When’s the last time Kentucky basketball started the season 1-3? It’s been a while.
Kentucky suffered another ugly loss on the basketball court Sunday night.
John Calipari’s Wildcats dropped to 1-3 on the season with a 79-62 defeat to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. UK committed 21 turnovers, and the Yellow Jackets scored 31 points off turnovers (to just four for Kentucky). The Cats have now committed 77 turnovers on the season with at least 15 in every game.
It was UK’s third consecutive loss since a season-opening victory over Morehead State, and things won’t get much easier with only power-five opponents remaining on the 2020-21 schedule.
When’s the last time UK got off to a start this bad?
Twenty years ago, Tubby Smith’s Wildcats started the season 1-3 following a disastrous trip to the preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden and a shocking loss at Rupp Arena.
That UK team — ranked No. 12 to begin the 2000-01 campaign — suffered losses on back-to-back nights to start the season. First, No. 24 St. John’s knocked off the Cats, 62-61, thanks in part to 18 points (and five threes) from point guard Omar Cook. The next night, No. 17 UCLA defeated the Cats, 97-92, in overtime.
After a blowout victory over Jacksonville State in Cincinnati a couple weeks later, UK opened its home slate with a stunning 73-68 loss to unranked Penn State. On that night, Joe and Jon Crispin combined to score 57 points and made 13 three-pointers between them, shocking the Rupp crowd and leaving the Cats with a 1-3 record.
How did those Cats respond?
UK beat No. 6 North Carolina, 93-76, in Chapel Hill a week later and went on to win the SEC Tournament following a 12-4 league record. That Kentucky team entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 9 nationally but was upset in the Sweet 16 by Southern Cal.
Up next for this season’s Wildcats will be Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena.
In 11 previous seasons as UK’s head coach, Calipari has never had a team go worse than 3-1 over its first four games, an early schedule that, in most years, has featured a Champions Classic opponent. Six of Calipari’s previous UK teams have started the season 4-0, though this is the fourth straight season where that hasn’t happened.
Evansville beat the Cats in Game 3 last season.
This is also only the second time in the Calipari era that Kentucky has lost three consecutive games. The only other instance was when the Cats dropped four in a row during SEC play in the 2017-18 season. That team lost to Kansas State in the Sweet 16.
Other than this team and the 2000-01 Wildcats, there have been only three other UK teams since 1925 that have started the season 1-3. Coach Joe B. Hall’s final Kentucky team started 1-4 in 1984-85 and went on to advance to the Sweet 16 of that season’s NCAA Tournament. Each of Hall’s first two Kentucky teams — 1972-73 and 1973-74 — also started 1-3.
