Enthusiasm for John Calipari is growing as Kentucky’s 28-game home win streak ends with South Carolina.

Kentucky’s season went off the rails on Tuesday as the 19.5-point favorite Wildcats shocked unranked South Carolina 71-68 at home. The loss ended Kentucky’s lap of his 28-game home winning streak at the Arena. was It had the longest winning streak in the SEC and dropped the Wildcats to 1-3 in conference play for the first time since the 1986-87 season. The disastrous loss comes just days after trailing Alabama by 26 points on Saturday. This was the largest margin of loss in his 100-year-long series against the Crimson Tide.

The Wildcats struggled at various points offensively or defensively throughout the season, but Tuesday’s gamecocks match was always a combination where everything went wrong. South Carolina scorched the net from 3 and smashed on the offensive board, raking up 21 second his chance points to take a wire-to-his-wire win in front of the British fans. And every time the Wildcats prowled to tighten things up, South Carolina seemed to have the answer by the end.

South Carolina got 26 big shots from Meechy Johnson. This is a career best record. He managed to upset with his unexpected scoring performance away from home. Johnson made six of his 10 three-point shots, including a ridiculous step back from deep range late in the second half and a shot to soften the lead as Britain tried to close it. One time from near the logo was included. His GG Jackson, a star freshman, also added his two his threes on his two tries, and he scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

South Carolina was as hot as Kentucky was ice cold, yet another flat performance for the Wildcats. We were working on it, but there was no help from the offensive side to even out the scale. The team took just 10 3s and made 3 successful. It’s a confounding strategy by a team that statistically ranks him as one of the best 3-point shooters on his team in the Calipari era.

To further complicate matters, freshman star Kayson Wallace, the team’s best 3-point shooter by percentage, was sidelined with an injury midway through the game and did not return.

Here are three points about this game.

1. More pressure on Calipari

John Calipari this week denied reports that Texas officials had contacted him about the head coaching vacancy after firing Chris Beard. After losing to 15th-seeded St. Peters in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Blue Nation became a Calipari-challenging Big Mad Nation, starting 10-6 after starting the 2022-23 season as a top-five team. . It just increases the pressure on him. If the talent wasn’t there, that would be one thing, but there are plenty of pieces on this roster. ) also seems to be turned off. It’s never a good thing when your own fan base is making signs that you’re leaving. If you have to go full New York Knicks to defend your coach.)

2. Kentucky’s foul-shooting battle continues

After making 7 of 14 attempts against South Carolina, Kentucky is making a dismal 65.6% out of the charity stripes this season. Division I teams). His four of his six losses for Kentucky this season have been to his double-digit numbers, and while it’s nothing special to hold back a win, make no mistake, it’s a big deal. On Tuesday, it was literally the difference between a victory and another heartbreaking defeat.

3. What’s next for Kentucky?

CBS Sports’ college basketball staff took the time to record and play early on Tuesday. how the rest of Kentucky’s season unfolds, And I was a bunch of high guys. Then they turned around and at home he lost to the least talented team in the SEC. What’s next for Kentucky? There is no visible grace period. This British system could look even more broken on Saturday with a road trip against Tennessee and its elite defense.

While there is room for optimism that Kentucky can turn things around, there is no real basis for that belief. This is the top 3 roster by SEC talent. No fumbling game at home with South Carolina as her 19.5-point favorite. I’m sure things will turn around. They will almost certainly get better. But whether that’s a turnaround for tournament bids is up for debate, and Tuesday night’s conditions look much grimer than they did a few days ago.