UK basketball notes: Like it or not, Cal, Cats feeling heat from streak

Kentucky Coach John Calipari recoiled from a reference Friday to an undefeated season.

"I'm trying to get the narrative away from all that," he said.

But the narrative won't cooperate. The Cats apparently feel the attention created by being the last unbeaten team in Division I (26-0 going into Saturday night's game against Auburn).

Echoing something Calipari said after Tuesday's victory at Tennessee, Karl-Anthony Towns said, "We're those big boys everybody in the park wants to beat up. ... We've been playing great basketball this year, and everybody's trying to make sure they stop that run. I guess you could say we're the villains."

The role of unpopular villain is not a perfect fit for Kentucky. The Cats have been ranked No. 1 in every poll, and by unanimous vote the last several weeks. Various ESPN analysts have presumed an 18-0 regular-season record in Southeastern Conference play.

So who's saying they want Kentucky to lose?

"No one has to say it," Towns said. "We feel it. You can just feel the eyes on us, just hoping we stumble, that we fall."

When asked if this perception serves as motivation, Towns smiled and said, "Of course."

Can't beat UK?

Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl had earlier said the Tigers could not beat Kentucky. He wasn't backing off that comment on Friday, sounding like Larry Wilmore of The Nightly Show , who might call it "keeping it a hundred" (being 100-percent honest).

"Even though I am that guy that provided false and misleading information to the NCAA, I try to keep it 100-percent real," Pearl said in reference to how he tried to mislead NCAA investigators while Tennessee coach. "For better or worse I try to tell you what I think. To be honest with my team, I said I think we can game-plan in such a way that in 40 minutes there isn't anybody in the league that we can't beat short of Kentucky. I don't want any of my players to feel like I won't tell them what I really think.

"To beat Kentucky would take an extraordinarily superhuman effort from a standpoint of making shots, controlling tempo, not turning the ball over and no margin for error at the foul line. They (Kentucky) are going to have to be off."

Calipari suggested Auburn has a chance to win. "They haven't gotten buried by anybody," he said.

Auburn lost 90-59 at Colorado in November. The Tigers have lost five SEC games by 10 or more points, the most lopsided a 75-55 defeat at Florida. But Auburn has won its last two road games: at LSU and at Georgia.

Delk remembered

At halftime, UK will retire the jersey of former All-American Tony Delk.

After lamenting that he did not coach Delk, Calipari noted that he coached against Delk. "Did a pretty good job against him, to be honest with you," Calipari said. "Did a pretty good job against him in two games."

In two epic UK-UMass games in 1995-96, Delk made 14 of 32 shots (four of 10 from three-point range) and averaged 20.5. He was UK's leading scorer in both games.

In three games against Calipari-coached UMass teams in his career, Delk made 21 of 42 shots (six of 12 from three-point range) and averaged 19.0 points.

Calipari fondly recalled Delk as a UK staffer in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

"Every day he had a smile on his face," Calipari said. "Every day I asked him what he thought. He had honest answers, and he was on top of stuff."

Barbee and Auburn

When asked about "Tony" earlier in the news conference, Calipari took that to mean Tony Barbee, the former Auburn coach (and Calipari player at UMass) whose title now is "Special Assistant to the Head Coach" at UK.

In four seasons as Auburn coach, Barbee had a record of 49-75 (18-50 in the SEC).

Calipari said he asked Barbee how he felt about UK playing Auburn, and Barbee replied, "Just go play the game. Don't worry about me. I'm good."

Pearl, who replaced Barbee this season, said he wanted the five holdover Auburn players from last season to have high regard for Barbee.

"I want them to be grateful that Coach Barbee brought them to Auburn," he said. "Without Coach Barbee seeing something in them, they wouldn't have an opportunity to be a part of this Auburn family. ... I hope that that will be their first thought about Coach Barbee."

Prior to going to Auburn, Barbee posted an 82-52 record in four seasons at UTEP. That included a 26-7 record in 2009-10.

"I still think he will get another job, and he'll be great," Calipari said, "and, hopefully, I don't have to coach against him because every time we played it was a war."

Etc.

The last time Calipari had a team begin a season with 26 straight victories, Pearl snapped the streak. Memphis lost to Tennessee 66-62 in its 27th game of the 2007-08 season. ... Mark Jones, Sean Farnham and sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung will call the game for ESPN.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "UK basketball notes: Like it or not, Cal, Cats feeling heat from streak."