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Kentucky’s John Calipari rips ‘will to win’ after loss to Georgia
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Kentucky has only missed the NCAA Tournament twice under head coach John Calipari. A third time could be on the way. The Wildcats are flirting with danger this season — a campaign that currently features 9 losses with 6 regular-season games to play and 5 SEC losses.
The Wildcats dropped a second consecutive game on Saturday to Georgia, a 75-68 contest in Athens that was a 1-point game with 4:30 to play. The Bulldogs used an 11-2 run to go up 10 with 57 seconds to go and that was that.
After the game, Coach Cal was less than pleased with crucial mistakes late.
“We had 2 breakdowns defensively that led to 6 points. And they were critical,” Calipari said. “We get up 4 — and I’ve got to go back because I thought we got great looks. We miss, they make. I call it ‘a will to win.’ You can’t lose a ball in a 3-point game. I am not losing it when we lose it.
Kentucky went into the locker room at halftime trailing by 10. It came out of the gates with a fury to open the second half, taking the lead after a little more than 5 minutes, but couldn’t keep it up.
“Let me give Georgia credit,” Calipari said. “Mike (White) had them ready. (Kario) Oquendo just went right at people’s shoulder. Had 20 at half. We did what we do. We came back in the second half. We’re up 4. Alright. My teams win that game. What happened? Well, I have a couple guys out. So it made a difference maybe. But give Georgia all the credit. They deserve it.”
UK faced the Bulldogs without CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler.
It needs to get both back and healthy. Finding a footing on defense would certainly help. The Wildcats have dropped out of the projected NCAA Tournament field. Getting back into the picture will take some work.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
