It’s Kentucky-Tennessee on Saturday. Bruiser Flint — not John Calipari — took questions.
John Calipari’s SUV wasn’t yet in its normal spot outside the entrance to the Joe Craft Center on Friday morning, but Bruiser Flint — associate to the head coach — was there bright and early to take questions before one of Kentucky’s biggest basketball games of the season.
The Wildcats will take the court in Knoxville on Saturday for a matchup with No. 5 Tennessee, a contest that comes four days after a stunning defeat to lowly South Carolina in Rupp Arena and exactly one week after a 26-point beatdown at Alabama.
Kentucky is a team in disarray between the lines and a program top of mind in the landscape of college basketball. What’s wrong with the Wildcats? Is Calipari on his way out of Lexington? Can Kentucky turn it around?
Flint was there to talk.
“(He’s) just working — trying to get our guys more prepared in what we’re trying to do,” Flint said of UK’s embattled leader, who he first joined as an assistant at UMass in 1989. “That’s all you can do as a coach. John Calipari — he’s been in this situation before. He’s been coaching for a long time. So he understands the circumstances, and what we need to do, and the mindset we’re trying to get the kids back into. And some of the things — you’ve got to keep the clutter out of your head, because this is a place where you get a lot of clutter.
“But it’s about working and trying to figure out what we need to do to get better and get us back on the right track.”
On the court, Flint said the Cats need to do a better job of focusing on attention to detail.
“Our details have to be more consistent,” he said. “I think, sometimes, our details aren’t consistent, and it shows in the game. And we go through periods of the game where we struggle. So we gotta be better in our details, as a team. I thought we were making some progress, and then we sort of took steps back. We did.”
Much of that is showing more awareness on the court — knowing where to be, what the game plan is and how to properly execute. And if just one player is on the wrong page — especially on the defensive end — the results can be demoralizing.
“It only takes one person to break down,” Flint said. “I think we’ve struggled with that a little bit. … And it hurts us at times. And we get behind, and now you’re fighting back.”
Flint didn’t have a definitive answer on the availability of UK starters Jacob Toppin and Cason Wallace for Saturday’s game. Toppin injured his shoulder during the Alabama game and missed the Cats’ loss to South Carolina. Wallace left the South Carolina game in the first half — back spasms, according to UK — and did not return to the bench area.
Both players are questionable to play against the Vols, according to Flint.
UK was scheduled to practice in Lexington later in the day Friday and then fly to Knoxville.
Like everything else related to Kentucky basketball these days, it caused a kerfuffle Thursday when it was revealed that it would be Flint — not Calipari — meeting with the media to preview the Tennessee game. That, generally, is not a departure from the norm.
In recent years, Calipari has shorn some of his own media availability and sent assistant coaches out in his place. This season, for instance, the UK coach has met with reporters only three times before games. He had full press conferences before the Michigan State and Louisville games and took questions for about five minutes before the UCLA matchup. Flint and Orlando Antigua have filled in twice each, and Chin Coleman and K.T. Turner have done it once each.
Isn’t Calipari contractually obligated to engage in such media sessions? No, he’s not. His contract requires him only to take part in such interviews with UK’s official media rights partner (JMI Sports) for sessions like his weekly radio show and pregame conversations with Tom Leach. (Calipari has appeared in front of reporters after every game.)
All that said, it’s usually standard practice for the head coach to take questions before his team’s biggest games — the nation’s No. 5 team and your top league rival would qualify — and Calipari’s absence Friday was all the more noticeable given how much his program has dominated the national college basketball news cycles over the past week or so.
Meanwhile, 175 miles down I-75, Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes took questions about his Volunteers and their upcoming competition. Asked about Kentucky’s struggles so far this season, Barnes deflected into a defense of his close friend, Calipari.
“What I know is the respect that I have for John Calipari and his program and what he’s meant, not only to the University of Kentucky but to college basketball, in general,” UT’s coach said. “And when you think of his teams, all I know is that they always get better. Always. And I don’t care what’s happened up to this point with either the University of Kentucky or the University of Tennessee. You can throw all of that out. It’s gonna be a game where both teams are gonna play hard. Gonna try to get better. And so we’re gonna have to be ready to play. …
“The one thing I do know: his teams always get better, and they play their best basketball late in the year.”
What has happened up to this point is that Tennessee has been very good, and Kentucky has … not. The Vols are ranked fifth in the country with a 14-2 record, a 4-0 mark in the Southeastern Conference and an early season win over now-No. 2 Kansas. Tennessee is No. 2 in both the NCAA’s NET rankings and the KenPom ratings.
Kentucky, which started the season ranked No. 4 nationally, received zero votes in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, and that was before the Cats lost to South Carolina, the SEC’s worst-rated team. UK (10-6, 1-3 SEC) is No. 64 in the NET rankings, No. 44 (and dropping quickly) on KenPom and no longer projected as an NCAA Tournament team.
The predicted score of this game on the KenPom site: Vols 73, Cats 59.
Barnes is one of Calipari’s closest friends in the coaching profession. The two have built a terrific rivalry on the court — Barnes is 10-7 against Calipari in UK-UT games — and they’ve spoken in the past of how they keep up with each other during the basketball season.
Over the last couple of weeks, Calipari has been prominently linked to Barnes’ old job — head coach at Texas — amid recent struggles and a burgeoning angst within the Kentucky fan base.
Barnes said he thinks this Kentucky team will be competitive. We’ll see what Calipari has to say after Saturday’s game.
“They’re gonna play. And they’re gonna get better,” Barnes said. “I don’t care what’s happened up to this point. I know John Calipari. And I know how he is. Nobody’s gonna work harder. Nobody’s gonna put more into it. And he’s locked in on one thing — that’s to figure out how to get these guys better. And I fully expect them to be better when they come in here tomorrow.”
Saturday
Kentucky at No. 5 Tennessee
When: Noon
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 10-6 (1-3 SEC), Tennessee 14-2 (4-0)
Series: Kentucky leads 158-77
Last meeting: Tennessee won 69-62 on March 12, 2022, in the SEC Tournament at Tampa, Fla.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 10:28 AM.
