A lot of us were wrong, me included!

[willievic]

A lot of posters on here put the majority of blame for the loss on Hagans. I watched the game, especially the second half, 3 more times today. The blame goes to a lot more players then Hagans, including Coach Cal.
We all seen Hagans pout after getting his third foul in the second half after less then one minute, and go straight to the bench, with slumped shoulders. We all seen Hagans drive and get the ball taken away from him, and then NOT hustle back down court. So, a lot of us judged his entire game by those two things. I know I did until running the second half 3 times and stopping it several times.
Hagans wasn't the only one who didn't hustle on that play. Richards slow walked down court.
We shot 65% from the field in the firs half. Did anyone think we would continue to shoot like that?
In the second half, Tennessee packed it in and dared us to drive. As we all know, Coach Cal's game is the "Dribble Drive," and if your not hitting from the outside, a good coach will pack it in. Don't kid yourself, that Barnes isn't a good coach, because he is. When he was at, I believe Clemson, he beat Duke and NC, and usually played them tough, with less talent.
We got very few offensive rebounds. Where Tenn. had it packed in on defense, they usually had 4 people after the rebound. They had a lot of second chance points. Let's face it, they out hustled us, and we had NO ONE who could contain Fulkerson. He exposed the weakness of our big men.
I don't care how good your guards are at driving, if you can't hit from outside, or at least the 12 to 14 foot jumper, to make the defense come out and guard you, it's going to be a long night.
We are basically a one dimensional team. I know Cal says he can't play some players because they can't guard, but if they can shoot, it could loosen up the defense. There is a defense called zone.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[aikenite4uk]

A lot of posters on here put the majority of blame for the loss on Hagans. I watched the game, especially the second half, 3 more times today. The blame goes to a lot more players then Hagans, including Coach Cal.
We all seen Hagans pout after getting his third foul in the second half after less then one minute, and go straight to the bench, with slumped shoulders. We all seen Hagans drive and get the ball taken away from him, and then NOT hustle back down court. So, a lot of us judged his entire game by those two things. I know I did until running the second half 3 times and stopping it several times.
Hagans wasn't the only one who didn't hustle on that play. Richards slow walked down court.
We shot 65% from the field in the firs half. Did anyone think we would continue to shoot like that?
In the second half, Tennessee packed it in and dared us to drive. As we all know, Coach Cal's game is the "Dribble Drive," and if your not hitting from the outside, a good coach will pack it in. Don't kid yourself, that Barnes isn't a good coach, because he is. When he was at, I believe Clemson, he beat Duke and NC, and usually played them tough, with less talent.
We got very few offensive rebounds. Where Tenn. had it packed in on defense, they usually had 4 people after the rebound. They had a lot of second chance points. Let's face it, they out hustled us, and we had NO ONE who could contain Fulkerson. He exposed the weakness of our big men.
I don't care how good your guards are at driving, if you can't hit from outside, or at least the 12 to 14 foot jumper, to make the defense come out and guard you, it's going to be a long night.
We are basically a one dimensional team. I know Cal says he can't play some players because they can't guard, but if they can shoot, it could loosen up the defense. There is a defense called zone.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

I certainly agree this wasn't all on Hagans. But his lack of outside shooting ability is killing our spacing as people simply don't guard him outside 15 feet. I thought Nick got outworked most of the night. He got two hands on several contested loose balls/rebounds and couldn't come up with them. I thought Quickley forced some shots. EJ was a complete non factor offensively. Part of that is we're atrocious at feeding the post, so our bigs don't get enough touches. We also got beat on the boards partially because we're playing three guards and UT is a big strong physical team. The second half really exposed many of our weaknesses.

 

[catben]

I agree.

For some reason Cal just doesn't put an importance on making shots. He also hasn't made a concerted effort to get Quickley and Nick involved in the offense enough when we really need a basket.

Our rebounding has become the biggest issue with our team going forward. We have given up too many offensive rebounds, especially in games we've lost.

UT shot the ball extremely well, but those 2 areas were the reason we couldn't close them out.

What's sad is I don't see either area getting better going forward.

 

[stoneycat_20]

It was 100% our defensive effort. The offensive numbers were very good overall and would win almost every game, but you can't give up 81pts...Here's how bad it was..Tennessee scored 50 in the 2nd half.. from the 12min mark to the 7min we were outscored by 18...from 17 up to 1 down in just over 5 min

 

[Blueaz]

It’s all Hagans fault.
IQ shot under 30%
IQ has more TOs.
Nick was torched.
It was a team meltdown in the second half. I’m not sure what happened on the locker room during halftime, but something did.

