Kentucky blown-out by Michigan State; is it time to panic? | Rapid Reaction

KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and Steven Peake (Not-So) Rapidly React to Kentucky’s 17-point loss to the Michigan State Spartans in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

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Well, we meet again. Madison Square Garden. Another 20 point loss. We were here just one year ago almost getting kicked out because Stephen was um very upset. So, we’re going to try this again. Got the extra strength Tylenol today. Hasn’t kicked in yet. So, Stephen, what do we learn from last year’s experience before we get we get really rolling with this? Oh, first of all, I before Stephen says anything that gets us in trouble, let’s start on a positive note because our rapid reactions are fueled by friends of Cole. Coal is resilient, Stephen. They’re reliable and affordable. Learn more at friendsofont Kentucky.org. Um, so now let’s uh now that we’ve got the the pleasantries out of the way. How you feeling, bud? Terrible. That’s about as bad as that could have gone. I mean, literally isn’t anything. There’s no positives. I have no I have no positives. Outside of the the roof caving in and all of us dying in that building, this was the closest second to how horrible tonight could have gone. That might have been more disappointing than that UCLA game that I watched here when when I came here with Drew Franklin. That game sucked. This building, buddy. 0 for three. You just need to never come back. I think I’m sure I’m sure I won’t. Uh 0 and three now. And their games aren’t even close, Jack. They’re not even giving me the the tiniest bit of hope that they could win. So frustrating. I I I mean I I said before he came on I’m just going to really try to temper myself just a little bit so I don’t say anything just that I that I’ll regret later. I I I deleted like three tweets already today just because I just like I would tweet something and go yeah it’s not you shouldn’t say that. Nothing nothing too over the top but just like yeah I don’t really want that to be out there forever. So it’s been that kind of night. This performance was out there forever. Um, what’s sad and frustrating is that last year Pope just put so much on that Ohio State game and said, “Hey, it’s Christmas in New, you know, in New York. What more could you ever want?” Um, you know, said that it’s his favorite venue, his favorite city, and to be here as the head coach at Kentucky. There’s just nothing better. And then just totally fall in your face against Ohio State. Totally outmatched talent-wise, but totally outclassed coaching and execution, all of those things. And he talked about that game, Stephen, after the fact and said, “That was the worst coaching performance of my career. That’s the most embarrassing loss of my career.” Like that’s the one that kind of really separated when I remember he did the postgame or postseason off season. What was the best win, worst loss? And he was so quick. He said, “Oh, we have so many good wins. I don’t know which one to pick.” But the loss just wasn’t even close. It was Ohio State. And to follow it up with that exact basically the exact same performance against again a team that I personally think all credit to Michigan State is a great game plan. They did their job. Excellent. But just horrific game plan again on Kucky’s side. I mean it was it was a repeat of what we saw at the Yum Center seven days ago. How how do we get hit a low point as a fan base, as a program, and feel like, okay, well, there’s nowhere to go but up, and then somehow dig the hole deeper and put forth an even worse effort. That was this is bad. Effort. Effort is going to be the thing that people are going to talk about. This team is not playing with with effort. I mean, even uh uh Otega was acknowledging that he’s not even playing with effort. Oh, we take it down now. Like, how do you not how do you not have effort, man? You’re playing in Madison Square Garden. You’re you’re you’re playing for Kentucky at Madison Square Garden against Tom Mizo and Michigan State and it effort. All right, that’s going to be a big talking point. Oh, what I I What’s What’s the team’s What are we good at? What’s the identity? What offense is the offense? What What are they good at? What What are they good at on offense? What do we build this team for? to be better at defense. Well, they they’re not even good at that right now. 90 points a game against teams with a pulse name like actual name brand competition instead of cupcake cup. That’s what you brought these guys in for was for defensive effort and toughness. Mo Diabate. Mo was the There was only a fourminute stretch where Mo Diabate individually worked his ass off, fought his ass off, was picking up 94 feet. And outside of that, I don’t think anybody played with an intensity that justified. Again, I hate I feel like we just we’ve heard the $22 million thing over and over and over again. It’s just we just have to feel I feel like we just have to embrace whoever leaked that. I mean, as a that’s awful. That is terrible what you did to this program. That’s awful. But the fact that it’s out there, we know that this is the most expensive roster in college basketball. Them not playing what they’re getting paid for, you know, we’re just the ROI is terrible right now. That perfect perfect phrasing there. Just