Kentucky is 0-3 when it matters and fans are starting to panic

The excitement around Will Stein and Kentucky Football made for a fun 24 hours in Big Blue Nation, but fans are beginning to panic over Mark Pope’s basketball team.

After holding another L on Tuesday night, Kentucky is now 0-3 in games that matter. Louisville blew them out in the early edition of the rivalry game. Michigan State imposed its will and blew them out a week later in the Champions Classic. Tonight, North Carolina walked into Rupp Arena and stole one that Kentucky led for most of the night. Those three non-conference losses weren’t flukey, and the team’s problems are impossible to ignore with another big game only days away.

Gonzaga waits on Friday in Nashville, and the Wildcats will likely be underdogs against the 11th-ranked team. It’s only early December, but 0-4 in marquee games is a real possibility. That’s the unimaginable scenario for a team with national championship expectations, and the injuries aren’t to blame.

The issues are clear, and worse, there are a lot of them. When Kentucky faces a team with any real size and physicality, the Wildcats haven’t matched it. The rebounding edge disappears, and the scoring dries up, like we saw in the second half of tonight’s loss. The big moments look too big for Pope’s Wildcats.

Fans aren’t completely melting down, but they’re not far from it. Callers into the KSR Postgame Show were angry, some even questioning if Pope’s the guy. He’s now 14-15, a losing record, against Power 4 teams.

This coming Friday isn’t a make-or-break night for the program, but it is more important than an early December game should be. Beat Gonzaga, and Kentucky can start climbing back. Lose again, and the 0–4 headline becomes impossible to spin, and it’ll get uglier around here.