John Calipari’s Young Kentucky Wildcats Lose to UCLA at CBS Sports Classic this Weekend

The Kentucky Wildcats got an unexpected reality check last weekend when they lost to unranked UCLA, 83-75, in the CBS Sports Classic in a half empty arena at New Orleans.

The Cats are 9-2, but their record is deceiving and the upcoming schedule could be a serious problem for a young team that has five freshman starters and no juniors or seniors on its roster. Kentucky has a narrow 93-86 win over up tempo ACC opponent Virginia Tech at Rupp Arena, but has yet to beat a Top 25 team and only has one road win, over Monmouth in the Garden.

‘We’re better than this,” Kentucky Hall of Fame coach John Calipari said. “Maybe it was Christmas, but UCLA didn’t have an issue and they flew across the country.”

The young Cats’ flaws were on display against UCLA when they struggled with their shooting, making just 42 percent of their field goal attempts and 6-for-21 from three point range. Kentucky’s defense gave up 10 plus threes for the sixth time in 11 games. UCLA made a dozen, forcing Calipari to constantly switch defenses from man to man to force with a dose of pressure thrown in to keep the Cats in the game. “I don’t like coaching that way,” he admitted.

This particular team also has a propensity to give up big leads, allowing the Bruins to go on a 21-2 run at one point to take an 11 point lead before they clawed back in the game against a team that should be exhausted from early season international travel. The Cats are stocked with McDonald’s All Americans but Calipari’s better teams has always excelled at the point with John Wall, Brandin Knight, Marquis Teague, Andrew Harrison, Tyler Ulis and De’Aaron Fox, who ripped UCLA for 39 points last year in a Sweet 16 game. This year, freshmen Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous- Alexander have shared the spot. Both are talented but neither has shown they can run Calipari’s offense to his expectations. Green was a total no show against the Bruins, shooting just 1-for-7 and scoring two points with two assists and three turnovers in 20 minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander was better, with six points in 31 minutes.

There is also a question about whether 6-9 freshman Kevin Knox is more than just a shooter. Knox is Kentucky’s best NBA prospect. He leads the team in scoring, but settles for jumpers and has just 10 offensive rebounds in 11 games. He also leads the team in turnovers.

This is a team in search of stability. Forward P.J. Washington continued to disappear at times and, after making a break out four triples last week against Virginia Tech, 6-5 red shirt freshman wing Hamidou Diallo scored 18 points, against the Bruins but missed four of five three point attempts.

“Sometimes, as much as you hate to say it, you gotta get knocked in the mouth and lose and it’s got to hurt every player and then they start figuring out, ‘OK, not going to be able to play the way I want to play,’” Calipari said. “We had a great shoot around, but it shows you: You just don’t know. They’re young. Who knows what they’re thinking? ‘Oh, we made it. We’re a top-10 team.’ What? ‘We’re good, I’m going to get mine. Watch me today on CBS.’

“You don’t know what a 17- or 18-year-old is thinking. I have no idea. Obviously, we need guys with more of a mentality of a will to win and blocking out everything else.”

Calipari’s teams traditionally get better as the season progresses and should be an NCAA team. But change has to come quickly.

The Cats, who dropped from seventh to 16th in the AP poll, have an unforgiving stretch of games coming up. They host rival Louisville on Friday, open SEC play against a good Georgia team on Sunday, then get back-to-back league road games at LSU and 19th-ranked Tennessee before returning to Rupp to face eighth-ranked Texas A&M.

“They’re getting better. They’re so much better than they were a month ago. We played a team that wanted the game worse than we wanted it,” Calipari said. “Hopefully we bounce back from this, but I told them the next five games we play, we can lose every one. You don’t play with the will to win, you don’t come up with balls — and even if you do, you could still get beat by the teams we gotta play coming up.”