Kentucky’s dispiriting 20-point loss to Alabama in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night can be looked at one of two ways.
On the negative side, Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide blew the doors off UK on the Wildcats’ home court in spite of the fact that Alabama:
1. Played all but eight minutes of the game without its best all-around player, Herbert Jones, who left with what appeared to be a hand injury;
2. Went the entire game without point guard Jahvon Quinerly — the 2018 McDonald’s All-American who transferred to Tuscaloosa from Villanova — who missed his third straight game due to undisclosed “medical issues.”
Conversely, the context of Kentucky’s performance cannot be separated from the impact of the news of the unexpected death of UK baseball pitcher and ex-Wildcats basketball walk-on Ben Jordan.
As Jordan was memorialized by Rupp Arena public address announcer Patrick Whitmer on Tuesday night, the UK Sports Network’s Tom Leach reported to his radio audience that at least one of Jordan’s former hoops teammates was visibly weeping on the Kentucky bench.
Regardless, UK now stands at 4-7 overall, 3-1 in the SEC. Having gone 1-6 in non-league play with the sole victory over Morehead State, the Wildcats are presently without a quality non-conference win to place before the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
The Cats stand a stunning No. 101 — two spots behind Alabama A&M — in the NCAA’s NET rankings (which were updated through Wednesday night’s games).
Yet the good news for John Calipari and the Wildcats is that, as things look today, UK’s remaining schedule will provide Kentucky with at least five more chances to string together narrative-altering victories against teams that currently are ranked among the top 22 in the NET ratings.
— Jan. 23: Will Wade will bring LSU (9-2, 4-1 SEC) to Rupp Arena for the first time since the Tigers beat UK 73-71 at the final buzzer with a controversial Kavell Bigby-Williams tip-in two seasons ago.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
That was an outcome that ultimately made the Tigers, not the Wildcats, the 2018-19 SEC regular-season champions.
Presently, LSU stands No. 21 in the NET.
— Jan. 26: UK gets a do-over against Alabama, albeit in Coleman Coliseum. After the free-wheeling Crimson Tide pulverized UK 85-65 Tuesday night, Bama is No. 22 in the NET.
— Jan. 30: Kentucky has one final chance to move the needle with a non-conference win when Texas invades Rupp as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Coach Shaka Smart’s Longhorns (10-3) were nipped at home by Texas Tech on Wednesday night, leaving Texas at No. 12 in the NET.
— Feb. 6: Current UK basketball nemesis Rick Barnes will bring Tennessee (9-1, 3-1 SEC) to Lexington. Since changing his shade of orange by moving from Texas to Tennessee before the 2015-16 season, Barnes has gone 7-5 against Calipari and UK — including two wins in Rupp Arena.
The Rocky Toppers rate a gaudy No. 4 in the NET rankings.
— Feb. 20: Kentucky and Tennessee run it back in Thompson-Boling Arena. In the Barnes coaching era, UK is 1-4 vs. UT in Knoxville, although the Cats did win there, 77-64, last year.
Bottom line: To make the NCAA tourney for the 26th time in the last 28 years in which there has been such a tournament, Kentucky could need to win as many as four of its five remaining games against highly placed NET teams.
Given how thin UK’s margin of error would seem to be, that presupposes no slip-up losses to teams with mediocre NET ratings, either.
That can be tricky.
Kentucky’s trip to Auburn (No. 78 in the NET) for Saturday’s 2 p.m. tip-off looks far more challenging now that Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (7-6, 1-4 SEC) have highly regarded freshman point guard Sharife Cooper eligible and on the court.
The No. 22-ranked prospect in the class of 2020 in the Rivals 150, Cooper was cleared to play two games ago. He has averaged 27 points, 10.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds since.
Combining with fellow frosh standout Justin Powell, the former North Oldham star (11.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 44.2 percent three-point shooting), Cooper makes the Tigers far more formidable than their NET ranking suggests.
Of course, in a normal season, winning the SEC Tournament would be the NCAA tourney entry path of last resort for UK. This may be a bad year to need to win a conference tournament to make the NCAAs, however.
The uncertainties of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic combined with the absolute financial imperative for college sports to hold an NCAA Tournament after not doing so last year could make league tourneys expendable in 2020-21.
So the ray of positive news for Kentucky is that, as things appear now, the Wildcats still have at least five regular-season opportunities to score perception-altering victories.
UK’s March Madness fate likely depends on how many of those chances the Cats cash in.
