2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Season Review: The Dark Side of “One and Done”?

Dec 29, 2012; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Russ Smith (2) tries to pass the ball under the pressure of Kentucky Wildcats guard Ryan Harrow (12) and forward Nerlens Noel (3) during the second half at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Kentucky 80-77. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Travelling to the Yum!

If you look at just the final score, the game at Louisville looked like a win-win situation for both teams.  Louisville got the 80-77 win and snapped a four game losing streak to Kentucky.  Kentucky, even with the loss, gained a bit of respect nationally for “hanging with Louisville” and brought a bit of optimism that Kentucky could make a serious charge at a SEC Title.  In reality, the Louisville game exposed a triumvirate of problems that had been bubbling beneath the surface waiting to surface: long lengths of uninspired play,  poor free throw shooting and the lack of effort by Alex Poythress.

Ironically, it was a Poythress three pointer that gave Kentucky a 18-12 lead at the 10:46 mark.  The Cardinals, led by a couple of Chane Behanan baskets, responded with a 10-0 rally.  The game took on the feel of a heavyweight fight at this point as a Ryan Harrow three pointer knotted the score at 25 with 4:03 left in the half and so far, Kentucky had answered every Louisville rally.  Another UK season trademark, long offensive dry spells occurred, and Kentucky did not get a FG for the rest of the half.  Spurred by two Kentucky turnovers, Louisville closed the half 11-3 and took a 36-28 lead into the locker room.

The Kentucky dry spell continued out of the locker room as the Wildcats went  almost three minutes without scoring.  A Willie Cauley-Stein dunk made the score 41-30, but the Wildcats were in big trouble.  A Russ Smith lay-up pushed the lead to 51-34 as the Cards threatened to blow UK out of the building.  As they did earlier, Kentucky rallied and Kyle Wiltjer went on a hot streak, hitting three three pointers, the last of which clawed Kentucky to within 55-47.  Louisville pushed the lead back to 12, but Kentucky closed furiously, and a Harrow jumper made the score 63-61.  Louisville responded but could not quite pull away as a Goodwin four point play made the score 77-74 with just :35 left.  In the end, a Goodwin turnover doomed the Cats and the Cardinals escaped with a three point win.

While the loss was not disastrous to UK, it did expose some serious flaws.  Kentucky went just 11-23 from the charity stripe and Willie Cauley-Stein and Alex Poythress were the main villains.  Cauley-Stein went 0-4 and Poythress 2-6.  Needless to say, even shooting a respectable free throw percentage would have won the game.  But Alex Poythress had bigger problems than his free throw shooting.  John Calipari’s frustration with the Alex Poythress’s effort had hit a boiling point.

For the time in his college career, Alex Poythress did not start.  Perhaps Calipari was looking to light a fire under his enigmatic freshman, but it seemed to backfire as even the national media was taking notice of Poythress’s woes:

"If there was a moment in Saturday’s visit to Louisville that was disconcerting for the Kentucky Wildcats – aside from when the buzzer sounded and they were 80-77 losers to U of L – it came near the start of the game before the direction of the day became established. The players on the Kentucky bench were on their feet applauding and cheering and trying to encourage the Wildcats to believe they could win. Rather, all of the UK bench players but one were on their feet. Alex Poythress, seated closest to the coaching staff, stayed in his chair."

John Calipari noticed and Poythress played just 15 minutes and took just four shots and turned the ball over twice.  Calipari’s post game comments were scathing:

"“He just didn’t do anything,” Calipari said following the game. “The reason I took him out the last play – there was a rebound right there in front of the rim that was his ball, and he kind of went after it but he didn’t. “Instead of grabbing it and tip-dunking it so we can get back in the game, he let the other guy grab it. ‘You’re out.’ ” Calipari said Poythress told him he tried to get the rebound. Calipari’s response? “He’s trying harder than you, so you’ve got to sit.”"

Perhaps even worse was this account from the Sporting News of Poythress’s season thus far and a quote from Calipari which would be a harbinger for the rest of the season:

"The Kentucky coaches have been concerned about Poythress’ effort level since early in preseason practice. Any hope that he was just a middling practice player who turned it on when the lights came up has faded. And not only does he have an insufficient motor, he also does not seem to have an exceptional basketball IQ. He failed to take advantage of a huge matchup differential against Notre Dame’s 6-5 Pat Connaughton even though Calipari encouraged him to set up on the low post. In the Louisville game, he made a nice move to launch a baseline drive but then didn’t read the defensive recovery of Cards center Gorgui Dieng. As Dieng rose to challenge the shot, Poythress needed either to attack the rim with a hard slam or dump the ball off to a teammate. Instead, he tried a layup that was easily blocked. “We have got to get Alex playing better,” Calipari said. “He’s just not. He’s going to have to earn his minutes.”"