Kentucky suffered an 85-65 loss to Ohio State on Saturday night. The crowd was mostly blue in the neutral atmosphere at Madison Square Garden, but the energy of the fan base didn’t carry over to the Wildcats’ play on the hardwood. Outside of the first few minutes, the Buckeyes essentially ran Kentucky off the floor the rest of the game.

It was without a doubt the ugliest game in the world Mark Pope era so far. There are no ifs and buts.

“Big thanks to Ohio State. They beat us in almost every aspect of the game” Pope said after Kentucky’s 20-point loss. “And they deserve a lot of credit. Congratulations to her.”

You could say it wasn’t Kentucky night, and that’s true. The Wildcats couldn’t find a rhythm on offense. A 29.8 percent margin from the field with just 17 made field goals (both season lows) is as bad as it gets. UK missed 16 layups. There was a lid on the basket.

You could also say it Was Ohio State’s night. The Buckeyes failed in the face of adversity against every quality team they faced this season. This was not the case with MSG. They put the British defense to the test with a hit rate of 57 percent. Bruce Thornton Lost 30 points. Almost every Buckeye shot attempt was met with little to no resistance.

Did Kentucky just play poorly? Or did Ohio State play that well? Call it whatever you want; When you lose by 20 points, it’s usually a bit (or in this case, a lot of bit) of both. Fans continued to wait for the second half run we saw against Duke and Gonzaga. It just never came.

“There are many ways we can do much betterPope continued. “I felt like our guys were trying to find some juice, find some energy, find some fight. We just fell short.”

It was a total loss for Kentucky. We’ve seen the Wildcats win these types of games several times this season. We knowledge they have it all. Pope knows it too. That’s what makes this performance so… confusing. The upcoming 10-day break could be good for this team.

“We have the guys on this team that are going to win this game,” Pope said. “We just didn’t do it.”