Vicky Graff Photo
Music City Madness turned into a complete debacle for Kentucky.
The struggling Wildcats (5-4) fell behind 19-2 early and never recovered in a 94-59 blowout loss to No. 11 Gonzaga on Friday night at Bridgestone Arena. The Bulldogs led from start to finish and dominated on both sides of the floor. Kentucky shockingly missed 42 of its first 47 shooting attempts.
It was the second straight loss for 18th-ranked Kentucky, which is still searching for a signature win. The Wildcats fell to 0-4 against ranked teams after notching a record-tying eight wins against teams ranked in the Top 25 in Mark Pope’s first season as coach of the Wildcats.
The Big Blue contingent and former player DeMarcus Cousins weren’t happy with the outcome, and Pope wasn’t satisfied with the outcome, either. Cousins tweeted following the contest the Wildcats had “no heart.”
“I have no issue with what he said, in the sense of, like, if you’re watching that game, you feel like starting with the coach, this is completely unacceptable,” Pope said. “I think that as a former player here, I’m pissed off at the coach, too and that’s just all deserved. There’s nothing inappropriate about what he said at all.”
The margin of defeat — 35 points — was the worst in the Pope era and the shooting performance (26 percent) nearly equaled the team’s output (24 percent) in a loss at Kansas in 2006. Pope said the Wildcats are simply not in a good place.”
Boos rained down on Kentucky throughout much of the game in Bridgestone Arena, which was once dubbed “Rupp Arena South.”
“We’ve kind of diminished a little bit into a bad spot right now, and we have to dig ourselves out, and it’s going to be an internal group thing,” Pope said. “We feel the responsibility we have to this university and this fan base and that all the boos that we heard tonight were incredibly well deserved, mostly for me, and we have to fix it.”
Wins against ranked teams have been harder to come by for Pope and his squad, leaving the Kentucky coach searching for answers with games looming against Indiana and St. John’s this month and the arrival of Southeastern Conference play.
Three of the team’s four setbacks have been by double figures and the Wildcats had to rally to make the score respectable in a 96-88 loss to Louisville on Nov. 11.
The team’s second-half shooting woes in a 67-64 loss to North Carolina earlier this week carried over into the blowout loss to the Bulldogs. Kentucky managed just five field goals and shot just 16 percent in the first half.
Kentucky missed its first 12 field goals and didn’t connect on its first field goal until Denzel Aberdeen made a jumper at the 11:04 mark of the first half. Things didn’t get much better for Kentucky for the remainder of the game.
It didn’t get much better in the second half as Gonzaga avoided a second-half meltdown for the second straight season against the Wildcats. Kentucky rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit in a thrilling 90-89 overtime win over the Bulldogs a year ago in Spokane.
Once it got a lead, Gonzaga didn’t let up and recovered from a 101-61 loss to Michigan in the finals of the Players Era Championship on Thanksgiving Eve.
Kentucky guard Jaland Lowe made his return to the lineup after missing the past three games because of a shoulder injury. Lowe played 14 minutes but it still wasn’t the immediate answer to Kentucky’s offensive struggles.
The team’s biggest issue, Pope said, was an inability to make the right decisions on the offensive end of the floor.
“It’s all coming from me like, that’s on me — credit Gonzaga for responding great to kind of their debacle a week ago,” he said.
Collin Chandler, who scored 11 points, said the loss was disappointing.
“We care about media and the people that come and support us, because they come in every night, and so we’re going to do a better job at showing up for them and playing for them,” he said.
Gonzaga’s inside tandem of Graham Ike and Braden Huff was no match for the Wildcats. Both players combined for 48 points. Ike had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Ike had more two-point field goals (11) than the Wildcats, finished with nine inside the arc.
Otega Oweh led Kentucky with 16 points, his third straight game with the same point total.
UK won 13 of 14 games in Bridgestone Arena but the last two have been beatdowns. Alabama thumped the Cats by 29 there in last year’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
19 Responses
It is urgent & imperative to identify the rotten apples who are spoiling the whole bunch.
Whoever is preoccupied with hating his teammates needs to be tossed out ASAP!
Coach Pope needs to speak with a few trustworthy players (whom he knows are such) & find out who is destroying the possibility of being a team instead of selfish individuals.
There was a breakdown of team chemistry last season, after UK started exhibitions & 5 to 7 games with fire, intensity, focus and big wins including Duke. After an 11-1 (?) record, UK went 13-11 the rest of the season. Some of those players became selfish and the powerful team play was gone so the losses mounted.
Thai season, some rotten apples spoiled the possibility of team chemistry after just ONE quality game – the exhibition win over #1 Purdue.
Step up and remove the rot!
For starters we have a player that is/was screwing a teammate's girlfriend.
These guys are comparing paychecks. Some don't like it that others are making more money. They need to grow up and realize that out here in the real world someone is always making more money than you. All other teams players are making money. I don't know why our players can't handle it.
Some have animalistic tendencies and refuse to act like a human. Vetting players must be done in detail to determine if there are any quality characteristics, were they raised in a relatively normal 2 parent home, were their friends troublemakers, etc. Some faces display a countenance with a lot of information on it & appearances that are not normal reveal a lot about what is inside a person. This is not to judge them, just to verify them to insure they can interact in groups without being a problem.
Yeah. Clearly there is a problem in the locker room. These guys are not singing out the same hymnal. No continuity of purpose. These guys don't like each other. It' not a team. You can see it in how they interact. Pope has a real problem.
