Kentucky’s The season went off the rails at the brink on Tuesday as the 19.5-point favorites Wildcats fell spectacularly unranked at home. south carolina 71-68. The loss ended Kentucky’s lap of his 28-game home winning streak at the Arena. was It had the longest winning streak in the SEC and dropped the Wildcats to 1-3 in conference play for the first time since the 1986-87 season.The disastrous loss comes just days after a 26-point drop Alabama — On Saturday, it had the widest loss margin in a 100-year series against the Crimson Tide.
The Wildcats struggled at various points offensively or defensively throughout the season, but Tuesday’s gamecocks match was always a combination where everything went wrong. South Carolina scorched the net from 3, smashed the offensive board, and in the second of 21 he scored a chance point to take a wire-to-wire win in front of the British fans. And every time the Wildcats prowled to tighten things up, South Carolina seemed to have the answer by the end.
South Carolina got 26 big shots from Meechy Johnson. This is a career best record. He managed to upset with his unexpected scoring performance away from home. Johnson made six of his 10 three-point shots, including a ridiculous step back from deep range late in the second half and a shot to soften the lead as Britain tried to close it. One time from near the logo was included. His GG Jackson, a star freshman, also added his two his threes on his two tries, and he scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
South Carolina was as hot as Kentucky was ice cold, yet another flat performance for the Wildcats. It was working and there was no help from the offensive side to even the scale. The team took just 10 3s and made 3 successful. It’s a confounding strategy by a team that is statistically rated as one of his team’s best 3-pointers in the Calipari era.
To further complicate matters, freshman star Kayson Wallace, the team’s best 3-point shooter, was injured mid-game and did not return.
Here are three points about this game.
1. More pressure on Calipari
John Calipari this week denied reports that Texas officials had contacted him about the head coaching vacancy after firing Chris Beard. After losing to 15th-seeded St. Peters in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Blue Nation became a Calipari-challenging Big Mud Nation, starting 10-6 after starting the 2022-23 season as a top-five team. . It just increases the pressure on him. If the talent wasn’t there, that would be one thing, but there are plenty of pieces on this roster. ) also seems to be turned off. (Worse, if school officials have to kick fans out of the arena and go full New York his Knicks to defend the coach.)
2. Kentucky’s foul-shooting battle continues
After making 7 of 14 attempts against South Carolina, Kentucky is making a dismal 65.6% out of the charity stripes this season. Division I teams). His four of his six losses for Kentucky this season have been to his double-digit numbers, and while it’s nothing special to hold back a win, make no mistake, it’s a big deal. On Tuesday, it was literally the difference between a victory and another heartbreaking defeat.
3. What’s next for Kentucky?
CBS Sports’ college basketball staff recorded and played early Tuesday morning. how the rest of Kentucky’s season unfolds, And I was a bunch of high guys. They then turned and lost at home to perhaps the least talented team in the SEC. What’s next for Kentucky? There is no visible grace period. This British system could look even more broken on Saturday with a road trip against Tennessee and its elite defense.
While there is room for optimism that Kentucky can turn things around, there is no real basis for that belief. This is the top 3 roster by SEC talent. No fumbling game at home with South Carolina as her 19.5-point favorite. I’m sure things will turn around. They will almost certainly get better. Whether or not that’s a turnaround for tournament bids, however, is debatable, and Tuesday night’s situation looks much tougher than it did a few days ago.
