Kentucky basketball’s old answers aren’t working. The Cats are left searching for new ones.

The question was posited to Antonio Reeves on Saturday afternoon at a hallway table inside Stegeman Coliseum and met with five seconds of silence and introspection.

Why is Kentucky men’s basketball still having execution problems — on both ends of the court — as we approach mid-February?

“I’m not sure,” Reeves said after giving an earnest effort to try and locate an answer.

In the aftermath of another damning Kentucky basketball defeat — this time at Georgia in a game that will move the Wildcats outside the NCAA Tournament picture for the time being — Reeves was an unfortunate figure to be saddled with that question.

He was one of a handful of UK players to show up in a big way Saturday: 20 points with four made three-pointers to go along with six rebounds. Reeves played all 40 minutes of the 75-68 road loss.

Head coach John Calipari took only four questions from media members after the defeat. He spoke for less than five minutes.

So it was left to Reeves to search for an answer that doesn’t exist, or at least hasn’t yet been articulated, by anyone within the UK program: Why are the Wildcats still struggling with execution more than 80% of the way through a forgettable regular season?

“Everybody just has to stay connected out there,” Reeves eventually said. “I feel like it’s more so everybody communicating on the defensive end than anything. Make sure we help each other out out there.”

In a macro sense, the goalposts moved for this Kentucky season long ago. After several heavy nonconference defeats and a rude awakening to start SEC play, what many people defined as success for the 2022-23 Kentucky Wildcats changed when placed against preseason expectations.

But even in a micro sense — and with Kentucky’s lingering injury problems understood — the expected positive progressions from a college basketball team hoping to reach the NCAA Tournament haven’t occurred this season.

Kentucky missed 13 of its first 14 shots against Georgia. A crunch-time play run out of a media timeout with 3:36 to go and UK trailing by three resulted in Kentucky committing a shot clock violation.

Multiple times during Saturday’s defeat, Calipari strode along the UK bench displaying frustration.

On Tuesday night he did the same, with the anger projected toward game officials. But on Saturday, the irritation was inward toward his own players.

Daimion Collins, Adou Thiero, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe all spent time on the receiving end of verbal instruction on the bench.

“Those mistakes, sometimes even I myself fall asleep,” Tshiebwe, who also scored 20 points, said postgame. “There were a couple mistakes we made on the ball switch and they make a three. There were a couple mistakes I made: The big posted me up and got buckets. But we’ve got to get those things fixed.”

The question of how to go about getting these mistakes fixed has escaped Kentucky’s grasp all season.

Calipari attempted lineup tweaks and slight positional adjustments. Changes were made to Kentucky’s pick-and-roll defense. The Cats even changed up game-day routines at home and away.

Nothing has made a lasting difference for a team that’s now 16-9 overall, 7-5 in SEC play and owns a 1-7 in Quad 1 games, a key determining factor when it comes to an NCAA Tournament résumé.

The good news, as Calipari is quick to mention when speaking to the media, is that UK still has several chances left this season to score victories that would boost the Cats’ NCAA Tournament profile.

Four of Kentucky’s six remaining games are currently projected to be Quad 1 matchups.

But how does Kentucky plan to take advantage of these key opportunities?

“Just staying connected as a team, staying focused, being positive, making sure we all just stick together,” Reeves said. “Not putting our heads down, making sure everybody is still positive, making sure we’re checking up on each other, making sure we’re still bonding with each other. Just those types of things that keep a team together.

“I think we just need to keep fighting and listening to the coaches,” Tshiebwe added. “Sometimes we make a lot of mistakes. Coach might tell you, ‘Do this,’ and then you forget and you do something else. We’ve got to stay locked into those little things, and we’re gonna win … We’ve got this. I believe we’ve got this.”

Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe (34) reacts to a foul call during Saturday’s loss to Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.

During Calipari’s media session after the loss, he spoke about the Wildcats being short-handed against Georgia, with CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler both out injured.

He also referenced the future, and how a runway still exists for the Cats to reach the NCAA Tournament by scoring some impressive SEC wins down the stretch.

Calipari mentioned the existence of the opportunity, but not the plan of execution for it.

Even without directly fielding the question, the answer was implied.