Here’s everything John Calipari had to say after Kentucky’s loss to Georgia
Kentucky let a late lead get away at Georgia on Wednesday night and suffered one of its most inexplicable losses yet in a frustrating season, a 63-62 defeat to a Bulldogs team that is expected to be among the worst in the Southeastern Conference.
Here’s what UK Coach John Calipari had to say after the loss, which dropped the Cats’ record to 4-9 on the season and 3-3 in SEC play, the team’s third consecutive loss.
I wonder what you say to the team, how concerned are you about discouragement after something like this?
“I need someone to talk to me, because I’m discouraged. What I just saw. The way we finished the game. The shot selection at the end. Missed free throws. Turnovers. Just throw the ball to them for layups. We gave them 20 points on turnovers, throwing them the ball. I’m discouraged.
“And again, we get beat to every tough ball. We got one ball in front of our bench, Devin (Askew) dives for. The rest of them — we don’t get any. And so what happens is, you know, we just gotta keep trying to figure out and try to help them, but if they don’t understand the importance of toughness. I mean, the last basket, No. 4 got ran down and just caught it and layed it in. Just layed it in! And then the last play, we were telling them, ‘You can’t get screened on this. Fight.’ One guy got screened. And then they got it in, and he fumbled it, and no one blocked it. We just gave him a layup. C’mon. I mean, this is all stuff that, we gotta be better.
“Our guard play was awful. BJ (Boston) showed some life. The rest of the guard play was not good at all. You try to open up the court a little bit, can’t get by anybody. End up taking a bad shot. We got our hands full, but you know what? I’m not giving up on ’em. … And we should have won the game. We’re up six. We got the ball. I mean, c’mon. But you gotta give credit to Georgia. They never stop. We missed two free throws, they get their chance. He doesn’t even call a timeout, which I wouldn’t do either. And then they get it on the baseline, because, again, we didn’t come up with the ball.”
What worries you more about this team — the lack of what seems to be physical toughness, or the lack of mental toughness at key times?
“It’s both. I’m telling guys, ‘If you don’t shoot it, I’m taking you out.’ And, again, we had guys in roles that they were comfortable with. Now you put them in other roles, you see, they’re not as comfortable. This is why I always say, ‘I know my team.’ I’m with them everyday. I know who they are. I know when they’re going to play their best, when they’re in certain roles. And you start putting guys and doing stuff — I tell ya, it woke up BJ. But then one of the other guards was so bad, I had to start him in the second half.”
Your teams usually get so much better during this break between the two semesters. Now that you’re back in practice and you have less practice time, how do you fix the issues moving ahead?
“It may be good that we have less time on the court. But again, what I keep saying is: these kids are respectful. They listen. They just don’t hear. I mean, every one-handed rebound. Do you guys understand: every day we’re working on two-handed rebounds. Every day. Not, like, every other day. Every day. Sometimes we’re doing it in the morning and the evening — two-handed rebounds. You know how many we went after with one? The last one we got, the guy went after it with one hand. And we got lucky it was on the floor and we were able to pick it up. I mean, all that kind of stuff is just — you don’t want to lose because of that. You don’t block out on a free throw. Really? Really?! You break off an offense, you’re supposed to screen the ball, and you don’t really screen and the guy doesn’t come off, so now it’s one on one. We can’t play that way. We can’t get the ball by anybody. We’re not that kind of team. So now we end up having a tough shot. We go in, and now you’re begging for fouls.
”But, like I said, you can tell my frustration right now. But I’m the coach of the team. And I got a job to do. We gotta figure out how we’re gonna win games. That’s all it is.”
How maddening is it to go game to game and — within the game — you don’t know who’s going to show up and who’s not going to show up …
“Not show up. They’re there and ready. It’s mentally, if something goes wrong — and that’s why I like guys, when they’re coming off the bench and whatever they do is good — when you start doing different things, all the sudden you look and say, ‘Wow, maybe he shouldn’t.’ But I know. And you’re right — the consistency of these players, it’s made it hard.
