John Calipari describes how Kentucky put on offensive clinic against a tough SEC defense

On paper, Wednesday night’s SEC matchup between No. 8 Kentucky at Mississippi State at Rupp Arena promised a battle between one of the SEC’s best offenses (belonging to the Wildcats) and defenses (belonging to the Bulldogs).

It was offense that won out, in a big way.

UK’s 90-77 win over Mississippi State was punctuated by a more than impressive offensive output from head coach John Calipari’s team.

Kentucky’s 90 points against Mississippi State were a season-high allowed by the Bulldogs. The visitors entered the game allowing an average of 64.8 points per game.

The Cats shot 55.6% from the field against a team that previously held opponents to 45.2% shooting.

Kentucky also negated what is usually a more than six-rebound advantage that Mississippi State enjoys against its opponents: The Bulldogs and Wildcats each had 33.

For only the 12th time in 51 games with Chris Jans as head coach, Mississippi State allowed 70 or more points.

Fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves led the way for UK with 27 points (including a 9-for-9 night from the foul line), with freshman guard Rob Dillingham adding 16 points and fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell scoring 15 to help Calipari record his 400th win as UK’s head coach.

Afterward, here’s everything Calipari said about the win, which lifts Kentucky to a 13-3 overall record and a 3-1 mark in SEC play.

Opening statement:

I just — there’s — we made a little bit of an adjustment in pick-and-roll defense, executive decision. They liked it. I liked it. And now we are going to really zero in on getting really good at it. Antonio (Reeves) was really good. Robert (Dillingham) was really good. Reed (Sheppard) was really good. Tre (Mitchell), I told him, you can’t play as many minutes, sub yourself. And he did. We still have got work to do playing two bigs. But we may have to do it if we are taking Tre out. I went with Justin (Edwards) some at four, not bad. It gives us a 6-7 athletic wing four. So...

The second thing, that team, Mississippi State, is a top-10 defensive team in the country. Top 10. I think we got 90. Did we get to 90? That’s a top-10 defensive team. And we showed in the first half against a team that’s played well that, we told on ourselves, we can guard, we have got a lot of guys thinking about offense and what I can do. Well, today you know what happened, they went on a run, a couple of guys who weren’t into the game and turned it. You’re out. I’m playing these other guys. Don’t be mad at me, be mad at yourself.

Now, next game Robert could be out of his mind throwing hook passes and, boom, it will be him sitting or Reed getting beat defensively, bang-bang, and then he will be sitting. And it is not a threat. It is, be ready to play.

They start the half, we just let them throw a ball to the post and we stood there and then we gave them a three. Wait a minute. And all of a sudden it is a 12-2 run. So...

But it is a good team we beat. Every game in this league is like a rock fight. Every game. The kids were ready today. I was really happy.

Question about Antonio Reeves’ offensive growth from last season to this season.

My favorite play for him, he started his dance and usually what does he shoot? A step-back, bank misser, it doesn’t go in, he is two for — I think is he 1-for-11 with that shot. I’m like, do your dance, you will get happy, and then go by a guy. And he went by him and got fouled.

You know, again, trying to give each of these individual players what they need and then what they have got to do for us as a team.

You saw late game, like you could tell we worked a couple of days on late-game stuff. It doesn’t matter what the score was. It was what we were doing. And, so, we’ve got things to do. But this is a good team. We’re a good team. And we lost that (Texas A&M) game in overtime. We made 15 3s, 22 assists, 11 turnovers, nine blocked shots, scored 90 on the road and you lose? Yeah, they made 17 3s and the next game they didn’t... You know what? All of a sudden, ah, Kentucky. I don’t know if it’s people’s hope or their real opinion. I think it is their hope.

So, we have got another tough game coming up, Georgia, are you ready, has not lost a road game. Georgia has not lost on the road. They are so excited about coming here and playing. Mike’s got them playing now. It is another good team. This team beat Tennessee and they got up 15, 16.