not a single guy that that I think is getting a bang getting the most bang for our buck. No. Wearing a Kentucky uniform. Did I gaslight myself over the summer? Like, did I when everyone said, “We didn’t sign any shooters.” And we said, “Yeah, but Trent Noah is shooting like 75% in practice.” I I don’t I mean, I’m That’s what I’m worried about. I mean, calm down. We’re going to All right, calm down. 23% on seven of 30 overall. Okay. So, if we’re going to shoot 33s per game, should should we should Mo take four of those? No. No. He shot 21 total last season at Alabama. Granted, he made 12 of them. That’s a pretty good percentage. But, um, dude, what that’s what I’m kind of at. What are we good at on offense? I mean, Michigan State, great defensive team, and they scored how many points they scored against Louisville? I don’t care. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough because And that’s what that’s what’s worries me. It’s not that these are losses. All right. I could walk away from these two losses and think like, I mean, you got you lost a close game. Michigan State’s good. you don’t play in this the Champions Classic. We got used to losing that with Caliperry. Anyways, he lost six of his last seven. So, we’re used to it. Um, we’re used to losing here. We’re used to losing. We’re getting used to it. You know how you know how you can not be upset about Kentucky basketball, Jack? Lower your expectations a lot. And that’s what I’ll be doing from now on. Um, can we can we make the round of 32, sweet 16, be happy again, win a couple NCA tournament games? Do I need to do I need to severely lower my expectations for this team to enjoy this? Because I I wonder what like like this could I how wonder how do they fix this like like that’s what worries me. It’s not that they lost, it’s that it looks like this. Uh I’m more concerned now after listening to Pope after waiting the hour. Stephen, good. Great. Grand fantastic. Um after listening to Pope uh just totally broken at the podium um waited an hour for him to come out after talking to the team was asked hey what did you say to the team said I said a lot of things to the team great nothing we can use there appreciate that um but this is the second kind of I don’t want to say sore loser e press conference but this is the second sulky press conference for Pope where he kind of just didn’t have any answers just said hey we’re we’re comp combobulated. We’re broken as a team. We have no identity. Went in and I want to get your take on this. The why behind this went in on individual identity versus team identity and said that we are way too individually focused versus coming together as a team. Going back to the wearing understanding what it means to wear Kentucky across your chest. All of those kind of big picture team talking points. Who was that a shot at somebody? Was that a like probably shot of like five or six somebody? But it it kind of felt Was there a person on the podium? Did the body language asaw as Pope was talking buddy? What is going on? I mean this is this is you actually asked him that like that question specifically. What is going on? Well, and I did it intentionally because half of Pope’s Yeah. five minutes at the podium was about individual identity versus team identity. And I wanted to kind of put Otga on the spot with saying, “Hey, what’s wrong with you right now individually?” You know, because it does kind of feel like it’s a very individual driven issue with Otga where everything is in his own head. He’s forcing contested shots. He is again another game where he’s he’s launching five threes. Why? We don’t know. Um, but just not the player, not playing with the intensity and the drive and that just the what we loved so much about Otga last year where it just felt like you could put the team on his back and he was like, “Hey, we’re going to win, lose, or draw with you, but we trust you to be the one to call that final shot. I mean, there’s a reason why the, you know, two Oklahoma plays where, hey, let’s just get the ball to OTG and get the hell out of the way.” Not once have I had that level of that that safety net feeling with Otga this season. And he’s supposed to be better. He’s supposed to be an extra year already in the system, but another offseason working with trainers, you know, testing the draft waters as as, you know, knowledge filled as imaginable. He’s learned so much more about his game and what he needs to improve upon. This should be a bigger, better version of Otega as the preseason SEC player of the year. And he’s regressed. Brandon Gayerson has regressed. Colin Chandler improved. Yeah. Still like a lot of what Colin has brought. Trent kind of TBD. We’ll see. He’s just not playing enough to to know one way or the other. Probably the same or, you know, whatever. But not enough to know if it’s a true improvement or regression, but pretty substantial regressions for two of the most experienced players on the team and the two upper classmen. There was a play that happened right in front of me with Brandon Garrison. like it was the early part of the game and the their big goes up for a shot and he hits the front of the rim and Brandon just stands there doesn’t go for the rebound just I think he went up for the rebound after it passed him and the guy got another putback and miss like a glitch it was like it’s like his game glitch you saw that one too yeah that