Kentucky basketball game vs. Michigan in London is Calipari’s way of saying thank you
Kentucky’s trip to London to play Michigan next season is John Calipari’s way to say thank you, the UK coach said Thursday.
“He took Bam under his wing,” Calipari said of first-year Michigan Coach Juwan Howard working with Bam Adebayo when the former UK player was a rookie with the Miami Heat.
“And look what he’s doing now,” Calipari said of Adebayo as a rising star in the NBA. “Got a chance to be Defensive Player of the Year. Got a chance for an All-Star (team). I mean, it’s crazy.”
Calipari said he called Howard to say thanks and offer any help once Michigan announced the hiring this year.
“I said, ‘You took care of one of mine,” Calipari said. “’If I can help you . . .’”
The UK coach smiled as he playfully added, “I didn’t know they’d be this good. So that’s where it started.”
Michigan is No. 4 in The Associated Press Top 25 basketball poll this week. Kentucky will play the Wolverines in London’s O2 Arena in December of 2020. The date, game time, television partner and ticket information will be announced in January, UK said.
The agreement also calls for Kentucky to play at Michigan on Dec. 4, 2021, and for Michigan to play at Kentucky on Dec. 3, 2022.
In explaining how the deal came about, Calipari suggested it showed his gratitude for how Howard, then an assistant coach with the Heat, worked with Adebayo.
“We can talk scheduling,” Calipari said he told Howard. “And that’s something I don’t do lightly. With you, I will.”
The game in London will serve as a fundraiser for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, UK said in a news release. It will be the first Division I college basketball game played in London’s O2 Arena.
‘Really cool’ idea
Immanuel Quickley, who has been something of a world traveler, said a game in London sounded enticing. “That would be really cool, if I was to come back,” he said.
Quickley said he has been to such countries as Egypt, Spain, Italy and Aruba.
“It’s really interesting,” he said of experiencing different cultures. “A book doesn’t really give you all the justice. You’ve got to go and see, I guess, a different way of living. Like, in Spain, people were bumping cars right next to each other. Just like it was normal.”
As for culinary adventures, Quickley said he has experimented.
“And I’m a picky person,” he said, “so it was kind of hard for me.”
When asked to share a memory of exotic food, Quickley said, “In Egypt, they were eating some different stuff, man. You’ve got to find a way to survive and eat.”
Different stuff?
“A lot of animals,” he said.
The trip to London will not be Kentucky’s first regular-season game in a foreign country. When Tubby Smith was coach, UK traveled to Puerto Rico in November of 1998 to play in the San Juan Shootout. The Wildcats beat Colorado and UCLA, but lost to Ralph Willard-coached Pittsburgh.
In Calipari’s first season as coach (2009-10), Kentucky beat Cleveland State and Stanford in Cancun, Mexico.
And on Nov. 28, 2016, Kentucky routed Arizona State in the Bahamas.
