Vicky Graff Photo
It was bad enough that Kentucky was down 54-31 at Mississippi at halftime. However, it got even worse when ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath gave her halftime analysis on what she observed from Kentucky.
“You could see the disappointment. They were hanging their heads and the energy level was down,” said McGrath. “The energy level was incredibly low for the entire team coming out of that locker room.”
ESPN studio analyst Sean Farnham was blunt in his halftime assessment when he said most of UK’s woes were from a lack of effort.
“They (Ole Miss) are driving from the wing to the paint. Where is the help side defense?” Farnham said.
Seth Greenberg, not the favorite ESPN analyst of UK fans, said Kentucky did not compete against Mississippi’s physical, aggressive defense.
“They have to be better defensively and offensively they have got to compete,” Greenberg said.
Kentucky eventually lost 98-84, its fourth loss in the last five games and second straight after a huge upset win at Tennessee. Ole Miss shot 54.7 percent (35 of 64) from the field and 43 percent (13 of 30) from three. The Kentucky defense was so porous that Ole Miss had just one turnover and that came late in the game.
“Otega Oweh is the only legitimate perimeter defender they have,” Greenberg said.
“When you can’t guard the ball it is just a miserable feeling for a coach,” ESPN game analyst Jimmy Dykes, who has called the last four UK games, said.
Former UK All-American Jack Givens joked that what UK needed was an “emergency cure for Lamont Butler.” The point guard missed his third straight game with a shoulder injury and there is still no definite timeline for his return.
“It would be nice to have him back running the show and free Jaxson Robinson up to do some things,” Givens said.
Robinson was 6-for-13 from the field and had 18 points, two rebounds and two assists. He had trouble getting in a flow offensively when he was at the point and under constant duress.
Otega Oweh had 19 of his 24 points in the second half when UK did outscore Ole Miss 53-44 and cut the lead to 12 points at one time. Owen was 8-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-4 from 3, along with 6-for-6 at the foul line. He also had six rebounds and one assist.
Amari Williams was only the fourth UK player to have a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He joins Chris Mills, De’Aaron Fox, and Isaiah Briscoe as the only Cats with triple-doubles and is the only 7-footer in Division I over the last 20 years to have a points-rebounds-assists triple-double according to UK stats guru Corey Price.
However, it’s hard to think about a triple-double by Williams or Oweh’s play if you watched UK’s futile first half play.
“That is just a lack of toughness by Kentucky,” Dykes said at one point. “That is just a lack of competing. Just lazy, careless passes. You have to be strong with the basketball and it has not happened for Kentucky.”
17 Responses
Hope my 20 & 10 projection can hold up – schedule doesn’t get any easier down the stretch. On top of losing three key pieces the opposing coaches
“ now have the tape “ !
Paul, I think 20-10 is a realistic goal, but Pope and the players has some figuring out to do.
Some of the players should have stayed in Lexington & played video games. It is a disgrace to wear UK in the jersey and not give any effort, not care about losing, not interested in being on the floor.
The A:TO ratio sure revealed the pathetic effort on both offense and defense! This is NOT the same TEAM 1st players who started the season on fire. This is now a GROUP of fragmented parts with little connection. The numbers reveal the selfishness even if some want to deny it.
1-4 in the last 5 games is embarrassing.
NO heart.
NO focus.
NO Effort.
NO TEAM 1st mentality or execution.
NO chance of winning.
This team is a disgrace. I guess all the Pope cheerleading not getting thru to many players. We have guys that can only play half a game and others that don’t show period. This is on the coaching staff. We were Totally oversold the quality and collectivity of experience they had. I am blown away how this team can continue to miss close in shots game after game and continue to allow opposing to score inside or foul them if they don’t. Pope wasn’t hired to lose 4 out of 5 and isn’t doing too well with the Honemoon phase.
I think the entire coaching staff did an amazing job to jumpstart mostly mediocre players into a winning TEAM 1st assembly of limited talent. The wins were monumental and the A:TO ratio was phenomenal, even beating Duke.
After SOME of the players tasted success beyond anything they ever experienced in their life, decided they should be the star and raise their average.
Look at the assists in the early season of all the players and look at how SOME dwindled down to 0, 1 or maybe rarely 2 in a game. Regardless whether they are button or missing shots, they will NOT get an assist because they are subtle about their ball hogging.
You sure hit a sore subject – missing all those close in shots!!! It’s because all through the years they “practiced” shooting (not making very often) hot dog street ball shots. Now when they have a layup they fall back into their lifetime shooting style (street ball) and hope it falls. There is an art to shooting a layup. It does not take a brain surgeon – it takes practice and FOCUS – caring about it going in the basket FOR THE TEAM ON THEOR JERSEY.
