Everything John Calipari said after Kentucky absolutely blew it against Oakland

The Kentucky Wildcats' season came to an abrupt end on Thursday, when the No. 3 seed in the South Region lost to the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 80-76. On the wrong end of a historic 3-point shooting night from sixth-year grad transfer Jack Gohlke, Kentucky was sent packing.

It's another early exit for John Calipari and the Wildcats, who continue to field immensely talented rosters, only to succumb to youth and poor execution on college basketball's grandest stage. Kentucky's success as an NBA Draft pipeline is unrivaled, but at a certain point, you have to win in the postseason.

Cal is once again under fire, now more than ever, as Kentucky's fanbase starts to turn on their Hall of Fame coach.

After the game, Calipari spoke honestly about Kentucky's loss, touching on youth, broken dreams, and the "great game" Oakland played.

Everything John Calipari said after Kentucky's NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland

Calipari was particularly wounded by this loss because of the high expectations he had for this iteration of Kentucky basketball.

"I told them after, this one is painful. And the reason is there are other times you lose a game and you know your team is what it is. But this team, I really felt, was built for this moment. Even though we were young, I knew that could catch us. But we had our chances. We threw the ball away, took a bad shot. There were things that happened, and then we give up a corner three the last play."

He's right, of course. Kentucky's best players did not show up. Reed Sheppard, after a historic freshman season, scored three points on 1-of-5 shooting. Rob Dillingham scored 10 points, going 2-of-9 from the field. D.J. Wagner was scoreless in 17 minutes. Tre Mitchell (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Antonio Reeves (27 points) showed up, with Reeves hitting several big shots down the stretch to keep Kentucky in the game. But, it was too little, too late. The Wildcats' core freshmen flopped.

Despite the sting of defeat, Cal made sure to give well-earned credit to Oakland.

"But you’ve got to give Oakland credit. They made unbelievable shots at the buzzer. They deserved to win the game. I hate to say we didn’t, but we didn’t."

In the end, Cal's analysis aligns with the rest of the country's thoughts. Kentucky did not play up to its potential.

"What I hate is this team, that really worked and did some good stuff – we didn’t play great. They did. They made some unbelievable shots. We even went to a box-and-one and we fouled him one time, he makes another one. They shouldn’t be, our team in the season, defined by that game. But it will be. This is the profession we’ve chosen. But we had some guys that didn’t play the way they’ve been playing all year.

"We did everything we could. We knew the zone would be tough, but we missed shots we don’t miss. The preparation, I thought they were in a great – trying to keep them loose. But when the game started, you had some guys not play to the level they could play."

Several of Kentucky's best players — Sheppard, Dillingham, Wagner, Reeves, etc. — are expected to enter the upcoming NBA Draft, so Calipari will once again field a young, inexperienced roster in 2025. The question is, can he change the outcome, or are the Wildcats doomed to disappointment once again?

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