An 18-point loss against LSU made Kentucky coach John Calipari sick.
After LSU’s 85-67 upset victory against No. 9 Kentucky (11-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), Calipari took three questions to begin his post-game press conference, then limited the remainder of the conference to two questions because he said he was feeling ill.
“Great job by LSU, their players and coaching staff,” Calipari said. “What a great environment. We weren’t up for the challenge. We weren’t ready to compete at the level they were playing at.”
Calipari credited the Tigers (9-5, 2-0 SEC) program, from fans to players to coaches, for earning Tuesday night’s victory.
But it didn’t take long for him to place the actual blame, which came on behalf of his Wildcats.
“We weren’t very good this game,” Calipari said. “That’s the thing about college basketball, you try and get better. We’re going to step back and learn, watch the tape and figure out what we’re going to do better.”
Kentucky’s starting big men, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee, were battled tested and broken near the rim by LSU freshman forward Ben Simmons and sophomore forward Craig Victor.
The Tigers twosome sent Lee and Poythress swirling deep into foul trouble, while also sending Kentucky’s 22-game SEC win streak into a hole too deep of rescue for 23 in a row.
The recently-ill Calipari easily defined Kentucky’s big-man struggles for the media after the game.
“We didn’t get anything in there except for a lot of fouls,” Calipari said.
With 12 and eight minutes remaining respectively, forwards Marcus Lee and Alex Poythress landed their fifth fouls — earning each of their respective spots on the Wildcat bench for the remainder of the elite post-man infested matchup.
Up next for Kentucky was the once-No. 1 overall recruit, freshman hopeful Skal Labissiere. Labissiere fell into a slump early in the season, and the drought continued as he couldn’t find his true form against the Tigers, either.
Labissiere, in 16 minutes, pioneered his way to three points and two rebounds, another disappointing night for the projected top-five pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Lee and Poythress combined for four points, six rebounds and 10 fouls, a bad game for all Calipari said.
Without their starting duo down low, the Wildcats struggled containing Simmons and Victor defensively. Simmons added 14 points and 10 rebounds beside Victor, who knocked in 15 points and 12 rebounds of his own.
“They didn’t compete like they needed to,” Calipari said of his starting forwards.
Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray, along with Calipari, said the Wildcats were unprepared to compete against LSU on Tuesday.
The unready preparation, along with heavy foul trouble, landed the Wildcats a sub-.500, 1-1 record in SEC play thus far.
With Simmons being the focal point of attack against LSU, Kentucky said it knew a victory, if possible, would have to come from the one-on-one battles from its guards relentlessly attacking the rim in hope of earning Simmons and Victor a seat on the bench due to foul trouble.
In the first half, it worked.
Simmons sat for most of the opening 20 minutes with two fouls off Wildcat dribble drives. Victor battled, but only earned one personal foul in the opening period, and four total for the game.
Ulis and Murray said they knew had to seize the game with Simmons sidelined and Victor deep into foul trouble. The pair scored 44 of Kentucky’s 67 total points, a noble effort from two of the top scoring guards in the nation.
Ulis, who played all 40 minutes for Kentucky, shunned the Wildcats effort against the Tigers, which remain undefeated against SEC competition.
“Guys came out and didn’t really want to play,” Ulis said. “Didn’t play that hard. Basically, it seems like no one wanted to win.”
But without Lee and Poythress, the already-limited Kentucky frontcourt was as broken as it’s been in SEC play since March 14, 2014 — its last loss in conference play against Florida, 61-60.
The Wildcats had no dictation on where its shot attempts spawned without the ability of inside-out, post-to-guard ball movement against a notably smaller LSU team.
“They were physical and we did not set good screens,” Calipari said. “We ended up having to play on the perimeter instead of throwing it in the post. Obviously, that didn’t work.”
Regardless of the team-wide struggles, Calipari said the lack of influence and effort from Lee and Poythress doomed the Wildcats from the beginning of their foul troubles.
Maybe for the first time in years, or even decades, Kentucky isn’t a good basketball team, Calipari said without taking credit from LSU earning the victory.
“We can’t afford to have two, or three guys not play well,” Calipari said. “We’re not that good.”