I have posted many times and have been bashed, that we always have this at end of year (or in the NCAAT) ya I players are hearing all that “NBA” shit, and how great they are. And most are not mentally tough enough to block the “noise”

 

[EliteBlue]

Up 17. Hagans decides to throw a temper tantrum towards Cal and gets in a back and forth w the strength coach as well.

From that point on the whole team was off. I’d argue Hagans became a major distraction and the off the court issue was in everyone’s head and impacted how they reacted when UT hit back. Compounded by Hagans playing Me ball and being condescending with his teammates as well.

It was the first time I’ve seen panic in response to a team making a run all year.

The only thing that maybe could have stopped that from unfolding after the Hagans decided to be the most selfish player I’ve seen in the Cal era was Cal deciding to sit him for the game after that.

However, I’m sure Cal thought he could salvage it and if he goes plays well then it all blows over and if he blows up and we get beat then he has ammo to grab Hagans attention and make a point.

We will see Friday how they respond. Can’t believe Hagans could be that selfish when you’re up 17. You picked up a 3rd in the first min of the 2nd half, you know you’re coming out.

 

[mrschwump]

It's a helluva a note when the coach has to practically get down on his knees and beg his team to play hard.

 

[JonathanW]

I agree. I thought Maxey was the only one that played well on the offensive end of the court.

 

[Backer cutter]

Certainly not all on Hagans. It’s mostly on Cal for letting him play the way he does. Almost every single game for the last couple months we have started to pull away from teams and then Hagans starts to do his “me” things. That can be corrected by good coaching, but it’s yet to have been done.

 

[Doctor-J]

A lot of posters on here put the majority of blame for the loss on Hagans. I watched the game, especially the second half, 3 more times today. The blame goes to a lot more players then Hagans, including Coach Cal.
We all seen Hagans pout after getting his third foul in the second half after less then one minute, and go straight to the bench, with slumped shoulders. We all seen Hagans drive and get the ball taken away from him, and then NOT hustle back down court. So, a lot of us judged his entire game by those two things. I know I did until running the second half 3 times and stopping it several times.
Hagans wasn't the only one who didn't hustle on that play. Richards slow walked down court.
We shot 65% from the field in the firs half. Did anyone think we would continue to shoot like that?
In the second half, Tennessee packed it in and dared us to drive. As we all know, Coach Cal's game is the "Dribble Drive," and if your not hitting from the outside, a good coach will pack it in. Don't kid yourself, that Barnes isn't a good coach, because he is. When he was at, I believe Clemson, he beat Duke and NC, and usually played them tough, with less talent.
We got very few offensive rebounds. Where Tenn. had it packed in on defense, they usually had 4 people after the rebound. They had a lot of second chance points. Let's face it, they out hustled us, and we had NO ONE who could contain Fulkerson. He exposed the weakness of our big men.
I don't care how good your guards are at driving, if you can't hit from outside, or at least the 12 to 14 foot jumper, to make the defense come out and guard you, it's going to be a long night.
We are basically a one dimensional team. I know Cal says he can't play some players because they can't guard, but if they can shoot, it could loosen up the defense. There is a defense called zone.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

I’m amazed that you actually watched it 3 more times today?

 

[Wildcat Sheli]

... I’m not sure what happened on the locker room during halftime, but something did....

This tells of what happened: https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...to-ksr-right-now-hagans-and-cal-fight.318271/

 

[CELTICAT]

I liked it when Hagans tried to steal the ball from Nick and caused a turnover and score. Might be my all time favorite senior day moment.

 

[KyFaninNC]

I’m amazed that you actually watched it 3 more times today?

Me too. He must be a glutton for punishment.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

It’s all Hagans fault.
IQ shot under 30%
IQ has more TOs.
Nick was torched.
It was a team meltdown in the second half. I’m not sure what happened on the locker room during halftime, but something did.

I have posted many times and have been bashed, that we always have this at end of year (or in the NCAAT) ya I players are hearing all that “NBA” shit, and how great they are. And most are not mentally tough enough to block the “noise”

Prob with the LR theory is UK increased the half lead from 11 to 17 on 2 or 3 separate occasions. The meltdown didn't start until about 15 min left.
I have tried to find the altercation between Hagans and Cal and I cant find anything.

 

[UK90]

A lot of posters on here put the majority of blame for the loss on Hagans. I watched the game, especially the second half, 3 more times today.

Why would you do that yourself?

 

[Catapult]

I liked it when Hagans tried to steal the ball from Nick and caused a turnover and score. Might be my all time favorite senior day moment.

It was a TO but they didn't score. Instead they had a TO

 

[Wildcats1st]

There are a thousand ways 1 guy can break down a team. What happened last night was a total breakdown in chemistry and trust that began with cals chosen leader the guy cal calls the “Lynn Bowden” of the basketball team. Hagans as an individual player had a terrible performance forcing drives that weren’t there. Worse though is the sight of our declared leader going after nick and giving up on plays. Even worse you’re the leader and undermine the coach in a game in front of your teammates and 20000 fans? That’s all on hagans. He wants the spotlight and he got it. That performance last night will cost him big time on draft night

 

[tankerjoe]

"They were who we thought they were,,, and we let 'em off the hook"

 

[Backer cutter]

“Thats all on Hagans”- sorry man, have to disagree. It’s on the coach. You can’t let one player run amok whenever he needs a selfie, and if you don’t reign him in to save a win, it’s on you. Let your 5 year old get by with whatever they want, when they get 15 you can’t control them. Barney Fife em. Nip it in the bud.

 

[shyster51]

The biggest problem, imho, was our perimeter players taking 75% of the shots. Now all the shots weren’t perimeter shots, but our bigs didn’t get or couldn’t handle the ball.

 

[nookam]

Yes. Nick Richards isn’t pulling down the tough rebounds. EJ, No way. That dude from Kansas “Dok” would destroy Nick. I mean destroy. Nick wasn’t hustling at all, Hagans going all Ryan Harrow on us. EJ want to obviously come back because he is a zero on the court. We’re just a mess. Looking like KenPom and the other numbers were right.

 

[Blueaz]

This tells of what happened: https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...to-ksr-right-now-hagans-and-cal-fight.318271/

Oh. I thought that was some point late in the second half.

 

[Blueaz]

Yes. Nick Richards isn’t pulling down the tough rebounds. EJ, No way. That dude from Kansas “Dok” would destroy Nick. I mean destroy. Nick wasn’t hustling at all, Hagans going all Ryan Harrow on us. EJ want to obviously come back because he is a zero on the court. We’re just a mess. Looking like KenPom and the other numbers were right.

One game isn’t a trend. If IQ hits 40%, we probably win.
But that team had no 4th quarter... BUT that has been first time this season

 

[uk78]

I agree. I thought Maxey was the only one that played well on the offensive end of the court.

He did except near the end Maxey started playing "Hero Ball" taking a long range 3 which missed when the offense wasn't even ready. So, whereas Tenn. was able to grab a few boards on long shots that missed offensively, we had no chance. Shot selection, passing to Richards in a crowd, driving to a packed in team, and not setting Quickley up on screens for any outside shot attempts in the last 10 minutes were all killers.

 

[willievic]

I certainly agree this wasn't all on Hagans. But his lack of outside shooting ability is killing our spacing as people simply don't guard him outside 15 feet. I thought Nick got outworked most of the night. He got two hands on several contested loose balls/rebounds and couldn't come up with them. I thought Quickley forced some shots. EJ was a complete non factor offensively. Part of that is we're atrocious at feeding the post, so our bigs don't get enough touches. We also got beat on the boards partially because we're playing three guards and UT is a big strong physical team. The second half really exposed many of our weaknesses.

I agree with most of your analysis. Cal recruits athletes, not shooters. You can be a good shooter, but if your not a good athlete, you will not make the NBA. The NBA can teach you to shoot, but they can't make you a good athlete.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[HenryMuto]

I actually thought Hagans being off the court because of his 3rd early 2nd half foul was a big reason they were able to come back in the 2nd half. Didn't have our floor general out there and they made a huge run in short order.

Those 2 Quickley turnovers where he took 2 full steps off a pass and got called for traveling has bothered me those are just 2 wasted possessions for no reason. Especially the 2nd one you already got called once and you do it again. At the time we were up big so we didn't care much but someday the kids will figure out every possession matters regardless of score.

 

[willievic]

I’m amazed that you actually watched it 3 more times today?

It was tough, but I'm here in Bonita Springs, Fl. and wanted to see why we lost a 17 point lead. My wife refused to watch it again. I, like a lot of others put the blame on Hagans, and I felt bad that I would blame a 18 or 19 year old kid for a loss. At 80 years old, I should have known better, so I watched to see if I was justified in what I said. I wasn't, and I was wrong.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[willievic]

I thought you were going to admit to being wrong when you said "Cal is winning in his mind". You vanished after we went 24-5, no surprise that you pop back in after a loss. Oh, and it's "saw" not "seen".

