LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Not to go all Thomas Paine on everybody here, but these are the times that try basketball teams’ souls.
For the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, the question is this: Was Saturday’s 74-69 loss to Vanderbilt just part of a Southeastern Conference-induced dip in fortunes, or a reality check on what is possible?
In this, Mark Pope’s Wildcats -- on a two-game losing streak in danger of stretching to three when they visit Tennessee on Tuesday – aren’t alone. At Tennessee, the Volunteers have lost two of their past three and three of their past six. Ole Miss was rolling along at 14-2 just dozen days ago. Now it has lost three straight.
There are, in the Hunger Games world of the SEC, two types of teams emerging. Those who lose games, and those who lose clumps of games. Kentucky is in danger of setting up shop in the latter camp.
Here's what was worrisome about Kentucky’s loss to Vanderbilt. The Commodores played the way Kentucky likes to play. They pressed out on shooters. They picked up full court. They invited Kentucky to attack, but the Wildcats were unable.
“That they did a good job getting us on our heels is super disappointing,” Pope said. “This is a style of play that we love for teams to play -- and it's a part of the game that we like, when we're at our best offensively. And for, for a bunch of reasons that I know, and some reasons that I don't, man, we were just heavy on our heels.”
Point guard Lamont Butler is struggling. He had six points and six turnovers against Vanderbilt, including a couple of key turnovers in crunch time. For all of Kentucky’s problems Saturday – and the last 10 minutes of the first half were probably the worst basketball the team has played all season (“a debacle,” Pope called them), the Wildcats led by seven with 8:36 to play.
Kentucky point guard Lamont Butler looks over the defense in the first half of a loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 25, 2025.
At that point, you’re supposed to be able to turn the game over to your guards for safekeeping. And Butler, a graduate point who led San Diego State to the national title game, is as solid as any point guard in the country. But he’s been less reliable lately.
Whether he’s playing hurt, or has other circumstances causing him issues, I don’t know. And Pope isn’t really saying.
“Lamont is, he’s got a lot right now,” Pope said. “We all know what a warrior he is. And he is giving us everything he's got right now. But this, it's hard for him.”
The other obvious problem is the absence of Andrew Carr. The transfer big man is having back issues, and apparently they’re bad enough that a week off didn’t help. Now, if any coach should be trusted to make the right calls on player medical situations, it’s Pope, who was finishing medical school when he decided to jump into coaching. If he thinks Car should sit, it’s a fair bet that Carr should sit.
Still, these facts remain: If Carr plays against Vanderbilt, Kentucky probably wins. If Butler plays a solid game against Vanderbilt, Kentucky probably wins. The Wildcats needed just one of those. They got neither.
Pope was equally cryptic where Carr’s availability is concerned.
“You know, I probably have done a bad job with Drew,” Pope said. “He wants to play so bad and we’re just kind of seeing a decline in his performance, because there's just so much he can't do with his back. We were trending the wrong direction, so what we're hoping, you know, it's like injuries are hard, like these calls are really hard. Wo what we're hoping is that we can get to a space sometime in the next few weeks, next few days, (a place) where we have enough confidence that – he hasn’t practiced in a couple of weeks, and every game he just gets beat up so bad that he’s back to Square One, where it’s hard for him to walk essentially – and so we’re hoping that with more time we can get him to some sustainable place where he can endure a practice and endure a game and not be back to zero, but we'll see. We'll see if that actually happens. It's complicated. You're dealing in percentages, you're not dealing in guarantees. And so we just thought we'd take a swing at this and we'll kind of gage him tomorrow, gauge him Monday and just kind it’s by day with him for sure.”
So to recap so far, Carr’s injury issues aren’t going away, it doesn’t sound like. Butler’s issues might, but who knows? But injuries are things everybody has to deal with.
Even with them, Kentucky was in position to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday. It has weapons. Even Pope said after the game, “We have players good enough to win. Our team wasn’t good enough to win tonight.”
One issue Pope figures to be trained on is the second 10 minutes of the first half. The second “quarter” of games, if men’s college basketball, like the rest of the civilized basketball world, played quarters. Listen to these second-quarter scores. Vandy beat Kentucky 23-11. Alabama beat them just 19-17, but Georgia beat Kentucky 32-16, and Ohio State 21-11. Clemson beat Kentucky 20-11. (Gonzaga won the second quarter 26-16 and Duke 25-16.)
In four of its five losses, the second quarter is what has gotten the Wildcats into trouble.
“It’s plagued us a little bit,” Pope said. “I think we get a little bit fatigued. Our bench is a little bit disintegrated. That’s an issue.”
Koby Brea fires a three-pointer in the first half of Kentucky's loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 25, 2025.
Pope appeared to be casting about for answers on Saturday with some lineups. He brought in Trent Noah, and the freshman played well, though Pope put him back in late in the game in a tough situation.
It was just a weird game. Kentucky outrebounded Vanderbilt by 13. But they had 17 turnovers and only 11 assists. They forced only five Vanderbilt turnovers. Kentucky played good enough defense to win, but could not manage enough points.
And Pope, who has made so many good in-game moves with his team and has had such a handle on them, seemed to be looking for answers.
Kentucky has been one of the better ball-security teams in college basketball this season. From that standpoint, Saturday’s game was an unfortunate anomaly. Of more concern are the bigger-picture issues. Kentucky’s inability to generate good three-point looks (it shot only 23 threes, Vanderbilt managed 33). Its second-quarter struggles.
Kentucky shot 60 percent in the second half of this game, but couldn’t preserve its second half lead or momentum when it seized them.
And on Tuesday, it travels to face a team that is as bad a stylistic matchup as there is in the SEC. Tennessee did lose at No. 1 Auburn on Saturday, but it only gave up 53 points in doing it. If the data teaches anything about Kentucky, it’s that the Wildcats aren’t likely to win scoring in the 60s (now 0-4 on the season).
For a team that appeared to have it rolling, and was beating very good teams, now a winter of physical play and dogged defenses seems more of obstacle than it did a few weeks ago. The SEC will wear some teams down. Pope said he's not worried that his team will be one of them.
“(The SEC) can rip you to pieces, for sure,” Pope said. “Our job is to is to keep find a way to get better. And I have a really good locker room of guys that are that are going to keep focused on getting better. We’re not going to lose our confidence. We're not going to question each other. We're not going to doubt what we're doing. We're just going to use all these experiences to get better. And there's really specific things that that we talk about to our guys all the time, but our guys actually experienced together as a team today for the first time where they're like, ‘Oh, those words actually really mean something and it's really painful if we don't actually do that.’ So it makes us a better team. I'm not worried about (the difficulty of the SEC) at all. I think we're really blessed to be facing this competition every game.”
CORRECTION: The original version of this story said Tennessee had lost four of its past six games. It has only lost three.
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