Freshman Patrick Patterson said Kentucky shrugs off talk of a dwindling chance to make the NCAA Tournament or criticism of Coach Billy Gillispie. (Hear Gillispie’s Friday-afternoon press conference.)
The Cats are concerned only with opinions voiced inside the team, he said.
Gillispie echoed that sentiment. The coach shrugged off UK’s modest post-season credentials at this point: worst Ratings Percentage Index of any Southeastern Conference team; 19-49 record against Division 1 opponents by the teams beaten; and the “best” victory coming against Texas Southern, which had a RPI of No. 226 at the beginning of the week.
“I don’t think outside pressure has affected us,” said Gillispie, who suggested that inexperience rather than pressure had been a prime factor. “There’s a lot of basketball to be played. We have to play better. None of that makes any difference unless we play much better.”
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
The two worse losses in Rupp Arena history aren’t to be shrugged off. But I suppose an ‘us against the world’ attitude has its uses.