Here’s what John Calipari had to say about his ejection and Dontaie Allen’s big night
John Calipari did his regular postgame press conference following Kentucky’s win over Mississippi State on Saturday night despite getting thrown out after two technical fouls in the second half.
UK rallied to win 78-73 in double overtime, and Dontaie Allen came off the bench to score 23 points and make seven three-pointers.
On if fans were right Dontaie should’ve been playing all along:
“Well, when you do that you kinda prove your point. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you get a chance. I’m so happy for him. I said before the game to the staff, ‘I hope he goes big because we need to win.’ Like, we needed a win. And he changed us offensively because he spread the court. In the first half he passed up like four shots and we’re all saying ‘shoot it!’
“And I’ve got to shout out Brian Lane and Transy because they really helped us in what we did. Dontaie there was six out of 10. But it got him going. He was exactly the same way. In the first half he didn’t, and then he goes and starts making shots and he makes one after the other in that, which put him in a great frame of mind. So I’ve already texted Brian and told him to tell his team thank you.”
On Dontaie getting to the point he could do something like this:
“Well again, you guys know last year with the injuries and the stuff we went through. But the beginning of this year, there’s been signs of this. But again, you’re playing behind some guys that you’re proving now that they should be playing behind me. He changes our team. The reason we couldn’t score, and you guys all know it, guys couldn’t make shots. And it doesn’t matter what you run. It becomes contagious. And I’ll tell you what, it bleeds into free throw shooting. So him being able to do that, I told the team after, ‘he’s earned more minutes and some guys are going to end up having to play less.’ The way we finished the game, I thought Devin (Askew) — I was in the room. I was pacing. I probably put on like 3 miles in there watching it on ESPN on my phone. But I thought Devin — they fought. There was a play late that he just fought for a ball when a guy had an easy basket and he didn’t give up on it.
“How about Olivier? How about how he played? Unbelievable. All we talked about all week was 10 rebounds. He got (12) and made the big three that spread the game open after missing two game winners. It shows what he is. And Lance, I thought Lance fought crazy and did good stuff.
“These kids deserved something good to happen. It did. And again, I know you’re going to say, ‘Did you do this on purpose?’ People will say he did it on purpose. Look, the first one yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because there were two or three things happened that we weren’t going to have a chance to win if it didn’t change. The second (technical) was ‘you know, OK.’ But I wasn’t… How about my staff? All those guys on the bench. And they stayed in that zone and everybody has been telling me that we’ve gotta play more zone. But I think, again, it’s going to be a game-to-game thing. But let’s get back to this: we’ve had guys that had to wait their turn and then prove themselves. Dontaie’s attitude was so good. Never changed. Always a great kid. Coming in, spending extra time and now he had his chance. And now all of Kentucky is going crazy. And you know what? You can say, ‘Cal, you screwed the season up.’ Maybe I did. But I say it every year: every one of these kids will get a chance to prove that they should play more or less. They will get a chance. Some guys don’t take advantage like Dontaie did. Dontaie took advantage. This is a big-time win, now. Big-time win.”
On getting thrown out of the game a few days after pointing out that his ejection last season at Arkansas was a positive turning point for that team:
“When I walked off I said, ‘This is either going to be a good thing or a bad thing.’ And then we started making our run, there was a lot of time now, so I knew it wasn’t four minutes. It was nine. So we watched it and I’m in there with Kevin Sargent and I’m like pacing and going. It gets close and now I’m saying, ‘This could turn into the same thing (as Arkansas).’ What I did after the game, I snuck in the back of the locker room in the far corner before they came in. Because I just wanted to enjoy that celebration. I wanted to see it. I wanted to enjoy it. And I wanted to remember why I do what I do, to see that kind of stuff. And them doing it without me, which is even better. It’s better. They don’t need me. What we practice and what we’ve done, it was a lot of carry. We’re still making errors. We are. There’s still some breakdowns on execution.
