John Calipari: 'My teams win that game'

Kentucky coach John Calipari hasn’t had much to say to media after back-to-back losses. Following a 75-68 loss to Georgia on Saturday, Calipari stayed less than five minutes to take questions in his postgame presser.

But during his brief time speaking, the coach delivered a clear message. Calipari made his frustrations known, saying his Kentucky team should have won after battling back from a 10-point deficit in the second half to take the lead.

“Let me give Georgia credit,” he began. “Mike (White) had them ready. They physically — (Kario) Oquendo just went right right at people’s shoulder. Had 20 at half. We did what we do. We came back in the second half. We’re up four. All right. My teams win that game. What happened? Well, I have a couple guys out. So it made a difference maybe. But give Georgia all the credit. They deserve it.”

The Wildcats were shorthanded in the backcourt as guards Shavir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick sat out due to injury. That moved Antonio Reeves from the bench into the starting lineup, as he played all 20 minutes to tie for the team lead with 20 points. Kentucky played only seven players and scored just two bench points as depth proved an issue.

Kentucky opened the second half on a 20-6 run to take a 52-48 lead with 11:54 remaining. However, they failed to take advantage of that momentum as Georgia responded with an 11-2 run of its own to retake the lead. The Bulldogs never trailed again after that.

With the loss, Kentucky dropped to 16-9 (7-5 SEC) on the season. It’s been a rough year for the Wildcats, who began the season at No. 4 in the AP poll but have since fallen out of the rankings. UK is now even in danger of potentially missing out on the NCAA Tournament, as it was listed among the “last four in” according to ESPN expert Joe Lunardi’s latest projections.

John Calipari will hope Kentucky can turn things around quickly, beginning with a road test against Mississippi State on Wednesday.