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Kentucky is already looking ahead following a disappointing 89-79 loss to Arkansas on Saturday night.
The Wildcats (15-6, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) will take on Ole Miss on Tuesday night in a bounce-back game in Oxford.
Kentucky, which fell two spots to No. 14 in this week’s Associated Press Top-25 poll, has lost three of its past four games, while dealing with injuries. Starting point guard Lamont Butler has missed the past two contests, while Carr has played 16 minutes in the past two games and has scored just seven points in the last three games he’s played.
“We are dealing with some roster changes right now that are complicated,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “We are a really good team. We have guys that are really, really competing. We’ve got some guys that are growing and actually in the process, because they need to step up and be better for us and have guys in the process doing that. We are doing it all while playing great teams and having two or three successes and having some setbacks and it’s awesome. You know, this is a journey for us. This is not a coronation, this is a journey.”
The team’s injury woes have also resulted in an increase in turnovers and has led to inconsistency issues on both ends of the court, the coach said.
“I don’t think that’s an anomaly,” Pope said. “I think everybody in the league is dealing with stuff like that. And it’s a challenge for us, certainly, but it’s a challenge for everybody. That’s somewhere we will continue to make progress.”
Without Butler and its starting lineup intact, Kentucky has struggled with turnovers. The Wildcats have committed 43 miscues in the past three games, including 13 each in a win over Tennessee and the 10-point setback to Arkansas.
“I’m trying to figure out how to navigate,” Pope said. “We have a bunch of guys that are stretching right now to figure out how to play out of position and to make it work. Credit to our guys, man, they are really stretching. And we will get better at it. It’s almost like we started a new season. We are two games into a new season a little bit for our team and we are going to learn some new ways to attack this and we will get better at it.”
The Rebels (16-6, 5-4) are coming off a 92-82 loss to top-ranked Auburn. Ole Miss defeated Alabama on Jan. 14 but has suffered setbacks in four of its past five games.
Despite the Rebels’ recent struggles, Carr said Ole Miss will pose a challenge for the Wildcats.
“They’re a super talented team,” Carr said. “Their defense is a little unorthodox. They switch everything and are super aggressive to the basketball — a little unpredictable. Offensively, they’re one of the better iso-type teams we’ve played against. It’s going to be a big test for us.”
10 Responses
There is no F’ing way we should have lost to Arkansas, Vandy, or Georgia, but we did. We get up for the better teams and win those games, except for Bama. Ole Miss will be a dangerous team in Oxford. A little home cooking and big games from their guards will mean trouble for us. This should be a game we should get up for and win, but I fear we will rack up 2 more losses before Tennessee comes to Rupp, which according to how our season has gone will be another win. If we continue this pattern, we will finish the last 10 games a 5-5 for another double digit loss season. This has been a hard team to figure out. I don’t think much will change, they are what they are. The wins have been awesome, the losses have been devastating. I fear we will not make it to the SEC tourney finals and will have a one weekend trip to the Big Dance. Pope has made Kentucky basketball relevant again and I think he will have a much better season 2. Go CATS!!!
I agree on all counts.
Some of the one & done players (chosen among the gleanings of the transfer pool) do not appreciate they were chosen by Pope & given a chance to be a part of something very special – a last chance to play BB against real opponents in a real league. Any player who only gives their best effort when they “feel like it” do not deserve to wear the UK jersey! It’s a disgrace not to play as hard as possible, it only takes a few slackers to drain the entire team & it’s happened in those games you noted which UK should have won.
Maybe it’s the result of the “woke age” where responsibility & accountability were shelved. Character has to be developed and strengthened year after year. It does not just suddenly arrive because someone gets a chance to join a legendary program. FOCUS & TEAM 1st are accomplished at a price – it’s choosing what is best for the entire team and it’s not just fun for one guy who wants to ride the coattail of the hard workers like Carr, Butler & Williams (& a few others – Almonar, Noah, Perry & ???).
I still remember being in a small town visiting my brother in the early 80’s and we watched a video of UK playing a game previously won while listening to a crackling radio as Cawood called the play by play of some great UK players govign100% every game. Maybe I expect too much now, but why not expect a lot? An electrical engineer who worked on some of my multi-million dollar projects for a major company told me I was the most demanding person he ever worked for – but that it was ok because he always knew precisely what was needed and when I needed it. People shine when they dedicate themselves to doing a free job as he always did. Others often wanted to do the least amount of work in as few hours as possible. It’s like day & night. The same for UK players who are NOT focused in games because they don’t care enough to give 100%.
Disgusted with SOME players & grateful for several dedicated players.
“Learning to lose” is a costly lesson. Some very good teams give 100% effort every game and may lose a game here or there but not 2 in a row and definitely not 3 of 4. I call it “learning to lose” and have watched it happen to many teams with the potential to be great but instead slacked off and did not play with any urgency – and then the highly successful season just slipped away.
I’m 100% thrilled with Mark Pope coaching.
It doesn’t mean it’s always perfect but it will be coaching FOR UK every game without any other motive.
