John Calipari was not happy with the officiating or his team's play Friday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky looked great roaring out to a 14-4 lead over Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals Friday night in Nashville.
Antonio Reeves buried back to back 3-pointers to cap a 12-0 run that put the Big Blue faithful in a frenzy. This was the way Kentucky needed to start postseason play after last season ended with that unimaginable loss to St. Peter’s.
If that’s not bad enough, Kentucky is now 1-4 in its last five SEC Tournament games, the worst five-game span in SEC tourney history according to UK stats guru Corey Price.
And if that’s not bad enough, that’s two losses to Vanderbilt in a nine-day span after UK soundly whipped Vanderbilt by 16 points in Nashville early in the SEC season.
All the good vibes Kentucky had coming off that huge win at Arkansas with point guard Cason Wallace out with an injury are gone. Kentucky got outplayed and out-coached again and now goes into the NCAA Tournament with way more questions than answers.
The Cats finished the game horribly on offense. Oscar Tshiebwe missed the front end of the bonus twice and had a turnover in the final three minutes. Jacob Toppin missed two free throws. Reeves fouled off after he was called for an offensive foul.
Kentucky won the rebounding battle 43-26 but Vanderbilt went 10-for-25 from 3-point range while UK was 6-for-25. At the foul line, Kentucky was 11-for-20 and Vanderbilt 18-for-20.
Kentucky had more points in the paint, more fast break points and more points off turnovers — and still lost because of the 3-point and free throw shooting.
Freshman point guard Cason Wallace played but I’m not sure he was close to 100 percent. He was 3-for-10 from the field and 1-for-6 from 3. He made his first 3 and then missed his next five and has missed 23 of his last 25 3’s.
Calipari got 14 unproductive minutes out of CJ Fredrick who missed a shot and had one assist. Adou Thiero, Daimion Collins and Lance Ware each played one minute. The five UK starters all played 32 or more minutes and Tshiebwe went 39 minutes, Toppin 38 and Wallace 37. Vanderbilt had only one player play more than 29 minutes.
Kentucky just didn’t have the intensity and focus it had at Arkansas. Several careless turnovers occurred. Defensive lapses were common.
It was just another perplexing performance in a season with too many lows that more than offsets the highs there have been. That was loss 11 for a team picked in the top five going into the season that returned the national player of the year.
No wonder a die-hard UK fan like country singer JD Shelburne had this question after the game: “Will we ever win a tournament again? I’m beginning to wonder.”
Of course, Kentucky will. I think. But the most consistent thing about UK recently has been its inconsistency and that’s a concern.
“They play better when they have nothing to lose ’cause. I call it stinking thinking. You can’t worry about how you’re playing, missing a shot, you just lock into the team, do what the team needs you to do,” Calipari said.
“When we play that way, we’re as good as anybody in the country. When we start thinking too much, I miss a shot, I miss a free throw, I struggle playing, we got to get through that.
“But we’ve shown who we are. We can beat anybody. If we’re not fighting, playing desperate … Refuse to lose, just do what you got to do. Didn’t do it today,” Calipari said.
30 Responses
There are no Mulligan’s in tournament play. Lose and go home. This has been the weakest team from a mental standpoint that I have seen since BJ Boston was here. Let’s face it…ever since the 38 – 0 team lost to Wisconsin, Calipari has lost his touch in coaching KY teams. Recruiting means absolutely nothing if you can’t win. Every coach in America says thank you to God each day that they see that Calipari is still coaching at Kentucky. I wonder what it’s going to take to make a much needed coaching change here.
ABSOLUTING DISGUSTING
Take 1.
Cats starting out super. and then Cal immediatley breaks teir rythym byt bringing in Ware.
WHY? in 1 minute. he commits 2 offensive fouls nullifying a Cats 3
turned 2 Vandys 3 into 6 points. also costing Cats a possesion.
That’s a 9 point change
Cats never got their game back. they ,looked lost and once again cant make FT’s especially on front end. Cant make 3’s. C J took one shot . Why? Vandy couldnt miss any
3’s or frre to score layups over n over. WHY? could it be Shot blockers are never in. Collins,,Owensyo. he never played but in one game all season for less than 3 minutes total. If your not winning with the same 5 guys on the court make a change Cal
Vandy gauds were in CJ chest and all Cat shooters. not allowing to even catch a ball . Cats waved at Vandy shooters, Wheres the coaching
DISGUSTING
Clearly right on about ware..we said it here in Illinois as it was happening. The lead evaporated quickly after the rhythm was broke.
Anyone know why the elbow that was thrown against toppin was reversed where the guy that threw it shot free throws?
