John Calipari, Wenyen Gabriel talk Kentucky’s loss to UCLA. Fletcher Page
NEW ORLEANS — Reasonable people surely understood the Kentucky basketball team would suffer losses here and there this season, more often than the average John Calipari squad, on a mostly forward-facing march toward March.
Calipari himself tried to tamp down expectations with proper warnings many times in September and October. And so, that the No. 6 Wildcats (9-2) couldn't defend effectively or consistently make shots in their second loss of the season, 83-75 to UCLA on Saturday, was not surprising.
The manner in which Kentucky couldn't overcome those deficiencies was the most troubling takeaway. Can this young and talented group mature into a tough-enough collective to win the games — neutral-court, nationally televised, pitted against Blue-Blood programs — that ultimately will define success or failure?
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"Where's the winning spirit?" Calipari said during his postgame press conference. "Where's the will to win? Where's the tough plays when it's time to do something?"
We figured Kentucky would at times struggle to shoot, especially from beyond the arc, during this campaign because the obvious strengths of the majority of players — freakish athleticism and length — favored a drive-heavy, paint-dominated shot chart.
And we frequently reasoned that training a roster with an average age of 19.4 years to play great defense would be an ongoing process.
But the shortcomings in the waning moments against UCLA had been dormant since an early-November loss to Kansas because there have been atrocious statistical aspects in each of Kentucky's three December wins.
The Wildcats missed 12 of 14 3-pointers against Harvard. UK still won.
Kentucky had 19 turnovers and leading scorer Kevin Knox missed 8 of his 9 shots and had seven turnovers versus Monmouth. UK still won.
The Wildcats allowed Virginia Tech to hit 58 percent of its shots. UK still won.
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With UCLA making 40 percent of its treys (12 for 30) and pulling in 11 offensive rebounds, the Wildcats didn't have an answer in the neutral-court, end-of-season tournament-style setting. Just like against Kansas in Chicago's United Center, Kentucky was a play or two away down the stretch from tying or even taking the lead. And here, just like there, the Wildcats didn't win.
"As much as you hate to say it, you got to get knocked in the mouth and lose, and it's got to hurt every player and they start figuring it out," Calipari said.
Yes, Kentucky is young and learning and will continue to be young and learning. That Kansas (10-2) and the Bruins (9-3) have stumbled and are not currently considered elite teams means nothing as it relates to these Wildcats.
Because, as Calipari told sophomore forward Wenyen Gabriel on the bench during the first half Saturday: "I'm worried about what we're trying to do, not what they're trying to do."
In that pursuit, the Wildcats' continued failed attempts to stop opponents from scoring is troubling. Calipari mixed man-to-man, zone, full-court press and traps in the post on Saturday to try to minimize the damage caused by his team's inability to guard pick-and-rolls and straight-line drives. Some things worked, as UCLA had 14 turnovers which led to 21 Kentucky points, but nothing held strong for more than two or three possessions, allowing UCLA to go on game-controlling runs.
And of course, it's hard to win games by shooting 6-for-21 from the 3-point line, the third time this season Kentucky has shot worse than 30 percent from beyond the arc.
"We can use that as an excuse — we never have before — or we can step up and perform better," Calipari said.
Those are trends that reasonable people should expect Kentucky to improve over the next three months. What must also get better is Kentucky's miscue rate — 20.6 percent of its possessions this season have ended with a turnover — and the Wildcats' capacity for manufacturing points with offensive rebounds and turnovers forced.
"Obviously, we need guys with a mentality of a will to win and blocking out everything else," Calipari said.
Maybe it was due to an approaching Christmas or travel (though those distractions didn't seem to bother UCLA), but Kentucky's step back reinforces what reasonable people felt sure about months ago. And to that point, Calipari offered another warning about the process and schedule, which next up includes Louisville (10-2) and Georgia (9-2) at Rupp Arena and road trips to LSU (8-3) and No. 20 Tennessee (9-2).
"The next four games we play, we can lose every one," Calipari said. "You don't play with the will to win, you don't come up with (50-50) balls, and even if you do, you could still get beat by the teams we got to play coming up."
Fletcher Page: fpage@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @FletcherPage. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/fletcherp