Battle of the Titans this is not.
Not Saturday’s Kentucky-Louisville basketball game. Not this year. Not when neither UK nor U of L is ranked in the AP Top 25, the first time the two rivals have met under such circumstances since 2008. Not when Louisville trailed Wisconsin by 26 points at halftime last Saturday. Not when Kentucky is 1-5.
To use the old cliche, you can throw out the records when these two archrivals meet. Only this year, both teams want you to throw them out.
To be fair, Louisville is 5-1 after the Cards’ 64-54 win at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. Only thing is, Pittsburgh was missing its two top scorers, Justin Champagnie (17.8 points per game) and Anthony Toney (16.2) to injury. And the win over Pitt came after Chris Mack’s club trailed Wisconsin 44-18 at the half last Saturday in Madison before losing 85-48.
To be fair, U of L was without its best player against the Badgers. Carlik Jones, the 6-foot-1 grad transfer from Radford averaging 16 points per game, was forced to sit that one out thanks to COVID-19 protocols. Jones made the trip, even participated in warm-ups, but wasn’t allowed to take the floor. Wisconsin jumped on the Cards early, hitting three-pointers on their first three possessions, and U of L never recovered.
To be fair — last one, I promise — Wisconsin was U of L’s first game in 18 days. Already hit by a preseason COVID pause, the Cards were subjected to a second stoppage after their impressive 75-54 win over Western Kentucky on Dec. 1. A game scheduled for Dec. 4 against UNC Greensboro was canceled. The Dec. 16 ACC opener against North Carolina State was postponed.
Before that second pause, Louisville had played well, for the most part, easily beating Evansville, Prairie View A&M and WKU, while squeaking out a 71-70 win over Seton Hall when the Pirates’ Takal Molson missed the third of three free throws with a second remaining on the clock.
Still, being blitzed at Wisconsin drop-kicked the Cards out of the AP rankings, a club Kentucky exited two weeks prior when John Calipari’s team was just starting the early-season slide that has produced the school’s worst start since 1926-27.
Since then, and since last Saturday’s 75-63 loss to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic, we’ve had the ensuing drama at the Craft Center with Calipari instructing Cam’Ron Fletcher to step away from the program after the freshman became emotional over a lack of playing time in the UNC game.
“We have a culture here that’s been built over the last 11 years AND IT WILL NOT CHANGE,” Calipari tweeted. “Through good times and bad, this culture is meant to change individuals and change maturity levels.”
Kentucky fans would argue the culture actually dates back 90 years to when Adolph Rupp was hired in 1930. It’s a culture of winning, above all else. Win or else. So far, anyway, the Big Blue Nation is getting a lot of the “else” part.
Ken Pomeroy’s analytics had Louisville ranked 31st on Wednesday; Kentucky 50th. The Cards are 37th in adjusted offensive efficiency; 27th in adjusted defensive efficiency. UK is 21st on defense, but 73rd on offense. The Cats are 289th in turnover percentage, 316th in three-point field goal percentage. You don’t have to be a “Basketball Bennie” to know where Calipari’s club requires improvement most.
So what about the last time UK and U of L met as unranked teams? That was Jan. 5, 2008, at Freedom Hall. Rick Pitino coached Louisville. Billy Gillispie coached Kentucky. Louisville entered the game 9-4. Kentucky entered 6-6. The Cats led 31-30 at the half, but the Cards won 89-75.
Louisville ended the season 27-9, losing to Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina in the Elite Eight. Kentucky finished 18-12, losing to Tom Crean and Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Pitino is now coaching Iona in New York. Gillispie is coaching Tarleton State in Texas. And Bellarmine, now a Division I program, plays its games at Freedom Hall. Time moves on.