I am not excited about UK playing at Ole Miss- A lot of enthusiasm was drained away by the lethargic play of SOME who did not care about the name on their jersey or about their coach who gave a lot of guys “one more chance” to play big-time BB and not just mediocre ball.
A healthy Carr and a healthy Butler are vital to any future UK success. They are mature enough to play hard every game. Williams was amazing the last couple of games & keeps getting better.
Until EVERY player “brings it” SVERY game and on EVERY possession, the result will be a lot of disappointment. Til then, I’m spending more time watching the USA getting restored after being sold out by o’biden & o’bama. It’s a whole new USA to enjoy. The Cats winning are a big bonus.
GO BIG BLUE !!!
Or go to the bench in not interested in 100%
The Cats peeked too early. They peeked early instead of late. I have said that it is the young kids of today that was the problem the last 2-3 years. Everyone said nope, it’s Calipari that’s the problem. He’s the coach. Don’t blame 23 year olds who should know how to take coaching. Pope is the problem. He is the coach.
AMEN to all u all said, LB & BARRY!! Welcome to the GOLDEN AGE, indeed! When Mark Pope first came here and knocked his introductory press conference out of the park, that "HOPE IN POPE" slogan that u heard was indeed the hope that Pope could come here and restore the legacy and tradition that is the KY BBALL program to a 21st century GOLDEN AGE–like the GOLDEN AGE of the 1940s & 50s, the GOLDEN AGE of the 1970s, the GOLDEN AGE of the 1990s, and the GOLDEN AGE of the first half of the 2010s—except with the emphasis being on KENTUCKY FIRST, not CAL & NBA DRAFT PICKS first. I have no doubts at all that Mark Pope loves KY, and that that love, at the core, is the #1 reason why he took this job. But I’m beginning to more so wonder about how easy it’s going to be for him to sell the vision of playing for that love to kids of today’s generation. I know from just about all of the young people that I know today that trying to get them to buy into anything that has to do with history, legacy, tradition, is maybe the hardest sell anybody could try to make in the year 2025. Also, the longer the season has gone on, the more that I have picked up on that vibe of Pope being a little too buddy-buddy with his players and maybe not pushing them hard enough or demanding enough accountability from them. Its so easy to sell out to that in todays times, I know –and why do u think all these long-time college coaches continue to call it quits left and right? Coach K, Roy Williams, Tony Bennett, Nick Saban, I know I’m leaving out more– now Leonard Hamilton……Pitino has talked about it. Its because they know the odds are stacked against them today on selling kids on a dream of playing for a college program for more than 2 years, and teaming up with other kids who want to do the same, and try to form great teams who can build championship-winning college programs and help to make them blue-blood status of college bball. At best, today, u could only hope to do for even just one year what CAL was still having mad success with just a decade ago: recruiting one of the top classes in the country, and trying to blend them together as quickly as possible to try to win a championship in college by having the most talent and athleticism. Even THAT concept has become pretty much defunct today. CAL had one last really good attempt at that with the team last year, and that’s why the fans got so excited about that team last year, especially early in the season, because they resembled alot of what CAL’s most successful teams at KY looked like in CAL’s good ol days. That was until people started to see they couldn’t play any defense, and that was kind of when the veil was lifted off of that dream. One common element of CAL’s greatest teams at KY was that they were really strong defensive teams, and alot of that came from having the best run of big men in the country for many years: Patterson, Cousins, Davis, Noel, Willie, Towns, BAM, PJ….. but alot of the real strengths of CAL’s great defensive teams at KY, esp the early ones, came from the wing players, and some of the guards, and that is a LONG LIST of players there: people like DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller, Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, MKG, Marquis Teague, Alex Poythress, Tyler Ulis……there are more, but my point was CAL’s greatest teams never reached their peak by being great only on the OFFENSIVE end. If anything, that was the struggle area for CAL, as we all know. But I knew last year when that team reached a certain point and hadn’t improved defensively that that would be their undoing–i mean that cost them a rough stretch of games there late JAN, early FEB, when they lost 3 straight at RUPP, so the evidence was piling up by then—but even I still didn’t think that team’s season would end at the point that it did–howevrr, I did know after the opening round SEC Tournament loss to TX A&M, that there was nothing out of the realm of possibility for that team in the NCAA Tournament–including losing the first round game to Oakland. And u saw in that game it was their inability as a team to lock down on one specific quality shooter—CAL’s earlier teams wouldn’t have allowed a team like that to beat them and wouldn’t have struggled that bad defensively. But I digress—none of that matters anymore–u know it’s bad when I’m going down memory lane on CAL’s teams!! LOL But at this point, it’s actually more so the players that I question more than Pope, although i have alot of questions for Pope too. I think with Pope it’s not his overall vision and philosophy with being the KY COACH in general that I question, but I am questioning now alot of things where it comes to in-game coaching and MEETING MOMENTS, and motivating players, and having a little bit of fire and passion and spirit–he didn’t have any trouble conveying all of that to US, THE FANS, so why can’t he exhibit some of that in games towards his own team and towards the refs? I just think he kind of needs to find himself in this KY role, I think he needs to maybe tap into a little of the KY tradition that he talks about loving so much, and kind of like OWN holding the KY program in his hands, and showing outwardly to