Vicky Graff Photo
Well, there was nothing pretty about the outcome of Kentucky’s 88-73 home loss to Arkansas on Tuesday night.
Kentucky fell apart the moment the second half began, allowing Arkansas to jump out to a significant lead and never look back. Freshmen Cason Wallace (24 points) and Chris Livingston (13 points) had good games, but the team’s veteran players couldn’t support the two young stars when it mattered most.
The 88 points Arkansas scored tied the second-most Kentucky has given up this season (88 at Gonzaga, 89 at Missouri) and the 15-point home loss was the second-worst (20-point loss to Alabama in 2021) during the John Calipari era.
Yikes.
There’s one truth to this Kentucky team and their season: they’re just not that good.
Good or even great teams can have an off night or two. They can have a rough game shooting the ball or play a team that can’t seem to miss a shot. But this Kentucky team is terrible when it comes being consistent from game to game.
Their defense is hit or miss, their veteran players aren’t showing up in big moments and Calipari can’t seem to get the right lineup on the floor together.
Kentucky plays at Georgia on Saturday and at Mississippi State on Tuesday before returning to Rupp Arena next Saturday for a second game vs. No. 6 Tennessee. Anything less than a 2-1 record during that stretch will seriously jeopardize their chances at a NCAA Tournament berth.
UK-ARK
Photos by Vicky Graff
7 Responses
Mediocrity isn’t so bad – when we lose I’m just frustrated and sad.
When we’re good and lose – suicidal.
Now I am sad Paul knowing what you said makes sense
Mediocre is what UK basketball now is.
Fair observation Professor
It’s sad bad times in Kentucky basketball.
Only 2 people to blame. Mitch Barnhart and John Calipari.
Both need to go!!
Coaches are like preachers…they can stay in one place too long and get tuned out. That happened with Rick Barnes at Texas. Moving on to Tennessee revived his career. Calipari has hit his ceiling here at UK. It’s time for him to move on to another program or just retire. He is not only doing harm to our program but is also doing harm to his own reputation. Texas would be a great move for both him and BBN. If he keeps on doing what he is doing here, he may very well get kicked out of the Hall of Fame. Maybe he should look into replace Dick Vitale on ESPN…he already has the cute part down pat.
John Clay said it best in his story in the Hearld Leader:
Could Kentucky catch fire and make an NCAA Tournament run, a la North Carolina a year ago. It’s possible, not probable. For one thing, Calipari’s club is now 16-8 overall, 7-4 in the SEC. It’s in clear danger of not hearing its name called on Selection Sunday.
After all, by this point, we’ve seen enough of what we’ve seen to know what we know. This Kentucky team is just another team, good against average opponents, not good enough against better ones. Can it find a way to pull itself up off the mat and change our minds? We shall see.
I don’t see this team getting up off the mat. I think this most recent embarrassment in Rupp will result in an NIT bid that will not end well. Time to get a new preacher.