Mark Pope sounds alarm with brutal self-assessment on Kentucky's ticking early-season red flag originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Kentucky basketball had a major letdown in the second biggest game of the season so far on Tuesday against Michigan State in the Champions Classic. After failin

“I feel like the identity that we felt like we carried has maybe been stripped away and… we’re facing some reality right now. And that can be…that’s an incredibly painful process. It’s a terrifying process if you treat it right. It can be a galvanizing process .”

The Kentucky coach said he wasn’t ready “to tell the story yet” after the Louisville game, but he elaborated on his comment Friday night.

The No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats suffered a pretty brutal upset on Tuesday night, losing 83–66 to No. 17 Michigan State at the Champions Classic. The matchup was a chance for the Wildcats to show off their strength on a national stage, but they fell short.

Tom Izzo has been coaching for 31 years, starting his Michigan State career back in 1995-96 with 1042 games under his belt and 740 wins — one of the best to ever do it, sitting comfortably with a .710 win rate and eight Final Fours with a national championship in 1999-00.

A sharpshooter with the Green Wave last season, Williams struggled through the Wildcats’ exhibition games and first couple of regular-season games. But a five-point performance at Louisville on Tuesday, which included a 3-pointer, may have gotten him on track to be the player Kentucky fans think he can be.

The Kentucky Wildcats left Rupp Arena on Friday with a much-needed clean blowout victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers. After a rough performance on the de