‘Act like you want the ball.’ Kentucky’s Calipari calls for better post-up game.
While much attention has been paid to Kentucky’s subpar three-point shooting, John Calipari is calling for more low-post scoring.
“We need more of a post-up game,” the UK coach said this week. “We need to be able to throw it into that post and create double teams and have guys scoring.”
In Friday’s news conference previewing Saturday’s game against Louisville, Calipari said Kentucky’s shooting dictates a move to more low-post scoring. He said UK was shooting fairly well overall (46.4 percent), while having made only 27.8 percent of its three-point shots. Overall, UK has made 53.7 percent of its two-point shots.
“Now, do you take more threes?” Calipari concluded. “Or try to get (the “bigs”) more shots?”
In opting for the latter, Calipari said post players like Nick Richards, EJ Montgomery and Nate Sestina must do a better job of fighting for post position.
Montgomery interpreted this as “act like you want the ball, so then they’ll give it to you.”
Sestina touted Richards as a low-post presence.
“Nick is 7-foot with a 38-inch ‘vert,’” he said. “So, he’s hard to guard.”
Calipari cautioned against the assumption that Kentucky will look to pound the ball into the low post.
“Posting Nick 40 times, it ain’t happening,” he said. But, Calipari also said, “We’re a team that you’ve got to steal some baskets near that rim.”
Expect a miss
After Montgomery scored four points against Ohio State, Calipari reminded that offensive rebounding can create scoring opportunities.
Former UK All-American Kevin Grevey recalled how an NBA teammate unabashedly sought offensive rebounds.
“I remember Mitch Kupchak, my teammate, hoping I would miss because he wanted to get that rebound,” Grevey said. “He shared that with me. I said, ‘You dirty dog.’ (Kupchak said) ‘That’s my job, man. I’m glad you make them. But I’m expecting you to miss.’”
Texas Tech
In the 70-57 loss to Texas Tech, Louisville shot a season-low 34 percent overall and 17.6 percent from three-point range. Tech is also only the second opponent to out-rebound U of L. The Cards also had their worst assist-to-turnover ratio (10-to-19) of the season.
Calipari downplayed the notion of UK borrowing from Texas Tech’s success against Louisville.
“It was New York, away from their court,” he said of the game. “Maybe the No. 1 ranking. You don’t know. Texas Tech also lost to three other teams or four teams.”
Texas Tech lost to Iowa, Creighton and DePaul before beating U of L.
“This stuff this year is crazy,” Calipari said.
A trust thing
Not for the first time, Calipari mentioned that he had to call a timeout against Ohio State (with 1:10 left) to remind the UK players to pass the ball.
“A little bit of a trust thing,” he said of the lack of passing. “When I say trust, ‘Look, I got a better chance of making this than him.’ We’ve got to get out of that mode.”
Trust comes into play in feeding the low post, Calipari said.
Against Ohio State, UK did not make a basket from the 5:05 mark of the second half until less than a minute remained.
“Last game I thought we did really good,” Calipari said. “Then the last five minutes, we wouldn’t pass the ball to each other. Refuse to pass to an open man.”
Contagious?
Kentucky’s loss to Ohio State suggested that while shooting can be contagious, teammates can have immunity. Nate Sestina made five of eight three-point shots. But the other UK players made only two of 15.
Sestina said he could not explain why his good shooting did not spread.
“It could be a number of things,” he said. “(Maybe) they had something on their minds that we don’t know about or they were just missing shots that day.”
Grevey said shooting, good or bad, can be contagious.
“When I see teammates making shots, that inspires me,” he said. “When I see my teammates missing, I have a tendency to press a little bit. This is a crazy mental game we’re all playing.”
Opening salvo
Louisville forward Dwayne Sutton spoke of the importance of a good start.
“We know they are coming out with a two-game losing streak and are going to come out with a lot of fight as we are as well,” he said. “We need to set the tone the first four minutes (and) let them know who we are from the jump.”
Etc.
▪ Kentucky has won 10 of the last 12 games against Louisville.
▪ Kentucky has lost more than two games in a row once in Calipari’s 11 seasons. UK lost four straight in February of 2018.
▪ Brad Nessler and Bill Raftery will call the game for CBS.
