NASHVILLE, Tenn. — No. 18 Kentucky has misplaced consecutive video games and three of its previous 5. Worse, the Wildcats are struggling to shoot.
Panic is effervescent up within the Bluegrass State.
Followers booed the Wildcats off the courtroom at halftime Friday evening and headed to the exits earlier than Kentucky’s 94-59 loss to No. 11 Gonzaga that dropped it to 5-4.
One-and-done Kentucky star DeMarcus Cousins did not maintain again his opinion on social media: “Cannot lie…this uk workforce has no coronary heart! That is laborious to observe smh”
Kentucky coach Mark Pope took no difficulty with Cousins’ opinion and accepted the blame.
“As a former participant, I am pissed on the coach too, and that is simply all deserved,” Pope mentioned. “There’s nothing inappropriate about what he mentioned in any respect.”
The Wildcats missed their first 10 pictures and first seven outdoors the arc. The Wildcats shot so poorly that Gonzaga’s Graham Ike made extra buckets contained in the arc (10) than Kentucky (9). Kentucky completed 16-of-60 (26.7%) general and 7-of-34 (20.6%) from 3-point vary.
Requested if the Wildcats have been making an attempt to do an excessive amount of to assist, Pope mentioned it was extra about being indecisive: “It is all coming from me. It is on me.”
Followers tried to offer Kentucky vitality, roaring when Denzel Aberdeen knocked down the primary 3 of the sport. It did not assist as Kentucky was 5-of-31 from the sphere and 3-of-20 from 3-point vary within the first half, prompting extra boos. The Wildcats trailed 43-20 at halftime.
“All of the boos we heard tonight have been extremely well-deserved, largely for me, and we have now to repair it,” Pope mentioned.
That is the second straight sport Kentucky has struggled to shoot outdoors the arc. The Wildcats made 1 of 13 makes an attempt from 3 in dropping Tuesday evening to No. 16 North Carolina 67-64. In opposition to Gonzaga, they clanked balls off virtually each a part of the rim, plus some airballs, however they continued to shoot.
That wasn’t the one difficulty. Kentucky was outrebounded 43-31 and outscored 46-18 within the paint and 32-19 in bench factors.
Expectations are all the time excessive for this system with eight nationwide championships. Pope took the Wildcats to the Candy 16 and completed with a 24-12 document in his debut season. Then the Wildcats beat top-ranked Purdue by 13 in an exhibition in October, amping the standard hype extra.
Projected start line guard Jaland Lowe missed the earlier 5 video games due to an injured proper shoulder, although he got here off the bench in opposition to Gonzaga sporting a brace. Mouhamed Dioubate missed his fourth sport Friday evening.
One other robust nonconference schedule hasn’t helped. Every loss has been to a ranked opponent, beginning with in-state rival Louisville on Nov. 11 and Michigan State on Nov. 18. Pope mentioned it is a unhealthy spot proper now.
“We’ve got to dig ourselves out of it,” Pope mentioned.
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