John Calipari shares locker room message to team following SEC Tournament loss to Texas A&M

Kentucky‘s stay in Nashville for the SEC Tournament was short-lived after losing in the quarterfinals to Texas A&M 97-87.

The Aggies led by as many as 16 points as the Wildcats never held a lead after being up 1-0 in the opening seconds. After the gut-punch loss, Wildcats head coach John Calipari explained the message he gave his team in the locker room postgame.

“Give A&M credit. They played a physical game. Did a great job. Defensively they made it hard. Just wasn’t one of our better games,” Calipari said postgame. “I told [the team] after, we didn’t pass the ball to each other like we’ve been doing. When the ball stops, we’re not the same team. Go one on five, you can’t make a play that way. We haven’t for weeks. Today we kind of did, whether they did things to make us play that way… but they deserved that game the way they played.”

“Again, I mean, we give up 97. How many games [are] you going to win giving up 97 points? Two guards got 72 points. You’re not going to win.”

Kentucky’s defensive woes have now carried into the postseason. The Aggies have only scored 90 or more points twice this season — both came during winning efforts against UK. During Calipari’s first 14 seasons in Lexington, his teams have allowed just three games in which the opposition scored 94 points or more. This season, Kentucky has let up that scoring total a whopping seven times.

The quarterfinal loss serves as a reminder that Kentucky has now lost seven of its last nine postseasons games, starting with the loss to Auburn during the Elite Eight in 2019. The only wins — against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament (2022) and against Providence in the NCAA Tournament (2023). Overall, they’ve won one game in the conference tournament in the last four years after going 23-4 between 2010 and 2019.

They’ve now lost three consecutive SEC Tournament games for the first time ever.

“We got some stuff to figure out,” Calipari continued. “But this is an unbelievable group that I’m coaching. All I told ’em is they got to stick together now. We’ve been on a run, it’s all been fun, you win. All of a sudden you get dinged and now the real stuff starts next week. We got to be in the right frame of mind.”

Whether the loss costs Kentucky a top 16 seed in the tournament remains up to the selection committee to reveal on Sunday. Still, wherever the Wildcats land, Big Blue Nation is desperate to start seeing their beloved Wildcats start winning in March once again. On Friday, fans were given a reminder that just like their star freshmen — Kentucky could be one and done next weekend if they’re unable to tighten things up defensively.