Coach John Calipari’s addition of the Kentucky Wildcats’ sixth straight loss – a 62-59 defeat to Louisville on Saturday – was simple and straightforward: “Losing stinks.”
“Let me say this again, I’m losing stink,” said Calipari. “We had our chances and we were unlucky.”
Kentucky fell back to 1-6 for the third time in program history, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the game starts with the Wildcats in 1911 and 1926.
The Wildcats got their chances late in the game, but went for the final 3:22 without a field goal. Devin Askew missed a 3-pointer that would have given Kentucky a lead with 23 seconds to go, and Olivier Sarr’s jumper with eight seconds to go hit every part of the rim before falling off. Brandon Boston Jr. missed a desperate equalizer in the final seconds.
The typical offensive players of Kentucky had a tough time on Saturday, with Sarr and Terrence Clarke missing all eight tries off the field. Clarke was dealing with an ankle injury – he didn’t start, and Calipari said he’s only about 80% healthy – while Sarr hasn’t scored a field goal in the past two games since scoring 22 points against Notre Dame.
“We went into the game, ‘as many times as we can throw him the ball, we go,’” said Calipari. “That was our game plan. They fought well, did fronts and did some things. And he missed some shots. When you start missing shots, it starts to play with your confidence. It’s not like we’re not going to him.” , we are.”
Saturday’s loss gave Kentucky its first six-game lost streak since the 1988-89 season, while according to Elias, this is also the first 1-6 start of an SEC team since Ole Miss in 1989-90.
Perhaps more worrisome is the fact that no team that started a season with a 1-6 figure has ever received a total bid for the NCAA tournament.
“I don’t think it’s over,” said Calipari. “We haven’t played a league game yet. Let’s do what we do. I don’t flinch, I don’t crack.”
Kentucky’s scheduled SEC opener against South Carolina on Tuesday was postponed due to COVID-19 issues, so the Wildcats won’t play again until next Saturday as a trip to Mississippi state.
“Suddenly you get a slap in the mouth and you start to taste blood, how do you react?” Calipari said.
“How do we mitigate some outages? … Where is the lead now where we had opportunities? We’ve had our chances and we’ve dropped them all.”
Kentucky started the season with only one player who saw the job for the Wildcats last season, second forward Keion Brooks – who hasn’t played this season due to an injury. After a season-opening win over Morehead State, Kentucky has lost to Richmond, Kansas and four consecutive ACC opponents.
Calipari doubted his decision to plan such a difficult start for a young and inexperienced team after a shortened preseason.
“We need more time for all the team building stuff that we do here all the time,” said Calipari. “We build teams in the summer. We build teams in the fall. We make time. Not where we need to be, but catch up time.
‘You have to play games you can win to build confidence … This was the stupidest schedule I’ve ever put together. I’d like to punch myself in the mouth. ‘