Kentucky might have started to turn a corner with a four-game winning streak that included wins against archrival Louisville and its first three SEC opponents, but the Wildcats took a step back on Wednesday night in a loss to South Carolina.
Here are three things we learned in the loss.
Don't overreact ... There are plenty of seemingly fine reasons to assume Wednesday night either sunk Kentucky's season or is the latest sign that the Wildcats have a hard ceiling on what can be accomplished this season. The latter fear may prove to be justified (the former is certainly not; one loss in January doesn't do that). But maybe we'd be wise not to overreact too much.
This was an upset, but this is college basketball, where road wins are very difficult to come by in conference play. While Kentucky was 12-3 and ranked in the Top-15, taking on 8-7 South Carolina, here are a few things to remember.
- South Carolina has also defeated Clemson and Virginia on the road in the past couple of weeks.
- Kentucky has struggled at South Carolina before, including with some teams that were better than this year's version, or seem to have been.
- UK was only a 6-point favorite according to the Vegas lines before tip. So, yes, this was an upset. But it was not a shocking loss.
But at the same time, the resume is taking some hits ... Don't be surprised if Kentucky's seed doesn't match up with its AP or Coaches Poll ranking when Selection Sunday rolls around. There's a lot of time between now and then but Kentucky has the look of a team that will have some quality wins and several bad losses.
UK has Quadrant 2 losses to Utah and South Carolina. Those aren't absolutely crushing, but they do hurt. The Evansville loss is a Quadrant 3 loss (Quadrant 3 losses are pretty hard to come by if you're good at holding serve on your home court, as Kentucky usually is).
At the end of the conference slate and through the SEC tournament Kentucky should have some opportunities to stockpile quality wins but if the Wildcats suffer a couple more Quadrant 2 losses, which seems entirely possible, then there really will be a hard ceiling at least on the seed and the favorability of the draw.
Nick Richards can't stay out of foul trouble ... As good as the junior big man's season has been, and it has been fantastic - one of the best development stories in college basketball and of the John Calipari era, no doubt - he's struggling to impact the game over long stretches of time because of fouls.
He obviously didn't like the whistle in a couple of cases, but regardless, he missed the last 10 minutes of the first half and then picked up a third foul with 19:17 to play in the second half.
Kentucky dominated the glass and the paint when Richards was in the game over the first 10 minutes of action. With him out, South Carolina had a much easier time scoring inside and rebounding.
Kentucky has four it can rely on ... But then who? ... Tyrese Maxey, Ashton Hagans, Nick Richards, and Immanuel Quickley may be one of the best quartets in college basketball. Going into Wednesday night's game all four players were averaging between 13 and 14 points per game. Quickley scored 20, Richards had 15, Maxey and Hagans had 13.
But who else can Kentucky count on?
That seems to be the great question of the 2019-20 season for UK.
E.J. Montgomery and Nate Sestina have each done nice things in stretches as very different players. But they each come with real areas of struggle. Kahlil Whitney, Keion Brooks, and Johnny Juzang have not shown as much while also having limitations but Calipari isn't ready to throw the towel in on any of them for the season.
If a couple of those players make big strides forward, Kentucky can contend. If not, it's hard to see that. Against South Carolina it was more of the same from those four or five players. Good play for stretches, less than good play for stretches.