“But we just needed to win one to get going. And now to start the season off we’re 1-0. All this other stuff — we’re 1-0. We use preseason to get us ready for our league play. And you know what? It got us ready.”
On winning a game to break through a slump:
“Maybe, but here it is again: it was one guy. Davion played OK, but he made one big play. Lance fought. Jacob played OK but he made that — Devin missed a shot and he tips that in. That was a huge play. But the team changes when you have one guy that we’re doing all of our stuff and that guy spaces the court. You end up playing four-on-four now. But we’ve got some other guys that gotta play better. I told them if you fall in line with the execution you’ll start playing better as an individual player.
“Let me say this in a baseball sense: If nobody is getting hits what does somebody do with the bats? They go over them with another bat and they start whacking at the bats because nobody can get a hit. For us it’s contagious. Dontaie made a bunch and then all of a sudden Olivier makes one, which is the biggest play of the game because it gets us to where we have a little bit of a gap.”
On how he’s preparing this team differently and if he’s still preparing this team for March as the ultimate goal (like he has in previous seasons):
“Yes, absolutely we are. I’m just watching football teams that were like 3-8 playing in bowl games. We don’t know where any of this stuff is going. My mission through all of this — and my heart has not changed — I can’t do stuff for kids that they have to do for themselves. Like, Dontaie had to do this. He had to work his way — and now, he’s earned that spot. Here’s what I would say: We’re 1-0 in our league. Everybody that’s watched us knows how close we were. And I know our fans will go crazy, and they have a right to. It’s Kentucky. But everybody else is looking and saying, ‘You guys are right there, man. You got a chance.’ But we needed something good to happen. The Notre Dame (game). The Louisville (game). All these things. They make a bank. We miss a shot. We needed something good to happen. That locker room, again — what I did, why I was in the back, I just wanted to remind myself: this is why you do this for these young people. And so, you know, like I said, our goals have not changed. I wish our schedule was different. “Aw, everybody will be mad. You’re Kentucky.’ Listen, we put a schedule together that wasn’t fair for these kids, and I said it. But the struggle, the crisis and all the other things — it either makes you stronger, or it breaks you down. Are you ready for this? When that struggle comes, it’s only temporary. Unless you quit and give up. Then it is permanent. All the stuff that happens is a moment in time. Are you learning and getting better from it? But the only thing in sport — sometimes you get snakebit. The shots that we’ve missed this year that could have won games. The free throws. Now I’m hoping that — as we finish — we start making those now. Made some of ‘em today.”
On if there’s any relief that they were finally able to get a win and maybe start string some together — and how about Lance Ware with 12 rebounds:
“Unbelievable. I went and hugged him after. I pulled him out and I said, ‘Your fight was unbelievable. The way you went after balls. The way you were physical.’ He’s really, really intelligent and smart. He’s one of the guys that never — his execution on offense and defense is on point. Because he focuses, and he knows it. So I gave him a hug. Gave Olivier (a hug). I told Olivier today, ‘Man, I believe in you.’ Before the game. ‘I believe in you. Just go get 10 rebounds and you’re going to see how this stuff starts changing for you.’
“I look at this for these kids, and I say this — you asked me a question — if winning becomes (makes an ‘overwhelming’ motion) just, ‘It’s a relief,’ you can’t do what I’m doing, you can’t do what these kids are doing. Winning is an unbelievable joy. Losing stinks! I hate it! But I’m not going to lash out at kids that I care about. I’m not going to throw kids under the bus that I care about. I’ll take it on. It’s my problem. But I hate it. I grieve. I can’t sleep. And you know what? I haven’t been through this too much. So I’m learning about myself. I’m learning about myself as a coach. I just want to make sure I stay on the mission, which is: help individual players understand what it means to be one heartbeat. Get individual players to understand what you need to do to elevate your game. And then, for me, have joy in this. Have fun. I’m telling you, this was about joy. Not a relief. Not for me anyway.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 10:02 PM.