Question about how UK is trying to improve its defense.

Yeah. And it is a playing desperate. Are you willing to do that or I’m too cool to play desperate and you can’t be in on this team. Because did you kind of see? It doesn’t matter who the five (players) are on offense. It really doesn’t matter. We will score, whatever five we put in. That means you better be rebounding, you better be defending, you better be talking, you better be connected to us or I can play somebody else. That’s not a threat. That is come on, guys, connect.

So, the defense, some of it is, like they kept saying, you know, well, we have just got to really do it. I said, listen, let’s come up with another plan, too. And that’s what we did a little bit, and we were a little more aggressive. But we have got work to do.

Question about the placement of a “FREE BIG Z” billboard near the NCAA eligibility center in Indianapolis.

Yeah. I would say it again, our fans are crazy and I love them.

Let me say this, when you have — everybody wants to have engaged fans. I just walked into that arena. This Georgia game, I want it to sound — when I went to the Philadelphia Phillies playoff game, folks, I got chills. It was so loud and people were so engaged. I want that Georgia game to feel that way, like it is — that’s our fans having a 10-point edge, being those people. And today they were really good.

But I would say that doing that shows how the fans are here.

You know, you have got places where they are trying to sell tickets, where they are trying to get people involved. That doesn’t happen here. These — you know, this is — they are here, they will be waiting on the radio show. It is 4 degrees out. They will drive back to East Kentucky. They love it and they are a part of this.

And that’s why if you lose sometimes they are still engaged. They are not, like, not engaged. But some — like I said, you know, some of the statements you wonder sometimes, is it their hope or their real opinion? And I am not talking fans.

Question about Ugonna Onyenso’s ability to block shots in recent games.

He was good today. Like Aaron, our seven-foot big guy, and how much better was he this game than last game? He knew he didn’t play well last game. He was better.

Question about Wednesday’s victory being Calipari’s 400th win as Kentucky’s head coach.

Move on. Ask me another question. I literally did not know until (a Mississippi State) player — I know, he knew. Their player came up to me, ‘Congratulations on 400.”’And I went, oh geez. I forgot about it. I don’t — I don’t — one of their players. My players, they don’t have any idea. They just want to know what we’re eating. Do we have food back here?

All I would say to you, you stay long enough and you have enough really good players, a lot of those things happen. I am not doing this for numbers. I don’t even know what my record is. I could care less. But you can see, I’m locked into how can I help these players? Some of it is, you know, how you help them. You put them on the bench, you just sit them; that’s how you help them. Other times you have got to hug them. You are giving them books for positive thinking and different things to get them to think different.

You are trying to teach them habits because their dominant habits are not real good when you are 19 and 20. They are just not good. You are trying to create new ones. And then every day is a battle of push and pull. And that kind of stuff happens. And I’m, I guess, I’m right near Coach Rupp, right? I’m right there, a couple more games?... So I probably am not going to have that.

Question about the ongoing NCAA process for Zvonimir Ivisic.

I won’t redshirt him. I won’t redshirt him. It is not fair for him to go through what he did to get in the school, two months, what he is doing academically, how he is as a teammate.

Every day he walks in and says, ‘Hey, Coach Cal.’ Yesterday, or two days ago, I said to him, you know, I just want you to know I feel bad because I don’t like the way you were treated from the beginning to now. And he said, ‘Coach, I’m good. I’m good. I appreciate you saying it, but I’m good.’

He’s just a great kid. And he deserves — look, if it were your son how would you feel right now? I mean, he just turned 20. He was a 19-year-old, 20 playing amateur basketball over there. They can make it however they want to make it, but what about this, what about that? I get it. I get it.

But, you know, he is a great kid that deserves it and if he becomes eligible I will play him. I don’t know how much. Maybe both big guys don’t do go and then he goes nuts and we look around and say, oh my gosh, they are not going to play anymore. Maybe. Or maybe it is like, geesh, these two are better than him. We’ll see.

This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 11:27 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription