The drought for an SEC Tournament title continues for the Kentucky Wildcats as they are knocked out again this season, this time by the Texas A&M Aggies. Head coach John Calipari spoke after the game about how the Aggies deserved the win, especially after putting up 97 points on the Wildcats.
"They deserved that game the way they played, Again, I mean we give up 97," Calipari said, "How many games you going to win giving up 97 points? Two guards got 72 points. You're not going to win."
Defense clearly was an issue for Kentucky in this one, especially when looking a the box scoring and seeing their top scorer Wade Taylor IV had 32 points and their second-leading scorer Tyrece Radford had 23 points.
The Wildcats also struggled with turnovers in this game losing the turnover battle 14-6. Rob Dillingham was a bright spot for Kentucky as he had 27 points, seven assists, and four rebounds. However, it wasn't enough to put this team into the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.
The Wildcats switched up defenses tonight going into zone now and then. While it worked on some possessions, once guys were subbed in and out, it fell apart. Calipari talked about how this defense was new to the team, but that is no excuse at this point in the season.
"We have shown that we can guard the best teams in the country," Calipari said. "We have shown that you can score a hundred on us. We just got to lock in and know we've got to get better defensively."
As such a young team, these players will have to shake this loss off quickly and move their focus to the NCAA Tournament, which Calipari has always put more emphasis on.
"You do know how many games my teams have won in this thin, championships? Like 16, we are playing to win, but we're playing for a bigger picture, which is that seed," Calipari said.
Hopefully, the team can look at the bigger picture as it is unknown how this game will affect the Wildcats' seed in the NCAA Tournament. The next few days would be very long for Kentucky as they wait to find out how who, where, and when they will play in the coming days.