No. 24 Kentucky suffered another disappointing defeat in the State Farm Champions Classic on Tuesday night, dropping to 6-10 all-time in the annual event. An 89-69 defeat to head coach Bill Self and No. 15 Kansas pushed Kentucky’s Champions Classic loss total into double digits, leaving Big Blue Nation frustrated.

To add salt to the already deep wounds, Kentucky was manhandled by Jayhawk guard Tyran Stokes, who picked Kansas over Kentucky when deciding where to play. Stokes had 23 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists while netting four 3-pointers. Aside from Stokes’ performance, what plagued the Wildcats?

What needs to change moving forward? Let’s break it down. For starters, and somewhat related to Stokes, the defense has no choice but to tighten up. On multiple occasions, the Jayhawks were able to create easy scoring chances by making back-door cuts, the simplest thing to defend… just follow your guy.

There were screens, no commotion, no draw-ups, just simple backdoor cuts. KU shot 32-69 (46%) from the field and 10-26 (38%) from deep, and many of those deep balls came from UK players failing to close out on the perimeter. Kentucky was forced into a tough depth problem early on when Malachi Moreno received two off-ball fouls less than five minutes into the game. With that, Franck Kepnang had to come in, and following that, Reece Potter had to make an appearance, which, if anyone told you they expected it, they’re lying to you.

On that note, discipline would be something I would consider an issue, just from this Kansas game, at least. Kentucky compiled 23 total fouls; Ousmane N’Diaye and Moreno each ended with four.

“It just seemed like distraction after distraction,” Pope said following the loss. “That’s what happens with young teams.I’m not entirely sure what distractions”, Pope was talking about, but there was clearly something going on, enough for a 20-point loss to reach the surface.

Moving forward, Kentucky needs to learn from this loss, and it’s on Pope to make sure that happens. Defense and discipline were my biggest takeaways, and a lack of those two things can whip up a recipe for disaster, for example, a 20-point loss. The Cats are back on Friday, November 13th, when they host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0-3) of the Big Sky Conference in Rupp Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET and can be viewed on SEC Network +.

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