Everything John Calipari said after UK basketball improved to 2-0 ahead of Kansas game
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Game day: No. 16 Kentucky 81, Texas A&M-Commerce 61
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Texas A&M-Commerce in Rupp Arena.
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Kentucky men’s basketball is now 2-0 on the young 2023-24 college basketball season, with a big test on the horizon.
John Calipari’s Wildcats dispatched Texas A&M-Commerce 81-61 on Friday night in Rupp Arena.
The Lions led by as many as 13 points in the game’s opening minutes, but a swift Kentucky run that started midway through the first half quickly erased that deficit and set the Cats on course for a big win.
For the second straight game, five different UK players scored in double figures, led by 21 points from fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves. Fellow fifth-year player Tre Mitchell had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Once again, none of UK’s three sidelined big men — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ugonna Onyenso — played in Friday’s win over Texas A&M-Commerce.
Bradshaw and Onyenso didn’t dress for the game. Ivisic took part in pregame warm-ups with his UK teammates, but there’s still no update from the NCAA on his eligibility.
That being said, those who got to Rupp Arena early Friday night got to see Ivisic go through some pregame activities for the first time.
The Wildcats were also without sophomore Adou Thiero on Friday night due to concussion protocol. Thiero subbed himself out of Tuesday night’s season-opening win following a collision.
Next up for No. 16 UK?
A marquee nonconference matchup against Kansas — the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the AP poll — on Tuesday night in Chicago as part of the Champions Classic.
Following Friday’s win, and ahead of Tuesday’s highly anticipated game, here’s everything Calipari said:
Q. About what UK can take away from Texas A&M-Commerce’s hot start.
Loved it. You have to understand that they had played two games and they were shooting from the three, you guys saw it. I don’t know, 20 percent, 21 percent, whatever. And I said, it doesn’t matter. They are playing us. They will come out of the gate and they will make threes. And that’s why I was in huddles. I said, this is what it is. Now, you have to string some plays together. The problem we had was we were getting beat on the dribble. We have guards that we’re saying that you are supposed to be able to play the ball and they got by us. And they knew they played that way, you know, some of the stuff that we had gone over.
But, again, we play a basketball game. Would you say we played pretty fast? Folks, we had three turnovers. Now I’m wondering if we’re not being aggressive enough. How the heck do you end the game with three turnovers? That’s, like, ridiculous. We made some bad decisions, guys running up the middle trying to throw it to them. It didn’t end up in a turnover but there were probably four or five plays that easily could have. And they were — you know, they showed us some things that we’re going to have to deal with. And some of it is, if you can’t stay in front of somebody, I’ve got to play somebody else or you have got to guard somebody else. You can’t let a guy get by you three times in a row. It doesn’t work that way.
So we had five guys in double figures. And I love it when in the plus/minus the guy that was the best in the plus/minus couldn’t make a basket. Made one with, what, two minutes to go? Finally made a basket. Reed (Sheppard). Plus, like, a 23, 24. He’s in the game. He just played better. And that’s why he has to be on the floor. But, again, he played 29 minutes. I mean, it isn’t like we are going to play him 40. But ...
Q. About his concern with rebounding ahead of the Kansas game.
Yeah, we have a lot of concerns coming up Tuesday night, not just that. So ...
But, again, like I told them, I can only talk so much and then if you are not coming up with balls, you are not getting in there, then you can’t be in the game. You have got to be able to guard, if you want to — you guard, you play. If you can’t guard and you are giving up too many baskets, it’s hard here. But I thought, like again, we made some adjustments. We backed up the defense. And you have to say, well, again, the tapes that I watched, they did not make the shots that they made today. And you have got to give them credit. They came in here inspired. How about third game in six days, traveling and coming from Louisville and everything else, give them credit.
Q. About D.J. Wagner and where he can improve defensively.
Got to figure out how you stay in front. And our thing is always to retreat. He’s playing side to side to side.
Eventually they get you on the wrong side and they drive by you. And that’s why we work on the things we want to work on, which is to retreat and stay in front. He’s fine.
I mean, the greatest thing about him, like he missed shots today, missed some baskets, missed some layups. I am not worried about him because whatever you ask him to do, it registers and he does it right then. And I’m trying to tell him, look, you have got to do both, create shots and make shots. That’s who you are for this team. You have got to do both. You can’t just try to be making shots and you can’t just be trying to create shots for others. You have to do both.
Yeah, he’s not that — I am not that worried because whatever we work on he will get better at. Pick-and-roll defense a little bit, we were trying to switch and we got screwed up about five times, and, you know, they just blew by us. But that’s all fixable.