I would suspect that the rift comes from one or more of this year's transfer portal bunch. For some reason, this team does not like Jelavic. I can't help but wonder if Aberdeen and Williams are involved, and possibly Garrison. I have no hard evidence, but that is what my gut tells me. The coaches need to dig into this and find out what is going on. This team whipped Purdue, but since then, a cancer has formed. This season is over until they fix this.
Cancer requires cutting out the enemy – it has to be removed by chemo or the removal. It will spread of not dealt with, and seemingly has already spread!
Garrison gets my vote.
This reminds me of when Cawood said on the radio that UK was playing terrible. When Rupp found out what he said, Rupp went to Cawood and said I heard you said this about our team. Cawood said yes. Rupp said Good; and you keep telling the fans the truth.
That’s a good memory, OldFan! Cawood wqs in a class of his own. He could put Memorial Coliseum right into your into your home with his accurate & colorful comments.
I miss Cawood and the String Music guy.
This is currently a ME team. How do you go from our focus and play for the Perdue game to a complete Meltdown since, and the team is looking worse each game? I am still laying that responsibility with Pope and his staff. Again, what are these guys doing during the week in practice? Does Pope ever show any angst or displeasure with a player coming off court or interact with them on the beach? Most of the great coaches do this and have a board they constantly massage with plays. All Pope does is constantly Clap and run up and down sideline with flalying arms yelling out stuff. It is not apparent that anyone is watching or listening to him. His demeanor is always the same pre, during, and post game. He looks totally clueless out there. I cannot remember seeing quality of play look any worse EVER that what we suffered thru last night. There are no basketball fundamentals on display. It's Pope's job to get these pieces to fit together and is Failing in current capacity. We are the laughing stock in all of college basketball. He continues to be the Problem with the seat getting hotter each game.
The truth is Pope shouldn't be here in the first place. He had not proven he was worthy of the job. Another truth is there wasn't any reputable coach in the country that wanted the job. Pope was a last resort. All of Calipari's peers saw how the Big Boohoo Nation treated him and wouldn't touch it. Now the "fans" have turned on one of their own. Boo's heard from coast to coast. People hated Cal's players first philosophy. Let Me Tell All The Old Timers (like myself) That Using The Kentucky First Philosophy To Recruit WIIL NOT WORK! The Elite players today Does Not Care what name is on their chest. Sorry…that's how it is. Pope will not be able to recruit any elite players now. With his record and all the Boo's, he's done. I don't even want to think about who the Cats next coach will be. UK will have to go even deeper in the barrel to get the next one.
There is more and more talk about trying to get Bruce Pearl to come out of retirement. If we were going to go to Pearl, we should have done that last year. He might have taken it then, but there is no way he is going to come here and coach against his son. Pitino had no interest in coming back. The guy I would consider would be Chris Beard of Ole Miss. I am sure that he is not in love with Oxford and he would bring solid recruiting, better player development, and he is an X and O guy would demands discipline and commitment.
Nothing will happen until the end of the season, so Pope has a chance to turn this around, as doubtful as that might be. He has turmoil among his players and that won't get resolved short of dismissal from the team. Let's face it…he would still have the stink from the pre-conference schedule that would follow him for a long time, but if he could miraculously find a way to win the SEC tourney and get to an Elite 8 showing in the Big Dance…he could continue here as coach and would have learned an important lesson about coaching and recruiting. That would be the longest of shots though. Barnhart doesn't have the brains to do a new hire, he would have to retire or be fired first and that would need to happen by the end of this year. Bring in a new AD and give him time to start doing his due diligence on finding a replacement if it comes to that by season's end.
My weekend has been blown by the stench we left behind in Nashville, and I can't recover. It is becoming increasing clear that Pope is the problem and not the solution. Not sure I have ever seen a more inept coach on the sideline or having to do a post game meeting.You have to feel sorry for him dragging a couple of players to support him. Chandler's body language mirrored the fans in auditorium and those suffering thru this carnage on the TV. I have been a Pearl booster for a long time and also stated here that I think UL got the best of the 2 hires, and history has more than confirmed that. BYU could not get Pope out of there quick enough. We supposedly made some good assistant coaching hires but apparently they don't carry much weight with Pope or are reluctant to speak out. These last 3 games with the heavyweights have been the worst UK basketball I have EVER witnessed. We need a Coach not a addition to the Cheerleading squad.
The low assist numbers speak volumes as to there being a lack of trust in the other players or worse, selfishness to be the hero.
I ageee; Can’t think of his name. Those 2 were sharp!
The last time I checked, the players played the game. All Pope is supposed to do is get them ready to play. He doesn't even have to manage playing time, that's what assistants are for. The players need to show accountability. With NIL, how is it any different than if we as individuals didn't perform at our jobs. These guys don't look like they want to put on a show. Pope needs to pack up the team, go out to some farm, walk them out and let them go at it for about 30 min. and then tell them whoever left standing and still wants to play, meet him back at the bus. I think with NIL, Pope should have the right to fire players.
Put the best 8 players on the rotation and let the rest ride pine till the tobacco is in the barn.. To many players just going in and out with no rhyme or reason pope should know that, Also and this is just my opinion that locker room must be a vile place scary place that nobody wants to walk thru..
I am with you Kevin. Get a set rotation and ride with it. And if somebody is not playing well or giving effort — no matter who it is — put his butt on the bench for a while
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