Look at it this way. Now there really is nowhere to go but up.

“Life goes on,” said Billy Gillispie.

Although life sure can throw a rock upside your head, even on your birthday.

The new Kentucky basketball coach wanted more practice time. He’s got it. He said this was too early to start a season. Now he gets a long layoff. He said that despite the victorious outcomes, his team wasn’t playing well. They proved him right.

Happy birthday, Billy.

No. 48.

Just don’t go jumping off any buildings. That advice goes not just for you, but everyone else, as well.

Yes, Kentucky’s 84-68 loss to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday night had to be among the most stunning, most embarrassing, most downright jaw-dropping in the history of Rupp Arena.

The Cats, 251â2-point favorites, were never really in the game, from falling behind 14-0, to never drawing closer than eight points in the second half.

“We had them on their heels after the first couple of minutes,” said Rick Scruggs, the Gardner-Webb coach.

Scruggs said these same Bulldogs were picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference (actually they were picked eighth out of 12 teams), and he joked that they should move up a few notches now.

Someone brought up Michigan-Appalachian State. And somehow I don’t think the good people at 2K Sports thought it would be Gardner-Webb they would be welcoming to Madison Square Garden next week for its tournament semifinals.

That rustling sound you heard Thursday morning was UK fans checking to see if their plane tickets were non-refundable.

You can blame the previous basketball administration for Wednesday’s shocker. You can question the new kid in town’s affinity for hard practices on game day. Or you can just blame him for being the guy on the bench as Rome burned.

“The guy to blame for that is me,” said Gillispie. “No question about it. It’s all on my shoulders. We got our tails kicked.”

After a double-double on Tuesday night, Mark Coury looked more like a walk-on, scoring two points and grabbing four rebounds Wednesday night. Ramel Bradley’s 24-point performance should be listed among the more misleading stat lines in the history of college hoops.

The trio of Bradley, Joe Crawford and Jodie Meeks was a combined 10-for-36 from the floor.

Wednesday just proved what can happen when a new coach with a new system and an imperfect roster meets a hungry, smart team in a ridiculously early season game.

A perfect storm.

“We just got whipped,” said Gillispie.

What else was there to say?

It should be noted that Gillispie didn’t say that with anger. Or hostility. His post-game demeanor didn’t give you the feeling that someone, or some team, his team, was going to pay for this abomination. He still was smiling.

It was his birthday.