"Can they win on the road?" National Reactions to Kentucky's loss at Georgia
After starting SEC play with a thrilling top-ten win over Florida, Kentucky turned in a clunker at Georgia. The No. 6 Cats’ 82-69 loss to the Bulldogs brought their record in true road games to 0-2 and served as a brutal reminder of this team’s weaknesses and the volatility of a historically strong SEC.
We’ve written a lot about this game (and will continue to do so), so let’s shake things up with a look at the national perspective. Thankfully, No. 8 Florida’s 30-point shellacking of No. 1 Tennessee stole the spotlight last night, but pundits still had plenty to say about the Cats’ humbling defeat in Athens. Here’s a sampling.
Jeff Goodman
Goodman was at the game and shared a lot of his thoughts on last night’s Field of 68 After Dark. His biggest concern about the Cats? He doesn’t think they have an alpha dog that can lead the way in a raucous road environment, especially with Kerr Kriisa still on the bench recovering from foot surgery.
“Can they win on the road?” Goodman asked. “I think at some point they don’t have a lot of alpha dogs. I think their alpha dog is actually Kerr Kriisa in terms of being vocal. And Kerr’s still got a boot on his foot. He’s coming back no time soon, guys. So they’re going to be without Kerr Kriisa and they need him on the road. At home, they’re fine; they’ve got Rupp, it’s friendly. You’ve got all of those Big Blue Nation lunatics. There were only about 5-10% of them in the building tonight in Athens.
“I think that’s the problem. That’s my biggest concern right now. You’ve got a lot of quiet dudes, including Lamont Butler, who played well. I just wonder whether they’re going to be able to turn it on the road and they’re going to need one here soon. Somebody’s got to step up and get out of their comfort zone and either be an MFer like Tyler [Hansbrough] was. Tyler was not vocal at all but he was an MFer so his actions dictated the toughness and that type of attitude. Kentucky has shown nothing in their attitude or their voice.”
You can hear more from the Field of 68 panel below:
Myron Medcalf
Medcalf, who included Kentucky in his midseason Final Four picks earlier this week, focused his criticisms on defensive consistency and shot creation.
For what it’s worth, Medcalf and his ESPN colleague Jeff Borzello kept Kentucky on their list of Final Four contenders this morning.
“Kentucky is a conundrum,” Medcalf wrote. “The Wildcats have defensive issues — see Tuesday’s loss at Georgia — that could cost them in the postseason, but an epic performance in Saturday’s 106-101 victory over Florida — Kentucky registered 147 points per 100 possessions — showcased an offensive firepower that could lead to a Final Four berth in Mark Pope’s first season.”
Kentucky is one of 12 teams in that tier, which ranks behind the three national championship favorites Auburn, Iowa State, and Duke.
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Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander
On the Eye on College Basketball Podcast, Matt Norlander also raised a red flag about Kentucky’s defense, noting this stat from Rush the Court: Kentucky has allowed 1+ points per possession in seven of the last eight games. The Cats can survive that when they’re firing on all cylinders on offense, like vs. Florida. When they’re struggling like last night, shooting just 6-25 from three and turning it over 14 times, not so much.
“If you were to just remove a lot of context, this Kentucky team is very, very good on offense, and a quality three-point shooting team and its defense is just okay,” Norlander said, comparing it to last year’s team.
Parrish said he’s been higher on Georgia than most and pointed out that Kentucky was only a 1.5-point favorite going into last night’s game, which he says just shows how brutal the SEC will be this season.
“Here’s Kentucky. You get a huge win over a top-ten team at home and then you’ve got to go on the road and it’s to an unranked team so it doesn’t feel like you’re at Auburn or at Alabama but Georgia’s still good. I’ve got Georgia in my Top 25-and-1 as of this morning. Had them in before the weekend loss (at Ole Miss) that they took. This has for weeks now been a borderline Top 25ish team.
“It’s not like Kentucky was massive favorites there anyway and so this is just going to be life in that league. If you don’t understand how to deal with losing and get over it quickly, it’s going to get tough because I don’t care how good you are, you’re going to deal with stuff like this.”
Dan Wolken
I’ll finish with Dan Wolken, who simply pointed out how frustrating last night’s officiating was. It was not the reason Kentucky lost but was infuriating nonetheless.
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