Kentucky's 78-69 overtime loss at Georgia is one of those games where there's not much good to say about it. Everything that worked in the first half failed in the second.
Joe Crawford scored a career-high 29 points, but to no avail. Randolph Morris' disappearing act returned, with a whopping two rebounds in 29 foul-plagued minutes. Ramel Bradley was miserable, scoring just two points on 1-of-5 shooting. After all my talk about leadership, that's what he had? Lame.
As a result, instead of a return to normalcy, with folks talking about winning on the road and facing a down Tennessee on Sunday, the message boards are melting down and Tubby in the postgame sounds lost and defeated.
Truthfully, I got nothin'.
I'm going to be traveling over the next few days. I'll be updating when I can, but, frankly, I'm burned out today. There was a lot to like about the bench's play in the first frame. I loved the defense and the odd lineups showing depth. But I worried about the second half, especially with a Georgia team that can score in bunches.
Crazy night in the conference, with Arkansas losing to South Carolina, Tennessee falling to Ole Miss and Vandy continuing to surprise with a road win over LSU. Only a late surge by Florida is looking like an "expected" outcome. Still, the Cats had that game.
Regular readers know I keep up a real optimistic front, and there's a lot of season left, but that display in the second half -- halfway to a big conference road win -- is pretty unacceptable. Tubby's teams are struggling in the exact same ways year in and year out, even when they prevail.
Hopefully, this season doesn't go the way of last season, though I'd be lying if I said it didn't have the same setup. Even the fans less inclined to trash the coach are coming out of the woodwork.
I want to help you, Tubster, but it's getting really hard. UK basketball is a special thing, but not the kind of special thing that can stay that way in perpetuity. It has to be worked hard for, and I am starting to wonder if complacency has set in.
But instead of jumping off a cliff, I'm just going to leave it be. Not a good night for the alma mater. Not a good night at all.