"Getting Inside of "The UK Wildcats"
Since starting Southeast Conference play 5-0 and parlaying a 16-4 overall start into its first national ranking of the season, Kentucky has lost seven of 10, including its last three, and four of its last five games.
The Wildcats are now 19-11 overall, 8-7 in the SEC, and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991.
After Kentucky lost its final home game of the season to Georgia, a team that has languished in last place in the SEC East since the start of conference play, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie was asked if his team has regressed over the past 10 games.
“I don’t think they’ve shown a great deal of maturity, of accepting a challenge,” Gillispie said after the Wildcats lost to the Bulldogs 90-85 on Wednesday. “When things go well for them, they’re really good. I don’t think we’ve been tough or mature enough.
“Georgia didn’t take any steps back, and we didn’t respond to that. We haven’t accepted challenges, personally, or as a team, very well.”
Kentucky’s only senior, 7-foot-2 center Jared Carter, averages just 3.3 minutes in 10 games. The Wildcats’ top seven players, in terms of minutes played, consist of four juniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.
Georgia 90, Kentucky 85: Senior night at Rupp Arena was supposed to belong to Jared Carter. The night belonged, instead, to Georgia’s only senior, Terrance Woodbury.
Woodbury scored the Bulldogs’ first nine points and finished with a game-high 30 points as the last-place Bulldogs damaged Kentucky’s hopes for an NCAA Tournament bid. Howard Thompkins scored 19 points and Dustin Ware added 18 for Georgia.
Carter played just four minutes after earning the first start of his career. Woodbury played a nearly flawless game, at least from long distance, hitting all four of his 3-point attempts and all 12 of his free throws. Since dropping its first nine SEC contests, Georgia (12-18, 3-12 SEC) has won two of three and three of its last six conference games, with upsets of Florida, Vanderbilt and, now, Kentucky.
Jodie Meeks led the Wildcats (19-11, 8-7) with 23 points. Michael Porter added a career-high 15 points, and Patrick Patterson scored 14 points and blocked eight shots. Georgia scored 10 consecutive points to take a 61-53 lead with 15:51 remaining. Kentucky got within three points three times in the last two minutes but missed three straight 3-point attempts until a 3 by Meeks made it 88-85 with two seconds left.
It was Georgia’s first win at Rupp Arena since 2004, and Kentucky’s sixth loss in 89 senior day, or night, games. Kentucky, which closes out its regular season Saturday at Florida, has gone from first place in the SEC East to one game ahead of fifth-place Vanderbilt.
Notes, Quotes• Kentucky may yet make it to the NCAA Tournament for a 17th consecutive season, but the Wildcats seem determined to make their journey as difficult as possible.
Kentucky somehow found a way to lose 73-70 at home to LSU despite a combined 52-point effort from Patrick Patterson (28 points) and Jodie Meeks (24). No other Wildcat was in double figures, and two starters—Ramon Harris and Michael Porter—went scoreless, missing the only two shots they took. In fact, only three players other than Patterson and Meeks scored for Kentucky.
LSU led early, Kentucky came back with a 12-4 run to start the second half to tie it, and then the Wildcats pulled in front by 10 points midway through the second half, only to see the visitors catch up and take a 63-62 lead.
In the closing seconds, LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to break a 70-70 deadlock, and Meeks missed a trey at the other end with 2.5 seconds remaining.
• G Jodie Meeks finished the LSU game 1-for-9 from 3-point distance after missing his final attempt. Meeks, who started conference play 24-for-45 from 3-point range through his first five SEC games, was only 25-for-74 over his next nine games.
• F Patrick Patterson was 12-for-17 from the field and hit four free throws to finish with 28 points against LSU. Since sitting out the Arkansas and Vanderbilt games with an injured ankle, Patterson averaged 25.0 points game in his next three outings. He also has 26 rebounds over that span.
Quote To Note: “We were trying to look for that or someone coming through a split screen. I thought I had a decent look, but not a great look. I just didn’t knock it down.”—G Jodie Meeks, on his final shot, a missed 3-pointer at the end of the loss to LSU.
Strategy And PersonnelThe loss to LSU gave the Wildcats a 10th defeat for the fourth consecutive year, the first time that has happened in Kentucky history.