Kentucky prevails, but Calipari laments Albany ‘playing harder than us’
Kentucky’s 86-61 victory against Albany on Monday night challenged the sporting cliché about winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
For Albany Coach Dwayne Killings, there was victory in defeat.
“The best part of the game for us was I could tell Coach Calipari was getting upset with his guys,” Killings said. “I think that means our guys are competing and playing the right way. And that’s all that I wanted.”
For UK Coach John Calipari, victory did not bring contentment. He cited one statistic that marred Kentucky’s fourth victory in five games. It involved turnovers.
Albany, now 0-5, came into the game averaging 16.5 turnovers. The Great Danes ranked 318th among Division I teams in that statistic.
Yet Albany committed only 10 turnovers, seven less than Kentucky, and actually outscored UK 14-13 in points off turnovers.
Albany’s previous propensity to commit turnovers included 26 in a loss to La Salle. To then exhibit relative ball security against Kentucky led Calipari to ask, “What does that tell you?”
The UK coach then answered his own question.
“They were playing harder than us and ahead of the action,” he said. “That aggravated me more than anything.”
One deficiency in the play of Kentucky and Albany remained constant. No doubt it contributed to the Cats winning.
Kentucky came into the game ranked second nationally in rebound margin (plus 19.4). Albany entered the game ranked 318th. Opponents had outrebounded the Great Danes by an average of 6.5 rebounds per game.
Kentucky, which was coming off a surreal 53-17 rebound edge over Ohio on Friday (the largest margin for UK since a 57-18 manhandling of Vanderbilt on Jan. 3, 1998), outrebounded Albany 48-24.
That the Cats did it with their most prolific rebounder, Oscar Tshiebwe, limited by foul trouble for a second straight game, could not be ignored. In five seconds less than 23 minutes of playing time, Tshiebwe grabbed 14 rebounds.
But Calipari did not embrace an invitation to celebrate backboard dominance not being dependent on Tshiebwe, who led the nation in average of rebounds (16.5 per game) and offensive rebounds (8.25).
“I’d rather not see what we can do without him,” Calipari said. “I’d rather he be on the floor. … When he’s on the court, we’re better because he just grabs everything.”
UK must continue to try to develop Tshiebwe into more of a low-post scoring threat, Calipari said.
Three of Tshiebwe’s six baskets (en route to 12 points, which gave him a fourth double-double in five games), came on mid-range jumpers.
“He may be our best 17-foot shooter,” Calipari said.
As in the Ohio game three nights earlier, Tshiebwe got into early foul trouble. Unlike the Ohio game, Calipari sat Tshiebwe after his first foul, which came at the 16:49 mark.
When Daimion Collins was ineffective, Tshiebwe returned barely two minutes later. A second foul came with 4:48 left in the first half. A third came 75 seconds into the second half and a fourth at the 13:43 mark. More than one of the fouls were called as Tshiebwe jockeyed for positioning to get offensive rebounds.
Calipari diplomatically questioned the officiating.
“He’s going to get fouled and grabbed and pushed,” the UK coach said. “You’ve got to deal with it.
“His advantage is 255 (pounds). In the eyes of others, that’s a disadvantage. So they let him be grabbed and held. It is what it will be, and (Tshiebwe and UK must) deal with it.”
Calipari said he would review the game video and call attention to what he sees.
For a second straight game, Keion Brooks filled the void created by Tshiebwe’s foul trouble. Brooks contributed 17 points and eight rebounds.
Guard play also propelled Kentucky to victory. TyTy Washington (20 points), Kellan Grady (14) and Sahvir Wheeler (15) combined for 49 points.
Wheeler saluted Albany’s competitiveness while suggesting Kentucky could use more of that quality.
“Even when we made our run and we were up 20, you could hear the (Albany) coach,” Wheeler said. “He was coaching with passion. The players still believed they could win even though the game was kind of decided.”
Wheeler’s conclusion?
“We’ve got to play a little bit harder …,” he said, “Against better competition, we may not be able to wait to play so hard.”
Next game
North Florida at No. 10 Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Friday
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 11:56 PM.
