Kentucky goes ‘old school’ in search for steady, savvy basketball

If there’s such a thing as remedial basketball, John Calipari said Tuesday that he has enrolled his Kentucky team.

“Probably going back to some old school (basketball),” the UK coach said. “We went too far and tried to do too much.”

As a result of this cramming, Kentucky did not get to establishing a team identity and approach to playing the game, he said.

Calipari linked this rush to nowhere to playing Duke in the season’s opening game. Surely no UK fan needs to be reminded that Duke routed UK 118-84. That was the most lopsided loss in an opening game since 1926.

“Trying to get ready for a game I thought was important,” Calipari termed his second-guessing of Kentucky’s preseason priorities. The collateral damage was the setting aside of “all the things we thought made us who we are,” he said. Offense and defense reflected this lack of attention on “all the little things that will make you good.”

Kentucky, which plays North Dakota on Wednesday night, has had more turnovers (34) than assists (28) in its first two games. The 14 turnovers in the first half alone against Southern Illinois stunned sophomore Quade Green.

When asked about UK committing 14 turnovers in 20 minutes, Green said, “Did we? I don’t know. That’s crazy.”

Using two other sports to make his point, Green smiled as he attributed the turnovers to trying to make “the home run play instead of the hockey pass.”

Freshman Keldon Johnson also spoke of home run plays.

“I guess you see the crowd out there,” he said of UK’s early tendency to bypass the percentage play for an attempt at something more eye-catching.

Calipari smiled as he said “our ‘bigs’ are contributing to our turnovers.”

Big men Reid Travis, PJ Washington, EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards all have more turnovers than assists. The four have combined for five assists and 18 turnovers.

The goal for big men is to have no more turnovers than assists, Calipari said.

As for guards, the goal is a 3-to-1 ratio of assists to turnovers. Through two games, guards Immanuel Quickley, Ashton Hagans, Green and Johnson have 18 assists and 14 turnovers.

By contrast, the first two opponents have better than a 2-to-1 ratio: 35 assists, 17 turnovers.

This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 3:23 PM.