Declawed ’Cats
Historically bad UK scares Musselman
ARKANSAS (14-5, 6-4) AT KENTUCKY (5-12, 4-6) 6 p.m. Central today, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. (ESPN)
FAYETTEVILLE — With Kentucky continuing to spiral downward toward its third losing basketball season since 1926-27, Wildcats Coach John Calipari was asked after Saturday night’s 82-71 loss to Tennessee if was time to turn his attention to next season.
“I’m worried about the next game,” Calipari said.
Kentucky’s next game is at 6 tonight against the University of Arkansas in Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats (5-12, 4-6 SEC) have beaten the Razorbacks (14-5, 6-4) eight consecutive times since Arkansas swept Kentucky with a pair of overtime victories during the 2013-14 season.
It’s the longest current winning streak by an SEC opponent against Arkansas.
“I have great respect for Kentucky,” Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said.
“They’ve had a lot of close games that could have gone either way, and with young teams sometimes that happens.”
The Wildcats are 2-5 in games decided by five or fewer points.
“They are overly, overly talented,” Musselman said. “They are very well coached.
“Defensively, how do you score against them is something you’ve got to talk about. They have some really gifted individual offensive players. When you watch them every night, they are in every game.”
Kentucky looked like it might be ready to go on a run when it started 3-0 in SEC play by winning in double overtime at Mississippi State, beating Vanderbilt at home and winning at Florida by 18 points.
But the Wildcats are 1-6 since then, with the lone victory at home over LSU.
In Kentucky’s current three-game losing streak, the Wildcats led at No. 11 Alabama 54-52 with 4:27 left and lost 70-59; trailed at No. 10 Missouri 68-65 with 4:53 left and lost 75-70; and led No. 16 Tennessee 64-62 with 7:25 left and lost 82-71 in Rupp Arena.
“We’re playing good enough to win,” Calipari said. “Then we hit a stretch where we don’t score a basket.”
Calipari has had just one losing season previously in 29 seasons as a college coach, his first season in 1988-89 when Massachusetts was 13-19. That also is the last time Kentucky had a losing season, going 11-18 in Eddie Sutton’s last season as the Wildcats’ coach.
“I’m trying to stay positive,” Calipari said. “I’m trying to hold them accountable. I’m trying to continue to teach. I’m never going to stop, quit on this team. I’ll give them everything I have.
“But at the end of the day, they have to get on the court and perform. And they have to be strong with the ball. You cannot turn it over in critical times.”
Kentucky has more turnovers (255) than assists (193) this season and is shooting 41.5% from the field. The Wildcats shot 38.5% against Tennessee and hit 4 of 17 three-pointers.
“You have to understand, every practice we’re working on this stuff,” Calipari said. “The issue becomes where you get baskets from if guys don’t want to shoot open shots? How do you create some opportunities for baskets?”
Kentucky led Tennessee 58-48 with 12 minutes to play, but fell to 3-3 this season when leading by at least 10 points. In the previous 11 seasons under Calipari, Kentucky was 281-8 when leading by 10 or more points.
“Look, we’re not that far off,” Calipari said. “We just played three ranked teams and we had a chance to beat them all. And we break down at critical times.
“Do I have the wrong guys in? I made some changes, and the guys that went in didn’t make any shots, turned it over. I mean, we’re trying everything we can, but I’m not thinking about next year.
“I owe it to these kids and this program to do whatever I can to get this thing flipped around, and that’s all I’m doing.”
Keion Brooks — a 6-7 sophomore forward who missed the first nine games this season because of a calf injury — was a bright spot for Kentucky against Tennessee with 23 points and 11 rebounds in 35 minutes off the bench.
“We’ve lost so much, how much can we keep on learning from doing all this losing?” Brooks said in a answer to a reporter’s question. “We have the same conversations over and over again. We still end up not winning games when we should.
“There is some type of value in it going forward. To have that experience. To not want to feel this way again. But for the most part, you know, losing sucks.”
Two Kentucky freshmen were McDonald’s All-Americans in 6-7 guards Terrence Clarke and Brandon Boston, but Clarke (averaging 10.7 points) has missed the last 10 games because of an ankle injury and isn’t expected back for Arkansas.
Brooks is averaging 11.8 points and Boston 11.6 to lead the Wildcats. Olivier Sarr, a 7-0 senior graduate transfer from Wake Forest, is averaging 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Davion Mintz, a 6-5 senior graduate transfer from Creighton, is averaging 10.5 points, and 6-10 freshman Isaiah Jackson is averaging 6.4 points. Donate Allen, a 6-5 redshirt freshman, has hit 24 of 57 three-pointers (42.1%), but he scored a combined three points the past two games.
“I think Kentucky’s capable of beating any team in the country,” Musselman said. “They’re long. They’re athletic. They have excellent shot-blockers. They play hard.”
The Razorbacks are playing for the first time in a week — since they beat Mississippi State 61-45 last Tuesday night — because their scheduled game last Saturday against Texas A&M was postponed because of covid-19 positive tests, contact tracing and quarantining within the Aggies’ program.
“I am concerned because we’re a little bit out of rhythm, not playing the game,” Musselman said. “We’re not a football team. We’re not accustomed to having this much time between games.”