How did Kentucky reach a historic low with another loss in Rupp? John Calipari explains.

For the first time in history, Kentucky men’s basketball has lost three straight games inside Rupp Arena.

After a late-game debacle in a loss to Florida some 11 days ago, and a defensive shredding at the hands of Tennessee last weekend, the Wildcats again came up short Saturday afternoon in a home defeat to Gonzaga.

Kentucky found itself down 10 points at halftime to the Bulldogs. And despite a second-half UK surge, Gonzaga executed down the stretch to secure an 89-85 victory that throws this Kentucky basketball season into further disarray.

The Wildcats (16-7 overall and 6-4 in SEC games), are now 2-5 in Quad 1 games this season (per the NCAA NET rankings), a key metric used for NCAA Tournament seeding.

On Saturday, freshman guard Reed Sheppard again started in the place of D.J. Wagner, who played 13 minutes (mostly in the first half) in his return after missing the last three games with an ankle injury. Fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell was out with a back injury for Kentucky: The Wildcats are still yet to play a game this season with all scholarship players available.

Sheppard led UK in scoring with 21 points, all of which came in the second half. But the former North Laurel High School star also had four turnovers, including a critical failed lob pass with less than 10 seconds to go and Kentucky down just two points.

In addition to setting a Rupp Arena record for futility, Saturday marked the first time since December 1966 that UK has lost three straight home games.

Afterward, UK head coach John Calipari took questions from reporters about Saturday’s loss and what’s been an underachieving UK season so far.

Here’s everything Calipari said.

Question about why Rob Dillingham wasn’t on the court for a key offensive play with 14 seconds to go.

The team that was out there was playing so well together that I left it alone. And I told he and D.J., that’s the only reason I left it alone. And if we finish the game — you would have said, but — now you look at it and say why didn’t you have him in.

You’re right. We could have. But that group was playing so well that I didn’t go to the rotation.

Question about what the plan was for that key offensive play (referenced above).

The plan was Antonio (Reeves) if the lob wasn’t there, and it obviously wasn’t, was to go to the top of the key. But that didn’t lose us the game. Eighteen offensive rebounds. Fifty points in the paint. We thought we could guard them one-on-one. We probably needed to trap more. But then you are freeing up some other guys.

Question about UK’s center rotation, in light of several defensive shortcomings against Gonzaga.

Keep working on their defense. The other thing is, OK, someone is not able to guard. The play where we switched and 22 is under the basket, we stood behind them and it was a 3-point play. They scored eight times in a row and it was like lob’s which I was saying the same thing, just keep retreating. We don’t want to give that up. Let the little guy try to shoot it. We came up. We broke down some. We took a bad shot when we were up five and ready to go.

The kids kept fighting. They just kept fighting. They never stopped and — so, it’s just tough. We lost three games kind of like that where we have a chance. I told him after, we lost the game in the first half. That’s when we lost the game. And we came back and fought and made it close, but the first half is what cost us. Yes?

Question about repeated slow starts for Kentucky in recent games.

You keep on them about the intensity and start a game and the fight you have to have, especially at home. This is – it is just disappointing we got beat to so many balls. Just disappointing. I think we are better than that. And there are things we have to get our big guys to do. There are things — some execution stuff.

Even the last play, Antonio was supposed to throw it to the rim. Take one bounce and throw it to the rim. He said he grabbed me. I said I knew he was going to grab you, that’s why you throw it to the rim. Had some breakdowns offensively a little bit at the end. It’s all stuff we can clean up.

Question about why Kentucky is inconsistent across a 40-minute basketball game.

I don’t know, I wish I had the answer to it. We know we are capable. We are playing teams and we’ve got a chance to win at the end of the game even if we don’t play great. And we have our chances.

Most of our breakdowns come down on the defensive end. And I’m spending a lot of time on it and we are working on it. Thank goodness we have time. We’ve got a tough schedule. Our league is really good.

Question about losing three straight at Rupp Arena for the first time.

I want to tell our fans how much I appreciate what they are doing for this team, or what they are trying to do. They are here. They are loud. When we needed them they stood up. This team needs it and I would just say stick with them. I appreciate the fans and, you know, you walk into this building and it’s packed like it has been for three games.

We just normally come out like on fire and we just haven’t. But again, nothing has changed in my mind with this team. We have the ability to do what we want. We are just going to have to do it together.

Question about Kentucky’s youth.

Yeah. You know, you are going against a veteran team that really executes what they are trying to do at the four-minute mark. We weren’t able to withstand some of the stuff they were doing. Most of it were breakdowns. You can’t have them at that point in the game.

But, young teams, I’ve been here with young teams where we had to kick it in gear and go. As much as I’m feeling it hard, tough, I can’t stand losing. How do you think they are feeling? I have to make sure I’m focused on them and keeping them in the right frame of mind.

Question about pick-and-roll defense.

Trying anything. Believe me, we are working on it. You’re talking about young players and you’re talking about kind of going off script a little bit of times. But they’ll get it. We’ve got a good team. We didn’t play great, and we had our chances. Give Gonzaga credit. They came in here to that crowd and withstood our run and made some baskets and did some stuff and stopped us.

This story was originally published February 10, 2024 at 8:37 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription