Cats Will Have to Grow from Humbling Opener

The excitement of the start of a new season didn’t last long.
 
It faded quickly, replaced by a full appreciation of the task before John Calipari the 2018-19 Kentucky Wildcats.
 
“We got a ways to go,” Calipari said. “You always wish this stuff would be easier. It’s never easy. And when you are the team that everybody’s hunting, they’re not going to play a bad game. So you gotta start playing better.”
 
An opener against a lesser opponent likely would have yielded a win and certainly a more enjoyable evening than Tuesday in Indianapolis before a huge pro-Kentucky crowd. Instead, No. 2 UK faced No. 4 Duke in the State Farm Champions Classic. Their flaws laid bare and their early season issues plain to see, the Cats fell to the Blue Devils, 118-84.
 
“They were just better than us,” Calipari said. “I told them, ‘I got outcoached. You guys got outplayed. We’ll watch the tape and move on.’ “
 
Duke scored the game’s opening basket – a 3-pointer – and led by double digits before the clock hit 14 minutes. The Cats were on the back foot from the outset, which will happen again this season. Their challenge is to develop into the kind of team that can overcome that.
 
“It was tough when you go down like that to start a game,” said Reid Travis, who had 22 points and seven rebounds. “Obviously we were very excited, very hyped up for that game. It’s kind of a blow to your chest, but I feel like as we mature as a team we’ll be able to take those blows and we’ll flip it.”
 
Coach Cal didn’t stop coaching, even as the deficit became insurmountable as the second half wore on. He wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to shepherd his team.
 
“For me as a coach, I told them, ‘We all gotta do some soul-searching here and let’s figure this out,’ ” Calipari said. “I’ve done this a long time and I’ve had teams struggle.”
 
Of course there are issues to address on offense, but most of UK’s struggles came on defense. The Blue Devils shot 54.4 percent from the field and made 12 3s, but perhaps the most troubling development was UK’s inability to force any miscues.
 
“It was defense,” Calipari said. “Even in the exhibition games, we didn’t create turnovers. I said that to the staff. There’s something that we’re missing here because we’re not creating any turnovers.”
 
Calipari knows only one solution for the turnover issue and any other one the Cats are facing: getting back in the gym.
 
“It’s hard,” Calipari said. “You’re just going to have to go to work and you’re going to have to teach and you’re going to have to get them to play in a way that they can have success.”
 
Not everything will automatically be fixed next time UK takes the court against Southern Illinois on Friday, but the Cats don’t doubt their long-term prospects.
 
“I think as we go back, watch the film and get better, I love our group of guys because everyone does want to get better and you can really tell this hurt, because we do care,” Travis said. “I think we’re going to watch the film and get better from this,”
 
Coach Cal agrees.
 
“I haven’t lost any faith in these guys because they’re a bunch of good guys,” Calipari said. “They’re learning.”