Why is this so hard for you people to understand????

[Basscat1987]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

 

[JFCats22]

Shut up

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

They were playing with house $$$ for sure. Just a bad set up for us really

 

[Basscat1987]

Shut up

is you mad?!? Did cal break your heart?

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

Arkansas played & shot great.

I love Coach Pope. Still glad he’s here, this game doesn’t change that. I didn’t see adjustments though. He has to grow as well as the players

 

[shaudyshaud]

We missed 9 fts and had 13 turnovers .

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

Shut up

Don’t even act like you arent loving this.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

No Arkansas wouldn’t have made the 3s guarded, because they can’t shoot, but if your wide open eventually a couple will fall

 

[ace on the river]

Pope needs to hire someone who knows how to coach defense. Because it’s quite obvious he can’t

 

[rob_47]

We need better athletes on the floor. We lack the ability to pressure teams and make them feel uncomfortable.

 

[wildcat_nation28]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

if Cal lost a game like this at Rupp he would of got beat down no excuses

 

[KAB Cats]

It’s a terrible loss and terrible look. There’s no sugar coating it

 

[WhiskeyCityCat]

Shut up

Lol

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

WHO ARE YOU CALLING YOU PEOPLE

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

This one was an embarrassing loss with the fans booing the way they did. My biggest fear was having the egg on our face of ferociously booing the way we did and it feels like it gave the former Cats more juice and crushed our own players with the weight of the world. Feels like that’s what happened, no way to know for sure. Really would’ve liked to see a zone in the first half, we couldn’t stay in front of their athletes. Hard to zone when you get behind. I still trust Pope but we sure looked tense.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

I’ll trade this loss for all the top 25 wins we have this year. We are making the tournament and they aren’t.

We need to get Butler and Carr healthy.

 

[Basscat1987]

We need better athletes on the floor. We lack the ability to pressure teams and make them feel uncomfortable.

We had those same non athletes go into Tennessee and win didn’t we?!?!? This has nothing to do with our team and everything to do with playing a team who was INSPIRED to win a game for their head coach.

 

[mg0721]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

When you wear Kentucky on your chest, the pressure is always on you. Accept the pressure or it will crush you. We got crushed tonight. Pope will have to eat this one. No excuses when you're at UK

 

[Seth_C]

How dumb are you? Okay, I accept your position. You are right.

If Pope didn’t have this team motivated for this game he has failed the team and the fan base. Your argument would only be evidence of that, and that sucks.

 

[ManitouDan]

I think the first 2 posters in this thread are the same person

 

[ManitouDan]

Don’t take the bait

 

[BC_Wader]

We missed 9 fts and had 13 turnovers .

Hard to beat anyone doing that. What kills me is a lot of our turnovers are unforced. It's just bad decisions and lazy passes.

 

[UKfanINcoach]

We need better athletes on the floor. We lack the ability to pressure teams and make them feel uncomfortable.

Yeah a lot of people don’t realize UK is not a very athletic team. That’s why our players never played on a high level team.

 

[Basscat1987]

How dumb are you? Okay, I accept your position. You are right.

If Pope didn’t have this team motivated for this game he has failed the team and the fan base. Your argument would only be evidence of that, and that sucks.

What was there to motivate them about?!?? Playing Arkansas? Arkansas means nothing to them

 

[NociHTTP]

Pope needs to hire someone who knows how to coach defense. Because it’s quite obvious he can’t

Ego.

 

[megablue]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

They better learn from this.
This was NCAAT type pressure.

 

[xtra12]

I like Pope, and I'm glad we have him. But this is 1000% on him. Whether it was poor motivation or poor planning and adjustments.

This loss is on him. This whole "no responsibility things just happen" doesn't work in real life.

I'm hoping he sees it and learns. And grabs a couple of scholar, smart guy books on how to teach defense.

 

[chattanoogawildcat]

if Cal lost a game like this at Rupp he would of got beat down no excuses

He had plenty of them so what's your point?

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

We had those same non athletes go into Tennessee and win didn’t we?!?!? This has nothing to do with our team and everything to do with playing a team who was INSPIRED to win a game for their head coach.

People who have never played sports don’t understand this

 

[shaudyshaud]

Hard to beat anyone doing that. What kills me is a lot of our turnovers are unforced. It's just bad decisions and lazy passes.

Yeah the last few games the turnovers have been a problem for some reason .

And like you said a lot of them unforced .

 

[TTTblue24]

Where was the fire tonight? We started out with energy but then when Arkansas fought back some we just folded. Even OO had a dejected look on his face most of the game & I’ll say it……we choked tonight. The turnovers and the missed fts, says to me we were tight and very uncomfortable. I thought we’d blitz them and keep applying the pressure to a 15 point win but we kept retreating on offense and even looked scared most of the game. Very concerning and alarming, I know this team has shown flashes of great play but we’ve also shown several dud performances as well.

 

[rob_47]

We had those same non athletes go into Tennessee and win didn’t we?!?!? This has nothing to do with our team and everything to do with playing a team who was INSPIRED to win a game for their head coach.

I mean yeah that's part of it as well along with missing Butler and really Kerr as well but definitely Butler. I am not saying it's all one thing to blame. I honestly think Arkansas is a solid basketball team as well I don't care about the 1-6 sec record. They played with nothing to lose.

 

[TriCountyCat]

One thing I didn’t understand. The only way Arkansas could beat us was 3s. The couldn’t have scored enough twos. Why did we go under every screen. We dared them to shoot 3s and they made us pay.

 

[flacat22]

We missed 9 fts and had 13 turnovers .

Right. How many did Pope miss, how many turnovers did he commit?

 

[fatguy87]

Hard to beat anyone doing that. What kills me is a lot of our turnovers are unforced. It's just bad decisions and lazy passes.

I easily recall Perry x2, Oweh, Chandler, and Brea with unforced ridiculous misplays leading to turnovers. There were probably more but those really stuck out.

 

[wildcat_nation28]

He had plenty of them so what's your point?

no excuses for the lose

 

[NerlensCat]

We were going up against a team that has athletes and they were HIGHLY Motivated. This wasn’t a case where 2 teams were motivated going in. Only 1 team had motivation. This has nothing to do with our team. Yes our defense sucked as it has all year. But Arkansas would have made those 13 threes if they were wide open or if they were being suffocated. Stop bashing pope. This is as a tough game for him. All the pressure on us and going against a team that was playing like their hair was on fire.

This has everything to do with our team. You are an apologist if you don’t think it has to do with our team.

Now, you could make an excuse about not having a point guard and we struggle to penetrate which throws our whole offense off. But saying this does’t have anything to do with our team is just stupid.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

We missed 9 fts and had 13 turnovers .

14

 

[crestcat]

We had those same non athletes go into Tennessee and win didn’t we?!?!? This has nothing to do with our team and everything to do with playing a team who was INSPIRED to win a game for their head coach.

If Arkansas shot like UT we would bave won this one too

 

[ukcatz12]

People who have never played sports don’t understand this

Yup. My dad and I went to the game and I said this to him before it started. The boos and want for revenge for Arkansas would motivate them more than literally anything Pope could have done to motivate us. It’s human nature. There was zero way our guys would have been as motivated and locked in as Arkansas.