Has the biggest fear about John Calipari’s young Kentucky basketball team come true?

When John Calipari built his 2023-24 Kentucky roster around highly regarded freshmen who could “pass, dribble and shoot,” there was a question about the strategy that served the coach so well in his early tenure.

Could such a young team succeed in a day and age where college basketball players are older and their teams more experienced?

For awhile, it appeared that answer was yes.

Now, we’re not so sure.

Consider Saturday night when Rick Barnes and fifth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers rolled into Rupp Arena and outscored the 10th-ranked Cats 103-92, handing Calipari’s club its second straight home loss, fourth SEC loss in nine games, and sixth overall defeat of the season.

Barnes’ starting five had played a combined 508 collegiate basketball games, with 359 starts. Guard Santiago Vescovi has been with the Vols since the Reagan administration. Or so it seems. Saturday was his 131st career start. Teammate Josiah-Jordan James made his 108th start. Transfer Dalton Knecht made his 64th.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s starting five had played a combined 331 games with just 227 starts. Sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso made his second collegiate start. Freshman Reed Sheppard made his third. Fellow freshman Justin Edwards has made 19 starts, 11 fewer than any member of UT’s starting five.

“The first time I tried to drive to the hoop, tried to get an offensive rebound, a guy grabbed me by my neck,” UK’s Adou Thiero said on Saturday. “So I knew how the game was going to go.”

Saturday wasn’t a one-off. Not in SEC play. Texas A&M beat Kentucky in overtime behind Wade Taylor IV, a veteran of 96 college games. South Carolina beat UK behind Ta’Lon Cooper (148), B.J. Mack (126) and Meechie Johnson (94). Florida beat UK when led by guards Zyon Pullin (128), Will Richard (87) and Walter Clayton (86).

Up against players who’ve been around the conference block, this Kentucky season has hit the skids. Once 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the SEC, the Cats are now 15-6 and 5-4. They’ve slipped to 26th in the NCAA NET rankings. Their record in Quad 1 games is an unimpressive 2-4. They’ve lost three of their last four.

Health is one culprit. UK is 0-3 without starting point guard D.J. Wagner, benched the last two games by an ankle injury. Edwards missed last week’s overtime loss to Florida. Back problems sidelined Theiro for a seven-game stretch. After falling ill on Friday, Zvonimir Ivisic was only available Saturday in case of emergency. He never left the bench.

Kentucky’s defensive problems persist

UK’s biggest problem continues to be a swinging-gate defense, however. Tennessee averaged 1.367 points per possession, the highest by a UK foe since Duke averaged 1.409 in that 118-84 trampling of the Cats in the 2018 Champions Classic. Kentucky was ranked 75th nationally in Ken Pomeory’s adjusted defensive efficiency before Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. tipoff. By the final buzzer, UK had dropped to 102nd.

“Three plays hurt us out of bounds. Three plays,” said Calipari, who did meet with the media but skipped his postgame show duties. “When you don’t have the right guy on the ball, that stuff happens.”

The easy buckets from inbounds plays killed UK fans, as well. They question how (a) that continually happens and (b) isn’t putting defenders in the right position included in the coach’s job description?

“We are young and we still make some errors,” said Calipari, who at times appears more focused on the officials than he does his team.

How will UK’s freshmen react?

Here’s another aspect of relying on so many young players: You don’t know how they will react. Suffering a slump in front of a rabid fan base, while being schooled by more experienced competition, is something entirely new on both a mental and physical level. They’re used to excelling, to winning. How they navigate the choppy waters, on both levels, will be key to the remainder of the season.

“There’s not a better coach in the country that’s going to deal with adversity like John does, and he will get his guys better,” Barnes said of his friend. “He always does.”

“We’re gonna find a way,” Thiero said. “We’re gonna get through this.”

Strong self-confidence or fresh-faced naivety?

We’ll soon find out.

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