KSR Today: John Calipari gets the Last Laugh over Kentucky

by:Nick Roush•about 9 hours•

RoushKSR

ARK-324342 — Kentucky G Otega Oweh goes up for a shot against Arkansas, Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

The night Big Blue Nation had been waiting for lived up to the hype. The Commonwealth of Kentucky was buzzing for John Calipari’s return. Rupp Arena was as juiced up as it’s ever been for a game. The stage was set for an all-time night. Then the Cats let the air out of the balloon.

Arkansas dominated the second half, outscoring Kentucky 21-11 over the first seven minutes to take control of the game for good. The Cats never got within six points as John Calipari left his Rupp Arena reunion with a 89-79 win.

“I looked up a couple times and I thought we were losing because I kept looking at Kentucky instead of Arkansas,” Calipari admitted after his victory.

Big Blue Nation invested a significant amount of emotional equity in that game, creating one of the most raucous environments in Rupp Arena history. Instead of enjoying a satisfying win, Kentucky fans watched the worst shooting team in the SEC go 55% from the field (52% 3FG) and score 15 more points than they had all year in conference play. The double-digit favorites lost by double digits.

Kentucky has now lost three of its last four games and just picked up its first Quad 2 loss of the year. This funk may not end anytime soon. Kentucky travels to Ole Miss on Tuesday, and KenPom currently gives the Rebels a 4-point edge, and that might be generous considering the point guard’s status.

Not an Ideal Injury Update

Andrew Carr logged 15 minutes off the bench as Kentucky played another game without its starting point guard. It sounds like something we need to get used to seeing.

“I just don’t know. I’m not sure… We’ll figure out more in the next couple of weeks,” Pope said after the loss. “I would assume at some point we are going to take another shot at this and see how it goes and we will kind of play it by ear.”

Lamont Butler has not played since Kentucky lost at Vanderbilt. In his absence, Collin Chandler logged a season-high 17 minutes and tallied two points and one turnover. Travis Perry had three points and two turnovers in eight minutes. Trent Noah did not play. When asked about the latter, it’s clear that Pope isn’t sure exactly how to handle the rotation with these injured players.

“With (Andrew Carr) coming back and (Ansley Almonor) playing so well. I wonder if there is some space for Trent, actually at the three and I think that is something to explore. As we kind of reconfigure everything we are doing right now on the fly, he’s played well and there’s definitely space for him and it’s my job to find the right space.”

The Former Kentucky Guys were En Fuego

Very few believed Arkansas had a chance on Saturday night. If you were like me, you envisioned a scenario where the three former Cats played the best games of their lives in their old arena. That’s pretty much what happened.

Big Z made four threes. He’s only made more once in his career and that was against Troy. DJ Wagner scored a season-high 17 points, all in the second half. Adou Thiero hit his second three in SEC play, en route to 21 points, his best game against a conference foe.

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“It definitely meant more to them. You could tell on the court,” said Ansley Almonor.

This was supposed to be a cathartic experience for BBN, a chance to definitively win the breakup. Instead, John Calipari did what he did so many times at Kentucky. He came to our town and he beat our team.

Another Top 25 Kentucky WBB Game

The Kentucky women’s basketball team is 18-2 with only one loss in SEC play. We thought they would receive their first difficult test in quite a while earlier this week when a Top 25 Alabama team came to Historic Memorial Coliseum. The game was never in doubt. Can the Cats follow up that nine-point win with another Top 25 victory?

Things might be a bit trickier this afternoon. Kentucky is hitting the road to take on No. 13 Oklahoma. The Sooners are the third-highest-scoring team in the SEC, averaging 86.4 points per game on 47.7% shooting from the floor. We’ll see if the Cats can stay hot and win a high-flying affair in Norman when the ball is tipped off at 4 pm EST on SEC Network.

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Anthony Davis Traded for Luka

At least one former Wildcat made sure that this Kentucky loss isn’t the biggest news in the sports world. Many people believe Luka Doncic is one of the best three players in the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks decided to trade him away. Remarkable. Most people woke up to the news that Doncic will be a Laker alongside LeBron James. All L.A. had to do was unload Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick.

As shocking as that trade was, it’s probably not as shocking as Reed Sheppard’s pregame attire. I don’t think he’s fully aware of the consequences of his actions. It really doesn’t matter his intent — which seems to be that he’s torn between his school and his coach — some of his biggest fans are PISSED. The image was a layup for the Arkansas social media team to take a victory lap over BBN.