Kentucky commits to change in 'energy and effort' coming off 35-point loss to Gonzaga

It wasn’t necessarily the lack of production that bothered Kentucky fans about the Wildcats’ performance in Nashville, but rather the team’s effort and intensity, essentially from the opening tip in the 35-point loss to Gonzaga. They couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives, but why did they not appear to care about getting humiliated in front of a passionate crowd of 98 percent blue at Bridgestone Arena? Where is the want-to? Or as DeMarcus Cousins saw it, where is the heart?

Do these guys even like each other? Well, Denzel Aberdeen has an answer for that one, at least.

“We love each other, man,” he told KSR on Monday. “All the noise on the outside, we don’t really pay attention to it. We know we love each other.”

The senior guard coming off a national championship at Florida agrees with everything else, though. In fact, he was the first one to bring up the team’s inexcusable struggles with energy and effort up to this point — already over a quarter of the way through the regular season, but especially against the Zags.

They feel they’re a competitive group that cares, but that’s not translating to games. That is going to change.

“The mood is always the same with us,” Aberdeen said of the locker room with four losses in nine games. “No matter win or loss, we’re always going to bring it in the next practice. We’re definitely going to make a change. As far as our energy and effort coming into these games, they haven’t been where they’re supposed to be, but we’re definitely going to make a jump from now on forward.”

How do you hit such a low point, considering the preseason hype and internal expectations, leading to a blowout win over No. 1 Purdue to begin the exhibition schedule? That team doesn’t even look like the same one Mark Pope rolled out there in Nashville, mentally just as much as anything else.

The inability to execute what they’re able to do behind the scenes in practice can be contagious at times, crushing confidence as a team even if individual belief in their ability is there. In fact, Jasper Johnson doesn’t see it as an effort thing at all and instead feels it’s more about shots not falling and small slip-ups leading to bigger momentum swings that haven’t favored the Wildcats.

As crazy as it sounds, basketball happens and an overcorrection isn’t always the answer. Regrouping and locking back in after dealing with some real slippage? Sure, that’s fair. Continuing to improve on the little things and trusting your body of work until the inevitable breakthrough comes? Definitely.

“I don’t think we lack a willingness to give 100% effort,” Johnson said. “I feel like we come out every game and try to compete to the best of our abilities every night. It’s the game of basketball, you never know what can happen to impact the outcome of the game, but I always feel like our effort’s there as a team. … In the game of basketball, there are a lot of different aspects that can affect your play.

“I feel like we’re just trying to focus on getting better right now, both mentally and physically. Do whatever we can to come out and get wins.”

It sounds way too simple, but there is a lot of truth to the old-school mindsets of just seeing one shot fall and winning curing all. They’re a bit broken right now, but there’s nothing a feel-good performance can’t fix.

They just need one — and soon.

“What’s going wrong? I mean, yeah, we’ve lost some games, but I don’t feel like things are wrong,” Johnson continued. “I just feel like we’re learning as we’re going. We don’t want to be playing our best basketball right now. Yeah, we want to compete at a high level and win games, for sure, but I feel like it’s just a learning experience so far.”

“It just comes down to executing plays offensively and playing defense, really, and just winning games,” Aberdeen added. “Winning games makes all the noise go away. Once we win, I feel like we’ll be fine, and we’ll get rolling from there.”

The fire is still there and hope is certainly not gone. Their reputation for being fiercely competitive — remember when they were breaking dining room chairs over dice games at Mark Pope’s house? — is still there internally.

It just has to translate to the games.

“I mean, we know we’re not playing to the capability that we’re supposed to be playing at right now,” Aberdeen continued. “So it’s just each and every day we’re going to try to come in practice and just give maximum effort. … I don’t think it waned at all, our competitiveness is still there. We just got to find a way to execute it in the game.”

How do you fix that? Aberdeen wants to hold himself accountable as the team’s leader, knowing that others will follow in his footsteps.

“I think just showing it on the floor, showing that we care each and every time we step on the floor,” he added. “Like I said, we just got to win games, so I think just winning games will X out the noise. … It starts with me. I haven’t been taking the shots that I’m supposed to be taking sometimes, so I take full accountability on that. And I am the leader on this team, so I take full accountability of what’s been going on. So I got to change in that way as well.

“Just being an example to my teammates on what’s right and wrong, but I think every single one of us, as well. We know we’re not playing the way we’re supposed to be playing right now, so each one of us is speaking up, and we know what we got to do moving forward. And once it changes, I think we’ll be fine.”

As for the fans calling them out for effort and energy, leading to the boo birds out in full force in Nashville this past weekend? It’s all justified and they’re excited to make it right as the season moves forward.

“That’s pretty fair because we’re losing games that we should be winning. We’re not playing to the capability we’re supposed to be playing at,” Aberdeen said. “Fans travel all around with us and give us a lot of energy. We’ve got the best fans in the world, so them seeing us not giving 110 percent, I completely understand.

“We’ve got to change and move forward.”

The words are loud, but the actions need to be even louder. Change is necessary in a hurry.