Thanks for asking; my question also! I thought the officials called an offensive foul and went to review if it was a flagrant offensive foul (which I thought it was). The officials then reversed the original call! My understanding is that they cannot reverse a regular foul but they did! They then called a flagrant on Toppin for hitting the guys elbow with his face! Then Vanderbilt shot two technical shots with no one on the line and received the ball!
Congratulations to Vanderbilt on outplaying us and winning the game. I may have been asleep or frustrated but I was expecting for UK to receive two free throws and the ball; can someone logically explain this sequence to me! Got nothing from the announcers except a verticality call which was ridiculous!
I don’t get it either Mike
SEC officiating has been mysterious and infuriating for years. Last night’s game was among the most mysterious in my memory.
Stinking coaching is the problem.
And it definitely stinks!
The SEC front office has learned it can get more teams in the Big Dance if they have success against Kentucky. Scheduling and officiating have been orchestrated to achieve that end ever since the loss to Wisconsin. The idea of firing Calipari scares the SEC execs and the other 13 teams in the league. The league has flourished during the struggles at UK. They don’t want Kentucky to become the dominant team again. It’s definitely time to can Calipari. It may also be time for Kentucky to leave the SEC and play as an independent in both football and basketball.
Don’t you mean lack of coaching !!!! And I would have put " LOL " But it’s not a laughing matter!!!! I really think that we would be better off with an elementary coach to come up and coach our team . Couldn’t do any worse probably !!! Hey hey Rick Pitino is looking for a job for a big name University again to coach to the file for and even maybe win it all one more time before he retires !!!!!!!
I believe watching Stackhouse and Calipari is a telling contrast. If you are struggling to understand the issue…watch those 2 coaches for an education.
I keep hearing about "more questions and no answers" but frankly there are no unanswerable questions, only answers that many refuse to accept because the answers don’t fit the preconceived notions about what this program is really about today.
This is an NCAA at-large team that will have a competitive game in round 1 that it could lose, and if it wins it will probably lose in round 2, not surviving to advance to a sweet 16 yet again.
This team has been this quality of team throughout the season and all the talk (unanswered questions) about improving and being ready for March, turnarounds, and Calipari’s brilliance as a coach preparing teams for the March run are not valid options for this UK team, and never really have been for the vast majority of teams in the vast majority of seasons.
There are no unanswerable questions about this team, only those who decline to hear the answers.
Boils down to one thing. Knock down free throws and outside shots and we’d won by 10.
Apparently easier said than done for UK
Jimmy Dykes just said it’s not hard to figure out why UK lost…they played no defense. Combine that with missing half of your free throws and shooting bricks doesn’t help either. Of course Texas A&M is blowing out Vandy today. Lol.
Been watching Kentucky basketball since Johnny Cox, Vernon Hatton, and the like, so I think I qualify as a Basketball Bennie.
Terrible offense, horrible defense. Wallace was beat so many times it was perplexing as to why he was in the game. CJ cannot create, certainly doesn’t have the attitude that he can take anyone one on one, so stats are basically zero, and Oscar simply cannot play defense.
Calipari had two rim protectors on the bench that got what? one minute each.
This terrible season and particularly this loss is on Calipari that hasn;t learned screaming is not coaching. There’s always next season, if anyone is still around to watch.
Did look like maybe Wallace should not have played. Was not 100 percent
The problem starts with Barnshart he needs to go and hold the door for Calamari on the way out. Remember when Vandy was the doormat of the SEC? That honor belongs to UK now. Hey all teams come on into Rupp and wipe your feet. Nobody is intimidated at Rupp anymore. THANKS CAL
Well Kentucky basketball not quite doormat of SEC
Mentally weak team..fragile from game to game..thats coaching in my opinion.
just hard to figure out Grant
Larry, it’s obvious that ever since the loss to Wisconsin Calpari has got more things wrong than right. There are roughly one million UK fans in the state of Kentucky. I would gladly pitch in $40 if the rest of BBN would do the same to pay for Calipari’s buyout. It’s time for Calipari to go!
I have told my son all year long that UK has no rim protector,can not defend the 3 or the dribble drive.They lack consistent guard play on both offense and defense.Oscar can not defend bigger,more athletic post players.That has been proven vs Florida,Alabama etc.He allows quicker guards to blow by with little effort to defend.I told my son when they were 10-6 on the season that UK played the same nearly every game.Seen one,seen all.Also,I question why players such as Hopkins and Juzang were able to flourish in other systems.If Cal fails to produce wins with the recruits he will have next year,send him packing!Not a fan of Mitch Barnhardt either.Have always felt that Cal fails to rise to the occasion in must win one game situations.Have not watched any games since they lost to Georgia.Wish Wheeler would have stayed there.Never a shooter,plays out of control and bigger guards shoot over the top.He is a liability all the way around.I bleed blue but am also objective as to what I see.Have been listening to games on the radio since 1960.Patino was a bit of a prima Donna but I always said I would take him as my coach in any must win situation.Go back to the days of Tim Duncan,Keith Van Horn and Andrew Bugat just to mention a few.His ego vs Arizona in 1997 cost the Cats a National Title when he chose not to play Derrick Anderson.I was at shoot around and practices,saw Nazi Mohamed physically make contact several times without incident.Mr.Anderson should have played,he had been cleared by the doctors.Will patiently look forward to next season with renewed hope.
