Vicky Graff Photo
Jack Givens knew Kentucky was in trouble before Friday’s game in Nashville ever started.
The Wildcats fell behind 19-2 and lost by 35 points against the Zags to continue UK’s losing streak against ranked teams this season.
“I just don’t know where to start on this one. There is a lot of stuff that goes into how good a team is,” said Givens on the UK Radio Network postgame show after the Gonzaga loss. “Gonzaga came into the game with an attitude to prove to the whole country that the game we lost to Michigan (by 40 points) was a fluke.”
Kentucky was coming off a disappointing loss to North Carolina where it went over 10 minutes in the second half without a field goal. The Cats also suffered significant losses to Louisville and Michigan State earlier this season.
“I looked down on the Kentucky end of the floor and I saw a team that just didn’t have the energy in warmups,” Givens said after the Gonzaga loss. “ I don’t want to say focus because that is overused but they didn’t approach the game like Gonzaga did.
“Gonzaga was older and bigger but the only way to battle a team like that is to play harder than they do and take everything you have and go right at them and Kentucky was about as far away from that as you can get.
“Gonzaga played great but the Wildcats are not going to beat anybody playing like they did in the first half.”
Kentucky hosts North Carolina Central Tuesday night before playing Indiana and St. John’s in its next two games. After playing Bellarmine, UK will then play Alabama. That’s three big-time games in the next five for a team now 5-4.
“There is such a thing as having too much talent. Everybody gets a role but do you accept it and master it? What happens is that guys 6-10 (on the depth chart) feel they should be starting or playing more minutes or if it keeps happening I am going to transfer,” TNT analyst Jalen Rose said. “Guys want to win national championships and want to go to the league. If I am not playing a lot of minutes, I am not going to the league.”
Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, also a TNT analyst, said UK might need a team meeting to emphasize “the name off the front (of the jersey) has to mean something and mean more than the (individual) name on the back.”
