Kentucky Wildcats Morning Headlines: Cats just can’t win
Senior day at Commonwealth Stadium bid a final farewell to to Big Blue favorites such as Bud Dupree, AJ Stamps, Ashley Lowery and others. Unfortunately, today consisted of what was Kentucky’s absolute worst performance of the season. The UK seniors left Commonwealth for the final time in an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs 63-21, the most points allowed by Kentucky in over a decade.
After their impressive 5-1 start to the season, the Cats have now dropped four consecutive games. Now Kentucky is back to .500 at 5-5 and an abysmal 2-5 in SEC play. Coach Mark Stoops described his team’s performance today as “embarrassing”, when asked about his team’s collapse he claimed “we never had the wheels on to begin with”.
Well, they have two huge rivalry games against Tennessee and Louisville left on the schedule. They have to win one in order to become bowl eligible; if they do lose both games and finish 5-7, it’ll be an unhappy offseason in the Bluegrass.
Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Possible platoon switches for tonight’s exhibition?:
Last Sunday was the first opportunity for John Calipari to experiment his new two-platoon system. The first platoon, the starting lineup, of the Pikeville exhibition consisted of the Harrison twins, freshmen Trey Lyles and Karl-Anthony Towns, and Willie Cauley-Stein. That put junior Alex Poythress and sophomore Dakari Johnson with the second group, balancing out experience with the youth.
The last ten minutes of the exhibition, Calipari switched the squads up, putting the Harrison’s, Poythress, Cauley-Stein and Johnson all on the same group to play against the freshmen. It’s an impressive lineup, to say the least, a lineup that’s average height would lead the NBA. This “old man” lineup would be a formidable one, possibly one that Cal will choose as his starting lineup. A change in the platoons is definitely expected, whether it’s with the experienced lineup or another hodgepodge of the youth and experience.
Nov 8, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs power forward Boris Diaw (33) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Anthony Davis comes up clutch in huge upset:
Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans came into San Antonio as huge underdogs against the defending champions. A very hard fought game ended in Davis scoring a go-ahead driving layup with six seconds remaining to give New Orleans a 100-99 upset victory. Davis finished the game with 27 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and four steals. Such a huge win so early in the season certainly is key to the confidence that the Pelicans will have throughout the season.
Nov 8, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Patrick Towles (14) throws a pass against the Georgia Bulldogs at Commonwealth Stadium. Georgia defeated Kentucky 63-31. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
What’s wrong with Towles?:
Sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles has been the centerpiece of this Kentucky team all season. In the past two games, however, he has vitally struggled. Going 19-36 for 158 yards against Missouri and then going 16-31 for 138 yards against Georgia. He had a touchdown and a pick in both games. This is after he threw for 390 yards against the number one ranked team in the country.
You can’t put all the blame on Towles, but his play is perhaps the biggest part of his team’s success or failure. He’s young, and still has a lot to improve on. Right now, however, there’s no excuses. If Kentucky wants to get that final win to obtain bowl eligibility, for the first time in four years, Towles has to step up and play to his full capability.