2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Season Review: Warning Signs A’Plenty

Nov 29, 2012; South Bend, IN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari reacts in the second half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won 64-50. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Laying an egg on the road and at Rupp

Even though he played just nine minutes in the Notre Dame game, the return of Ryan Harrow seemed to impact the chemistry of the Wildcats. UK travelled to South Bend to face Notre Dame in the SEC/Big East challenge and once again proved they were not ready for prime time. Like in the Morehead State game, Notre Dame took it to Kentucky physically and pushed them around. Jack Cooley seemed to indicate they had seen a softness in the Kentucky tapes:

"“We just knew that we could attack their bigs,” Cooley said. “We watched film on them and knew that they had young bigs, and we could try to outsmart them instead of out-athleticizing them. Not really change how we play but just do what we do.”"

The good play of Poythress and Goodwin took a huge step back.  The duo combined for just six points in the 64-50 loss and Poythress took just one shot the entire game.  And Calipari’s post game comments would be an endless loop of frustration for the rest of the season:

"“They beat us to balls. They beat us around the basket. We didn’t compete. We didn’t execute. We didn’t play together. There’s a lot of things we didn’t do”"

After that embarrassing loss, which should have been an eye opener, the Wildcats returned to Rupp Arena for a nationally televised game against the Baylor Bears.  The result was not much better than the Notre Dame game.  Baylor pushed Kentucky around and played a zone, exposing Kentucky’s lack of outside shooting.  Kyle Wiltjer went 1-11.  Ryan Harrow 1-9.  Julius Mays 2-9.  And for the game, Kentucky shot just 29.6%, the worst in the Calipari era.  And it was just not poor shooting.  It was a general lack of effort as Kentucky just stood around on more than one occasion and watched Baylor get second chance rebounds.  And after the game, John Calipari’s frustration was evident and it appeared that he was truly at wit’s end with this team:

"“We’ve just got a ways to go with this team.  And I think everybody now understands, you know, that you don’t just put a collection of players together.” “It’s more than just our fans and everybody understanding.  It’s our team understanding. Are you willing to do what it takes?” “It’s a work in progress” “If they’re not winning players, then they move to the background.   And other players move in.”"

Even though it was just December 1, it was apparent that things were not right in Lexington.  The Wildcats had completed a free fall out of the national rankings and were sitting at 4-3 on the season and were coming off the first home court loss in the John Calipari era which snapped a 55 game streak.  Despite the overall good numbers of the teams freshmen, this team was not gelling.  There were cracks in the structure.  Kyle Wiltjer, who was supposed to be a major part of this team was wildly inconsistent.  He had 19 and 23 points in the Maryland and Lafayette games, but scored a total of just 30 points in the other five games.  After going 7-11 from long-range against Lafayette, Wiltjer went just 3-22 in the four games after.

While spectacular at times, Archie Goodwin was out of control the other times and was becoming a liability from the charity stripe.  He did a good job of drawing fouls, but could not convert on the ensuing one and one opportunity, leaving points at the line.  Seven games into the season, it was becoming evident that this team was Nerlens Noel teams and not Ryan Harrow’s.  And with a team that depends on the PG as much as Calipari’s does, this was a problem.

Time would tell if the Wildcats could respond.