A heart breaking loss by one point on a buzzer-beater score didn't hurt as much as I think that it should. Of course I punched the air for a few seconds in anger, but losing now seems to feel almost normal after a little over a dozen games into the season of it. Kentucky has now lost nine of their 13 games so far, and all hopes of making the NCAA Tournament seems to be completely out the door.
Kentucky was riding a 14 game winning streak against the Georgia Bulldogs coming into this years matchup, despite currently being on a two game losing streak since that trip of success down in Gainesville a week and a half ago.
After backlash for weeks on social media, then consistently great performances by Allen, and consistently bad performances by BJ Boston, John Calipari finally gave in and changed around the starting lineup. Dontaie Allen and Lance Ware both got the start (along with Askew, Mintz and Sarr), while BJ Boston came off the bench. Kentucky started off 0/5 from the field for the first five minutes, before Boston came off the bench at the 14:47 mark.
BJ Boston didn't seem to be fazed by being this sixth man of the evening, and he came in and hit 5 of his first 8 shots, finishing the game with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Without a doubt the best performance we've seen from him in his time here, so this loss is in no way on him.
There really isn't much debating on why Kentucky lost tonight, as its blatantly obvious as to why they did. No excuse could come in the way of the stat sheet tonight, as Kentucky finished with 17 turnovers (compared to their 11 assists), which resulted in 25 points for Georgia. They also gave up 44 points in the paint, 20 fast-break points, and 16 offensive rebounds. The same exact things we've been seeing ALL. SEASON. LONG. Kentucky beating themselves, night in and night out.
One thing else that cost Kentucky the game, which happened to literally be the last play of the game, were wide open layups. Kentucky handed the Bulldogs the win on a silver platter, and even said thank you for doing so. Inexcusable to say the least, and you could've only hoped they would have put up more of an effort than what we got on that final possession.
Here is the final play, let me know what you think of it and if I'm being too hard on the players for it.
If you think I'm being too hard on the players, I'm sorry, you're wrong. This is Kentucky, and these plays (and seasons) should not be happening here. We're the gold standard of college basketball, and we do expect a whole lot out of their time here, but some of the things we're witnessing are what happen in high school basketball. Costly mistakes, very preventable mistakes, and consistent mistakes- all on our side of the ball.
Kentucky is now 4-9, on another (two game) losing streak and over their next seven games on the schedule, will face four ranked teams, including two teams that we've already lost to once this season. The Wildcats are approaching a potential nine game losing streak... Let that sink in.
We're at the lowest point we've been under Cal, and the flames keep getting bigger and bigger, but no matter what, you can always count me in to be at the next game rooting on this struggling team as they face off against the LSU Tigers this Saturday.
Let's hope we can reach win number five.