A little late I know, I just had to really think about what I witnessed last night in Tuscaloosa. It couldn't have been more opposite from what we got against Auburn on Saturday. Everything everyone loved and enjoyed about that game was missing from this one. There was no effort, no heart, no hustle, no pride being shown and its hard to have the "chest bumping" without having any of the first four. The hard part to swallow is that all came up missing in the second half alone.
The game started about a like a typical road game does, senseless turnovers, over aggression and a lot of nerves on display. But once things settled down, Kentucky looked to be on its way to repeating the type of performance they displayed this past Saturday night when they "whomped" Auburn by 20. Then came the second half, or lack there of is more like it. After heading to the locker room with a 33-24 lead and clearly having 'Bama on their heels, the Cats reverted back to old habits that fans had hoped they had broken.
A scoring drought of eight minutes, including the last three minutes of the first half allowed The Tide to begin the second half with a 13-2 run. Once they took the lead, Kentucky's body language and overall play became nonexistent. Driving the ball just to have it swiped away from behind, missing layups worse than I thought possible and giving up cheap offensive rebounds pretty much describes the woes Kentucky had in the second half.
Coming into this game, ESPN's Joe Lunardi had Kentucky as a 10 seed in his latest Bracketology predictions. With this loss, Kentucky very well could have played their way right out of the tournament unless they can get their problems fixed, win all remaining home games and pick up road wins at Ole Miss, Florida and Missouri. I know I'm repeating myself here, but with ZERO quality wins, Kentucky has to win those three on the road and may still have to go deep in the SEC Tournament.
Last night was hard to watch no question, but you can't help but think that things are gonna click at any moment. Is that thought just because we have been spoiled by the success of Calipari's first three teams that we think Kentucky can't have a down year? Or is this team actually as good as everyone had hoped, but just haven't shown it yet? Lets hope it's the latter.
Up next, Kentucky looks to get back on track against the Tigers of LSU in Rupp on Saturday at 4 p.m.....
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