Kentucky came up short against Notre Dame on Saturday, 64-63, dropping the Wildcats to 1-4 -- their worst start since 1984-85.
The Wildcats nearly erased a 24-point first-half deficit, but Olivier Sarr's shot at the buzzer didn't fall, and an offensive rebound put-back came after time expired. It was Kentucky's fourth straight loss.
"I told them, Adversity is going to make you tougher. It's what it is," Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game. "This comes at you, especially at Kentucky. Losing games in a row here is like a natural disaster. And you know what? I'm not buying it, I don't listen to it, I never have. Whether we're winning games or losing games, my focus is on how do I help these guys get better? And some of them, you gotta dig your heels in or someone else plays. Dig your heels in or someone else plays. And every year, it's kind of like this."
After Kentucky scored the first four points of the game, Notre Dame went on a 33-5 run to open up a 24-point lead midway through the first half. The Fighting Irish made six 3-pointers and shot nearly 60% from the field.
Calipari pointed to individual errors from one player as the reason for Kentucky's lackluster first half.
"I wanted it to look different. Boy, it did in the first half, didn't it? But when I tell you what happened: One guy broke down four times and gave them four wide-open 3s, and they made them," Calipari said.
"The game plan was the same in the first half and the second half," he continued later. "We had one guy do his own thing and gave them four open 3s."
Kentucky turned its defense around in the second half, with Notre Dame scoring just five points and making two field goals in the first 12 minutes after halftime. The Wildcats turned turnovers into points and crashed the offensive glass. They also began to play through former Wake Forest transfer Olivier Sarr, who finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. Sarr had been inconsistent in his first four games in Lexington.
"There's hope now. If that's who we are, those 20 minutes, there's hope," Calipari said. "All right, now we've got to play 40. If some guys shouldn't be starting, they won't start."
"We picked up and pressed, and we became the aggressor. That's what happened," he added. "Do we have to play the whole game? Yeah, let's get in great shape and let's do it. We're not taking chances, but we're picking up and making them play. Getting into their legs a little bit. Maybe that's who we are."
Kentucky opened the season with a blowout win over Morehead State, but the Wildcats have since lost to Richmond at home, Kansas in Indianapolis, Georgia Tech on the road and Notre Dame at home. The last time Kentucky lost four games in a row was February 2018, and prior to that was in the 2008-09 season.
Calipari made a couple of changes entering Saturday's game, moving Davion Mintz into the starting lineup in place of Devin Askew and moving freshman wing Terrence Clarke to the point guard spot. Despite Clarke turning it over four times, Calipari said he plans to keep him in charge of the offense.
"I like Terrence at point guard," he said. "I like having his hands on the ball."
Kentucky heads to Cleveland to face UCLA next weekend before the annual rivalry game against Louisville the day after Christmas.
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John Calipari says adversity will make 1-4 Kentucky Wildcats tougher - ESPN
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