“I told the staff: I’d like to be playing six or seven guys right now, and that’s it. The problem is, who would they be? And now you’re trying to play nine or 10. You can’t play nine or 10. Why are we playing that many?”
Because you don’t know who’s going to play well.
“There you go. Who’s going to be rough? Who’s going to make that play. He’s going to come up with that rebound? Who’s not going to break down defensively? And a lot of it is based on, ‘If I’m not doing well offensively, all that other stuff slips.’ And I keep coming back to the easiest thing. Forget about all that, and do the stuff that doesn’t take skill, because maybe you’re not real skilled. So do the stuff that doesn’t take skill. Or, ready for this word? Talent. Do all the things that don’t take skill and talent, and go hard. And now you start building your own confidence.
“And I told them, fall back on the training. I told them before the game — we even said as coaches — I don’t care what they shoot, I’m not saying anything. Let them shoot. Let them see if they can get going. And I’m looking around saying, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I know we’re not as bad as we played. Give Georgia credit. I do not want to take away from their win. That was a good win for them. We’re not as bad as we played, but you know what? We better start playing better. It ain’t getting any easier. Every game we’re playing from here on in — really hard. So we’re going to have to step on the gas.”
Obviously, Devin had a rough night. How do you handle that moving forward with him?
“I don’t know. I feel bad for him. And I even told him, ‘I’m putting you in this play because I believe in you.’ And that last free throw, I know crushed him. And that wasn’t the game. The game — we had a turnover, threw it ahead, it was thrown back to him, the guy gets a breakaway layup on a transition basket. No. 4, no one picked him up, and they throw it under the basket. Are you kidding me? With a minute to go in the game? How does that happen?
“But, you know, and you watched — he didn’t play great. But I believe in him. This stuff is hard. All I keep coming back to, again, play to the training. Here’s how I want Devin to play, so you all know. I don’t want him to have a lot of dribbles. I want him to come down, get it up, and get away from the ball. The reason I like that is, away from the ball, he can make plays. And he can make shots. On the ball, where everybody’s watching him, he’s not effective. He’s just not. If we put him in pick and rolls, get rid of the ball. If you have a layup, take it. But you can’t come off, thinking ‘I’m trying to score,’ because then you add two dribbles to everything. And so you understand what I’ve been saying and talking — less dribbles, get rid of the ball, go away from the ball, and when it comes to you, make plays. But, again, he’s a respectful kid. He’s just, I don’t know if he’s hearing what we’re trying to get him to do. But he will.
“These kids are good kids. This is a struggle. We needed to break through for this game, and we didn’t. So what do we do? Now we go on to the next game. We got a practice tomorrow. We got a practice on Friday. And we play a really good LSU team at home. With no fans. There were no fans here today either.”
You’ve talked so much about toughness and the balance of how hard you can go on these guys, compared to how hard you normally would. Kenny Payne was a guy who instilled a lot of toughness and maybe played good cop to your bad cop. … You feel like you’ve missed that? Have you missed him to some degree, his presence?
“My staff is doing it. Believe me. They’re there every day with these guys. They go to the lodge and check them out. They do extra work. Kenny was great at what he does. But we got guys here doing the same. So, do we miss him? I miss him. Because I love him. He’s like a brother. But we have guys doing that. If you think that anybody could change, like, guys’ games or their abilities — I’m not sure there’s one guy that could do that. But, believe me, we’re taking time — and I’m spending extra time — with these kids.
“But it kind of adds up. You’re at Kentucky. This isn’t easy. You start losing, everybody has an answer. Not only that, they try to move guys in and do different things, and now all the sudden, you screw up a couple …
“I am trying to do everything I can to help everyone play their best. They gotta hear what we’re saying on the toughness and the mental toughness. Make those plays. And I think we will. So, we go on to the next, folks. Be safe.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 10:04 PM.
