Kentucky ‘playing with a purpose,’ ‘better than last year,’ Pearl says

John Calipari and Bruce Pearl came away from the pulsating game their teams played Saturday with a different opinion about Kentucky.

Pearl saluted UK’s ability to stay poised and pull out an 82-80 victory.

“They’re better than last year,” the Auburn coach said of the Cats. “And I think they are going to have a really good year.”

When asked why he believed the current Cats are better than the 2017-18 team, Pearl cited intangibles.

“I think they are playing with a purpose,” he said. “They value possessions more. They get good looks, and they have a good inside-outside game.”

Pearl noted how he got to know Ashton Hagans, Keldon Johnson and EJ Montgomery during Auburn’s attempt to recruit those players. What he learned about those players bolstered his faith in this UK team.

“They have real character,” he said. “There’s a real will to win there. They would rather win and score less. Those kids are built like champions.”

Calipari, ever the cautious coach, spoke of the missteps he saw and the work that remains for this Kentucky team. He again mentioned what is becoming a familiar theme: Players pressing to do well individually.

“We walked out of two timeouts and they did what they chose to do and didn’t listen …,” Calipari said. “Because we’re freshmen and our whole lives we’ve done what we chose to do.”

No timeout

With Auburn’s comeback causing a sellout crowd to repeatedly roar, Calipari did not call a timeout. Not when Bryce Brown’s three-pointer reduced a one-time 17-point lead to 73-70 with 4:10 left.

“I like the players to play through stuff so they can learn and grow,” he said. “They can’t count on me to call timeouts every time.”

Calipari cited his apprenticeship on Larry Brown’s staff at Kansas as the reason he prefers not to call timeouts in late-game situations.

“I learned from Larry Brown, why call a timeout and let the other coach get involved,” he said. “You work with your team. You already know what your guys do. What are you going to do? Tell them again?”

Calipari reminded reporters that he did not call timeouts late in losses at Alabama and against Seton Hall earlier this season.

But he said he might make an exception if circumstances warranted it.

“There are times I may do it just based on the fact I can see panic,” he said, “and I’ve got to calm them down.”

More than once in the final seconds, Calipari called timeouts after a UK player made the first of two free throws.

“To set up the defense,” he said. “That’s how worried I was about them shooting threes.”

And if Kentucky needed a last-second score, Calipari said his players knew what to do.

“We were already set up what we call ‘Celebration,’” he said in naming the play. “They celebrate (after making a clutch shot) and here we come right down your neck.”

‘Wake … up’

Apparently, Ashton Hagans gave teammate Keldon Johnson some pointed advice when the latter turned the ball over early in the game. This advice was related to Calipari in the postgame news conference as “Wake the (bleep) up.”

Calipari seemed unaware of the exchange. He said, “This is so hard for these kids.”

Defending Brown

UK gave Tyler Herro the lead role in defending Auburn’s Bryce Brown, who came into the game as the Southeastern Conference’s leading scorer.

It was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Brown got off only two shots in scored three points. In the second half, he made all seven of his shots (five from three-point range) and scored 25 points.

Herro said Brown shot fadeaways and didn’t seem engaged in the first half. In the second, “they ran a lot more sets for him.”

Brown said he was more aggressive in the second half.

‘Crunch time’

Johnson seemed to relish the excitement of playing in a game the featured a sellout crowd and two ranked teams.

“What we’re here for,” he said. “Crunch time.”

GameDay at UK

ESPN’s College GameDay show will originate from Rupp Arena next Saturday. Later that day, Kentucky plays Kansas.

Kentucky is tied for second-most times playing host to GameDay.

It will be the 17th time both Kentucky and Kansas will be part of the GameDay coverage.

Fans will be admitted to the GameDay show on a first come, first serve basis. Gates will open at 9 a.m. The show will start at 11 a.m.

The GameDay crew will consist of Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg. Calling the UK-Kansas game will be Dan Shulman, Bilas and sideline reporter Maria Taylor.

This story was originally published January 19, 2019 at 8:57 PM.