Kentucky Wildcats Roundball Season Recap
It’s been a full-blown roller-coaster ride in the Bluegrass, and not the fun kind you brag about surviving like The Raven at Holiday World. Kentucky has gone from blowout highs to heartbreaking lows in the span of just a few games, stacking dominant wins and stomach-churning losses back-to-back. At this point, everyone’s heads are spinning like they’ve been trapped on the Evolution ride for three solid weeks, and we’re all one more careless turnover away from upchucking funnel cake. Here’s how we’ve ended up with our heads stuffed in a park trash can.
Game 6: vs. Loyola MD- 11/21 – 88-46 (4-2)
UK jumped out to a 21-5 lead early and stayed on the gas while taking a 50-20 lead into the half. The Cats continued to run away with this as the game progressed. The Cats earned this one by dominating the glass 56-33 and scored 24 points off 15 turnovers. It was good to bounce back against the Greyhounds after a rough outing in their last game. Chandler and Williams totaled 13 points each, leading the way for UK, as the scoring was balanced behind them.
Game 7: vs. Tennessee Tech- 11/26 – 104-54 (5-2)
Good teams win ball games; great teams cover the point spread. Things weren’t looking great early in this one as we were all square at 25 halfway through the first half. John Pelphrey’s squad did a great job at mixing up their defensive looks, mostly by throwing a 1-3-1 halfcourt zone at the Cats. However, once UK discovered how to penetrate the zone and score effectively, a quick 20-3 run helped UK take a comfortable lead into the half.
It was more of the Big Blue runaway train in this game as UK cruised past the Golden Eagles. Aberdeen, Oweh, and Noah led the way with 16 points as Chandler tossed in 14, and Moreno had 13 points with 11 boards. The biggest moment of the game was toward the end of the game when walk-on, Walker Horn came into the game and beat the shot clock buzzer by making a three pointer, his first career points. The spread on this one was around 37 at tipoff and Kentucky was able to cover the monster spread thanks to Horn’s three at the horn.
Aside from Horn’s heroic buzzer beating 3, the big story from this game was the Golden Eagles head coach reuniting with The Unforgettables. Sean Woods, Daren Feldhaus, and Richie Farmer were in attendance to team up with Pelphrey in Rupp Arena once again. The aforementioned were presented as the “Y” during the second half; and after the game they joined Pelphrey and Mark Pope on the post-game radio show with Tom Leach.
Game 8: vs. North Carolina- 12/2 – 64-67 (5-3)
This matchup was big as we had a couple feel good, get right wins against lesser competition. UK needed to make a statement against a solid UNC team at home. The game started as a back and forth battle the entire first half. Kentucky had to keep Caleb Wilson in check, and was doing a decent job of that through the first. Both teams were locked up at 31 at halftime. The second half was much of the same as we saw the two Blue Bloods exchange blows. The Cats went on a field goal drought in the second half for more than 10 minutes and 30 seconds. But as they made the first field goal in that time, they were still holding on to a slim lead. UNC was able to execute more efficiently down the stretch as they came away with the win. A tough look for Pope’s Cats attempting to defend Rupp Arena.
One positive takeaway from this disappointing loss is that we did a good job defensively on Caleb Wilson. He was able to get to his spots but was met with challenging shots. Kam Williams and Andrija Jelavic were able to contain Wilson and what he’s been doing best. We won’t have to wait long for another tough matchup.
Game 9: vs. Gonzaga @ Bridgestone Arena in Nashville- 12/5 – 59-94 (5-4)
Big time face off for both teams. Of course, UK is coming off a bad beat by UNC and Gonzaga has had more than a week to simmer in a 40 point beat down by Michigan. Nashville is the second home to UK as the fan base will look to make a weekend out of the trip. And the Big Blue faithful did not disappoint. Blue was all over Broadway, making their presence known early in the day. It was whispered the day before that Jaland Lowe was going to make his return against the Bulldogs. That report was confirmed about two hours prior to tipoff.
