MOON, Pa. — Alex Poythress was just as “shocked” as the rest of Big Blue Nation following Kentucky's 59-57 loss to Robert Morris on Tuesday night in the opening round of the NIT.
“We just couldn't do it at the end,” Poythress, a freshman forward, said. “It's real disappointing.”
It was a similar road loss for the Wildcats, who failed to gain traction in games played away from home during most of the season. Kentucky, the top seed on the NIT, won just four games in eight attempts in hostile environments, inducing an 0-3 mark against non-conference foes.
“It was a tough environment and they had a great crowd,” Poythress said. “They were incredible and cheering them on. It was just one of those away environments where (they) were rooting against you. It's incredibly tough to play on the road. You just don't realize it's not a home game. You may have fans, but to the other team, it's their home game. It's tough playing in the road. It was a a tough game (Tuesday night) because it was so compact and so close to the floor. It was a tough environment.”
From the beginning, the Wildcats had problems overcoming and overflow crowd of more than 3,400 and found themselves in a hole after the hosts scored the first 10 points of the game. That lead blossomed to as many as 13 points in the second half before the Wildcats battled back to make things interesting down the stretch. The overall environment also was an issue for the Cats down the stretch.
“We just couldn't capitalize (down the stretch),” he said.
Poythress, who plans to return for his sophomore season next year, said the Wildcats had trouble matching Robert Morris' intensity throughout most of the contest.
“They came out and strong, they came out hitting every shot and came out pumped,” he said. “They came out wanting to win the game. They had a nice crowd and everything, but got us down and we played catch up the rest of the game.”
Poythress, who scored just six points in 27 minutes, said the Cats came in with a “good game plan” and one that he thought was enough to put the Wildcats back over the top.
“To come out on the losing end of this game is really disappointing,” Poythress said. “It's just frustrating.”
Poythress said the Wildcats had a renewed focus following a 64-48 loss to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament last Friday in Nashville. The team failed to make the NCAA Tournament field and was denied an opportunity to defend the NCAA title, but Poythress didn't mind continuing the postseason in the NIT in a season that failed to measure up to last year's standard.
“I felt like we were ready and I feel like we are ready every game,” he said. “The coaches do a great job of preparing us, but we us players just didn't execute. It comes down to X's and O's and for us, just playing ball, really. Coach (Calipari) is going to help us (and put us in position to win).”
Looking back on the season, Poythress said capitalizing on “on the little things” would have made a difference for a team that failed to live up to last year's expectations.
“We just had mental lapses and we just had to focus,” he said. “It was tough to follow last year's team. If you think about it, they were one of the best basketball teams (in history). The had six pros, almost had 40 wins and won a national championship. It's tough to follow that. But there are high expectations when you come here. People expect you to win and you can't let them down. We had great potential, but we just didn't know how to put it all together.”
He added that the team wasn't lacking in the leadership department.
“We had great leadership in Julius (Mays),” he said. “He was always there from day one. We just didn't follow him. It was kind of our fault.”
