Calipari keeps hope alive for March Madness. ‘We still have our chances.’
After losing at Auburn on Saturday, Kentucky ranked between 90th and 95th in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s mock setup for the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
But UK Coach John Calipari has not given up on March Madness despite the sadness that comes with a 4-8 win-loss record.
“Well, we still have our chances,” he said. “I mean, we can go on a run and we’ll be fine.”
When asked what could put Kentucky on such a glide path, guard Jacob Toppin offered a concise and easily understandable method.
“Team basketball …,” he said. “We have to create for each other. Sometimes we don’t.
“Once we buy into … team basketball, that’s when we’ll start winning basketball games.”
An obvious follow-up question was asked: Why has this buy-in by players not already happened?
“I think everyone is dialed in. I think we just have to become more consistent. Some people tend to go off track, and just try to do their own thing and just play ‘me’ basketball. And that’s what we don’t need.”
With the NCAA Tournament still almost two months into the future, Toppin suggested that time can still heal what continues to wound Kentucky.
“That just comes with experience,” Toppin said of the necessary buy-in. “As we start playing more, we’ll figure it out.”
Gun holstered
Sharp-shooter Dontaie Allen played “only” eight minutes and 14 seconds in the second half at Auburn.
Calipari explained. “We were running stuff for him,” the UK coach said, “and he wouldn’t shoot the ball.”
Calipari added that Allen “wasn’t the issue” in Kentucky’s 66-59 loss.
Allen had made more than half his three-point shots against Southeastern Conference teams (13 of 24).
Allen played 23 minutes and 11 seconds at Auburn. That’s almost exactly what he averaged in the last two games. He made three of seven shots (two of six from three-point range) and scored eight points.
When asked about Allen passing up shots, Toppin spoke more broadly about Kentucky’s continuing inability to make a large percentage of shots. UK went into the game ranked 256th in overall shooting (42 percent) and 279th in three-point shooting (30.3 percent).
“Some players don’t take those shots when open,” Toppin said. “Maybe it’s mental because they miss one shot, they don’t take the next (shot).
“That’s all just mental. Once we get mentally strong, once we stop worrying about the last shot, we’ll start hitting shots.”
Anthem update
Auburn is one of the SEC teams that has players from both teams at courtside during the playing of the national anthem moments before the introduction of starting lineups.
UK players, who knelt during the anthem at Florida last weekend to draw attention to societal injustice, stood and locked arms at Auburn.
“We’re always going to do what we believe in,” Toppin said. “We stood for what we believe in. There was no discussion. We just chose to lock arms because we’re going to stay united and still fight for what we believe in.”
Slipped away
As Calipari saw it, Kentucky lost a winnable game.
“We let one slip away on the road,” he said. “I thought we had them. We could have been up big at halftime. I can’t believe we weren’t.”
Kentucky kept Auburn’s star freshman, Sharife Cooper, contained in the first half. But UK led only 25-21 after making only eight of 24 shots.
No duel
Brandon Boston played on the same AAU team as Cooper. Calipari was asked on Friday about any concern Boston could get lost in a duel with Auburn’s star freshman.
“We talked about it,” the UK coach said. “I said, you are getting better. Stay the course.”
Calipari repeated his call for players to use hustle plays to snap out of a funk. He cited Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as examples to follow.
At Auburn, Boston made two of nine shots and had five points, five rebounds and five turnovers. He made one of four three-point shots, which made him 7-for-40 from beyond the arc this season.
Cooper made three of 13 shots, scored 11 points and had an eight-to-four assist-to-turnover ratio.
Etc.
SEC road teams had a 15-14 record going into Saturday’s play. The road team won two of the five early games on Saturday, which updated the record to 18-18. … Auburn defeated Kentucky for a fourth straight season. That had happened once previously. The Tigers also did it in 1987-90. … Since Bruce Pearl became coach in the 2014-15 season, Auburn had had 16 games in which it made 15 or more three-point shots. In that time, the other 13 SEC teams had 42 such games. UK limited Auburn to 5-for-24 shooting from beyond the arc.
Next game
Kentucky at Georgia
7 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network)
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 6:57 PM.
