< PreviousWith all the Kentucky men’s basketball team has been through already, it’s not that surprising John Calipari couldn’t remem- ber exactly how many games the Wildcats are into the season. “What have we played, five games? Four games?” Calipari asked after UK cruised to an 81-56 victory over Lamar in its best perfor- mance since toppling No. 1 Michigan State to open the season. More like six, Coach. Forgive him, for it’s been a busy first few weeks to the season. It began with the normal – by Kentucky standards – sky-high expectations for a team that’s once again young and inexperienced (only five Power Five teams have less experi- ence, according to KenPom.com) and made up of largely new – albeit talented – pieces (nine newcomers). A quartet of key returners led by Ashton Hagans, another highly-touted recruiting class and a decade of success (UK has won more games, more NCAA Tournaments games, and appeared in more Final Fours and more Elite Eights than anyone else over the last 10 years under Calipari) was all national pundits needed to anoint Kentucky the No. 2 team in the country to start the season. After all, the Wildcats have made it look easy under Cali- pari to take a brand-new team and build it into a championship contender in a matter of months nearly every season. The issue is it’s not. That reminder hit the Wildcats especial- ly hard a couple of weeks ago. After beating the No. 1 team in the country on the game’s brightest stage in New York, it became easy for everyone – including Calipari – to fast for- ward to the potential of this team and forget how grinding the learning curve can be with a bunch of young kids. Evansville delivered the message in the form of a shocking and historic 67-64 upset of the newly ranked No. 1 team in the country just a week later in Rupp Arena. It marked the first win by a true mid-major in a road environment against a No. 1-ranked team since 1993. “We go from Michigan State thinking we can beat the world to obviously not in the right frame of mind, not the right kind of prepara- tion,” Calipari said after the loss. “What these teams do every year I coach, they’re going to follow my lead. Well, they probably followed my lead. I thought we were going to win the game, too. I didn’t think we would have that much of a struggle with those guys. And so they followed my lead, and it woke me up more than it woke them up.” To complicate matters, injuries have piled up in a hurry. Redshirt freshman Zan Payne and fresh- man Dontaie Allen are already sidelined for the early part of the season as they return from knee injuries. But then Nick Richards turned his an- kle and had to battle through it for a couple weeks. And then EJ Montgomery went down with a right ankle sprain and missed three games. Immanuel Quickley injured his chest in practice and missed a game. Hagans played banged up with a lower right leg injury. And even Kahlil Whitney dislocated a finger. The injuries have been unprecedented for a Calipari-coached team. They’ve been an un- deniable obstacle in UK’s early growth. But the Wildcats haven’t used them as an excuse. After navigating through the various ailments, the group has started to get healthy in recent games. And when the pieces have all been there, the talent and potential for growth is obvious. Hagans has been the type of leader every- one expected, and his fingerprints have been all over every game. Richards looks like a completely different player from his first two seasons with three double-doubles in just six games. Maxey has shown the potential to be an elite scorer with a historic 26-point debut vs. the Spartans. Quickley has scored in dou- ble figures in every game he’s played. Nate Sestina has provided valuable leadership. And freshmen Whitney, Keion Brooks Jr. and John- ny Juzang have all had bright spots. “We’re healthy now and now it’s time to start taking steps and strides,” Calipari said. “They’ve got to be able to fall back on their training or you’re thinking too much. When you’re playing all these games and you have all these injuries and you’re practicing with six guys, it’s hard to fall back on the