everybody what that means. I think he needs to try motivating his own players thru the spirit of being the KY coach, and demand some accountability from them based on the fact they represent that tradition when they wear that uniform. It almost seems like he believed that every guy would just automatically feel all of that KY tradition on their own when they got there the same way that Pope feels it himself–but u can’t expect that to happen–that, most likely, will NOT HAPPEN. So, as the coach and the gatekeeper, YOU have to try installing some of that into the guys YOURSELF! These things he has been saying since the ARK loss like "we started a new season, and we are two games into a new season"–its like what does that even mean? I’m assuming he means they are a different team without Butler, which I definitely agree with that, but to say it where u r starting a new season, I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but see, that almost starts indicating to me there r more things going on behind the scenes more than injuries that we don’t know about. When u say that, that almost makes me think that he knows Butler isn’t coming back the rest of the season, so if that’s the case, then yes, he is right, that IS a new season! And he talks about "trying to figure out how to navigate"—how bout trying to figure out how to MOTIVATE?? I think he needs to try to figure out how to balance being a nerdy goofy analytics/statistician guy combined with being a fearless motivator, and a COMMUNICATOR, and a DEMANDER/DISCIPLINARIAN. Alot of his personality reflects more like he is still one of the players as opposed to being the coach. IDK man—its like I said before, unfortunately, and maybe Pope is right: this season will be remembered in two halves–before and after CAL. The last game before ARK was the win over TN, which was the first game Butler was out. And they seemed to play that game as if they believed his loss was just a one-game deal because they did step up in that one with a very courageous performance—but it’s different when u have to step up like that for just one game vs the back half of an entire conference season. So we’ll see……this game with Ole Miss will tell us alot. I guess part of me is never going to get over my lingering question for this team: what is it that motivates u? What motivates you to play here? Is it just money and trying to get to the NBA? Because if u couldn’t get up for the environment that was SAT night, im confused as to what u CAN get up for, or to what motivates you.
Awesome!!! 👏
It’s great to hear from those who have not been drinking from the swamp.
NEVER…….never drinking from any swamp–whether it’s the DC swamp or the CAL swamp–altho is one really any different than the other?? Those two pretty much go hand-in-hand don’t they? I find it so interesting how when u find out that somebody has been drinking from ONE of those swamps, u end up finding out theyre drinking from BOTH OF THEM!!! Its so interesting the way that works–its like that rule always ends up applying in every instance!!! Now, I wonder why that is??? LOL. Both of those swamps are infected with all kinds of mind-killing poisons, pollutants, toxins, and viruses—they destroy one’s ability to think for one’s self and they leave one’s self open to be taken captive and made into a blind sheep who obediently follows and believes in everything that the swamp commands it to believe in, and thinks and feels everything the swamp commands it to think and feel. In the CAL portion of the swamp, the blind sheep turn into little sports agents who pose as KY fans, and they go around carrying CAL’s flag and whining and crying and having PMS attacks as to why he is the best coach in the country and why KY fans should still want him here and why they should still love him, and why we were wrong to want him gone. And some of them will even get on here to rub our face in the loss to ARK and actually celebrate CAL winning at KY—thats when u know that is for sure not a KY fan talking because no true UK fan would do that, nor would they feel that way in regard to CAL beating KY. Just me–if it were my site, I would ban anybody who did that. But I’m sure they wouldn’t want me violating their First Amendment rights, right? Because we know how important the First Amendment rights are to them—-oh, whoops, I’m sorry, it’s only on CERTAIN ISSUES that they are concerned about First Amendment–sorry, slight oversight there on my part—MY BAD. Remember, LB, it is IMPOSSIBLE to drink from the CAL SWAMP that has moved to ARK and be a TRUE KY FAN–it can’t be done. Apparently, one of our former players and native sons tried that concept out over the weekend, and he found out REAL QUICK that that can’t be done! That stunt didn’t go too well for him. All I know is I sure would hate to be stuck with having no other option but to come back to the state of KY if my NBA career were to go south on me one day–heck, after that stunt, who can be certain that he would be let back in? What was it that one little agent on here said one day? Oh yea, that’s right, it was "KARMA IS A BITCH!!!". It is indeed. One thing I know about those folks out in this beautiful state is that they don’t play around. TRUST ME–TAKE IT FROM SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS PERSONALLY.
Making it ok to lose is a very bad concept. Its ok because there is always next game! No that’s a losers mentality and I don’t like it. Pope is doing great for what he has. No to much athleticism on this team outside of Oweh and Butler. Robinson is very streaky Brea is also streaky! Carr has been hurt Butler is the backbone of the team and you can tell we are a completely different team without Butler! We need out whole team and can only make a run if we have our whole team!
👍
Need all the pieces even just to finish a puzzle or start an engine. The injuries have hurt because the leaders (Carr & Butler) are not in the game to keep others motivated and focuses
We need to get some "want to" on the defensive side of the court. We came back with a better effort in the second half but had too deep a hole to climb out of. When teams come out and crowd us on the arc, we need to backdoor them until they stop. The first half, we just did not stay in their grills on defense but that is what its going to take in the SEC.