Kentucky loses an ugly and winable game at Auburn as Calipari Discontent grows

by

Shanna Lockwood / AU Athletics

Shanna Lockwood / AU Athletics

“We let someone slip on the road.” One thing John Calipari was right on Saturday.

A few days after letting Alabama score 14 triples, he actually took the blow to the SEC’s second-best three-point shooting team, yet it still wasn’t enough to leave Auburn Arena with a win. The Wildcats have now lost to Auburn for the fourth time in five years after the 66-59 loss to the UK fell to 4-8. There has not been a Kentucky team with a worse record in 12 games since Adolph Rupp became the head coach of the Cats.

The loss to Auburn is more annoying than the previous seven for several reasons, and John Calipari only aggravated it in the post-game press conference. Before we get to that, here’s how it all went.

The first hideous half

“Ugly” cannot accurately summarize the first half. The score was 2-2 at the first media timeout. Kentucky missed the first six photos. Auburn started 1 of 15 upstairs. Both teams did not lack a lot of contested shots; none of them could stretch. Fortunately, Dontaie Allen and Jacob Toppin came on the line and gave the UK something offensive, taking a 9-2 lead in the 11th minute. It all started with an emphatic finish to the rim by Allen.

Kentucky had the chance to run away with the game early, but failed to find an offensive pace. At least they found out who could give points, even if it wasn’t enough to win the second half.

Where are Allen and Toppin?

That’s the question BBN was asking when none of the players, who led each Cats by eight points in the first half, were on deck at the start of the second half. It took more than four minutes for Toppin to enter the game and more than six for Allen to receive some playing time. Why didn’t they play?

“I want to win every game I train, but the other side is that I don’t try to take anyone’s heart away,” Calipari said, “so you can remove them in three, four minutes and leave.”

They only got a few minutes in a row. Allen went cold for the last minute of the game, finishing with eight minutes in the second half as the only player with a positive +/- in the last 20 minutes.

BJ Boston: It’s not good yet

At the beginning of the season, BBN’s fascination with Dontaie Allen arose from his heroic status as his home state. Even though the head coach may feel that he is still like that, now the fans want him to play because he is one of the few players who can actually make shots. Frustration is heightened when BJ Boston is why Allen is on the sidelines.

Boston scored five points, scoring just 2 of 9 field goals in 27 minutes of action. Not only does it not help – Boston hurts the team when it’s on the floor. He committed five turnovers, two of which were in the most important stage of the game. One thing is to give a long leash to a player. All that extra weakness on Boston’s leash is suffocating the rest of the team.

The turning point

Despite the poor performance of the Wildcats, they actually led with one with ten minutes to play and seemed to abandon their path to victory. Then officials fell for the most flop flop since Chris Jones set the standard for awful flops in 2015.

It is safe to say that Mintz was not happy with the call, sharing this with his Instagram story after the game.

The game has been revised for a flagrant foul. Unlike the goal of college football, officials cannot give up a wrong foul. Sharife Cooper’s actress gave Auburn the ball and started a 16-5 run in the next five minutes, fueled by transition points from several Boston turnovers. Despite a late force, this run turned out to be a game changer.

One final, impressive push

Even though Boston will attract the anger of most fans, Olivier Sarr was also a significant part of the problem. Sarr was -15, the worst on the team, and uninspired in the post, while the Tigers got 16 offensive rebounds. Once Boston and Sarr were drawn, Kentucky made a push that was almost enough to win.

With ten points left in five minutes of play, the Wildcats turned the defense into an offensive. Several blocks led to the arrangement of the transition for Mintz and Askew to reduce the deficit. With a minute to play, Toppin but a CORP on an Auburn defender. Unfortunately, the worst Wildcat dunk of the season was not called And One, but it did make a two-point game.

Despite relinquishing Cooper’s subsequent possession, Kentucky had another chance. Askew made the first free throw, then missed the second. The comeback was played by Keion Brooks. Instead of committing a foul on either of Auburn’s two second-round defenders in Britain, officials called for a jump ball. Possession went to Auburn, the Tigers made the free throws and ended the game.

A harsh reality

Kentucky will most likely not make the NCAA tournament. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s the reality we have to accept after losing at Auburn.

Even though Great Britain has fought at the Auburn Arena for the last five years, the Tigers are not an excellent basketball team. This was only the second victory of the season in the SEC. Every owner of advanced statistics called this game a throw. This was a game Kentucky needed to win, they were in a position to win and failed to finish the job. John Calipari is to blame for this loss.

Next week’s schedule will ease the Wildcats. After that, wait for the best 25 teams. This team has done nothing to convince us that it can beat good teams, and their coach has done nothing to suggest that he will make significant changes to ensure that the UK does not miss the NCAA Tournament.

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