They're not changing.’”A year ago, the Wildcats were demolished by 34 points in the season opener versus Duke, but that game was played against a consensus top-five team that featured three top-10 NBA draft picks. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, lasted just one game.As he soaked in the moment of the biggest win in Evansville's time as a Division I program, McCarty remembered a moment during the 1996 Final Four when he was talking to Kentucky coach Rick Pitino and assistant Jim O'Brien.Perhaps most concerning for Calipari’s team was much of the progress made against Michigan State and a subsequent blowout of Eastern Kentucky disappeared against the Purple Aces.Seven days after beating then-No. 2. Instead, No. 1 Michigan State in the Champions Classic to open the season, Kentucky lost to a team from the Missouri Valley Conference for the first time since 1965.At his preseason media day news conference, Calipari wondered aloud if this team was physical enough to reach its lofty goals. Sophomore point guard Ashton Hagans, who turned in one of his worst games as a Wildcat with three points on 1-of-8 shooting and four turnovers, has been limited by a leg injury, leading Calipari to ponder whether they should “shut it down completely.” Freshman wing Dontaie Allen has yet to practice as he works his way back from a torn ACL.Kentucky need not look far into the past for an example of how to bounce back from an early-season embarrassing loss.On Tuesday, McCarty's Evansville team was the one that met that standard, just like McCarty so often did as a Kentucky player.The victory snapped a 52-game winning streak for Kentucky against unranked opponents in Rupp Arena.Even that highlight might have been more probable than Evansville’s win Tuesday.Depth concerns have limited Kentucky's ability to hold physical practices over the last month.With only seven-to-eight healthy scholarship players, Calipari said he has been forced to alter his normal practice routine. Evansville shot just 38.3% from the field in the upset, dropping Calipari’s UK teams to 189-17 when holding opponents under 40%.But after watching Evansville outrebound Kentucky 38-35 and grab two offensive rebounds after Kentucky cut the lead to three with 3:47 remaining, Calipari was left to return to his original concern.Kentucky’s reign as the Associated Press No.
Still, none garnered more national attention than the first-round NIT loss at Robert Morris, the only Calipari era defeat to a team outside the six major college basketball conferences before Tuesday's loss to Evansville.Few would have picked Kentucky to reach the Final Four when the 2018 NCAA Tournament began, but after the one, two, three and four seeds in Kentucky's region were upset in the first weekend, the No. Few have been more embarrassing, but how Kentucky fares the rest of this season will ultimately determine how the game is remembered. 2 seed and neither of the preseason top-five teams in the Champions Classic matchup ultimately reached the Final Four, few moments in the Calipari era have been more embarrassing than Zion Williamson and company dominating a team many Kentucky fans had anointed as a preseason title favorite.There is no shortage of options for cringe-worthy loses from the only Calipari era season to end outside the NCAA Tournament. 1 team in the country and be able to perform the way we did, I don’t know if anything matches this other than winning a national championship from a basketball standpoint. 1 team, and No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats’ shocking 67-64 upset loss to unheralded Evansville in NCAA men’s college basketball is not at the top of our list of the 10 most stunning losses in UK history. McCarty pointed to Evansville's pace of play and depth as key factors in the upset.“I think they just played with energy for 40 minutes,” graduate student forward Nate Sestina said of Evansville. Before a shot hits the rim – before it hits the rim – I'm moving to go rebound. '"“I said it from day one, the whole key to this will be toughness,” Calipari said. Kentucky Wildcats Tournament Appearances: 57 Final Fours: 17 Championships: 8 (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012) Win-Loss: 126-51 In his four years as a Kentucky player, McCarty totaled a 54-2 record in the building. Evansville’s roster includes one top-50-ranked recruit. The play of junior forward Nick Richards through two games and a seemingly-ahead-of-schedule team in defensive intensity had quieted those concerns.McCarty’s final season at UK featured a dominant run to the 1996 national championship, but his most memorable moment as a Wildcat might have come when he hit the 3-pointer that capped a 31-point comeback against LSU in 1994.“If we play like we did today we'll lose more than one,” Calipari said.
If I'm getting screened, I'm fighting that screen because I'm tough.