John Calipari explains how his short-handed Wildcats put on an offensive clinic at Vanderbilt

Kentucky basketball needed that.

After a week of losing inside the friendly confines of Rupp Arena, the Wildcats went on the road (albeit in front of a pro-UK crowd) and responded in a big way following home losses to Florida and Tennessee.

Kentucky’s 109-77 throttling of Vanderbilt on Tuesday night inside Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee, was just as comprehensive, and welcomed, as the final score indicated.

Six different UK players scored in double figures, including a breakout 17-point performance by freshman Justin Edwards along with 13 points and five rebounds from fellow first-year player Jordan Burks.

Fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves led the way with 24 points: He’s now scored 20-plus points in six of the last eight games..

Freshman guard Rob Dillingham continued his current offensive heater with 20 points and a team-high nine assists. Per the SEC Network, Dillingham is the only Kentucky player in the last 25 seasons to record 20-plus points off the bench in three straight games.

UK held significant advantages in made field goals (41-22), rebounds (50-28), points in the paint (48-14) and fast-break points (30-6) compared to the Commodores. Kentucky led for the entire game.

The totality of the offensive output by the Wildcats was also staggering: UK’s 109 points scored were the most by the Cats in a road game since February 1996 (120 points at Vanderbilt).

Earlier on Tuesday, Rutgers and Maryland combined for 109 points in a game. Kentucky reached that total all by itself.

What’s more? UK did all of this while down two starters: Freshman guard D.J. Wagner (ankle) and fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell (back) both didn’t play.

Afterward, UK head coach John Calipari touched on all of this, and more.

Here’s everything Calipari told reporters in Nashville.

Question about Jordan Burks and Justin Edwards having big performances.

I was really proud of both of them. Jordan especially because he hadn’t had a chance. And then we’re trying to get Justin to play a little bit different and it’s helping him, but... ‘You don’t understand my game.’ Well, I do. That’s why I’m getting you, just do it this way.

(Justin) is a difference-maker. Z (Zvonimir Ivisic) finally practiced folks. he didn’t practice for two weeks. How are you going to play him? So he finally practiced. And you know, he’s another one.

Aaron (Bradshaw) played well. Ugo (Ugonna Onyenso) did not play as well this game. But that’s fine. Last game he was off the charts. I told the guys, ‘If someone’s playing better than you, they’re going to play more than you’re going to play.’ That’s how it is.

Played well. Made a lot of shots. But we defended better, we made some changes. But the biggest thing is we just, you saw them dive on the floor, I subbed Antonio (Reeves) in the first half because he didn’t dive. ‘You’re out.’ You dive on the floor, you come out. So then they were diving and I think two of them were fake dives, but they, at least, even a fake dive is good.

If we start diving on the floor, that’s one piece. Then, if we figure out defensively the easiest way for these guys to really lock in and guard, but the way we played offensively today, it’s, you know.

Question about Kentucky not getting tight after two home losses.

Well, we talked last night, and one of the things I said was, ‘You’ve got to play like you have nothing to lose, because that’s every team playing us.’ Every team that plays us. They play like they have nothing to lose. I said, ‘You’ve got to do the same.’

And the second thing we talked about is, you have to commit to defending. Because it doesn’t matter who’s the 5 on the court, offensively. But if it matters defensively, and you’re the issue, you’re not playing. And I don’t care who you are. I said, ‘We’ve won games with you not playing well, you not playing well offensively, but we have to lock in defensively.’

If we become, let’s just say 8-10% better defensively, and we start playing a little more physical, we’re diving on the floor, now. the way we score, it’s a different deal. But, look, I’ve said it I’m not trading this team for any other team. I believe in them. I told them that.

We have a lot of weapons. We have a lot of playmakers. Will we get better defensively? Will we continue to dive on the floor? Will we take pride in our defense? We worked, but we’re going to keep working on 3-point defense, 3-point shot defense.

The emphasis that we’ll have for the rest of the year, 70% of what we do will be defensively.

Question about Zvonimir Ivisic.

He was far behind because he wasn’t practicing. If you want to know what they were, there were like nine different things. Things I didn’t realize could happen. And I just... ‘Kid, do you ever want to play here?’ Well, you’re going to have to practice.

His best practice (was) yesterday. So now he’s all excited. Yeah, that’s how this works. So, and he’s a great kid. I mean, he had three turnovers today and all of them we’re like, ‘Why did you do that?’ Like, you know just make easy plays. You’re such a good player, you don’t have to do that.