Baller, I really don't give a "Big Rat's A$$" if it's "saw" or "seen". Shove it!

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[eppsfan]

It was 100% our defensive effort. The offensive numbers were very good overall and would win almost every game, but you can't give up 81pts...Here's how bad it was..Tennessee scored 50 in the 2nd half.. from the 12min mark to the 7min we were outscored by 18...from 17 up to 1 down in just over 5 min

This. It was about lack of defense. Amazing how we continually find ways to make average players look like the next LeBron.

 

[Pnasty94]

I liked it when Hagans tried to steal the ball from Nick and caused a turnover and score. Might be my all time favorite senior day moment.

If my memory serves correctly, UT turned the ball over after that. They didn't score.

 

[cats2010]

Probably changing up the strategy of driving it hard to the hole in a packed lane would have been a good move. Most of our shots were prayers thrown up in traffic. Quickley didn’t get one single look from 3 in the 2nd half. That’s on the coach. We took very few outside shots in the 2nd and when they were taken it was always the wrong guy taking it, Hagans, Montgomery etc.

 

[UKGrad93]

I thought everyone played poorly in the second half. Our bigs didn’t rebound. Guard’s didn’t take care of the ball. Coaches didn’t adjust or use timeouts (I thought we needed one around 10 min to go). Maybe Hagans puts everyone in a bad mood? I he was out to “get his”, maybe the others just said screw it and quit trying. Ultimately, I put it on the coach and his staff. He’s paid a lot of money to figure it out. Close to $300k/win.

 

[UKGrad93]

Probably changing up the strategy of driving it hard to the hole in a packed lane would have been a good move. Most of our shots were prayers thrown up in traffic. Quickley didn’t get one single look from 3 in the 2nd half. That’s on the coach. We took very few outside shots in the 2nd and when they were taken it was always the wrong guy taking it, Hagans, Montgomery etc.

I’ll have to rewatch or study the play by play, it it seems like we didn’t attempt any 3s I the second half until the final minutes.

 

[wildcats4real]

Agree with poster not all on hagans .Gaurd play was bad. Gota hit shots.

 

[KyFaninNC]

I agree with most of your analysis. Cal recruits athletes, not shooters. You can be a good shooter, but if your not a good athlete, you will not make the NBA. The NBA can teach you to shoot, but they can't make you a good athlete.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

So Cal is recruiting for the NBA instead of for whats good for UK?

 

[KyFaninNC]

It was tough, but I'm here in Bonita Springs, Fl. and wanted to see why we lost a 17 point lead. My wife refused to watch it again. I, like a lot of others put the blame on Hagans, and I felt bad that I would blame a 18 or 19 year old kid for a loss. At 80 years old, I should have known better, so I watched to see if I was justified in what I said. I wasn't, and I was wrong.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

I agree with you, it was NOT only Hagans, the whole team stunk, and so did Cal. Cal is the boss, head man, man in charge. To me, this falls in his lap, he recruits these guys, coaches them, teaches them, and suppose to make adjustments when things are going bad. The bench is his tool for making a point, use it. I had rather lose with guys on the floor busting their ass, than someone pouting and loafing and back talking the coach. Cal should have immediately sent him to the locker room.

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

It was tough, but I'm here in Bonita Springs, Fl. and wanted to see why we lost a 17 point lead. My wife refused to watch it again. I, like a lot of others put the blame on Hagans, and I felt bad that I would blame a 18 or 19 year old kid for a loss. At 80 years old, I should have known better, so I watched to see if I was justified in what I said. I wasn't, and I was wrong.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

If it makes you feel any better, Hagans is a month older than Kevin Knox and 20 years old.

 

[stoneycat_20]

It was tough, but I'm here in Bonita Springs, Fl. and wanted to see why we lost a 17 point lead. My wife refused to watch it again. I, like a lot of others put the blame on Hagans, and I felt bad that I would blame a 18 or 19 year old kid for a loss. At 80 years old, I should have known better, so I watched to see if I was justified in what I said. I wasn't, and I was wrong.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

Hagans will be 21 in a couple of months..He's not a kid anymore..The biggest problem in the game was Nick Richards..Go watch his play..He had no hustle in him..didn't run back on defense..very poor game from him

 

[CB3UK]

All very fair points.

 

[CatPhight]