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NCAA Basketball

Billy Gillispie Has a Lot of Work to Do

Posted Nov 07, 2007 11:52PM By Charles Rich (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Kentucky Basketball, SEC Basketball, Mid-Majors Basketball, Kentucky

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After last night's opening win over Central Arkansas, Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie was less than thrilled with a 67-40 win.
Though he praised his players' effort -- as he had after a pair of exhibition victories -- he said the Cats continue to make too many mental mistakes. He wasn't happy with an offense that shot 40 percent in the first half, nor impressed with the defense even though the Bears made just 10 of 50 shots.

"Their 20 percent (shooting) wasn't enough us," Gillispie said. "It was more them."

Nor was he ecstatic about the mental mistakes he said are plaguing his team.
A 27 point win had him unhappy. Then the 16 point loss tonight to Gardner-Webb -- on his 48th birthday -- may have Gillispie popping Prozac like chiclets. Last year, Gardner-Webb was 9-21 and finished 7th in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

There are a lot of Kentucky fans canceling their trip to NYC for next week. It was expected that Kentucky would roll through the first couple home games tied in to 2K Sports College Hoops Classic before getting some nice early season challenges. Not happening.

The Runnin' Bulldogs led the entire game. They outshot, outrebounded and outplayed the Wildcats. Gillispie's disapproval of the team's defensive effort in the exhibitions and first game appears quite warranted. Gardner-Webb was able to run backdoor cuts almost at will for easy layups and higher percentage shots. This was not a case of a team that got incredibly hot from behind the 3-point line. Gardner-Webb shot over 56% on 2-point shots.

Kentucky, by contrast shot just under 36% in the game and looked shocked for most of the game. Stunned that they weren't winning. The fans were just as stunned. Heading out early and quietly. By the time the game ended, the stands were almost entirely empty.

After yesterday's game, Gillispie spoke of his goals at Kentucky for this season.

"I like to see great hustle and teamwork and execution, playing hard, playing smart and playing together. I want to honor this state and university with a little bit better play than we have so far."

The 84-68 loss was the first time the Wildcats lost to a non-BCS school on their home court since Western Kentucky in November 2001.

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