FINAL: Kentucky looks lifeless, gets embarrassed by Michigan State 83-66 in Champions Classic

We’re only five games into the season, but alarm bells are officially going off for Mark Pope‘s Wildcats.

On Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden, No. 12 Kentucky (3-2) looked like a team without an identity, losing in embarrassing fashion, 83-66, to No. 17 Michigan State (4-0) in the Champions Classic.

Outside of the first two segments of the game, UK looked completely lost on both ends of the floor. A Spartan team that came in as one of the worst in the country at shooting from three-point range finished the game with an 11-22 clip.

Kentucky was outplayed in nearly every major statistical category, including the coaching matchup against Tom Izzo. Jaxon Kohler posted 20 points on 8-12 shooting for Michigan State, while Kur Teng added 15 points and Jeremy Fears Jr. dished out 13 assists. No Wildcat scored more than a dozen points as the team shot just 35.1 percent from the field and 7-30 from the arc.

There’s no other way to say it: Kentucky played a terrible overall basketball game, from the coaching staff down to the players. Even with a couple of key injuries, the product on the floor should never look that poor. Pope knows that this type of loss is inexcusable — he’ll have some answering to do moving forward after another bad performance away from Rupp Arena.

Kentucky actually came out of the gates playing well. Michigan State was off to an uncharacteristically hot start from deep, making four of its first five three-pointers. Other than a rough couple of minutes to open the game from Brandon Garrison, UK was in a rhythm and playing hard, even leading 17-14 after a Mo Dioubate fastbreak slam. But then it all quickly came crumbling down…

Michigan State continued to rain down open threes. The Spartans finished the first half with a 7-13 clip from deep. Their previous game-high for made threes this season was only six. On the other side, Kentucky’s offense went ice cold and stagnant. The Wildcats were shooting just 27.6 percent as a team in the first half, including a 4-15 mark from long range. MSU was dominating the glass (24-14) and getting easy looks on offense. Kentucky was staring down a 44-27 deficit going into the locker room — tied for the largest halftime gap in Champions Classic history.

Whatever data was collected in the first half by the Kentucky staff didn’t seem to change anything after the break. The Wildcats did come out with some much-needed juice, but Michigan State matched it and then some. Collin Chandler only complicated UK’s comeback chances once he picked up his fourth foul with 15:26 left in the game. The Spartans soon built their lead to 19 points before Kentucky finally decided to show some real life.

Michigan State began to turn the ball over while the ‘Cats started to push the pace. A 13-4 run by UK, capped by a second-chance floater from Jasper Johnson, made it just a 10-point game midway through the second half, forcing the Spartans into a timeout. But a highly contested, deflating three-pointer in the corner from MSU — the team’s 10th of the night — pushed the lead back out to 13. It was a 24-point advantage for the Spartans with under three minutes to go before UK was finally put out of its misery.

Kentucky’s season is far from over, but change needs to happen now.