Well, that was hard to watch. I know it's a little late for a post game entry, but I'm not one to write a post on the same day as a loss. I find that if you write the same day as a loss, you say things that don't need to be put in print, and you just end up embarrassing yourself.
But after a night filled with slinging various obscenities around, and drinking a few adult beverages, you have time to reflect on the game with a more sound mind. Then you can talk about the game without bringing shame to your family.
Kentucky went into this game, not fully understanding the type of atmosphere or opponent that awaited them. Once the game started, you could tell that most on the team looked a bit intimidated. After this first timeout, Kentucky looked more like themselves, but by then it was too late, as foul trouble had started. With key players, Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb on the bench with foul trouble, all Kentucky could do was survive the first half. Seeing his team fall behind by 9 with 2 minutes until halftime, Calipari took a risk, and inserted Lamb back into the game 2 fouls and all. To his credit, it paid off as Kentucky cut the 9 point lead to one at the break.
But the second half started just like the first. Kentucky falls behind quickly, Indiana hit every shot it put up (7 threes in a row) and quickly took any momentum Kentucky had coming out of the locker room. Long story short, Kentucky missed crucial freethrows down the stretch, and Indiana hit big shot, after big shot to pull off the UPSET. Notice UPSET is in bold. That is for the numerous sports writers who said an Indiana victory wouldn't be an upset. Well, let me explain something to those who are supposed to be PROFESSIONAL sports writers. When an UNRANKED team beats the #1 team in the country, it IS an UPSET.
Now I'm sure that they were just blinded by their severe hatred of everything Kentucky and Calipari to notice the mass storming of the court that took place following the game. You don't storm the court for a game that isn't an upset. Im just saying.
The things that I said kentucky had to do in my Indiana preview post didn't happen. I said they had to guard the three, didn't happen as IU shot a blistering 60% on 9-15 shooting from deep.
I said they had to take care of the ball, they didn't coughing it up 17 times. You can't do that in any game, certainly not on the road.
I mentioned the fact, that for Kentucky to win this game, they would have to knock down some outside shots. Shooting 28% on 2-7 from deep is not going to get it done.
Last, but not least was, they must maintain composure. If you watched the game, you could tell only Lamb, Gilchirst, and Teague (second half) accomplished this. To be honest, Gilchrist was the ONLY reason kentucky stayed in the game. He played like a complete beast. The others, looked like a deer in headlights. Everything that could have went wrong for Kentucky did. And everything that could have went right for IU did.
It was a great win, for a team trying to get back to being relevant. But, for people to say that "Indiana finally has the horses to beat Kentucky" is just being silly. If these two teams played 10 times, Indiana wins once maybe twice. But, on this night, Indiana was the better team and deserved the win. They just wanted it more.
I'm not going to break down the individual performances of Kentucky, because there isn't much to break down, outisde of Gilchrist, Teague, and Lamb. The one, and only player that had a game worth talking about was Terrence Jones. But, I was taught at an early age, if you don't have anything nice to say, you don't say anything at all. That's exactly what I'm doing here, saying nothing at all.
In closing, Kentucky doesn't play again until next Saturday. With a whole week off, I'd imagine Calipari will have some spirited practices.
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