Ok, let’s take a breath. This team is what it is and I don’t see them changing much until Butler comes back and then it may be too late. I was naive to think this team would be a possible Final 4 team, even without the injuries it was not to be. I really thought they would beat Arkansas, but they didn’t. They don’t want to play defense and they don’t like being in rock fights but that’s what you get in the SEC. So be it.
Now is the time for Pope to start thinking about the 2025/26 team. The bulk of it will come from the portal again. I have no idea on who will stay for next year; that needs to get resolved before the end of March., but he needs to give the freshmen more PT…they are going to be the base for his future. We can lose with any lineup, let’s start getting better for next year with what is left of this year. The NBA wannabes have had their shot. He needs to stick to recruiting kids who will be sophomores and juniors on that team. That will give them at least 2 years to play together. He needs to tell them what to expect and what he expects and scare off the hero ball types. The 2025/26 team will have some growing pains but should be better than the current team. The 2026/27 and the 2027/28 teams will be the ones who will show what kind of coach Pope is and what BBN can expect for the next several years. I think Pope has learned that he can’t be their buddies, he has to be their coach. I think he has learned that positivity without discipline doesn’t amount to much. He will have more time to work the portal and will know more about what will be a good fit at Kentucky and the SEC.
I still think Pope was the right hire. We are rid of the FRAUD and can move on to the future even though the glory years may be a couple of years away. I see us going 4-5 to finish this season. Whatever we do in either the SEC or NCAA tourneys won’t meet Kentucky standards. For a team that only had one signed player at the end of last season, that will have to be good enough. Let’s start climbing back up the mountain. Go CATS!!!
Always a lot of solid points!
I ranted so much agreeing with Mike that I’m out of time & energy. The same comments would be put here but I don’t want to copy it – some may complain.
Mediocre players beyond a normal 4 year college career got the chance of a lifetime to do something special and after success was so great early, even beating Duke!, that SOME players decided to just stand around and wait to shoot. Assists are sparse for some who score a lot. It’s a good way to break the TEAM 1st concept.
The season is over, thanks to SOME who do not care about UK!!!
Hey, if my maths correct and we lost every remaining game we’d still have a winning season that including wins over 3 arch rivals and 7 top 15 teams.
Please raise your hand if you thought that would happen last summer. Aha, no hands in the air.
The thing I hope Pope has learned is you can’t win with a bunch of portal players. He got supposedly the best shooter, the best six man of the year, and two defensive players of the year. They started with a bang, but the grind of a good conference is too much for them. They weren’t at Ky to begin with for a reason. He is going to have to get a bunch again next year because he only managed three recruits. His recruiting has to get better or he will fail. Perry would have never seen the floor this year if Butler and Kriisa had not got hurt. He has been recruited over for next year not counting I’m sure Pope will seek guard help in the portal. He’s not a division 1 player and should transfer if he wants to play. Noah and Chandler has the size, but are still green. Chandler not playing for two years and Noah playing against 2nd rate competition his whole life. Pope saying he doesn’t know how to fix the problems is concerning to me. I predict the Cats finish out the season 3-6. They will be lucky if they get 20 wins.
It was a great day for women’s sports.
Our wonderful COMMON SENSE PRESIDENT banned men from playing on women’s teams.
Go Lady Cats!
Then he gave crook billionaire Elon Musk the keys to Social Security, Medicare, and a check book worth $7 Trillion. A man not elected for anything. A man born and raised in South Africa. Our Dictator has no sense, common or otherwise. Neither does the ones that put him in office. Go Lady Cats!
College Basketball season is, at best, a slog. Injuries, studies, girlfriend problems, and just plain fatigue can take the focus away from a young man. These are young men who have not had the benefit of a lifetime of experience to see them through the ups and downs of life. That used to be why college basketball was there, to be the mid way between being a kid and the NBA. Now that NIL has changed all of that, these kids have forgotten what they didn’t know. The fans don’t care how tired or depressed you are, if you are making millions, they expect performance. Welcome to being a man.
R. John, you made a good point and some comments that’s been made on here think otherwise think life is a rose while been a college student or athletic to the program. There’s more than just basketball while on campus.
The lack of effort was not the way Williams played,
A rare triple double! By a big man. It really exposes SOME players who get 0, 1 or 2 assists in a game as if their scoring gives them a bye on passing.
