[Westside]

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 19 points, including 13 in the second half, but No. 24 Kentucky lost at Texas A&M 85-74 on Saturday night in SEC action.

Gilgeous-Alexander hit nine of 12 from the floor and added eight assists and three rebounds in the game.

Kentucky (17-8, 6-6 SEC) got 18 points from Kevin Knox and 13 from Hamidou Diallo. Jarred Vanderbilt had seven points and seven rebounds before fouling out.

The Wildcats hit 30 of 66 (45.5 percent) from the floor in the game, including six of 15 (40 percent) from behind the arc. A&M was 31 of 66 (47 percent) from the floor, including nine of 23 (39.1 percent) from three-point range.

Kentucky outrebounded the bigger Aggies 43-40 and the Wildcats scored 17 points off of nine A&M turnovers.

Kentucky had an 8-5 lead early in the game behind six quick points from Knox. A&M answered with a 7-0 run to take a 12-8 advantage with 12:27 left in the half. From there, the game would be tied four times and there would be five lead changes before halftime. The final lead change of the first 20 minutes came when Gilgeous-Alexander hit a jumper to give the Cats a 27-26 lead with 56 seconds left in the half. The first half would end on a Quade Green three-pointer, and Kentucky held a 30-26 lead at the break.

The second half was a much different story. The game was tied 32-32 when the Aggies went on an 11-0 run to break it open. The run didn't stop there, as A&M would make it a 29-7 stretch to lead 61-39 with 10:23 left in the contest.

Kentucky would trail 75-52 with 5:56 left in the game, but the Wildcats did not go away, chipping away at the lead for the rest of the game. The Cats used a 19-4 to to cut the lead to single digits, 79-71, with 56 seconds left. But Kentucky would get no closer.

Kentucky returns to action on Wednesday, when the Wildcats visit SEC-leading Auburn. Tipoff is at 9 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN2.


http://ukathletics.com/news/2018/2/10/me...as-am.aspx

[Van Hagar]

How many losses will keep us out of the tournament? Right now, almost guaranteed losses at Auburn and Florida, one for sure in SEC Tournament, that’s 11. Can’t afford too many more than that. Do we get in with 13 losses?

[sstack]

I am done with this team. Can't stand players who refuse to hustle!

[Hoot Gibson]

Players are a reflection of coaching. Can anybody remember a team coached by Bob Huggins jog up and down the court on defense? Bobby Knight? Brad Stevens? Rupp? Wooden? Or any other truly great college coach?

This is not a well coached team and for the most part, the players on this team were not particularly well coached in high school either. Quade Green is a selfish 6-foot shooting guard who was recruited as a point guard. He did not recruit himself to UK.

Calipari chose the one-and-done route. It is not fair to blame an almost all freshmen team for still playing like freshmen this late in the season. That is 100 percent on the coach who recruited them, who has had months to mold them into a cohesive team. The parts are all there, they just need a builder to put them together.

[E's Army]

This team is becoming hard to watch.

[Rainingthrees]

Go wildcats!

[sstack]

Players are a reflection of coaching. Can anybody remember a team coached by Bob Huggins jog up and down the court on defense? Bobby Knight? Brad Stevens? Rupp? Wooden? Or any other truly great college coach?

This is not a well coached team and for the most part, the players on this team were not particularly well coached in high school either. Quade Green is a selfish 6-foot shooting guard who was recruited as a point guard. He did not recruit himself to UK.

Calipari chose the one-and-done route. It is not fair to blame an almost all freshmen team for still playing like freshmen this late in the season. That is 100 percent on the coach who recruited them, who has had months to mold them into a cohesive team. The parts are all there, they just need a builder to put them together.

I disagree with your statement that all the parts are there. IMO they have no shooters (that is why everyone we play is using a tight packed zone and daring them to shoot), terrible at shooting free throws (very few players improve that much even with excellent coaching), no true point guard to run team, not sure if this group is smart enough to learn to play defense. I see a lot of these players real good bench players that would help true starters have a great year. Never been a big fan of Cal's x and o coaching, but I really don't think that is the problem with this group.

[pjdoug]

sickening to watch with the lack of effort.

[Hoot Gibson]

I disagree with your statement that all the parts are there. IMO they have no shooters (that is why everyone we play is using a tight packed zone and daring them to shoot), terrible at shooting free throws (very few players improve that much even with excellent coaching), no true point guard to run team, not sure if this group is smart enough to learn to play defense. I see a lot of these players real good bench players that would help true starters have a great year. Never been a big fan of Cal's x and o coaching, but I really don't think that is the problem with this group.

