Calipari laments lack of practice time, but Troy coach sees UK getting better

With Kentucky in the midst of six games in 13 days, Coach John Calipari lamented the relative scarcity of practice time. On pace to be the least experienced team in Division I basketball history (according to Ken Pomeroy’s ceaseless calculations), UK would figure to benefit from practice.

After a messy victory over East Tennessee State on Friday, Calipari listed several areas he would address in a perfect world that afforded more practice time.

“Situational stuff,” he said. “Probably more shooting. Getting them to play with more chemistry. Being clearer in what we’re doing. Breaking down defensively individually and as a team. … (And) I want us to play faster.”

Troy Coach Phil Cunningham, whose team plays at Kentucky on Monday night, said that the trained eye can see improvement. Maybe not as much as UK would want, but improvement just the same.

“You can see in the details, in the little areas,” Cunningham said. “How they’re improving every game in just the little things that come from experience.”

When asked to explain these little things, Cunningham cited how Kentucky is improving in how it defends ball-screens and in half-court execution on offense.

“Game to game, the half-court offense is getting cleaner and crisper,” he said. “You can tell they’re figuring out what they want to do in late shot clock (situations) and those kind of things. You can see small improvement game to game.”

UK players said after Friday’s game that they expected defense to be Topic A in any additional practice time moving forward.

“Defense, that’s the biggest thing right now,” Quade Green said. “Everybody can score. The offense is going to be good. You’ve got to continue playing defense. That’s how you win.”

Besides stopping the opponent, defense can trigger transition offense, which is where Kentucky is vastly better at this early stage of the season.

As Pomeroy’s updated numbers would suggest, Kentucky will be less experienced than Troy (and against any future opponent). While UK’s players have averaged 0.20 seasons of previous college experience, Troy returns seven of its top 10 scorers from a team that won 22 games and lost to Duke in a 2017 NCAA Tournament first-round game. Troy averages 2.06 seasons of experience per player, according to Pomeroy.

Two Troy players are related to former standout players in the Southeastern Conference.

Forward Jordon Varnado is the younger brother of former Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado. The older brother holds the NCAA record for career blocks (564) and was a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

“Jordon’s much further along offensively (than Jarvis),” Cunningham said. “He can shoot the three. He can score around the basket. He really knows how to play.

“He’s not the defensive presence Jarvis was simply because he’s not as tall.” The younger Varnado is a 6-foot-6 junior.

As an assistant coach at Mississippi State, Cunningham recruited Jarvis Varnado. He recalled Jordon coming to State’s summer camps as a boy.

Incidentally, Jarvis Varnado, who played for Mississippi State from 2006-07 through 2009-10, is playing in Spain this season. “If he had Jordon’s offensive ability, he’d be a (NBA) all-star about 10 times by now,” Cunningham said.

The other familiar name is Wesley Person. His father, also named Wesley Person, played for Auburn from 1990-91 through 1993-94. He holds the Auburn records for three-point baskets (262) and three-point accuracy (44.1 percent).

The younger Person, a senior, holds the Troy records for three-point baskets and career points for a player since the school went to Division I. He’s averaging 17.0 points and has made 42.4 percent of his three-point shots.

“The thing that stands out with Wesley is from Day One he had such a mature approach to everything he did,” Cunningham said. “As a coach, you watch guys when they come in (to see) their pre-practice routine. Most of them just laugh, and they cut up. You never had that with him. From Day One, he walked in and he had a plan. He had a pre-practice routine.”

Person leads a Troy attack that averages 27.7 three-point shots and 9.5 three-point baskets per game.

UK’s last two opponents have gotten surprisingly production from the low post. Kansas, which supposedly had concerns about its inside game, got 13 points and eight rebounds from Udoka Azubuike. East Tennessee State’s Peter Jurkin scored a career-high 17 points. His seven rebounds were one shy of a career high.

For Troy to continue this trend, Cunningham said the scorer would probably have to be Varnado.

After Friday’s game, PJ Washington said Kentucky needed to improve its weakside help defense on the post.

Kentucky native

Cunningham grew up in Campbellsville. He played for Kentucky Wesleyan two seasons before transferring to Campbellsville College to play for his father.

When asked if he grew up a UK fan, Cunningham said, “Well, we were a basketball family in our house because of my dad. We just liked basketball in general. So we kind of watched everybody. I didn’t grow up diehard. I didn’t grow up like a lot of my friends.”

Historical note

Troy Associate Coach Marcus Grant played for Mississippi State. In 1995, he made six of eight three-point shots and scored a game-high 23 points in State’s 76-71 victory at Kentucky. He also had seven assists and five rebounds in that game.

This story was originally published November 19, 2017 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Calipari laments lack of practice time, but Troy coach sees UK getting better."