the SEC defensively while Tennessee, the team UK has to play in Knoxville Saturday, is the best. He noted that for every 100 possessions, Kentucky would give up 43 more points than Tennessee. That’s staggering for a Kentucky team that was being counted on to be really good defensively this year.
“You talk to coaches in this league and they say Kentucky cannot guard at the level they used to,” Dykes said.
Believe him. He’s not going to say which SEC coaches told him that but it doesn’t matter. Coaches trust him and it’s obvious Kentucky has defensive issues.
“Talk about lack of defense and transition defense. Just a pitiful start for Kentucky on its home floor,” Dykes said after UK was very slow getting back on defense.
Dykes, a former UK assistant coach under Eddie Sutton, also said what many UK fans have and many other UK fans have refused to acknowledge.
“They are not tough enough. They don’t compete enough,” Dykes said. “The blocked shots are not there. The urgency to fight is not there. Kentucky can’t guard the ball.”
Kentucky did make a late charge as South Carolina wilted in the final minutes but a lazy, carless pass from Sahvir Wheeler went for a turnover. Daimion Collins missed a free throw — UK missed seven of 14 at the line. Down one point, South Carolina missed but got the rebound and made two free throws after an Oscar Tshiebwe foul.
On UK’s last possession down three points, Collins whiffed on a screen that forced CJ Frederick to take and miss a contested 3-pointer and then Antonio Reeves missed a desperation 3 that started the South Carolina celebration.
This is Team Turmoil. Players are going through the motions. Calipari was not overly emotional and nothing he tried worked. Leadership is non-existent on the court. High school teams — and probably middle school teams — play with more heart and energy than Kentucky does.
This is how Kentucky basketball has fallen. Kentucky cut South Carolina’s lead to single digits in the second half and fans at the game were on their feet cheering. Think about that. Fans got excited when UK cut the lead to under 10 points against perhaps the SEC’s worst team.
Blame Calipari. Blame the players. Everyone deserves blame when a preseason top five team is this bad and by now even John Calipari has to know this team is as bad as it looked at Alabama.
14 Responses
E F’ING NOUGH!!!
This team played cohesively, with enthusiams and enjoyment in August. By the first exhibition game, this team was a shadow of what we saw in August.
This is not the first time Calipari has taken a fresh group to the Bahamas to play wonderful basketball only to start a season 3 months later as if they never played together before.
The players who experienced these transformations change, and the only common denominator is Calipari.
This year, the first exhibition game was a warning sign, easily ignored, but a warning sign just the same. Michigan State was a shot across the bow. Gonzaga was stunning, UCLA was shocking, and since the UCLA debacle, this team has been in free fall.
I cannot imagine a bottom lower than the one this team reached tonight, but come Saturday, Rick Barnes just may show "his good friend John" a bottom that no one in this state even knew was possible.
Calipari is done. Someone needs to stick a fork in him so he can realize it himself.
Not enough talented players to play at Ky level. Outdated offense will not attract Ky type players. imo
Don’t know guys I just think team is not as good as we thought i mean we have NO productivity from our 3 or 4 and Seveer is so mistake prone and not a reliable shooter maybe we play a walk on or two we just got to get something consistent going as a team !!! I know I’m in the minority here but I say we hopefully get through this year and make the tournament and see what happens? Blow this team up at year’s end and YES I want to see Coach Calipari stay and with next year’s recruits and the portal i hope # 9 is on the way and Coach is reinvigorated to work on # 10 and get our record back from Kansas . I want to say Coach is a good man a God fearing man you just can’t make me believe he wants to leave this great university this way, So go Cat’s and go Big Blue !!!
Please explain what part being "a God fearing man" plays in coaching this team, and what part being a God fearing man plays concerning whether or not he wants to leave "this great university this way." You WANT to say coach is a good man? Are you suggesting perhaps God had turned his back on Kentucky basketball?
May I be frank? God doesn’t care who coaches the team and how well the team does. God doesn’t even care about basketball. That is left in the hands of the fans and the coach.
I seen an interesting take by another fan.
Suspend Cal for underperforming since it seems impossible to fire him due to his buyout.
I would like to see if this team could return to the Bahamas level if Cal is removed from the sidelines.
Truly SAD.
No offense. no D. no drive. nothing
Teams score so easy in the paint. n here Cal has the best 7 footer block shot guy glued to bench . why?? Ware certainly isnt the answer. he tries good soldier but cant
gaurd or score
Collins has no idea where he should be on court/ all cats do is run the beginners weave way out and all big guys are out doing this instead of being down low.
what ever happened to the DUNK SPOT reserved for Collins
this team is made up of the #1 recruiting. 10 guys si why are only 7 playing. somebody gets hurt and no one has any playing experience .STUPID
Play all 10 guys platoon system and see who plays the best. Cal wont do it and the time he did they won 30+ games. then blew it against Wisconsin
dont see how they can win one more game this season wow
I truly do not know what is wrong with this team. There is something internally about which we fans know nothing. I’ve been watching UK basketball for over 60 years and I am devastated as to how this team has fallen. Calipari has most always said after a loss that it was his fault. Apparently he is unable to fix it. So, man up, admit it and move on. Texas is calling. Make a fresh start. UK will survive. Hopefully there is some hungry young guy with updated basketball knowledge out there just waiting for a call. Something. Someone. At this point, anyone. I am very sad and I was a huge Calipari supporter but my disbelief of him started at the Final 4 in 2015. Down down since then.
Thanks for sharing UKKathy. I can feel your pain
I think this year is a time when many bad things, habits, etc. are all coming together at the same time. Cal has been a great coach every where he has been. He has even been better than average most years while at UK. However, times have changed, basketball has changed, and players (psyche, emotions, desire, etc.) have changed.
For Cal, I think he has basically one method for how he wants to coach and how he wants to play. It appears he believes he knows best and doesn’t want to change his thinking (Big Problem). If you can’t create your own shot, make great passes, and handle the ball better than average, you probably won’t be real successful in Cal’s system. Cal, like most coaches, must have great players to be great himself. He doesn’t have that this year.
For the players, there does not seem to be a leader on this team. There is not a player stepping up and saying, this is my team!! Listen to me, do what I am doing. There also seems to be a lot of soft (mentally and physically) players on this team. There is very little desire to fight, a will to win, a give me the ball and get out of my way type of player. Basically, this team does not have a Big Dog.
Yes. The down falls of this team falls on Cal because he put the team together. But tell me a coach that could do any better with this group of players. There does not seem to be more than 2 or 3 players on this team that could start for most teams in the SEC and some don’t seem to be willing to do what it takes to become a TEAM.
This is a trend starting about 2019 for those paying attention: Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn began beating us regularly along w most top 20 teams. John Wall is not walking through the door anytime soon and that was our success early: great players w overwhelming talent…not getting those guys now and it shows. Nobody fears playing in Rupp Arena now, even Yale. And the name on the jersey probably means zero to current players. Many have transferred out compounding the problem. Answers? A fresh start probably.
Has not been a good 3-4 years Jonathan
In 2014, Kentucky lost a disappointing game at South Carolina. After the game, Aaron Harrison said, "we know what we can do and it’s going to be a great story." That team entered the NCAA Tournament as an 8-seed with a 24-10 record, then made a run to the national championship game. It’s not impossible to turn things around and make a run. Go Big Blue!
Love your optimism BlueBoyBlue but I don’t see a Julius Randle or Aaron Harrison on this team