Everything John Calipari said after Kentucky basketball came up short against No. 1 Kansas
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Game day: No. 1 Kansas 89, No. 17 Kentucky 84
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Kansas at the United Center in Chicago.
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Kentucky and Kansas treated college basketball fans to an enthralling early-season game on Tuesday night to cap the annual Champions Classic in Chicago.
Despite being without three 7-foot big men for the game, John Calipari’s No. 17-ranked Wildcats led by as many as 14 points in the second half and had the top-ranked Jayhawks on the ropes.
But UK’s offense — powered by Antonio Reeves in his homecoming, Rob Dillingham in a starring role off the bench and Adou Thiero in a breakout game — went cold late in an 89-84 loss to Kansas.
Kentucky missed its last eight shots from the field: The only UK point in the final 3:12 of the contest was a free throw.
While plenty of positives can be taken away by the Wildcats — especially considering they had a legit chance to win despite a combined five points and 1-of-18 shooting from Justin Edwards and D.J. Wagner — there will be a lingering feeling that Calipari’s young team let a massive victory slip away.
With the loss Kentucky drops to 8-16 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, and Calipari is now 5-9 in his career against Kansas.
UK is 6-17 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll since the start of the 2020-21 season.
Postgame, Calipari talked about everything from Dillingham’s high-scoring first half, to the late-game execution mistakes that cost Kentucky a signature win:
Q. How impressed were you with the poise that you guys showed there were some things that obviously went wrong early on, getting behind and missing shots but seemed like they, nothing really rattled this group.
Well, the end of the game, missing free throws, missing some shots, broke down a little bit. We got to get better at finishing. But a young team learns that. But what I was proud of is they fought. That’s a huge team. They had to fight to survive. We got down early and it looked like what everybody said would happen, we’re going to get smashed. Then all of a sudden we’re up and then there’s one play at the end of the half we’re up 10, throws, you know, like why did you do that?
Now they come down make a three and it changes. Got back up, but, again, in those, we were trying to post the ball. We didn’t. Guys were dancing and you know just throw it in there. I was proud of ‘em. Rob went on a run. Other guys that didn’t play well offensively rebounded and defended pretty good. I thought Reed was good, Jordan Burks was really good. Whatever minutes he had, he was a plus-19 and it was all based on energy and effort and all those kind of things.
Q. In a game like this especially early in the season how do you balance riding hot hands versus knowing even when they’re not making shots, I’m going to need D.J., I’m going to need Justin?
In the game, I’m playing the game as it’s unfolding. I’m not even thinking of somebody’s ego at that point. They’re going to have to grow up fast to be here.
Q. Took 38 threes, I’m guessing that wasn’t totally the game plan. Is that just the way things developed?
Well, we had four at the end where we were trying to post the ball and I think three of the four were air balls. We’re a young team. Adou is young. He’s 19. So you might as well say he’s a freshman. He didn’t play much last year. So you’re out there with a bunch of young guys. I got to do a really good job of showing them how to finish games. Then part of it is who should be in when you’re finishing the game. Like I got to figure that out. Like if you’re going to miss five straight shots at the end of the game you can’t be in then. Somebody else has got to be in. If you’re not defending, if you’re, you know, again, we had another game against the No. 1 team in the country that’s physical, deserves to be No. 1, we have eight turnovers. A couple of ‘em were, he got his arm grabbed...
But there was a lot of good. I mean, we were, we didn’t have the 20 minutes — by fouling you knew what we were doing by running. We got to ‘em. And then we start fouling. So what happens when you foul? And they were not good fouls. Like why did you grab? Why did you reach in? If you were in bad position, let ‘em score because the game keeps going. Now you’re trying to run people down until you can get some breakouts and they got to call timeouts and that’s to your advantage.
But we’re learning. This was, you know, none of us are happy that we lost the game. I’m not happy. I got work to do to help them finish games off, figure out who needs to be in at the end of those games. But to come in this environment with this, you know, everything that goes with this, the bells and whistles, and they perform like they did, I couldn’t ask for much more other than make some free throws and a shot down the stretch and win.
Q. You got three guys who are sidelined right now. How did that complicate your effort to defend Hunter tonight without those other bodies?
Yeah, you know, one guy’s misery is another guy’s opportunity. So Jordan did well. Adou did well. They’re taking advantage. So when these guys come back, we’ll figure it out. The good news is they’re basketball players too. They’re not just big guys. They can pass it, they can shoot it, they can bounce it. They may be 7-foot-2, but they’re basketball players. So the stuff that we’re doing with Tre out on the floor, they can do too.
Q. You had another former Wildcat come in the locker room, John Wall after the game. Did he have a message?
Yeah, he was good. When you’re not making shots you got to do something else to help your team win basically is what he said. So it was great to see him. He’s just loyal and, you know, appreciates the opportunity he had here and mother, his mother loved it. She was the best. She would come in, after he was gone she would come in. So ...
Q. I know you mentioned a couple times how good Adou was tonight. Could you expand a little more. His first career double-double. Almost had a double-double in the first half?
He fought. He played hard. He subbed himself. I had one guy that refused to sub himself and missed three shots and turned the ball over. You’re exhausted, come out. It’s not high school. He subbed himself. He subbed himself three or four times. To play the way we’re trying to play, to play fast and random, you have to be in great shape and the second thing is you got to sub yourself when you feel winded. But he played. Played above the rim, went and got balls, was physical. He was good.
Q. As a follow-up to that, I know with any number you can kind of spin it in any way you want, but isn’t it kind of shocking to see that he had the worst plus minus on the team?
Well let me say why. Because the start of the game he was in and it was a bad start. Then there was a stretch in the second half where we were even and then they came and made a run at us and he was in during that time. So that’s why he was a minus-20 something. Then Jordan was a plus-19. So you look at Jordan and say, why was that? He just played with unbelievable effort and changed the game.
He and this guy here, Reed (Sheppard), they walked in and the game changed. So we got a good group. I enjoy going in the gym every day trying to figure out how I can help each of ‘em. They want to win. We got dogs. You can’t be young like we are, my guess is we’re the youngest team in the country. That would be my guess, because — well, you got Antonio Reeves, but everybody else is 19, 18, they’re all young. You can’t win with a group like that unless they are dogs. Like, you know, they will battle, they will bite, they will go in and they’re not going to just give up and let you do what you want.
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 8:39 AM.
