Kentucky flailing, SEC up for grabs as conference play begins

Kentucky head coach John Calipari, top center, instructs his team during a time out in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. Notre Dame won 64-63. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

FAYETTEVILLE — Kentucky long has been the standard bearer for SEC basketball with eight national championships and 49 conference titles.

But going into the start of SEC play this week, the UK flag should be flying at half-staff considering Kentucky hasn’t won a game in more than a month.

Since the Wildcats opened the season with an 81-45 victory over Morehead (Ky.) State on Nov. 25, they’ve lost six in a row to Richmond 76-64 at home; to Kansas 62-55 and Georgia Tech 79-62 in Indianapolis and Atlanta, respectively; to Notre Dame 64-63 at home; to North Carolina 75-63 in Cleveland; and at Louisville 62-59.

It’s the first 1-6 start for the Wildcats since the 1926-27 season when they finished 3-13.

“I can’t even get my dogs to sit with me right now,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Monday. “But we’re going to prepare for the next one, prepare to play as well as we can play.

“Prepare to execute better. Continue to fight, defend and rebound and see where it goes.”

The Wildcats have to wait a little longer for their SEC opener. They were supposed to play South Carolina tonight, but that game was postponed because the Gamecocks don’t have enough available players due to covid-19 positive tests and contact tracing.

Kentucky’s first SEC game now will be at Mississippi State on Saturday.

“I’m not worried about Kentucky having success this year,” said Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland, whose Bulldogs play at Georgia on Wednesday night. “They’re going to have success. We just hope that when we play them we’ve got a chance to beat them.

“[Calipari] is a hell of a coach. They’ve got players. They’re young, and they’ve started off with a very difficult schedule.”

South Carolina Coach Frank Martin agreed Calipari will get the Wildcats turned around.

“This year should make everyone understand that none of us are immune from difficult times,” Martin said. “Whether it’s winning or losing games. Whether it’s our family being impacted, ourselves being impacted.

“I think Cal has shown over the course of his career — which has been a long one — that he usually figures it out with his team. I have no doubt as they continue to move forward that his team will do what they always do, which is play their best basketball at the end of the year.”

Kentucky’s roster got a boost when freshman forward Cam’Ron Fletcher was welcomed back after Calipari made him step away from the team, in the coach’s words, “to reflect and do some soul-searching to get his priorities in order.”

Calipari said he had a call with Fletcher; his mother, Tamika Fletcher; and Tony Irons, his coach at St. Louis Vashon High School, to clear the air.

““I told [Cam’Ron Fletcher] what the expectations were,” Calipari said. “I told him, ‘You may not play a minute this year. How are you going to deal with that? What if you don’t play?’

“I wanted everybody to hear that so that we understood that this is for the long haul. This is to get you to change. I think the kid feels bad, but he had to have a wake-up call. He came in and hugged me and said, ‘Coach, I’m telling you, I’m a different guy.’

“He’s not a bad kid or any of that. The team is happy he’s back. Now we move on. It’s a blip on the screen.”

Two 6-7 freshmen, Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke, are leading Kentucky. Boston is averaging 14.0 points and 6.4 rebounds, and Clarke is averaging 10.7 points.

Olivier Sarr, a 7-0 senior graduate transfer from Wake Forrest, is averaging 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds — down from his averages of 13.7 and 9.0 with the Demon Deacons.

The Wildcats have 111 turnovers compared to 75 assists and are shooting 41.4% from the field, including 25.0% on three-pointers.

“Obviously, we’re struggling,” Calipari said. “There are unhappy people here, including me, and there are a lot of happy people around the country.”

Calipari said he’s not mad at his players.

“They’re fighting, they’re defending, they’re rebounding,” he said. “We turn it over too much. We’re working on that. We miss a lot of shots. Our execution on offense has got to get better. We’ve got time to continue to work on it.”

While the team picked to win the SEC in a preseason media poll sits at the bottom of the nonconference standings, it’s uncertain whether the conference’s preseason player of the year — Florida junior forward Keyontae Johnson — will play again this season after he collapsed on the court during the Gators’ game at Florida State on Dec. 12.

The good news is that Johnson has rejoined the team to observe practice after being released from the hospital Dec. 22.

“Keyontae is back with us and doing well,” Florida Coach Mike White said. “He’s in good spirits. He’s helping us coach.”

White said Johnson had some fun blowing the whistle to correct his teammates during a practice drill.

“We’re incredibly thankful to everyone really around the country and around the world that prayed for him and his family through this traumatic couple of weeks,” said White, who also thanked the medical staff who treated Johnson.

White said it will be up to Johnson and his family along with medical professionals to decide when and if he’s ready to play basketball again.

The Gators are preparing to play at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in their first game since they lost 81-73 at Florida State. Florida resumed practice Sunday, White said, after a 15-day break from team activities.

“Our guys needed to get away from it,” White said. “Now we’re excited to be back with one another, we’re excited to be back with Keyontae, and we’re taking it one day at a time.

“We’re really rusty. Our conditioning is not anywhere near where it needs to be right now to be really competitive in this league. But our guys are ready to move forward. Not move on from Keyontae Johnson, but move forward with him. To play for each other, to play for Keyontae. These guys want to play basketball.”

The SEC’s marquee game this week is No. 7 Tennessee (6-0) playing host to No. 12 Missouri (6-0) on Wednesday night in a matchup of the conference’s only two ranked teams.

Missouri has the SEC’s most impressive resume so far with a victory over No. 17 Illinois at home, over No. 21 Oregon in Omaha, Neb., and at Wichita State.

The Tigers are led by guards Xavier Pinson (14.3 points per game), Mark Smith (13.8) and Dru Smith (13.2). Mitchell Smith, a senior forward from Van Buren, is averaging 5.3 points and 5.7 rebounds off the bench.

“I just think first and foremost we’re healthy,” said Coach Cuonzo Martin, whose Tigers have been hit hard by injuries in recent seasons. “Not to make any excuses, but we took some painful lessons, we learned from them and here we are as a team.”

LSU freshman guard Cameron Thomas is averaging 22.8 points to lead the SEC in scoring going into the Tigers’ game against Texas A&M tonight.

“We felt like when we recruited him he was going to get 20-plus a game for us,” LSU Coach Will Wade said. “He’s as gifted and as good of a scorer as I’ve ever been around.”

Tigers sophomore forward Trendon Watford is averaging 19.4 points and junior guard Javonte Smart is averaging 15.8. Watford and Smart also are first and second on the team with 24 and 19 assists, respectively.

“Javonte and Trendon are getting a lot more assists just by passing [Thomas] the ball,” Wade said. “He’s a catch-and-shoot guy. He’s a big-time, big-time weapon.”

Kentucky usually is led by big-time freshmen who become first-round NBA Draft picks. The Wildcats don’t look like a roster full of high draft picks this season, but Calipari said the start of SEC play represents a fresh start.

“I haven’t lost any faith in the team,” he said. “I wish we would have won a couple games. It’s kind of like buzzard luck. Nothing’ll die. We can’t kill anything.

“Now we’ve got to finish off a game, and it’s not going to get easier. We’re in a tough league. It’s going to be hard. No one is going to give us a game, and no one feels bad for us. We’re going to have to go take one. So that’s the mentality.”

Calipari will coach is 1,000th game in college at Mississippi State. He has a 776-223 record, including 331-83 in 12 seasons at Kentucky.

“This isn’t where I want to be,” Calipari said of being 1-6. “I’m not used to being here. Am I up for this challenge? Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s go.

“I think the good news is, not only do I want out of 2020, I think the whole country wants out of 2020. So let’s start anew.”