Kentucky is 26-0 for the first time in its storied basketball history, but it's not a first occasion for Wildcats coach John Calipari.
Calipari's 1995-96 UMass Minutemen won their first 26 games, as did his 2007-08 Memphis Tigers. Neither team, however, got to 27-0, which Kentucky can reach Saturday night at Rupp Arena with a win over Auburn.
"When we first did this at UMass, I knew we were slipping, but we kept winning, so I put my head in the sand," Calipari said this week. "When you win, you just try to move on to the next game, but sometimes you have issues you have to deal with.
"I got better about that when I was at Memphis, and I'm trying hard now to do my job and to correct them and to be tough on them. It's hard, though, because they look at me like I'm losing my mind when we're up 25."
UMass had its streak end in 1996 with an 86-76 loss to visiting George Washington, but the Minutemen regrouped to enter NCAA tournament play with a 31-1 record. They defeated UCF, Stanford, Arkansas and Georgetown to reach the Final Four, where they were bounced by Kentucky, 81-74.
Calipari's Tigers suffered their first defeat at home as well, losing 66-62 to a Tennessee team coached by Bruce Pearl, who is now in his first season at Auburn. Memphis entered NCAA play at 33-1 before defeating Texas-Arlington, Mississippi State, Michigan State and Texas to reach the Final Four, where they defeated UCLA in the semifinals before losing in overtime to Kansas.
The Wildcats have experienced close calls this season against Ole Miss, Texas A&M and LSU but have not shown recent signs of slipping.
"I don't think our kids have been worried about trying to win every game," Calipari said. "I think they're worried about trying to win the next game and how we play. Our strength is in the pack more than any team I've ever coached, and that doesn't mean we don't have some aggressive, tough wolves who will come after you, but by themselves they are not the same.
"In the pack, we have a little swag about us and we're a little more aggressive. We're really about each other."
Needing a rebound
After winning at Texas A&M last Wednesday night, the Georgia Bulldogs were 16-7 overall and 7-4 in SEC play. They had an RPI of 22, but they are now 16-9 and 7-6 with an RPI of 42 following home losses to Auburn and South Carolina.
"We've got to learn to learn how to handle success a little better, and we've obviously been very disjointed," Bulldogs coach Mark Fox said. "Marcus (Thornton) is still trying to get back in the groove post-concussion, but I don't think that we've been helping each other offensively. We haven't been as cohesive of an offense as we were earlier.
"We've been pretty solid defensively the past month, but we would like to see our team help each other make plays."
Despite the losses to Auburn and South Carolina, the Bulldogs have slipped only from an 8 seed to a 9 seed in Joe Lunardi's latest projected NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN. Georgia plays Saturday night at Alabama.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.