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Q. About Antonio Reeves being more comfortable this season.
He is at ease with who he is as a player. He has no anxiety about who he is as a player. The players are — really, this group is treating him like a vet and a player that’s really needed.
They are finding him for shots and he’s making them. I mean, the reason we were up at half is because he came out and made some shots, bam-bam-bam, and all of a sudden you are up. But that is what this team is. It could be Robert (Dillingham). It could be Reed. It could be D.J. I thought Justin (Edwards) played really well today. And what did he do? He ran the court and he rebounded. How about, that’s your major. Oh, that’s easy. No, it’s not. It’s hard. But it’s not like you have got to do this and you have got to play. No. Run like crazy, we will throw it to you, if you can’t get it get it to the other side.
Every shot that goes up, go rebound. Don’t accept being blocked out. Those two things, if he does those two, the other stuff will happen because he can drive it, he can shoot it.
What else does he do well that you saw in this game? So what would you say if you were the coach?
(Media member) Take it to the rim and try to get fouled.
Did you ever coach before?
(Media member) I refereed.
Yeah, that’s not a prerequisite. Come on.
It doesn’t mean you know basketball at all. You may know the rules, you may not. (Laughter).
Q. About Tre Mitchell at the “5” and what recruiting him to UK was like.
He can — how about this? I was told this today and I couldn’t believe it. His career numbers, career, assist-to-turnover ratio, he has more turnovers than assists. Now, how the heck is that? Like he has maybe the best assist-to-turnover ratio on our team.
But there wasn’t that much of a pitch. You know, we’ve known his family. His father’s like my son’s uncle. And when that happened — and the only reason he is here is because of what happened at West Virginia. It had nothing to do here. If it hadn’t happened, he would still be at West Virginia. But when it happened it is like, I’m out and it was their call to us. “Do you have an interest? Yeah. Kind of.” Like, yes. And, so, now you are going to have him. And, understand, the other guys coming back, the big guys, they can all shoot and dribble and pass. So now you’ve got somebody with more size.
Now, I will tell you what Adou does. Adou goes and gets balls. So whoever these big guys are that we keep talking about, they better go in and mix it up and rebound. Because if not, you are playing — because I thought Jordan (Burks) fought like crazy again today going after balls. I didn’t see ... he has five rebounds in 15 minutes. He deserves to be on the court. He really does.
Q. About UK’s slow starts in games this season.
No. But early in the game. We’re talking the first five minutes, we’re not talking half. But I thought we were in a great frame of mind and took them out of what they were trying to do. And you could say, well, it was Kentucky State. OK. We missed shots, layups, I mean, and they make them.
You won’t believe this. If you miss all your shots and they make all their shots, you are going to be down early. So it’s, you know, not brain surgery. But, you know, I have not watched any Kansas tape. You guys know I don’t do that until we get ready for the game. I had some staff members get ahead of it so I would be able to be told what we are looking at. But they are good. Are they still number one in the country? So we are playing a number one team in the country. We could be shorthanded. Should we play the game anyway? Yeah, let’s play it. I mean, if you are shorthanded, you are shorthanded. Like, do you think anybody’s feeling sorry for us? Oh, no. They are happy. They hope two more guys get hurt. So we know how good they are. We have played them. We’ve played them here, we’ve played them at Kansas, we played them in different — this event. We get them, they get us. It’s always that kind of competitiveness. But we will see how good they are and where we are with a bunch of young guys at this point. My guess is, he has got a veteran kind of team, older. We’ll see.
Q. About strong individual play from Texas A&M-Commerce.
Well, you’ve got all of these teams. They are going to watch and say, let’s spread the court and beat them on the bounce. And we’re going to have to be — if you are trying to run your offense, we’re all right. But when the ball moved and it was just beat somebody on the dribble, we weren’t so good. Again, it’s stuff you can work on. It’s stuff you can try to fix. But at the end of the day, his will to drive and your will to stay in front of him is what it comes down to. He’s trying to get by you and you are not going to let him. And then the rest of us will be stunting and helping to, you know.
But there was good today. You know, sometimes the guys will say, “You want to win by 50.” Really I would like to. But it doesn’t matter who we are playing. I mean, you like them to really be locked in. We had some breakdowns. But five guys in double figures. OK. Really fast game. We have three turnovers. We foul them out, rebound them. But they did stuff to us.
Again, I watched the A&M first half. That was a seven-point game. And then right before the half A&M made a three and a two. Now, against Texas Tech they came out 16-4. And then the game was — you know, they went from there. I think they lost by 27 or something like that. But, look, in their league they are going to fight like heck. They will be fine.
This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 10:35 PM.
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