Speaking of prior to tipoff, Gonzaga was seen during their early shoot around time throwing a basketball around as if it was a football and a couple of their players were running football plays. It certainly doesn’t appear they were taking the Cats seriously. They must not have heard the news about Lowe. The Kentucky fans were feeling disrespected and were ready for a fight, but was the basketball team feeling the same way?
It didn’t take long for this one to feel like it was off the rails. UK was scoreless going into the first TV timeout. And going into the second TV timeout, UK still had not made a field goal. This one is over early. But, as fans, we need to see the Cats continue to battle and do so with relentless effort to try to get back in it before halftime. Unfortunately, the game continued to be derailed as Gonzaga took a 43-20 lead into the locker room. As the Cats went into the tunnel heading to their locker room, they were met with a chorus of boos from BBN. Fans are not happy with the effort; it looks as if we’ve already given up. But Pope is pretty good at halftime adjustments. If we can get the deficit to 10 with 10 minutes to play, there’s a chance.
As the second half began, it didn’t take long to realize the Cats didn’t have any fight in them. The crowd showed up, they were loud, and they were ready to see their team battle against one of the best teams in the country. Nashville, in general, is not a cheap trip. And our fans committed to the trip. They were let down because the team didn’t play with any effort or energy and just gave up. Kentucky allowed Gonzaga to impose their will the entire game and had no resistance. As the game ended, more boos showered down from the few Cats’ fans that were left. The majority of fans had already taken to Broadway to drown their sorrows.
There are serious issues with this team, most of them I’ve mentioned in the previous post after losses. Now it appears there are a few players holding this program hostage. We have two players, Brandon Garrison and Otega Oweh, who jog up and down the court and don’t appear to be giving much effort on either end of the court. Some players, Denzel Aberdeen and Jasper Johnson, try to do too much on their own instead of making the extra pass for an open shot. The message after the game from Pope was him admitting there are more questions than answers and that he’s too indecisive during the game when it comes to subs and adjustments. The next game won’t help us get the answers we’re seeking as it’s against another team ranked outside the top 300.
Game 10: vs. North Carolina Central- 12/9 - 103-67 (6-4)
Kentucky is back in Rupp coming off this week’s new rankings which left the Cats outside the top 25. A get right game is in order, but is it really going to prove much to the fan base? NCCU is not a good team, they are ranked outside the top 300 in the country despite having one of the best scorers in the nation. The Cats took control early and kept their sights on a blowout. Not much resistance from NCCU. Jasper Johnson came off the bench to lead the Cats in scoring with 22 while Oweh contributed 21. Zach Tow, a walk-on from Madisonville, KY, came in late and knocked down a corner 3 for his first field goal for UK. A monster ovation rang out. But despite the massive margin of victory, not all things were peachy here.
It didn’t take long to notice the substitution pattern of Pope was slightly different this game. When he finally made his first sub, it wasn’t the line change we’re used to seeing. After 10 minutes of the game we still haven’t seen Kam Williams, who’s started the last couple of games, or Jaland Lowe. With 8 minutes left in the half, Brandon Garrison was stripped of the ball near the top of the key by a NCCU guard who finished the theft with a slam at the other end. Pope called a timeout instantly because he notice Garrison jogging back on defense. Pope came out onto the floor, got in front of Garrison, and said, “Go sit down. Go sit down”. The happy-go-lucky head coach was pissed, so much so that Garrison sat the remaining 28 minutes.
It certainly appears messages were sent to three players, at least “send” was hit on the message; we’ll have to wait to see if they’ve been delivered and read. The day prior the basketball team had an open practice for the BBN United group where it was relayed Lowe and Williams were two players who had to run the steps of Rupp to touch the wall at the very tip top of the arena. It also came out that Lowe was sent home from practice early due to an “illness”. A little strange that he was well enough to play 24 hours later. Even in the post-game press conference, Pope was still in dark mode. We sleep a couple more times before we open the Rupp doors to Indiana, who is playing well at the moment. A familiar name will be on the floor after dropping 44 points on TV right after the UK/NCCU game, Lamar Wilkerson. Definitely need to keep him in check. Sounds like Mo Dioubate will be back for IU.
