TAMPA, Fla. — By the look on their faces, you could see the pain at the end of the five-month rollercoaster the UK men’s basketball team had endured. Up one hill, down another and through the loop-de-loop, the Cats had just received one of their recently trademarked “whoopins” at the hands of Louisiana State, 67-58.

“It was a very experienced team on one side and an inexperienced team on the other,” Gillispie said about the second-round Southeastern Conference Tournament loss.

The Tigers hit every open 3-pointer, exploited UK’s turnover problem and answered every offensive run the Cats could put together. LSU head coach Trent Johnson let loose a well-oiled basketball machine, further proving why he was named SEC Coach of the Year.

Junior Jodie Meeks was limited to eight points. Perry Stevenson and Darius Miller, both essential to UK’s win over Ole Miss on Thursday, were plagued by early foul trouble and neither was close to the forces they had been.

“It was real important that (Stevenson and Miller) played well today,” Sophomore Patrick Patterson said. “We need Perry to rebound and score … and we need Darius to step up and help as well.”

With the loss, the Cats are looking at a possible National Invitational Tournament bid (where UK would likely be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed), ending a run of 17 straight seasons of NCAA Tournament appearances.

After the loss, it was hard to find even one UK player or coach who said they didn’t want to play in the NIT. But at the same time, you could see the disappointment on their faces. The NIT is considered the junior prom of college basketball postseason tournament and the Cats are the senior class president. Going to the NIT is obviously a step down.

But now UK will likely go buy a prom dress or stay home — neither are options the team or fans wanted. It would be easy to point out UK’s turnover problem, inexperience, lack of killer instinct or a handful of other problems the Cats have battled this year.

Or it could be that UK just refused to win games it needed to win. Shooting yourself in the foot is painful, but doing it over and over is insanity.

“You could point to any games we lost in the SEC,” junior Ramon Harris said. “Mississippi State, Georgia, a whole bunch of teams. The Florida game was crucial, South Carolina was crucial, the games we lost were very crucial to us to get into the NCAA Tournament and we didn’t win them.”

In what has become typical Gillispie fashion, when a reporter mentioned that the NCAA Tournament was a long shot, the coach snapped back by asking the reporter if he was on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and then quickly answering his own question (Gillispie assumed the guy wasn’t) before admitting such a bid was a long shot.

It’s past long shot. It’s impossible.

This UK team, even if it wins the NIT, will go down as a team that wasn’t up to the usual Big Blue Standard.

“There’s no way you can downgrade this Kentucky team,” Harris said. “Everyone wants to win every game, but it’s not realistic.”

The cries for Gillispie’s job will increase after this loss. All personnel decisions (whether guys leave early for the NBA, transfer or even Gillispie’s job security) will probably be decided after the Cats finish their season for good.

Gillispie refused to make excuses, but he said this was a young, inexperienced team at times. Except that the youngest starter was a sophomore who logged tons of minutes his freshman year.

It’s hard to realize what exactly went wrong and where the Cats go from here. Maybe they will win an NIT Championship, but it’s doubtful. Regardless, UK is in a no-win situation until its final game.

And then we find out what this season really has started.