DAVID SISK:

This was a tale of two halves. After falling behind by 24 Kentucky had the final possession to win the game. There are a couple of things that stand out. Obviously, they can’t get down by that much. It’s too much of a struggle offensively for this team. Having said that, they have to be consistently defensively throughout the game. They have the chance to be tremendous on that end, and that is what they are going to have to hang their hats on. Right now they need low scoring games and the magic number seems to be 65. In the four losses Kentucky has scored 64,62,62, and 63. My final point is that Olivier Sarr was the go-to guy today with 22 points. That is the same number Terrence Clarke had at Georgia Tech. Throw B.J. Boston into that mix and they combined for 50 points. The rest of the team had 13. Either the trio needs to up that average to 60 or the rest of the group is going to have to pick it up substantially.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

I suppose one way to view this is that, if you're going to have one awful half and one good half, it's probably better to have it unfold like it did today. Kentucky fans will never accept losing -- especially when it's a fourth straight L -- but I think there was enough fight in the Cats to create a little bit of optimism moving forward. Olivier Sarr carried UK in the second half, and hopefully the young Cats will realize that they need to play through him in the post. They still need a second major scoring threat to emerge. It seems like they get a strong offensive performance from one of their stars in each game but struggle to get that second (or third) guy to chip in. The first-half turnovers -- and the lapses they created on the other end of the floor -- seemed to be the biggest thing that continues to hold this team back. When they take care of the ball, they typically get good looks. That said, they went 5-for-23 from the arc, and almost every one of those were completely undefended shots.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

There are some positives to take away from the second half. Kentucky really got after it defensively. The press bothered Notre Dame. The players really stayed plugged in and wanted it. You could see that. But at the end of the day this is another bad loss and the issues that led to such a bad first half haven't gone away. The hole got deeper: 1-4 overall, with a schedule that doesn't get any easier. I think people had already reassessed their expectations but now it's time to create a new set. This is a very flawed team that is only going to improve very gradually, and it's not clear if it will ever improve enough to be other than one of Calipari's two worst teams.