one thing is making the rounds on social media there’s I mean I don’t know man I like two points 20 20 minutes uh four rebounds two two fouls it’s we got to stop playing feelings and you know making sure everybody oh well you know we got I got to get my return on investment because this guy makes more than this guy like we got to throw all that stuff in the garbage like this has to be a best players play and if you don’t have a carved out role in this team sit your ass on the bench like there we we are getting too caught up in the feelings right now where Pope has to have these hard real conversations with these players about what their roles are going to be and if there is a going to be a role for for these guys because there’s there are too many mouths to feed, too many moving parts right now that I don’t think there is an answer that includes all of them getting fed. No, no, we knew that we we said this would be a good problem because we’d have so much talent. Here’s what I think it is with Otga. He just did a lot better last year when there was a lot more shooters on the floor. I think that’s been an issue. I mean, again, he got blocked at the rim today. Kentucky was about ready to go up seven. He gets he goes up for a dunk, gets swatted, they come down, hit a three. It goes from a seven-point Kentucky lead down to a two-point Kentucky lead. And then really, man, once Michigan State got this thing to six, I I I was already just like thinking the worst. 14 of the last 19 games away from Rup Arena. Kucky’s trailing at halftime. You can’t keep digging yourselves holes like this. All but three. You got you clawed back again. Got it down to 10. started thinking like, okay, Michigan State will start missing some shots. We haven’t even talked about that. I mean, what do they shoot from three? 50% 11 of 22. How many did they hit against Arkansas? Like, they’ve only hit 13 on the year. 13 on the year. They made 11 tonight. But to be fair, like there was a lot of open. So there and there’s my frustration with the data collecting and the the the in-game adjustments and all those things. How can you watch them make horse shots just wide open? Nobody within 15 feet of them like, “Hey, buddy. I’m daring you to take this shot.” Watch them take and make it and go, “All right, cool. Bet. Try it again.” They try it again. Hey, guess what? Made it. Made another horse shot. Made it. It was wide open. That’s what I’m a I’m paid to do. I’m a division one basketball player. That’s that’s what we do. And then to let him do it again and then again and then again. So, yes, there is something to be said about taking your wins as they come, and that’s kind of part of a game plan when you have one of the worst three-point shooting teams in college basketball. I agree loosely on a game plan that revolves around giving the bad shooters open looks, but if you’re seeing them make over and over and over again, hey, maybe not let them do that anymore. Is that is that an idea? I I I don’t know how we again the halftime thing is is a real problem at this point and not just this season but this era under Mark Pope where it’s it’s it has been an issue from the minute he set foot on campus with the Dukes and the Gonzagas and just go down the list. Kentucky is basically any of these name brand opponents on the road or away from Rup Arena. They are having to claw back and and pull off a miracle. And guess what? Miracles wouldn’t be miracles. Yeah, they happen all the time. They happen all the time. Yeah, you cannot keep doing this. I mean, against Louisville, yeah, it’s great that you came all the way back, cut it to four, had a chance, cut it to two, but you can’t go down by 18 and 20 points and expect that you’re going to be able to claw these wins out. I was thinking this, too. I was like, even if they come back and win this game by a couple points, I’m still going to be pretty disappointed because I’m I’m tired of Kentucky coming out flat like this. How do you can How do you come out flat in the biggest games of your season? I mean, you have four more of these and the pressure is just going to mount. I mean, that we have to now sit with this, Jack, until December 2nd because beating Lyola MD, is that even Maryland? Do we even know? I’m not even looking it up. That’s how little I care about who they are. They got their doctorate. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. And then they’ll play the Golden Eagles are coming back to town. Revenge. Tennessee Tech. Yeah. And then they uh then they’ll have a few days off and then they’ll play North Carolina. And um there’s just going to be a lot of pressure on that game. Now you play you play then you’ll play Gonzaga after that. If you don’t there’s a bunch of pressure on this game and they at all there was just no I don’t need to see Caleb Wilson like hit a bunch of shots against us. Like I don’t I don’t need to see that. That that will that will really make me like that will really piss me off to be quite honest cuz cuz the thing I used to do when Kentucky would lose games in a caliperry I would just like at this even in November I would go all right let me just see who we got coming in next year and I check notes. Oh, well, they better land Tyron Stokes, I guess, is what I’m trying to say. They better land Tyron Stokes. So, this fan base is going to get hot. If it’s not I mean, have you seen Twitter today? Have you seen our