John Calipari reaches out to students ahead of next Kentucky home game
Kentucky basketball is in a bad way right now. After dropping Saturday’s road game by a score of 78-52 to No. 7 Alabama, the Wildcats now sit at 10-5 on the season and feel as if they’re up a creek without a paddle at the moment. Still, as criticized as he may be, John Calipari is still doing what he can to rally support for his team.
With students returning to Lexington on Sunday for the start of the spring semester, Calipari welcomed them back and asked for their attendance come Tuesday night when Kentucky hosts South Carolina.
There’s plenty of season left to play but, at the moment, Kentucky doesn’t have much to hang their hat on. Their 10 wins didn’t come as surprises while their five losses have come in embarrassing fashion against the best teams they’ve faced this season.
That’s why, although the Gamecocks are just 7-8 on the season and most recently fell by 43 points to Tennessee, Calipari is trying to build some better momentum within the fanbase in order to get his players on a run down this next stretch of their year.
Oats ‘pulling for Kentucky’ in remaining games, shuts down NIT talk
Nate Oats and Alabama gave Kentucky a whooping they’ve seen only a handful of times since John Calipari has taken over as head coach. Defeating the Wildcats 78-52 in Tuscaloosa, the fans at Coleman Coliseum were rightfully rowdy in the final minutes.
The fans trolled the ‘Cats, chanting “NIT” and “Cal to Texas” about the recent job opening on the Forty Acres. Oats shut down the negative chants toward Kentucky, showing respect to their fellow SEC foe.
“Kentucky’s not gonna go to the NIT. They’re gonna be an NCAA Tournament team. It’s college students being college students. They’ve got plenty of talent over there,” Oats said postgame. “Cal’s done a good job assembling some talent. They’ve got really good players. They just didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. They shot 29 percent, and when you shoot 29 percent, it’s hard to win games.”