Has Calipari ever had a team that shot free throws well? When you recruit a selfish point guard who prefers long jump shots to driving and almost any shot to an assist, contested shots for his teammates are a natural outcome.

Gilgeous-Alexander should have been the starting point guard from the beginning of the season - and he should have been told that job one was to run the offense and create open looks for his teammates.

This team does have shooters, but you can't expect freshmen to hit a high percentage with so many shots being contested. Gabriel, Knox, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Green can all hit open perimeter jumpers, but as you said, this team lacks a true point guard. That places a heavy burden on young players to create their own shots, which can be mistaken for selfishness.

Whatever the weaknesses this team has, it is crazy to blame a bunch of freshmen. These are Calipari's recruits - the players that he thought would be the foundation of a great team. If he can't get freshmen basketball players that he recruited to play hard, then he is not earning his salary.

We disagree on free throw shooting. Almost anybody can be taught to shoot a decent free throw percentage. Guys with huge hands, such as Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal may be an exception, but free throw shooting is like any other skill - it can be taught - and it is a skill worth learning.

[Strikeout King]

I blame all this on Cal. I'm to the point to where I can't stand him anymore. All he's worried about is recruiting 1 and dones, he never thinks about 2-3 years down the road. Start recruiting like Duke and UNC do. They know how to get the best players and to keep them longer than a year. UK is the one team that recruits top players but shoves them out the door as soon as they walk through it and honestly it's old.

Oh and by the way, too may freakin ball hogs....

[geauxtigers75]

I feel like if the team we seen on Saturday played the team we seen against Virginia Tech or Louisville in December, the December version would win by 20-25 points. That's not good.

[sstack]

Has Calipari ever had a team that shot free throws well? When you recruit a selfish point guard who prefers long jump shots to driving and almost any shot to an assist, contested shots for his teammates are a natural outcome.

Gilgeous-Alexander should have been the starting point guard from the beginning of the season - and he should have been told that job one was to run the offense and create open looks for his teammates.

This team does have shooters, but you can't expect freshmen to hit a high percentage with so many shots being contested. Gabriel, Knox, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Green can all hit open perimeter jumpers, but as you said, this team lacks a true point guard. That places a heavy burden on young players to create their own shots, which can be mistaken for selfishness.

Whatever the weaknesses this team has, it is crazy to blame a bunch of freshmen. These are Calipari's recruits - the players that he thought would be the foundation of a great team. If he can't get freshmen basketball players that he recruited to play hard, then he is not earning his salary.

We disagree on free throw shooting. Almost anybody can be taught to shoot a decent free throw percentage. Guys with huge hands, such as Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal may be an exception, but free throw shooting is like any other skill - it can be taught - and it is a skill worth learning.

No, I can't recall any team that was a good foul shooting team.
It is funny that you mentioned Shaq, he was one I was thinking about as I was responding.
What do you think of Vanderbilt? I love how he gives 110%, but he is so bad on offense that I don't know if I would play him many mins.

[Spud6]

No, I can't recall any team that was a good foul shooting team.
It is funny that you mentioned Shaq, he was one I was thinking about as I was responding.
What do you think of Vanderbilt? I love how he gives 110%, but he is so bad on offense that I don't know if I would play him many mins.

Vanderbilt is May favorite player just because the dude plays incredibly hard. I wish we could have had him all season because I believe he would have set a tone with these other players that barely give effort most nights if shots ain’t falling. And I feel like Vanderbilt would have emerged as a leader had he been here from game number one. And if that man was yelling at me, I’d listen and run my tail off.

[Hoot Gibson]

Spud & sstack, I could not agree more about Vanderbilt. He is leading the team in RPG despite averaging just under 14 minutes a game. In one game, he had 11 rebounds in 11 minutes.

It's a shame that Vanderbilt has missed so much of his freshman season but with the leadership void on this team, maybe it is not too late for him to become an impact player before the tournament. I don't see much of a downside for Calipari to reward Vanderbilt's hard work with more playing time.

[Spud6]

Spud & sstack, I could not agree more about Vanderbilt. He is leading the team in RPG despite averaging just under 14 minutes a game. In one game, he had 11 rebounds in 11 minutes.

It's a shame that Vanderbilt has missed so much of his freshman season but with the leadership void on this team, maybe it is not too late for him to become an impact player before the tournament. I don't see much of a downside for Calipari to reward Vanderbilt's hard work with more playing time.

Couldn't agree more. He just has to slow it down and stop putting fractures in the backboards with his jump shots. LOL

He is just moving way too fast out there but I believe with some more games he'll get his rhythm. And I think Cal starts him next game and I bet we see a breakout Vanderbilt.