But I’ll tell you, he’s a difference-maker. You can throw lobs to him. How about, he can throw a lob to you.

Follow-up question about Ivisic playing more in games if he practices more.

Yes. Yeah, that means some guys aren’t going to play as much. I mean, Jordan played better than... Now does that mean he should be in there?

‘No, because I like the other kid more.’ What? I’m just watching the game and just saying, ‘Hey, I’m playing the guys that really want to do this.’ In another week or two, we’re going to have 11 guys.

We’re going to have 11 guys, and they all can play. So, I’d rather have that than four guys.

Question about having in-game conversations with Reed Sheppard.

Well, he threw a spinner (pass). Why would you do that? I mean, what are you doing? He just throws it in there. I think he just does it without thinking. But, I was telling him today, what he does defensively, he’s kind of like what Rob (Dillingham) is on offense. You’ve got to let him go a little bit, and then you’ve got to let him do a couple things and then don’t accept it. Because he’ll keep going that way.

Reed is (that) defensively. Because he gets his hands on balls, he blocks... he steals, (and) he goes rogue. And just leaves. Like, why did you do that? So I’ve got to let some of it go because he is so goo with his hands. But, I’ve also got to tell him, ‘Late in the game, you’re not leaving a 3-point shooter thinking you’re stealing a ball.’ You can’t. You can’t go rogue at certain times.

But I’ve got to let him do a little bit because I don’t know if there’s another player that has better hands than he has.

Question about going into detail about how he’s changed the way he wants Justin Edwards to play.

No, I won’t. We’ll call it a tweak. How about that? (Laughter). It’s a tweak.

I did, I did, it’s a tweak. I just tweaked a little bit, having him think, ‘Instead of this, just think this way.’ So, it’s a tweak.

Question about UK fans being most of the crowd in Nashville.

I said on the radio, our fans they’re unbelievable. We walk in, it’s part of the reason I imagine we’ve had some success up here. We walk in and they’re, half the building is blue. And they’re really into basketball and really into Kentucky, no that’s amazing.

We’ll go to a road game and all of a sudden it’s ‘How did these people get in?’ And they figure out, if we’re winning at the end, you hear ‘Go Big Blue. Go Big Blue. Go Big Blue.’ And they’re like, ‘How did they get tickets?’

Question about how to get young players who are good on offense to lock in on defense.

I just told them I’m going to have to play different people, I really don’t care who you are and how many baskets you score because we’re not winning trying to just outscore people. We proved that the two games before. Georgia the first half, why isn’t that us? Because, well I choose not to be that. OK, then you’re going to choose to sit on the bench.

We’ve got great kids though. They listen, they know... I don’t get the opinion and hope. There’s a lot of hope for us in this game, especially when you heard Tre (Mitchell) was out. All of a sudden the hope was ‘Ooh, they’re going to take a spill.’ These guys, I just keep telling them, ‘Don’t buy into any of the stuff. Don’t listen to it. You stick together.’

I said, I’ve done this a long, long time, the ups and downs of this, that’s what it is. It’s just, at Kentucky, the ups are like, don’t sleep for two days, and the downs are ‘I’m going to kill everybody. Everybody needs to leave.’ That’s what it is.

But, if you’re going to coach at Kentucky or if you’re going to play at Kentucky, you better deal with it. Because it’s not changing, and I’d imagine it’s been that way for 50 years.

Tom Leach (UK radio broadcaster) said DEFCON 1 or DEFCON 5, there’s nothing in between. And that’s what it is. It doesn’t faze me because I’m not listening or looking. I don’t do social media other than put stuff out. I won’t look at anything because it’s not going to affect me. Like I said, I’m going to have joy, no one will steal my joy because I’ve got a good team and a good bunch of kids and they’re for each other.

So you’re not stealing my joy. Say I’m the worst in America ever, OK, I agree, can we move on now. Get on to something serious.

Question about losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament last year and if that was any added motivation for UK tonight.

No. No. My son (Brad Calipari) being on that staff was.

Question about coaching against his son, Brad.

I’m just proud of him. He did it on his own. Jerry (Stackhouse) and I never tackled about it. You know, i just said I’ve got to stay clear. I wish he was on my staff, and I told him all you’re doing is adding value, being positive, being there for those kids. That’s what you do in that position. And he’s done great.

... But how many teams do this and play like this against us. Like play out of their mind? So, isn’t it nice that we play out of our minds one time. Let’s hope we can keep it going.

This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 12:23 AM.

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