John Calipari's biggest successes have come with his best point guards operating the offense.
Let's run some of them down:
— Derrick Rose: NCAA Final (2007-08)
— Tyreke Evans: Sweet 16 (2008-09)
— John Wall: Elite 8 (2009-10)
— Brandon Knight: Final Four (2010-11)
— Marquis Teague: NCAA championship (2011-12)
— Tyler Ulis: Final Four (2014-15)
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Calipari's No. 7 Wildcats' 83-75 upset loss to unranked UCLA on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic showed the Bruins have what Kentucky doesn't right now. Moreover, the loss highlighted why the Wildcats simply might not be ready heading into their annual rubber match with rival Louisville.
The Bruins, without the services of a pair of promising freshmen in 6-10 towers Cody Riley and Jalen Hill — both four-star recruits out of high school — for the rest of the season due to suspension, snapped UK's seven-game win streak with great guard play.
The Bruins got a combined 52 points from starters junior Aaron Holiday (20 points, eight assists, two steals), sophomore Prince Ali (12 points, three rebounds) and freshman Kris Wilkes (20 points, five rebounds). They also got 14 points off the bench from former All-American freshman point guard Jaylen Hands in 23 minutes of action, as the quartet combined for nearly 80 percent of their team's offensive output in its final outing before it begins Pac-12 play Dec. 29 against Washington St.
"It wasn't even down the stretch, the whole game he kind of controlled what they were doing," Calipari said of Holiday.
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Shooting guard Hamidou Diallo paced the Wildcats with 18 points and Kentucky's frontcourt players, namely Wenyen Gabriel (16 points, six rebounds) and Kevin Knox (15 points, five rebounds), were solid but not spectacular. Their biggest deficiency and likely the difference in the game came at PG1.
Freshman Quade Green started but contributed just two points on 1-for-7 shooting, missing all four of his attempts from 3-point range, to finish well off his average of 11 points per game.
For Green, it was the second abysmal performance against tough opposition in his young career. Last month in UK's Champions Classic matchup against then fourth-ranked Kansas, he started and scored six points on 2-for-7 shooting, and failed to connect on either of his looks from deep in a 65-61 loss. During the winning streak, a stretch during which the Wildcats faced East Tennessee St., Troy, Fort Wayne, Illinois-Chicago, Harvard Monmouth and Virginia Tech, he was good for 12.1 points on 58.6 percent shooting while adding 4.2 assists per game.
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Heading into their biggest game on its non-conference slate — scheduled just two days before its SEC opener against Georgia on New Year's Eve — the Wildcats are still unproven at what might be the position most vital to its long-term success.
"I don't have an answer for Quade. I feel bad for him," Calipari said. "But, you know, one game they play well, the next game they may not. Then it's like, you know, their responsibility is to come with a fight and an energy and a fire to play, not, 'I want to play well,' no, just come to fight and play and battle.
"Your shots aren't always going to go, but when you're not making shots and you're getting beat on defense, you can't be in the game, it doesn't work. So it was not just that he didn't make shots, he was struggling to guard."
On the other side of the court, Louisville is rock solid at point guard. Senior Quentin Snyder has started 62 of 70 games he's played in the last three years. The 6-2, 180-pound Snyder is the Cardinal's second-leading scorer at behind Deng Adel (15.3 ppg), scoring 12.3 a contest while connecting on a respectable 36.4 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Snyder's matchup with Green, who has shot the ball exceptionally well all season (53.1 percent FG, 44 from 3, 86. 7 FT) despite the aforementioned exceptions, will be one to watch from the moment the ball goes in the air at Rupp Arena. Proving he can do it against a marquee opponent would be a huge step in the right direction for a team still searching for its identity.
More than bragging rights, a victory, especially for Kentucky, could be a building block to the type of competence and confidence it needs to exhibit if it wants to be a contender.
"You don't know what a 17 or 18 year old is thinking. I have no idea. Obviously, we need guys with more of a mentality of a will to win and blocking out everything else," Calipari said.
"Hopefully we bounce back from this, but again we got, I told them the next four games we play, we can lose every one. You don't play with the will to win, you don't come up with balls, and even if you do, you could still get beat by the teams we got to play coming up to play."