We just had our first major upset of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament. Kentucky has gone down.
The third-seeded Wildcats suffered a stunning 80-76 loss to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round of the South Region Thursday night, the second time in three years that Kentucky has lost to a double-digit seed.
Two years ago, it was 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s that did the trick. Tonight, the Golden Grizzlies, the champions of the Horizon League, connected on 15-of-31 three-pointers, including 10 from guard Jack Gohlke, to pull off the win.
With the loss, Kentucky is now 1-3 in its last three NCAA Tournaments and has not advanced past the first round of the Big Dance since 2019. The Wildcats were on track for a high seed before COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 Tournament, but missed the 2021 field.
Head coach John Calipari came into this tournament with pressure mounting, given his program’s recent postseason struggles. The Wildcats lost to Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament last week and are just 2-5 in their conference tourney since 2019.
Calipari will undoubtedly face calls for his job following his latest postseason failure. For years, he was haunted by complaints about an antiquated offensive philosophy; the Wildcats revamped their style of play on that side of the ball this season, leading the nation in three-point shooting, but struggled defensively all year.
Tonight, their outside touch (9-for-27 on threes) failed them, and their defense was too porous once again, leading to another early tournament exit.