According to UK basketball forward P.J. Washington, the Cats’ 17-point home victory against ETSU was “ugly.”

Washington finished the game with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but he fouled out of the game and committed six turnovers. This has been indicative of UK’s level of play so far this season, putting up good numbers in some categories but failing at a different one each night.

“We’ve just got so far to go,” head coach John Calipari said after the game. “I’ve got to watch the tape. I mean, when you’re shooting hooks at the free throw line instead of free throws and you go three for 15, when you are playing to get a basket versus playing for our team to score, that’s what it looks like.”

The Cats defeated ETSU after a heartbreaking 65-61 loss to No. 4 Kansas in the Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago, where Washington made no shots from the field. Calipari also said he knew the team would have a “letdown” after the Kansas game.

“We had a day practice and some film,” Calipari said. “We didn’t have enough time. I wish we had one more day for Kansas, we didn’t. We came home at 3:00 in the morning, 3:30 in the morning, and every one of these kids went to class.”

While the Cats won this game with what could be perceived as a heavy hand, they struggled at times to succeed against the veteran ETSU players. In the first half, the Cats found themselves down 18-8 nearly halfway through the half before Quade Green scored eight of UK’s next 10 points to give them a spark and right the ship.

Green’s explosion masked the fact that fellow point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Washington combined for 12 turnovers, nearly as many as ETSU’s entire team.

Calipari said that after the game, he went to the locker room and said some words to the players out of frustration after the victory.

“I got frustrated. I probably shouldn’t have, I did. Normally, after a game like that, I don’t say much. But I came in, guys were taking their shoes off, talking, so I said some stuff. Not mean. Kept it real,” Calipari said.

Washington said that Calipari told the team they were being too selfish, and that they needed to start playing like a team if they wanted to win games.

UK will look to right their wrongs as they take on the Troy Trojans at 8 p.m. on Monday.