The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman had strong words for Kentucky's major struggles

This Kentucky basketball team is proving to have a huge problem on their hands, and it's more than just not winning against quality teams. They have an effort problem, and after getting punched in the mouth in multiple games already and not responding, it was more of the same in Nashville on Friday. It took Kentucky nearly nine minutes to score its first field goal of the game, taking a 17-point lead into the under-12 media timeout. Kentucky never responded after going down early, and that's why fans were booing.

Kentucky has an identity crisis, which is nothing new after suffering with this problem over the last three weeks. They are searching for answers themselves on the court, but they have found none. Fans gave this team a clear home court advantage, cheering their butts off for their team, even throughout the game, but the Wildcats never showed fight or pride, or even effort. Kentucky is now 5-4 on the season after all four of their power conference games so far have left an embarrassing product on the floor.

Following Gonzaga's absolute beatdown of Kentucky, leaving Nashville with a 35-point win, national media from around the country began flaming the issues that are wrong with this Kentucky team. They gave Kentucky fans hard truths, but it's still true. One media member who knows Pope as well as anyone in the business, Jeff Goodman, spoke very in-depth about what is wrong with this Kentucky squad right now.

Goodman was in attendance in Nashville to see Kentucky's terrible product of basketball in-person, and boy did he have things to say. Before the season, Goodman raved about Kentucky's backcourt depth, while also bringing up that Pope had a good problem on his hands with playing time distribution while keeping them happy. "I don't know how Mark Pope keeps them happy, but man, it's a good problem to have," Goodman said before the season. Now, that depth has turned out to be a problem, which has led to a much bigger problem. Goodman voiced his take after Kentucky's loss to Gonzaga.

What went wrong against Gonzaga? There's not another way to put it other than it was a "shitshow," Goodman said on The Field of 68: "Kentucky couldn't score early, they couldn't stop Gonzaga early. They picked up right where they left off not being able to make a three. Last game against Carolina they went 1-13 from three. Tonight, it was just an absolute shit-show, I mean honestly I don't know what else to say. It was that bad in every phase of the game that Kentucky fans were cheering when they cut it to 28. That's how bad it was. ...Think about it, nine games ago, this fanbase adored Mark Pope. Now a lot of them are questioning whether he should be the head coach at Kentucky."

Andrija Jelavic, Mark Pope — Nov 26, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with forward Andrija Jelavic (4) during the second half against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

What are the main issues with this Kentucky team right now? It's a totally dysfunctional product on the floor with no pride shown from the players, says Goodman. "It's dysfunctional in every way right now," Goodman said on The Field of 68 on Friday night. "The way the team is put together doesn't fit well on the court, you can see it. They have one point guard right now in Jaland Lowe, who, again, was not 100 percent (against Gonzaga), we know that. But even when he's 100 percent, he's not gonna fix all their issues. ...They got a lot of guys when you look at them, you're just like, how, why? Denzel Aberdeen, like, why are you paying all (this money)? Otega Oweh. I'm walking out of the tunnel at halftime and an NBA guy said to me, 'His body language is atrocious, just doesn't look like he cares.' So, pride is a big part of this right now. Kentucky fans, I talked to a bunch of them, and the one thing they were all saying If this team's playing as hard as shit, we're okay if they lose. But this team looks like they're not playing hard and not playing with any pride."

Goodman also had thoughts on how much Jayden Quaintance will help when he returns, but he did raise the question of if he even comes back at this point with all of the issues going on. "Jayden Quaintance will help, if he comes back, we'll see. The plan is for him to come back in a couple weeks, like, does he even bother coming back at this point? Frankly, if he does come back, his stock may go down at the end of the day because, again, they don't have shooters, they don't have a point guard right now who makes people and better and makes it easier for the bigs. They're not guarding, I mean they were a joke. As bad as they were offensively, they were equally as pathetic on the defensive end."

Can Kentucky turn it around? Goodman doesn't see it happening, as it looks like the damage has already been done. "That's the problem, I don't see this team all of a sudden flipping the switch, even with getting Jayden Quaintance back, I don't think they're gonna be able to. Is Mark Pope on the hot seat? I had a bunch of fans ask me that after the game. ...I will say this, if this season ends up being a complete shit-show, he will go into year three on the hot seat."

Mark Pope and his players have A LOT of work to do to get things on track, but it's going to have to be a big turnaround from the product that's currently being put on the floor.

Check out the show's full analysis on another embarrassing loss for Kentucky below: