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Not only did Rob Dillingham score a career-high 35 points against Tennessee to at least keep Kentucky in the game, but he also had a blunt but honest assessment of what lies ahead for UK after the Cats lost for the third time in four games against the Vols.
“If we really want to win, we’ll dig in and learn from the film,” Dillingham said. “If we don’t we’re just going to keep playing like it’s a joke.”
He added that “effort for sure” is what the Cats have to show more of starting with tonight’s game at Vanderbilt.
Former UK All-American Jack Givens criticized UK’s effort on the UK Radio Network postgame show. Fans have blasted Kentucky’s overall effort and play against the Vols and in other recent games.
Kentucky was ranked No. 302 in scoring defense at 77.2 points allowed per game going into the Tennessee game and then gave up 103 points to the Vols. Kentucky is now ranked No. 102 in adjusted defensive efficiency and its worst mark before that was 88th during the 2012-2013 when UK played in the NIT.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has not owned coach John Calipari but Tennessee was 4-35 at Rupp Arena prior to Barnes’ hiring in 2015. Tennessee’s only wins were in 1977, 1979, 1999 and 2006. The Vols have now won in Rupp Arena four times in nine years under Barnes.
“We just don’t have the toughness and tenacity needed to get to that next level of play,” former UK player/assistant coach Reggie Hanson posted on X. “We don’t do well against physically and mentally tough teams. Defensively I just know what to say. Who is that leader on the floor that can bring the toughness out?”
Great question and one that Calipari needs to find an answer for NOW.
“You’ve got to bounce back,” Calipari said after the Tennessee game. “We are still one of those teams.
“You can’t listen to the negative stuff. You can’t listen to all of the clutter. We are still a good team and now we have to get healthy and we have to get back on track. There are a lot of people that would like to have my team.”
His players are buying into the same belief — or at least they are publicly.
“We’ll be OK. I’m not worried one bit,” Reed Sheppard said. “With the type of guys we have on this team, we’re fine. We’re going to keep getting better, we’re going to keep learning from it. These are definitely learning experiences.”
“I don’t know what it is right now, but we’ve just got to find that fight in ourselves and stop letting teams come in and do whatever they want. We have yet to play with our full team, but not making excuses,” Adou Thiero said. “We’re going to figure everything out and find that fight within ourselves. We’re a group of competitors, we don’t like losing. We’ll get it figured out.”
3 Responses
Rob, you have to be able to guard without fouling.
I told everyone Burks should Play over Thiero and really over Edward’s even tho Edwards had his best game in a Kentucky uniform. This win over Vanderbilt is exactly what we needed for the morale of the team. How bout BIg Z yeaaaaaa
Worst defense for a UK team since prior to 1997.
That has been the case since the first month of the season.
“You’ve got to bounce back,” Calipari said after the Tennessee game. “We are still one of those teams."
Well, what does the fraud mean by "one of those teams" This is one of those teams that will exit the tournament early in March. Calipari has no clue how to make it "one of those teams" still standing during the final weekend of games.