Sunday’s loss at Georgia Teck in Kentucky of 79:62 to number 20 was the third loss of the Wildcat and the first start of the 2000-2001 basketball season with a 1:3 loss.
In addition to a poor start, it was also the first time in his career that Kentucky coach John Calippari suffered two double-digit losses to unranked, non-conference-affiliated rivals during training for the Associated Press Top 25 team, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The season was opened by Georgia Tech (1:2) and coach Josh Pastner, who lost to Georgia and Mercer before winning on Sunday.
Fault! The file name is not specified. John Caliphari, coach of Kentucky, lost to his former assistant because the Wildcats fell for Josh Pastner of Georgia. Board of Directors Davis/USA TODAY Sports
A week ago Kentucky suffered a 76-64 home loss for the unparalleled Richmond team. On Tuesday, at the Indianapolis Classic, they lost three points and finished in seventh place in Kansas. Previously, according to ESPN statistics and information, the Kentucky team has suffered several double-digit defeats in just two seasons (1949-50 and 2002-03) at the hands of unranked opponents.
The last time Georgia Tek won was on the 21st. November 2006 with Memphis, whose head coach was Caliparee and assistant head coach Pastner, who played against a low-ranking, non-conferential rival.
Pasteur, now 43 years old, was 31 when he replaced Caliparis in Memphis in 2009.
On Sunday, Georgia Tech was just better than Kentucky in every way and the sloppy game of the Wildcats (21 laps) and the bad defense were their biggest problems. Fifteen interruptions by the Yellow Jackets led to a dominant lead of 33-4 points when the points were lost. Georgia Tech also outperformed Kentucky 36-20 in color.
Calippari, 61, said his young team, which has had four recruits since Sunday, has let him play too much.
Just play simple games and attack, Calippari said after the game. We hit the ball better, did better things, but they tired us when we came out with a smaller line-up, and when we had a chance, we took it.
Calipari said he could make the players run more if the team did a certain number of laps during practice. His starters went 14 laps together against Georgia Tech.
However, the tight schedule at the height of the pandemic contributed to the bitter fight, affecting the time they can spend together out of court, Kalipari said.
There was no personal contact, Calippari said. Very little with me, and you need it when you’re young.
Moses Wright, who scored 21 points, led five Georgia Tech players at the end of the game with two-digit numbers.
In Kentucky, B.J. Boston, who wanted to play in next summer’s NBA draft, finished at 4:11 a.m., while Terrence Clarke, who is also a promising candidate for the NBA, scored 22 points in the team standings.
Wildcats defender Davion Mintz, who finished 2-8 with seven points, said the hole Kentucky is now in is deep enough. He said the defeat has to happen, but he hopes the team can regroup.
Look each other in the face and realize we’re not very good right now, Mr. Mintz said.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
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