training. But I think going for- ward you’ll see, we should be better.” The Wildcats answered the loss to Evans- ville with three straight wins and appear to be headed in the right direction. More growing pains are inevitably on the way, especially with “Camp Cal” looming around the corner and a difficult December schedule ahead that includes nationally ranked Ohio State and Louisville. But it’s nothing new for the man leading this young group of stars. Calipari has done this before – albeit with new players every season – and has expressed the same sort of confidence in this team as he has in some of his best. He just needed an early-season reminder that it won’t be easy. It never is with a bunch of young kids. “Everybody on the team is different,” Cali- pari said. “This guy can do stuff that you can't do and you do stuff that he can't do. So why don't you do what you do well? We'll all do this together, make this easy for each other. And that's a challenge year to year. That's the challenge throughout the year. How do we become an unbelievable team? … It takes reps, it takes experience, which means games. How many have we played? We're six games in. I'm trying to tell them, don't panic. Don't worry about how you play. We're going to get it right. Let's just keep moving forward. Next step”. Potential, Growing Pains Go Hand-in-Hand for UK 68 @UKFootball By Eric Lindsey UK Athletics Communications and Public Relations Photo b y Elliott Hess, UK Athletics UK Sports Network Television Information TV Affiliates: Ashland/Huntington – WQCW Bowling Green – WBKO Evansville – WFIE Fox Sports Atlantic Fox Sports Ohio Fox Sports South Hazard – WYMT & eYMT Lexington – WKYT & CW Lexington Louisville – WHAS Paducah - WPSD 70 @UKFootballUK Sports Network Radio Information Market Call Letters Frequency Ashland, KY WCMI 92.7 FM / 1340 AM Ashland/Greenup, KY WLGC 105.7 FM Benton, KY WCBL 99.1 FM / 1290 AM Bowling Green, KY WGGC 95.1 FM Burkesville, KY bb only WKYR 107.9 FM Cadiz, KY WKDZ 106.5 FM / 1110 AM Campbellsville, KY WCKQ 104.1 FM Cincinnati WCKY 1530 AM Columbia, KY WAIN 93.5 FM / 1270 AM Corbin, KY WCTT 107.3 FM / 680 AM Dry Ridge, KY WNKR 106.7 FM Elizabethtown, KY WAKY 103.5 FM / 620 AM Flemingsburg, KY WFLE 95.1 FM Grayson, KY WUGO 99.7 FM Greenville, KY bb only WKYA 105.5 FM Hardinsburg, KY WXBC 104.3 FM Harlan, KY WTUK 105.1 FM Hazard, KY WSGS 101.1 FM Henderson, KY WSON 96.5 FM / 860 AM Hopkinsville, KY WHOP 98.7 FM / 1230 AM Jamestown, KY WJRS 104.9 FM Jenkins, KY WIFX 94.3 FM Johnson City, TN WETB 790 AM Lancaster, KY WRNZ 105.1 FM Leitchfield, KY WKHG 104.9 FM Lexington WBUL / WLAP 98.1 FM / 630 AM London, KY WWEL 103.9 FM Louisville WHAS 840 AM Madisonville, KY WKTG 93.9 FM Mayfield, KY WLLE 102.1 FM Maysville, KY WFTM 95.9 FM / 1240 AM Monticello, KY WKYM 101.7 FM Morehead, KY WIVY 96.3 FM Morganfield WMSK 101.3 FM Nashville, TN WPRTHD 102.5 HD Owensboro, KY WBKR / WOMI 92.5 FM / 1490 AM Paducah, KY WKYX 94.3 FM / 570 AM Paintsville, KY WSIP 98.9 FM / 1490 AM Pikeville, KY WDHR / WPKE 93.1 FM / 103.1 FM Pineville, KY WRIL 106.3 FM Prestonsburg, KY WQHY / WDOC 95.5 FM / 1310 AM Providence, KY WWKY 104.9 FM Somerset, KY WSEK 93.9 FM / 910 AM Whitesburg, KY WXKQ / WTCW 103.9 FM / 920 AM Williamsburg, KY WEZJ / WEKX 104.3 FM / 102.7 FM 2019 Schedule Aug. 31 Toledo W, 38-24 Sept. 7 Eastern Michigan W, 38-17 Sept. 14 Florida L, 21-29 Sept. 21 at Mississippi State L, 13-28 Sept. 28 at South Carolina L, 7-24 Oct. 12 Arkansas W, 24-20 Oct. 19 at Georgia L, 0-21 Oct. 26 Missouri W, 29-7 Nov. 9 Tennessee L, 13-17 Nov. 16 at Vanderbilt W, 38-14 Nov. 23 UT-Martin W, 50-7 Nov. 30 Louisville Noon (Countdown to Kickoff begins 2 hours prior to kickoff} UKHealthCare Mark Stoops Radio (all shows are from 6-7 p.m.) Monday, August 26, 2019 Monday, September 02, 2019 Monday, September 9, 2019 Monday, September 16, 2019 Monday, September 23, 2019 Monday, September 30, 2019 Monday, October 07, 2019 Monday, October 14, 2019 Monday, October 21, 2019 Monday, October 28, 2019 Monday, November 04, 2019 Monday, November 11, 2019 Monday, November 18, 2019 Monday, November 25, 2019 @UKSportsNetwork 71Next >