Kentucky’s basketball season can be summarized with frightening accuracy by one simple scene from a cinematic masterpiece.
“She falls in a well, eyes go crossed. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back to normal … I don’t know.”
Cousin Eddie should narrate the documentary about Kentucky’s 2026 basketball season.
“They go to Vanderbilt and get beat by 25. They go to Arkansas and upset John Calipari’s Razorbacks … I don’t know.”
Truth be told, Ruby Sue’s mule kick remedy is more plausible than this Kentucky basketball season.
There is no denying that Kentucky never fired in its 80-55 loss at Vanderbilt. They wanted no part of the fight when Vandy brought the swagger, they played matador defense like standing in quicksand, and had worse body language than a 2-year-old denied a popsicle.
Coach Mark Pope perfectly deemed it “a disaster.”
After five straight SEC wins, negating an 0-2 conference start, we believed Kentucky had moved beyond the lackluster blowouts that haunted the non-conference slate. Gonzaga, Michigan State, Louisville. Even Alabama to open SEC play, all nightmares put to bed.
But then came the Vanderbilt debacle on Jan. 27 and the lingering concern afterwards about what such an embarrassing loss might do to Kentucky over the final 10 games? That was doubly concerning with an ominous road trip to Arkansas up next.
Admit it, you feared Kentucky would get blown out Saturday in Fayetteville. Go ahead, confession is good for the soul. Besides, you’ve got lots of company as so many race alongside, trying to leap back onto the bandwagon.
Moreover, the fears were not irrational. Outside of the comeback at Tennessee, Kentucky had done little to suggest a valiant, courageous effort would be forthcoming against one of the SEC leaders, and certainly not aided by a blistering start from the opening tip. And yet, the Cats delivered just that, while also withstanding four technical fouls that cost them the lead and weathering the storm of full-throated Bud Walton Arena calling the Hogs.
At 14:49, Kentucky led 51-46 when Brandon Garrison was hit with a technical for taunting when he stood over Arkansas’ Darius Acuff, who had been knocked to the floor.
At 14:27, Kentucky’s Mo Dioubate soundly rejected a driving layup by Acuff and then turned his back to the court to flex for the camera. Official Doug Show assessed another T.
At 14:11, Shows nailed coach Mark Pope with yet another technical for arguing about a no-foul call.
On its next possession, Billy Richmond slammed home a dunk to cap a technical-driven 6-0 run to give Arkansas its first lead. Pig-sooie could be heard echoing in the Ozarks.
Three technicals in 38 seconds, two of them bogus, could be enough to knock Kentucky off its axis, as it might fuss and flounder its way to a double-digit loss, coaxing back fears UK might miss the NCAA Tournament in March.
It’s not hyperbole to argue the fate of the season rested on what transpired next. Fourteen minutes to determine the fate of the next 35 days.
Then it happened, a stunned boxer struggling off the mat. Kentucky outscored Arkansas 34-25 over that final 14 minutes to escape with an 85-77 victory, the best win of UK’s season, possibly the most important of Pope’s two-year career as coach.
“What I love about that stretch is the guys’ fight and determination,” Pope said. “Even with the three techs happening back to back to back, I felt like it was coming from exactly the right place in our team that we are searching for. That core of fight and undaunted competitive spirit. It just overflowed a tiny bit.”
The impressive victory was Kentucky’s sixth conference win, putting it among the top four in the conference as it heads into what is ranked as the most difficult schedule in America over the final nine games. It includes the likes of Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, Vanderbilt, league leader Texas A&M and two games with defending national champion Florida.
That’s a lot of potential wells to fall down and certainly more than a few mule kicks to the head.
“We’re on a journey,” Pope said. “It might not be the journey that anybody anticipated, but I love it. I’ll tell you, I’ve never coached a team like this. To be dead and buried like we were, and to take all the heat these guys have been taken, and then to just keep saying, ‘You know what? Doesn’t matter. We’re coming back, man, we’re coming back.”
This article originates on CatsPause.
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