The nonconference schedule for No. 12 Kentucky has not gone as planned through five games, but coach Mark Pope and his squad get another shot Friday night when the Wildcats host Loyola (Maryland) in Lexington, Ken.
High expectations exist around a Kentucky roster that reportedly checks in at $20 million and is built around star Otega Oweh.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that roster also is banged up in the new campaign, helping lead to a pair of losses.
After suffering a rivalry-game setback at then-No. 12 Louisville 96-88 on Nov. 11, Kentucky (3-2) fell again Tuesday in New York, being blown out 83-66 by No. 17 Michigan State in the Champions Classic.
Pope took the blame for his squad’s shortcomings.
“Your identity is about a collective group,” said Pope, alluding to the injuries. “So it shouldn’t matter if we had built a great organization and a great culture. Which I’ve clearly failed to do up until today. But we won’t fail this season. We’ve just failed up until today.
“We will build an organization where it won’t be disrupted every time someone steps in or out because we’ll have a team identity and not an individual identity. Until we get there, we’re going to really struggle. … I’m doing (my job) poorly. I won’t be doing it poorly for much longer.”
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 24 points, shot just 35.1% (20 of 57) from the floor and defended poorly as the Spartans, one of the nation’s worst long-range shooting squads, went 11 of 22 from deep.
“We’re disappointed and discouraged and completely discombobulated right now,” Pope said.
Denzel Aberdeen paces Kentucky, an annual Southeastern hoops power, with 14.2 points per game, while Oweh adds 12.8. Malachi Moreno pulls down 6.8 rebounds, and Jasper Johnson dishes 3.2 assists.
Averaging 87.4 points per game, the team is hitting 49.2% of its shots while holding the opposition to 37.7%. The Wildcats have made 46 of 144 (31.9%) from beyond the arc.
Loyola (2-4) has lost three of its past four matches and might be what Kentucky needs to recalibrate its game.
Duquesne dealt a 92-78 loss to coach Josh Loeffler’s Greyhounds on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, sending them down for the second straight time.
The Patriot League school connected on 48.3% from the floor (28 of 58) but were only 13 of 21 at the foul line (61.9%). Duquesne won the board battle 39-25.
In Fairfield’s 85-82 home win last Sunday over the Greyhounds, Jacob Theodosiou, the top returning scorer, was strong in a losing effort.
The 6-foot-4 Canadian guard netted a season-high 27 points and has topped 20 in three of his six outings on the way to a team-best 17.2 points per game. Backcourt mate Braeden Speed puts up 13.7 and leads with 3.3 assists.
Loeffler likes his squad’s depth.
“I think we have a lot of guys you could put into a basketball game and feel pretty good about for us,” Loeffler said on PressBox Sports’ Glenn Clark Radio before the season opened. “The size of the role is going to be really interesting this year, partially because I believe there are a lot of guys who are pushing for a role in this rotation.”
