HALFTIME: Kentucky is on the cusp of another embarrassing loss

I know data-collecting is fun and the comeback efforts are great when they can pull them off, but this trend of Mark Pope coaching Kentucky teams to embarrassing first-half performances and praying for miracles down the stretch is not the way to go. It didn’t work against Louisville, and now, it doesn’t look like it’s gonna work against Michigan State, the Wildcats now down 44-27 at halftime and staring down the barrel of yet another inexcusable effort to open the season with the most expensive roster in the sport.

After an early back-and-forth that saw the Spartans shoot uncharacteristically well, their momentum carried while the Wildcats’ fell off a cliff, going into the half shooting just 27.6 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from three on a horrific .794 points per possession.

Individually, Denzel Aberdeen leads the way with nine points on 1-4 shooting and 6-6 from the line, followed by Collin Chandler with seven, Otega Oweh with five, Kam Williams with three, Mo Dioubate with two and Malachi Moreno with two.

On the other end, Jaxon Kohler leads the way with 12 points on 5-6 shooting with four rebounds while Jeremy Fears Jr. and Kur Teng are right behind with seven, Trey Fort and Jesse McCulloch with five apiece, Coen Carr with four and Cameron Ward and Carson Cooper with two. They’re converting 51.5 percent of their attempts and 53.8 percent from three after 20 minutes, good for an impressive 1.257 points per possession.

Again, Kentucky was seen as the offensive powerhouse entering this one while Michigan State — just 13 made threes on the year, but seven in this one at halftime — was more of the tough and physical defensive group.

This doesn’t look good, folks. Hopefully they figure things out in the final 20 minutes, but I’ll be the first to tell you I’m over these slow starts and taking the first punch. Mark Pope has to be better.