board today? It’s It’s It’s ugly out there. It is so bad. On fire. And this is Look, I am not at all throwing in the towel on Marope or even this season. Why the hell would I do that? I still think this team is capable of winning a lot of games and they’re going to they’re going to win a lot of games. But this is frustrating because you start to see like all right well now the big the big dreams and aspirations are starting to look less and less probable because I don’t know if we’ll see Jaylen Low play this season. We don’t we don’t know update weekend second and third opinions but still no change in his nothing from Yeah. So, I don’t have any reason to think that he will. I until you until I see otherwise, I’m just assuming he’s out indefinitely. So, this is your team. And I was going into this thinking I’m ready for to see what Denel Aberdine does because I think he could be our best player. What do he do tonight? What was his stat line again? One for eight. Yeah, it’s not very good. So, and how many of those hit the rim? We airball a lot of shots. I’m sorry. I don’t want to hate on on our players. I like these guys. I’m I’m frustrated that they’re not playing to their ability. They are getting paid. They’re in a totally different tax bracket than me now. So, I do feel like, hey, let’s let’s do that thing that that the easiest part of the game, Jack. Shooting. I can do that. Shooting is the easiest part. All the stuff that makes you a great basketball player. The hard parts, they’re actually not bad at. They can do all that. So, let’s just let’s figure out the easy part. Uh what we shoot seven of 30 from three. What is our shooting percentage from three this season? Is it sub 30? Yeah, it is. It is. In fact, when you want to shoot that many threes, I would say that’s not good. Um, so that that makes me question the roster construction a little bit. I’m not doubting any of these players individually, but it doesn’t it feel like all right, if this is when Pope talked about identity and now the hard part and all that is he talking about maybe changing the strategy of how to approach this because maybe they do need to figure out ways to get shots closer to the basket. I mean, I I can’t believe I’m saying this. Do we need to shoot more mid-range shots? I mean, no. I don’t I don’t think that’s the answer. I don’t know what the answer is, honestly. this team leaves me with thinking that it’s going to be tough to find an answer. Hope gave this quote that he he basically said um you know, hey, all of this the these failures are on me. We have failed up to this point. Nothing is coming together. It’s a bunch of discombobulated parts and I don’t know what to do with them. But he said, “But we will not fail. This team will not fail.” Um, but it’s not not it didn’t come across in a confident like like Aaron Harrison against South Carolina like hey this is going to be a hell of a story to tell. You know, it was it was almost out of panicky I don’t know what else to say but I don’t want this fan base to just totally think that I I have no confidence in this group. But it it didn’t it didn’t have the same aura, if you will. coming off a 20point loss to to Michigan State. No, that’s why I’m concerned. Yeah, I I mean I thankfully, as I said, I don’t know how what the answers are. Thankfully, Mark Pope is way smarter than I am. So, I do trust that he will and this coaching staff is a I I believe in this coaching staff. I really do. But I but this is for the first time I’m have I’m asking serious questions. I don’t I mean they’re trying. I I don’t doubt that. Um I I I I like the stat from Daniel Hager. So Kentucky has been outscored 629 to 541 in its last seven games against ranked opponents and they’re one and six. I mean they’re 500 against um Janu since January 1st they are 500 against power conference teams. Yeah. And and I will say like, you know, last year’s team was kind of thrown together and there was a ton of injuries and we’re just reliving that. So that’s that’s always fun. Um, but I kind of need I I might need Mark Pope to drop an F bomb in a press conference. I’m serious. I might need him to go Calhoun and just drop Fbombs in press conferences just just to let me know he’s got it in him. I got to see it. I need to see that. I need a locker room video to leak where he’s saying, “Where’s youring toughness? How who raised you?” I need one of those Rick Patino locker room speeches that gets me fired up. I might need that. I’m seriously I might need that video to leak out. Whatever was said in the 47 minutes that we waited for him to come out to do the press conference, which has to be a record in the Mark Pope era has to be that was a long time. And the Duke game got to halftime, I think, while we were finishing up Mark Pope and the and the players. Do you have a good quote? I do. um was asked about the kind of identity versus team thing and he said if you build an organization the right way then your identity is not about an individual person your identity is about a collective group and it shouldn’t matter if if we had built a great organization and a great culture which I have clearly failed to do up until today but we won’t fail this season we have but we have just failed up until today we will build an organization where it won’t be disrupted every time someone steps in and steps out because we’ll have a team identity not an individual identity. Until