Photo | Keyli Chisesi
KNOXVILLE, Tn – The Kentucky Wildcats looked lost from the opening tip in Saturday’s 71-52 loss at No. 7 Tennessee.
The Wildcats, who are currently without senior forward Reid Travis, shot 32 percent from the floor and 26 percent from three-point range. Travis was instrumental in the Wildcats win vs. Tennessee at Rupp Arena two weeks ago and even though John Calipari didn’t want to use his absence as an excuse, he couldn’t deny it factored into their performance.
When Calipari was asked what Kentucky misses most about Travis, the UK head coach replied with, “toughness.”
“His consistency of play is amazing,” Calipari said. “Reid is going to give you what he gives you every minute he’s on the floor.”
Without Travis inside, the Wildcats struggled to score in the paint, finishing with a total of 10 points inside. Kentucky was already a man down with Travis sidelined but the game was all but decided when PJ Washington picked up his second foul with more than 8 minutes remaining in the first half.
After Washington went to the bench for the final 8:23 of the first half, Kentucky hit one field goal the rest of the half and the Volunteers pushed their lead to 37-24 at the break. Kentucky never could recover.
“There’s this kid (Travis) we don’t have that gives you one more post scorer. We don’t have the same team.”
Calipari told the media that Travis hasn’t practiced yet but is expected to start doing some things on Monday.
