John Calipari on Evansville Upsetting Kentucky: 'Stuff Like This Happens'

Apparently the No. 1 team in the country losing on its home floor to the Evansville Purple Aces simply "happens."

"Stuff like this happens," Kentucky head coach John Calipari told reporters following Tuesday's 67-64 loss. "You wanna grow from it, you wanna learn from it. We may look back in a couple weeks and say 'this is the greatest thing that happened to this team.'"

Kyle Boone of CBSSports.com noted Calipari pointed to a lack of toughness when looking for the primary culprit in the loss.

It is no surprise the coach wasn't pleased with the toughness his team showed considering it was out-rebounded 38-35. Evansville had plenty of misses to rebound with Kentucky shooting an ugly 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from three-point range and 37.0 percent from the field overall.

The Wildcats never established much of an offensive rhythm against a defense that is a mere 108th in the country in pace-adjusted defensive efficiency, per Ken Pomeroy's advanced metrics. They also had trouble stopping the tandem of K.J. Riley and Sam Cunliffe, who tallied a combined 35 points.

If Calipari's premonition that this could be "the greatest thing that happened to this team" does come true, that will mean Kentucky takes significant steps before its schedule gets much more difficult.

The team still plays Utah, Ohio State, Louisville and Texas Tech in its nonconference slate and the likes of Florida, Auburn and LSU in the SEC.

The Wildcats will have to be much better than they showed in Tuesday's matchup.