COLUMN: The Six-Game SEC Winning Streak Was a Facade. Kentucky is Average at Best.

Kentucky's 75-68 defeat to Georgia in Athens on Saturday afternoon displayed its true colors. The big, bad Wildcats haven't turned the corner after all.

ATHENS, Ga. — John Calipari has never been one to wave the white flag, even in the darkest times of his tenure as Kentucky basketball head coach. 

Granted, there really haven't been many dark times to speak of. It's what makes situations like the one the Wildcats currently find themselves in that much more gloomy. 

On Saturday afternoon inside Stegeman Coliseum, Calipari's Wildcats' stumbled to their ninth loss of the season, a shorthanded 75-68 blunder against the Georgia Bulldogs — who entered the game ranked 129th in the NET. 

Without guards Sahvir Wheeler or CJ Fredrick, Kentucky couldn't acquire the extra production it needed from playmaker Cason Wallace, as the freshman didn't put points on the board until there was less than a minute in the game, with the result already out of question. 

UK got 20 points from both shooting guard Antonio Reeves and center Oscar Tshiebwe, but it never appeared as though it would be enough to fight past a team that had lost six of its last seven games entering the weekend. 

After notating the lack of guard availability, Calipari went with the patented glass half-full approach when taking a whopping four questions from reporters after the loss. 

“We have all kinds of games that we can go do what we need to do,” he said. “We got teams in the top 20, top 30 coming in, top 10. We got our chance to do whatever we choose to do.”

He's certainly right, as four chances for Quadrant 1 wins are still on the table for UK: 

• 2/15 @ Mississippi State 
• 2/18 vs. Tennessee
• 2/22 @ Florida 
• 3/4 @ Arkansas

Wins in at least three of these games, along with the two other matchups slated — at home against Auburn and Vanderbilt — have to be considered must-win games at this point. 

Then again, so was Saturday's game at Georgia. 

The latest loss further cements the dumpster fire that this season has become for Kentucky. Updated NCAA Tournament projections will almost surely show no Wildcats in the 68-team field. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has already said so, prefacing the possibility of UK being on the outside looking in with a loss in the lead-up to the game. 

No more "figuring things out." No more excuses. Kentucky is an average basketball team. Bottom line. 

Sure, you can argue that with Wheeler and Fredrick, the Wildcats come out on top in Athens. Go right ahead. It's the same thing Calipari did when Wallace went down with back spasms in the first half of the loss to South Carolina on Jan. 10. 

Kentucky still had eight scholarship players on the court that day, and it had seven on the floor on Saturday. These are games against some of the worst teams not just in the SEC, but the Power Five. 

South Carolina has just one other win in conference play, which came on Saturday against Ole Miss — the team who just beat Georgia earlier in the week...in Athens!

If a streaky Fredrick or hit-or-miss Wheeler is the "key" needed to unlock a win against a team that's suffered home defeats this season to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, then doesn't that tell you all you need to know? 

UK entered its most important half of basketball in the season down by 10 points, yet it appeared lifeless and mushy — similar to the grits I scarfed down about an hour before tipoff. 

This wasn't a situation like the Arkansas loss on Tuesday night in Lexington, either. Kentucky actually clawed back early in the second half against Georgia. Jacob Toppin cashed in on a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 52-48 Cats with under 12 minutes to play. 

JT for three 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/QGKGnbRzWt

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 11, 2023

The age-old basketball tale was almost complete. The underdog gets off on the right foot, holds the lead for a while, and just when you think an upset is in the cards...boom. Goliath snatches what was rightfully his, walking away with the win. 

Toppin's 3-pointer was supposed to serve as that "boom" moment. Instead, UK allowed a quick 7-0 run that put the Bulldogs right back in the lead — a lead it never gave up from that point forward. 

It was that specific stretch in the game that caused Calipari to bang his fist on a table when reliving it postgame. He went on to proclaim "my teams win that game." 

Not this one. This team has lost numerous games just like Saturday's. It's the reason that a home game in the NIT is much more realistic entering Valentine's Day than playing in the Big Dance. 

Jabriiiii for threeee!!!!!! 64-58 Dawgs with 2:52 to go!#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/EbiRTQR40a

— Georgia Basketball (@UGABasketball) February 11, 2023

As it turns out, Kentucky's six-game conference winning streak was a facade. It was given too much credit by many — myself included — for beating up on the lower half of the SEC. Even the road win over then-fifth-ranked Tennessee has lost some luster, as the Volunteers have now lost three of four games and don't appear as dominant as they once seemed. 

The résumé? Still pretty bad. 1-7 in Quad 1 games is atrocious, any way you look at it. 

The Wildcats were maintaining the appearance of a team that was poised to make some sort of run in March, but all they really did was stack some wins on one solid opponent and a bunch of other average or mediocre ball clubs. 

Funnily enough, it was after that win over Tennessee that Calipari took time to throw in some of his famous quips and soak in the positive questions at the podium. He even joked that he had a foot on the panic button. 

John Calipari: "I had a foot on the panic button, I didn't have two feet on it though."

— Hunter Shelton (@HunterShelton_) January 14, 2023

Have to wonder where that foot currently resides for the Hall of Fame coach with just six games left in the regular season and hardly any positives to speak of. 

As previously mentioned, while the door to March Madness is slamming shut, there's still the high-caliber group of foes waiting in the wings. Another six-game winning streak wouldn't hurt, eh? 

"Whether we’re healthy or not, we’re gonna have to go at those teams and those are gonna be important games for us," Calipari said. "But we have them, it’s not like we don’t have any other chances to go get this right.”

Six chances to make things right, Also six chances for things to spiral further out of control. 

It all begins with another road trip, this time to Starkville, Miss. to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs — who will enter the game on a five-game winning streak of their own. 

A second missed NCAA Tournament in the span of three seasons is looking all the more likely as time ticks onward in Lexington. Calipari and Kentucky are on the brink. 

More on the loss to the Bulldogs HERE.

More on Wheeler and Fredrick's status HERE.

Game notes from the defeat can be found HERE.

WATCH: John Calipari speaks after loss to UGA.

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