Kentucky Fans Could Use a Win for Christmas

“All I want for Christmas is a Kentucky win.” You’ve seen a small child holding that sign in the stands of a UK basketball game right before the Christmas break. More times than not, that child’s wish is not coming true.

It’s been a real Grinchmas for Cats’ fans over the last decade. That’s right around the time my sister married a Duke fan. We were having our family gift exchange in the middle of Saturday’s 20-point loss to Ohio State. He gave my kids Oakland Grizzlies t-shirts, then remarked, “You know, Kentucky always loses when I watch games with you all before Christmas.”

First off, joke’s on you, buddy. Oakland gave us the gift of Mark Pope and despite Saturday’s result, we will happily accept it. Secondly, he’s right. Even though a jarring loss didn’t immediately come to mind, there was a Corey Price stat for my brother-in-law’s anecdotal evidence.

Over the last ten years Kentucky is 4-6 in games played before the Christmas break. Considering the Cats’ losing record in the CBS Sports Classic, this shouldn’t be too surprising. What’s even sadder? Only one of the wins is over a formidable foe.

Kentucky Basketball in the Last Game Before Christmas

2024: Ohio State 85, No. 4 Kentucky 65
2023: No. 9 Kentucky 95, Louisville 76
2022: No. 19 Kentucky 88, Florida A&M 68
2021: No. 20 Kentucky 95, WKU 60
2020: No. 22 North Carolina 75, Kentucky 63
2019: No. 5 Ohio State 71, No. 6 Kentucky 65
2018: No. 19 Kentucky 80, No. 9 North Carolina 72
2017: UCLA 83, No. 7 Kentucky 75
2016: No. 10 Louisville 73, No. 7 Kentucky 70
2015: Ohio State 73, No. 4 Kentucky 67

For those doing the math at home, a top-10 Kentucky team has lost three times to Ohio State just days before Christmas and in two of those occasions the Buckeyes were unranked. None of those losses compare to the Covid-season CBS Sports Classic.

The Cats got blown out by North Carolina for its fifth-straight loss, then sent an injured Keion Brooks out to speak to the media. He didn’t even play, yet was supposed to talk to reporters about another awful performance. If you didn’t know that year was going to be bad, that game told you everything you needed to know.

Most of the wins prior to the Christmas break are against teams Kentucky should have easily handled, but we got a couple good memories out of them. Rob Dillingham windmilled through the Cards’ hearts and Oscar Tshiebwe set the Rupp Arena rebounding record against the Tops.

A Blue Christmas should actually be a delightful description for Wildcat fans, but Big Blue Nation has not been treated so well during the holiday season. Fortunately, that’s not when games matter the most. I think we’d all trade a loss in December for a few more in March.