DeMarcus Cousins Calls Out Kentucky CBB for Having 'No Heart' After Loss to Gonzaga

Former Kentucky star DeMarcus Cousins apparently isn't happy with how much effort the Wildcats are putting in during a 5-4 start to the 2025-26 NCAA men's basketball season.

Cousins called No. 18 Kentucky out for having "no heart" following a 94-59 loss to No. 11 Gonzaga on Friday night in Nashville.

"This is hard to watch smh," Cousins wrote on X.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said his program "deserved" the criticism when asked about Cousins' post after the game.

"I have no issue with what he said in the sense of like, if you're watching that game, you feel like, starting with the coach, this product is completely unacceptable," Pope answered (h/t KY Insider's Tristan Pharis). "I think that, as a former player, I'm pissed at the coach too.

"And that's just all deserved. There's nothing inappropriate about what he said at all."

No. 11 Gonzaga dominated early on Friday, surging out to a 19-2 lead over the home team before the Wildcats got anything but a free throw into the basket.

The Bulldogs went into the halftime with a 43-20 lead as the Wildcats received boos Pope described as "incredibly well deserved."

After going 0-for-10 to start the game, Kentucky finished having shot just 16-for-60 from the field and 7-for-34 from deep.

The 35-point loss marked the second-largest defeat Kentucky had suffered as a ranked team in program history, per ESPN's Jeff Borzello.

It also marked Gonzaga's second-largest margin of victory over a ranked team, per Borzello.

That historic win for the Bulldogs came in the team's first game since suffering a 101-61 blowout loss to Michigan in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas.

Each of Kentucky's four losses this season have come against ranked teams in Louisville, Michigan State, UNC and Gonzaga.

The Wildcats are also missing starting forward Mouhamed Dioubate, who is sidelined with a high ankle sprain, alongside Jaland Lowe (right shoulder injury) and Jayden Quaintance (ongoing recovery from a torn ACL).

Things aren't slowing down from here, however, as the Wildcats are slated to take on two more ranked teams in No. 22 Indiana and No. 23 St. John's before starting conference play in January.

Getting Lowe back will provide the Wildcats with a point guard, but Pope will need to find a way to get more offense from his healthy players until he returns.