Evansville ‘deserved to win,’ Calipari says in aftermath of No. 1 UK’s defeat
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An out-of-the-blue defeat: Evansville 67, No. 1 Kentucky 64
Read all of the Herald-Leader’s coverage on Kentucky.com of the Wildcats’ unexpected defeat in Rupp Arena at the hands of former UK player Walter McCarty and his Evansville Purple Aces on Tuesday night.
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Evansville Coach Walter McCarty, the former Kentucky player who hit a key basket in the Mardi Gras Miracle, can say after Tuesday’s game that he has been part of two enduring basketball memories.
Evansville’s 67-64 victory over No. 1 Kentucky made this a November (upset) to remember.
It was no fluke. Unranked Evansville led for 29 minutes and 31 seconds.
“Their team deserved to win,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “If we would have somehow pulled it out, you know, it … kind of wouldn’t even have been fair.”
Calipari said Evansville was the tougher team. Of course, toughness had been a concern voiced by Calipari several times this preseason.
“It hurts to hear that,” freshman Tyrese Maxey said. “We pride ourselves on toughness. That’s the crazy part about it.”
None of the players made available to postgame interviews disputed Calipari’s characterization of Evansville as the tougher team, the team that took the initiative, the team that did not allow Kentucky to establish a post offense.
The Purple Aces outrebounded UK 38-35 and played UK evenly around the basket. The Cats only had a 30-28 advantage in points from the paint.
With UK and the Rupp Arena crowd trying to shake Evansville, Sam Cunliffe made two free throws with 6.8 seconds left to set the final score. He finished with 17 points.
Maxey’s rushed three-pointer in the final seconds was an air ball. Calipari said that UK did not execute at the end. Maxey was not the intended shooter.
Nate Sestina, who inbounded the ball, took the blame. He said he picked up the ball after Cunliffe’s second free throw rather than wait for the referee to hand him the ball. By picking up the ball, the five-seconds-to-inbounds-the-ball clock started ticking. The improvisation ended up with a Maxey heave that did not come close.
“I didn’t set it up the way we had it in practice,” Sestina said. “We had a play designed to get a three from somebody else.”
Evansville — picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference by Blue Ribbon yearbook — took the lead for good with 7:13 left. The Purple Aces did not wilt down the stretch in beating a No. 1 team for the first time in program history.
“We’re a tough team,” McCarty said late last week. “They won’t back down. That’s not to say whether it’ll be a close game or if we’ll get blown out. We’re just a really good team that enjoys the game (and) that competes.”
Immanuel Quickley acknowledged that Kentucky might have taken a victory over Evansville for granted.
“Individually, I didn’t overlook (the Purple Aces),” he said. “But as a team, we may have overlooked them. Whether it’s Michigan State, Evansville or Eastern Kentucky, you’ve got to come out and play. If you don’t come out and play, any team can beat you.”
Kentucky trailed 34-30 at halftime. In the first two games of the season, UK trailed for only 38 seconds, the last time being with about six minutes remained in the opener against then-No. 1 Michigan State.
Against Evansville, Kentucky trailed for the final 10:26 of the first half.
Adding to the surprise, Evansville led despite point guard and team leader K.J. Riley picking up two fouls before the first television timeout and being limited to 11 minutes in the first half.
“He makes things go, pushes our tempo, gets guys in the right spots,” McCarty said of Riley last week.
Kentucky had its own foul trouble to deal with. Nick Richards picked up his second foul with 15:55 left in the half. With EJ Montgomery not available, UK had its front-court depth tested. Sestina picking up a second foul with 6:48 put more urgency in that process.
Kentucky’s offense sputtered much of the first half. The Cats had more turnovers (11) than baskets (nine). UK made only nine of 26 shots.
Kentucky did not immediately take charge in the second half. The crowd’s cheers suggested it saw each basket as beginning a dramatic shift of momentum.
But UK made only two of its first eight shots and trailed 44-39 at the first TV timeout of the second half.
As he did against Michigan State, Maxey came up big. The freshman scored nine straight points, capped by a three-pointer that tied it at 46-46 with 12:23 left. That marked the first time Kentucky had not trailed since the 10:26 mark of the first half.
That set up the dramatic finish that resulted in Kentucky’s first home loss to a non-Power Five conference team in Calipari’s 11 seasons as coach.
When told of this, Calipari said, “Well, if we play like we did today, we’ll lose more than one.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 11:20 PM.