we get there, we’re going to really struggle. That’s my job. That’s why uh they brought me here. I’m doing it poorly. I won’t do it poorly for much longer. I think what did he say? Up until tonight, what was something he said? He said up until tonight, we’ve been we’ve failed at everything. Just to total total all system failure on the season. But yeah, that’s a worrying. But there but there was there was no there was no clear, hey, here’s our problem and this is how it’s going to be fixed. It’s hey, we have a bunch of selfish individuals who don’t know how to come together as a team, but I’ll fix it. Is that what happens when I mean this sounds might sound stupid, so just call me stupid if this is dumb. Is this what happens when you got a I mean, you got a bunch of millionaires on the team. Everybody’s they know what they’re everybody’s making. Like you don’t think they don’t talk about that. While while Pope was reading that saying that exact quote, Otega was sitting next to him, not rolling his eyes, but kind of just like eyes just not focused, not taking it seriously, and then kind of had like a little smirk and it it definitely gave a hey, I’m not taking this seriously. And it I mean it literally is it it was the direct opposite of everything Mark Pope was saying in real time. It was it was the guy sitting next to him as he’s given the quote talking about how we need to focus on team versus individual. The guy sitting next to him was giving off horrible horrible body language. I And it’s not just as I shatter my phone everywhere. Um it’s not just about Otega but it’s just it does feel like that’s just the whole team vibe right now. And I don’t know if there is an answer, a clear-cut answer. And I don’t think Mark Pope did he didn’t give one. So I don’t I don’t know how you go to the go back to the drawing board. And yes, the competition is going to take a serious dip. There’s time with the massive gaps between games. Maybe Jaylen Low has time to heal himself and get his situation fixed. I don’t know. I I I really don’t know. But we are officially hitting the panic button over and over and over. or the red sirens are going off in my head about the c current culture of this program and the future of this season at minimum. But we’re seeing some pretty big picture issues with everything that I need I need I need something to make me feel better because right now I’m I’m I’m really concerned. Kentucky fans needed this one. We talked about it. They needed it. They needed this one because of the You think you think my phone’s cracked? Uh no, no, no. They’ve gotten good at the screens. Two, three, we’re good. Yeah, I’ve dropped. Trust me, I’ve dropped mine several times. Uh, so no, I I I think that Kentucky fans really needed this win because of all the recruiting stuff and the Jaylen Low and losing to Louisville. They needed it. Didn’t I mean, it didn’t even come close. And yeah, there’s there’s there are people who who had to talk themselves into that meme, my expectations were low, but holy Yeah. Yeah. and and like there were people who had to who had to either be talked into or talked themselves into the Mark Pope hire and then last year went pretty well and you got to the sweet 16 and you you had a record amount of wins against top 15 teams and that’s that was all great and I I mean I praised Mark Pope and that coaching staff for what they did last year and the players and and honestly Jack I kind of miss a lot of last year’s team. If that team stayed the healthy version of that team, h I would what I would give to have a Jackson Robinson on the floor tonight or to have Lamont Butler running point. I mean, I thought that might be Pope’s worst team. Now, it’s it still might, dude. We’re I’m trying to tell myself, hey, we’re still in November. We this the jury is not out on on how good this team is, but it looks bad. I mean, you played two real teams and you’ve gotten down by 20 points in both of them. How do I How do you want me to feel? Okay, we beat Purdue in an exhibition game, so we have that, I guess. But hey, it’s global jam 2.0. We we peak in the in the preseason all the time, don’t we? But but that’s like people had to be kind of talked into this. They talked themselves into Mark Pope. It’s going to work. It’s going to work. And now you’re seeing those people who are going who already had the doubts. They’re on. I mean that that’s what you’re saying. So the told you so are and Kell Perry almost lost to Winthre tonight. So he I mean let’s that guy wasn’t the guy either or is not the guy. What am I trying to say? Mark Pope is still probably the guy. We’ll see. We will see. All we’re just TBD on everything. Just back to the drawing board. I am hopeless in this building. I’m glad we haven’t gotten kicked out. Stephen’s his his temperature is rising. His voice is going high. We’re starting to get some some looks out of the corner like is this is this guy good? So, let’s just go ahead and let’s just go ahead and wrap this thing up. Um, because we’re not we’re not in a good headsp space right now. So, let’s let’s go ahead and reel this thing in and call it a night. Um, thank you, Friends of Cole. Thank you, Friends of Cole, for all you do. Thanks for nothing, Kentucky basketball once again here at Madison Square Garden. Uh, for Friends of Cole, for Jack Pilgrim, for Steven Peak. Um, see you again. Never. Just gonna sit in this for a second.