Kentucky practice highlights show John Calipari giving a strong message to his team

Tuesday was nothing short of an embarrassment for anyone associated with Kentucky Basketball.

A 34-point loss to any team will do that, but taking a 118-84 beatdown at the hands of Duke made it all the more painful to stomach for everyone in the Bluegrass.

There could, however, be something good to come out of that destruction. This Kentucky team, which began the season ranked No. 2 and many experts’ pick for the 2019 national champions, now has a major chip on its shoulder that’s going to remain there until their final game, whenever that may be.

No matter how good this team becomes or how big of a win they may get between now and the NCAA Tournament, nothing is going to erase what happened Tuesday, and John Calipari knows this.

That’s why Calipari is making sure his team knows that if they continue to sell themselves short, they’ll continue to get humiliated when they play good teams.

“If you don’t feel like doing it, don’t do it. That’s why you got beat by 34,” exclaimed Calipari, who added, “I just need fighters.”

That’s exactly the message this team needs to hear now, and frankly, for the rest of the season. The young Cats are clearly not as good as they thought they were, and Tuesday’s loss needs to become a giant chip on their shoulders that doesn’t leave until the season is over.

The fight for redemption begins tonight, and it’s a fight that can’t end until the final seconds tick off of this season.

Here some more highlights of practice this week as the Cats look to rebound from Tuesday and beat Southern Illinois tonight.

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