Well that sucked. I honestly didn’t think this game would even be close and we would win rather comfortably. Arkansas is a bad offensive team, but that also shows truly how bad defensively we are. I thought we were showing signs of getting better defensively until tonight,  Arkansas offense was getting to the rim and wide open threes. Which I know UK fans including myself have always criticized Cal’s offense, which shows how bad our defense must be. Defensively Cal has always usually been a good defensive coach besides last year, and held our offense in check compared to how it usually plays at home.
 

So it is ironic a lot of the things people complained about with Cal and said he was bad it. His team did better at tonight and was the reason why they won. With that said I still think it was time for a change and UK is better off this year and in the future with Pope. Hopefully we get another chance to see Arkansas in the SEC tournament and can get revenge in that game. 

In Arkansas first 7 SEC games this was their % from 3: 20%, 21%, 18%, 45%, 21%, 13%, 33% and 52% tonight.

Total FG% in the first 7 SEC games: 37%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 44%, 31%, 37% and 55% tonight.

Next up a tough road game against a good Ole Miss team who played Auburn tough this afternoon.

This was Arkansas' Super Bowl.  They were 1-6 in the league and sucked to be honest.

To me this was about effort.  The 3 players that followed CAL played their best games of the season if not ever.  Where has that been all year?  Arkansas scored about 20 points more tonight than in any SEC game this year.  Where has that been?

CAL wanted this game and it showed.  His best effort of the year.

UK had a very poor effort IMO outside of Williams.  The turnovers and the foul shooting were bad.

Listening to Coach Barnes after the loss he talked about UK going under every screen and leaving them wide open for 95% of the 3’s they took.  He lamented that his team could not make wide open shots.  He finally realized his rambling said nothing giving UK defense credit and at the end he kind of gave the well it was a great strategy to employ.  Several UK fans pointed to this as great defense.  I think UK defense is what it is and outscoring is the necessity.  Bring out the old Loyola Marymount offense under Paul Westhead.  

Just now, Purple88 said:

This was Arkansas' Super Bowl.  They were 1-6 in the league and sucked to be honest.

To me this was about effort.  The 3 players that followed CAL played their best games of the season if not ever.  Where has that been all year?  Arkansas scored about 20 points more tonight than in any SEC game this year.  Where has that been?

CAL wanted this game and it showed.  Hie best effort of the year.

UK had a very poor effort IMO outside of Williams.  The turnovers and the foul shooting were bad.

UK defense allows teams to gain the opportunity to have great offensive games.  

31 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

This is a CATASTROPHIC loss for Mark Pope.

Fake news. 

8 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Fake news. 

There was one game on the schedule he couldn’t lose. It was this one. 

24 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

In Arkansas first 7 SEC games this was their % from 3: 20%, 21%, 18%, 45%, 21%, 13%, 33% and 52% tonight.

Total FG% in the first 7 SEC games: 37%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 44%, 31%, 37% and 55% tonight.

Which shows just how truly bad our defense has been. Even a bad offensive team we make look good, because of all the easy shots we give up. 

22 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

There was one game on the schedule he couldn’t lose. It was this one. 

I figured UK would go 1-1 against the Vols and the Hogs. 
 

If the fan base was honest - even though UT SHOULD be the primary conference rival - are they happier with this result, or would they prefer the reverse?   

28 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

There was one game on the schedule he couldn’t lose. It was this one. 

Not for me. My buddy asked beforehand how I thought a UK loss would hurt. I said you never want to lose to your ex, but outside of that, it just wouldn't be good because it was a winnable game and the schedule is TOUGH. 

The only thing about this game that really aggrivated me, is the only player I REALLY wanted to stay at UK was Thiero and he absolutely showed why. He's also the type of player I've said Kentucky is lacking this season. Cats are banged up, I'm just hoping they can go .500 the rest of SEC play and get healthy for March.

 

I hate the loss but it's not as demoralizing as everyone would make it out to be. 

Tennessee throttling Florida also made this a little more bearable. 

In discussing Kentucky basketball and Cal. The Lakers just traded Anthony Davis to the Mavs for Luka Doncic. I have posted a thread in the NBA section with all the details of the trade as of now.

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

There was one game on the schedule he couldn’t lose. It was this one. 

Nah, I don't see it that way. IMO this was a game that would be fun to win. Kentucky needs all of the SEC wins they can get because they don't come easy.