After third straight loss, Mintz asks UK fans not to stop believing
After Kentucky suffered a third straight loss — and by the largest margin of the three — Davion Mintz did not mince words.
“We’re not really good right now,” the transfer guard said after Georgia Tech beat UK 79-62 Sunday night. “Right now, we’re not a team.”
Twenty-one turnovers doomed Kentucky to only its fifth double-digit defeat in the off-and-on series with Georgia Tech that spans 72 games.
Georgia Tech, which had lost its first two games of the season, converted those turnovers into 33 points. Ball game, said UK Coach John Calipari, who added. “Probably don’t need to speak on anything else.”
What’s done can’t be undone. Kentucky’s record fell to 1-3, which marked only the fifth time since 1925-26 that a UK team began a season with losses in at least three of the first four games. UK will try to avoid its first four-game losing streak since 2017-18 in a home game against Notre Dame on Saturday.
Mintz spoke hopefully of the Big Blue Nation looking into the future rather than dwelling on the past.
“I just don’t want people to stop believing in this team,” Mintz said. “We’re going to figure this out. And, honestly, it’s just a real bump in the road right now. It’s a big hole, and we’ve just got to find a way to get out of it.”
Calipari spoke of linking turnovers to playing time: the more of the former, the less of the latter.
“Now, we’ve just got to look at guys,” the UK coach said. “If you’re a turnover guy, I can’t play you.”
As he has done previously, Calipari lamented players trying to make an eye-catching play rather than a high-percentage play. He spoke of a sequence when Kentucky reduced its nearly game-long deficit — UK trailed for more than 31 minutes — to 45-42 with 12:36 remaining. Then the Cats were scoreless over the next three and one-half minutes during which they missed four shots and committed two turnovers.
In that span, Georgia Tech scored seven straight points. Kentucky did not reduce the deficit to single digits the rest of the way.
“My job is to make sure we’re getting better to put us in that position and help them at the end to win games,” Calipari said. “But we haven’t been in the game where I can help them.”
Defense let UK down against Georgia Tech, which made 18 of 29 shots (62.1 percent) in pulling away from the Cats in the second half.
Calipari cited fatigue. “They tired us out when they went to a smaller lineup,” he said.
On the plus side, Kentucky shot a season-high 44.9 percent and nearly matched the nine three-point baskets it made in the first three games by making eight of 19 shots (42.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
As in the loss to Richmond a week earlier, Kentucky faced a huge deficit in experience. Stats savant Ken Pomeroy ranked Kentucky as the least experienced team in the nation and Tech as the sixth-most experienced. Tech had only six turnovers.
“I feel like we panicked during the game,” Mintz said. “And it’s just because guys have never been in a situation like we just gave it up and gave it to the other team.”
Mintz all but promised that the Cats would not give up.
“We’re going to keep battling through this,” he said. After acknowledging three straight losses, Mintz added, “It’s nothing to come back and win three in a row. When we put this together and figure this out, I think we’ll be just fine.”
Twelve first-half turnovers contributed to Kentucky’s first halftime deficit of the season. The Cats trailed 34-27 at the break.
Nothing changed as the second half began. Kentucky turned the ball over on its first possession and three of the first four.
“It’s just been a huge smack in the face for us,” Mintz said of the 1-3 start. “I think it’s a huge eye-opener for everyone, including myself. That, like, we have no other option (but) to figure this out.”
In seeking a brighter future, Mintz spoke of Calipari as “one of the best coaches.”
Support from staff and fans can “help us figure this out,” he added. “It’s not like we’re led astray.”
But the UK coach acknowledged that the combination of losing and an inexperienced team doesn’t help.
“Losing games makes it harder,” he said. “If we play bad and do stuff and win games, (the thought is) OK, we can do this.
“But we don’t have any wins.”
Next game
Notre Dame at Kentucky
When: Noon Saturday
Records: Notre Dame 1-1; UK 1-3
TV: CBS-27
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 9:37 PM.