Nothing like insulting the voters—and the WILL of the people—the WILL of the people ALWAYS wins out. That’s the #1 reality that the side that lost never learns, but of course you have to LIVE IN REALITY TO LEARN ANYTHING to begin with. And the side that lost now loves to use Musk as their new narrative—but can u imagine if he was working for THEM and the "hailing of an American hero" that he would be branded?? If Musk was working for the side that lost, he would be labeled as a man who helped "save America" and "save democracy"—and the fact that he comes from South Africa would be used too as part of the narrative–he would be known as "the first South African to do" or "be" this-and-that………I can pretty much write the narratives at this point on my own and be pretty close because I have heard them all so many times I know how they think. What I find so hilarious and hypocritical is that they have a billionaire working for their side too–can u say GEORGE SOROS—and they have the nerve to go after Musk …..the difference with George Soros is that he hides in the background, in the shadows, and that’s on purpose–he doesn’t want to be identified or revealed with the sh** that he’s doing, and they all act like he doesn’t exist–thats by design–they don’t want to acknowledge him, and more importantly, they don’t want YOU KNOWING ABOUT HIM!!! Everything Musk is doing is all out in the open and in front of the country, they aren’t trying to hide anything, no,they WANT u to know what’s going on. That’s because they have nothing to hide and they are trying to work FOR THE PEOPLE, NOT THE ESTABLISHMENT. The other side is only interested in working for THE ESTABLISHMENT, and enriching the power of the government. They want government overreach and oversight on everything, and that’s because they can’t do anything for themselves, and they’re so lost they have to have the establishment DICTATE to them how to feel, what to feel, how to think, what to think, what to believe……it’s the OTHER SIDE that is a DICTATORSHIP–OUR OWN BODY OF GOVERNMENT has been acting as a dictatorship for the last 5 years. And Soros is the dictator hiding behind their scenes. U want to see millions of people die, then put him Soros in charge. U could kill less people with a nuclear bomb than you could putting him in charge. But its all about to change because ALL THE FILTH is in the process of being cleaned out. Nothing like seeing the pocketbook of the rotten cities like I live in take that hit yesterday—take away that money, and u take away that control. BEAUTIFUL
Taking away SS and Medicare is beautiful? America will be broke with no allies in less than 4 yrs. I don’t listen to lieing billionaires. This administration has pulled the wool over the eyes of those with weak minds. Keep following your Jim Jones cult leader. Maybe he will mix up a special batch of kool-aid when he’s done with you.
You should get your facts straight before commenting……..some of it would actually be funny if it weren’t so sad. Its funny to me how they all believe they are taking away Medicare and SOC SEC. IDK where that comes from–it must come from the lying-ass media. Its scary how our media can just push outright lies and there r enough ppl out there who would believe it without doing their own research first. That’s all anybody should do: do your own research. The admin has already specifically said just this week that they are eliminating taxes on SOC SEC checks for seniors–that doesn’t sound like ELIMINATING TO ME!! The reason so many ppl don’t have their facts straight is because they hate "THE DICTATOR" so much that they never listen to him directly–they don’t listen to what he is straight-up telling the country when he speaks because they hate him so bad. Instead, they get all their info from the lying-ass media. The media is ALWAYS going to push the anti-TRUMP narrative, or the OPPOSITE of what he says. Ppl who don’t have their facts straight might try just LISTENING to the President just one time–I promise it won’t kill u. And listening to him doesn’t mean u have to support him. The two are not mutually exclusive. That’s the problem with libs—theyre always too busy running their mouth trying to virtue-signal, and telling other ppl how to live their lives, and telling ppl how to think, and what to believe–they might try LISTENING for a change, and listening OBJECTIVELY, and forming their opinions of their own mind and their own common sense–instead of forming it from what the popular narrative is, or what they know their friend believes, or what their friend has told them. U have to be of independent mind and get in touch with your own sense of values and logic and sense of judgment–u can’t form your own beliefs and your own sense of values on what your friend has told u, or what the news has told u, or what a biased family member has told u. U have to do your own research and make your own decisions about your beliefs and your views. That’s whats so dangerous about the media–they have conned so many ppl in this country into believing lies, false narratives, and inaccurate spins on facts. Its an ideological con that has come from the top down, and from our education system, sadly enough. The universities and schools in this country have conned generations of young people on a false account of U.S. history and that has done just about as much damage as anything else. The education system has conned generations into hating America and turning on one race of people–its a dangerous game–and then u wonder why things have turned out the way they have–this Election was a referendum on what happens when u try to tear down a country and try to tear ppl apart. When u try to screw America, America will turn the screw on YOU–U BETTER BELIEVE IT!!! If ppl think there isn’t going to be a reckoning for everything that has happened all these years going back to 2019, 2020, they aren’t living in reality. When u play games with America, this is the price u pay.