Calamari has been running an NBA puppy mill for the last decade. Alumni and fans care only about Final Fours and National Titles. Calipari only cares about the cumulative value of players contracts. Cut him loose.
To all UK WILDCAT I believe the only way to get Calipari out of the coaching job at the UK WILDCATS TEAM is for everyone to BOYCOTT ALL OF THEIR GAMES !!!!!! Then maybe someone will realize how serious we are about getting rid of Calipari !!!! If no one shows up to the games they will lose money for sure. Tyler Perry is a great recruiter or at least he used to be he is not a coach he does not know how to coach . And we keep getting beat by coaches that are better than us and the thing of it is they all get paid less than what Calipari does . And if we were ever able to get him to leave or get fired or whatever I’ve been seeing in the news that Rick Pitino is looking for a school to coach because he wants to take them to the final four or even win it all and we all know he can coach and he can recruit and he wants to do all of that before he retires . I know there may be a lot of people who do not wish to have him back here again at UK . BUT THE THING OF IT IS IF YOU DON’T WANT HIM THEN EVERYONE NEEDS TO START NAMING COACHES WHO THEY THINK COULD DO A GREAT JOB AT OUR SCHOOL . the thing I don’t understand is how can the sponsors keep on paying the University when how bad of a job Calipari has been doing for our team as what some people call a coach but I do not know how because he doesn’t coach ???? What do you all think Adolf Rupp would have to say about our teams . How it seems to feel like we’ve lost everything that we used to be there isn’t any schools out there that are afraid of us because they know they can beat our team with no problem . I know all this sounds bad but something has got to change . Calipari only recruits starts for the NBA and helps them get drafted that’s what he does . I do not believe he has any UK WILDCAT blood in his veins .
The SEC this year does not look much different from other years. Most seasons, the SEC has one or two teams at the top that clearly distinguish themselves and can be competitive on the national stage. There are usually 2 to 4 teams at a level slightly below this who challenge the 1 or 2 conference leaders. Then there is a group of teams in the middle who really are fighting to be in rather than out on selection Sunday, with a group of 3 or 4 bottom feeders who rejoice in their collective 2 to 4 wins in the conference schedule over any team that is not one of the bottom feeders.
That is what the SEC looks like this year too. Alabama stands alone at the top, and arguably Texas A&M and Tennessee are in that second level. Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Florida, and Vanderbilt are in that middling mess, with Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, and Ole Miss feeding on the bottom this year and have defined their seasons with rare wins over UK, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Arkansas.
The reason UK fans want to pretend that this SEC field is "so tough" is UK is in that middling group looking up when UK historically has been the pace setter at the top now occupied by Alabama and challenged by Texas A&M and Tennessee.
The reality is the UK program is in decline. No, UK is not a bottom feeder, at least not yet, and certainly not this year despite UK being the only middling team to have two losses to bottom feeders this season. But, UK is not a legitimate competitor on the national stage, not this year, not for the last several years, and it will not be so long as this fraud of a coach remains. The slide into mediocrity is complete. Will the UK brain trust (if that is still not an oxymoron) stop this madness before UK actually joins the bottom feeders?
Come on Mr. Barnhart, correct your error and return UK basketball to the Gold Standard NOW!!!!!
I think bbn we definitely are in the market for a coach change. I mean really cal, you go out and say ky is a basketball school and ruffle marks feathers? Really…i thought (professional) college coachs complimented each other s programs to make the school a total success? No reason ky cant be both under the proper leadership? Right now dont see it on the basketball side. Hey mitch,,time to start putting out feelers????
If we want to see Kentucky play longer this year the nit will be a better fit at least for a couple games
Barnhart is the primary source of recent year problems! First was “Silly Billy”Gillespie, the well known alcoholic skirt-chaser. And now
a life-time contract to the arrogant prima dona we will be paying 2 million a year for life after retirement!!! Anyone want him to pick the next coach?
Anyone besides me miss Kenny Payne?
Yep, Payne got tired of waiting for the ax to fall on Calipari. He would have been the logical choice to replace Calipari.