Thursday night's 84-70 loss to Georgetown was a night to forget for Kentucky basketball. The Cats were outplayed, out-coached, and physically manhandled in their own building. The fact that it did happen is a bad sign, because it means it will most likely happen again at some point in the season. The offense was stagnant, the defense was porous, and the team looked completely disjointed for the final 25 minutes of the game.
The double-digit Georgetown lead held for the entire final 15:57 of the second half, a staggering display of Kentucky's inability to generate any momentum. But as bad as it felt, the final score actually cemented its place in the history books for all the wrong reasons.
Kentucky basketball's most embarrassing exhibition loss in decades
According to Ryan Black, the 14-point loss to Georgetown was the largest margin of defeat for Kentucky in any exhibition game since losing to the Soviet Union by 29 points back in January 1991.
It was a complete reversal from the Purdue win, leaving fans with a sense of whiplash. But there might be a silver lining. In the long run, a preseason wake-up call like this could be invaluable. It gives Mark Pope clear, undeniable evidence of what doesn't work and shatters any early-season complacency. It's a chance to see how the team responds to real adversity before the games actually count.
The real issue is that we have seen teams use this playbook all the way back to Mark Pope's Utah Valley teams. So it may just be a design flaw that needs to be addressed as opposed to a change in preparation.
But for fans desperate for a good omen, there's this: the last time Kentucky lost an exhibition game of any kind was in the 2014-15 preseason. That team, as you'll recall, responded by rattling off 38 consecutive wins.
Could history be repeating itself? Big Blue Nation would certainly love that, though perhaps with a different ending this time around.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion