Everything John Calipari said after Kentucky bounced back with a block party vs. Ole Miss

For a night at least, all is well with Kentucky basketball.

An infamous losing streak at Rupp Arena is no more after UK defeated Ole Miss 75-63 on Tuesday night behind a record-breaking defensive performance by sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso.

The second-year 7-footer set a new mark for most blocks by a Kentucky player at Rupp Arena with 10, which tied the mark for any college player in a game inside the 47-year old building.

In fact, UK’s bounce-back win — which lifts the Wildcats to a 17-7 overall record and a 7-4 mark in SEC games — was based around a strong defensive outing: Kentucky limited Ole Miss, normally a high-flying offensive team with 3-point shooting prowess, to just 0.863 points per possession and 22.7% 3-point shooting.

A balanced offensive night saw four Wildcats score in double figures, led by fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves and his 15 points.

For the first time this season, Kentucky basketball was at full strength: It took 24 games, but all 16 Kentucky players were available to play.

But after less than 30 minutes of roster continuity, another injury has threatened to derail a full-strength UK team.

Fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell — who returned to UK’s starting lineup Tuesday after missing two games with a back injury — suffered a left shoulder injury in the second half against Ole Miss and didn’t return to the game, or to UK’s bench.

Afterward, Kentucky head coach John Calipari talked about Onyenso’s record-breaking night, Mitchell’s new injury and what a lockdown defensive performance can do for the Wildcats going forward.

Here’s everything Calipari said:

Question about balancing the development of young players with needing to establish a rotation as the regular season nears an end.

It’s not late. Look. I’ve had all kinds of new teams every year. OK. That doesn’t phase me. Midseason, changing your team phases me. Because now, the chemistry, you are just plugging guys in. And I went to a shorter rotation. And, you know, I loved how we started the game. We were the aggressor. We had to change a little bit of what we were doing. We also, you know, how we were guarding people.

I keep saying we’ve got shot blockers. Don’t give them a jumper. Make them beat you on the bounce. Because we got people back in there. Ugonna (Onyenso) set a Rupp record. Which is amazing. Ten blocks. And they got 7-footers now, one guy is 7-5.

I thought Reed (Sheppard) played well. Robert (Dillingham) did not play well in the first half and I thought D.J. (Wagner) really helped us because of what he did defensively and he comes out in the second half and didn’t play real well. But you know what, I just grabbed him in there and he’s the greatest kid. He’s fine. He was off for two-and-a-half weeks, almost three weeks. It’s going to take him time.

You know, I still want to put Jordan (Burks) in just because I love his energy and his fight and what he does. He didn’t get in this game. I thought Aaron (Bradshaw) played well. Justin (Edwards). There are just some plays that we’re trying to train them on that they can’t help themselves. There are two guys wide open. We are the best 3-point shooting team. And there are two guys wide-open and you try to shoot a ball. Why is that? Now, all we do is talk about it. The best way we can get 3s off is by driving the ball and when they collapse, find somebody.

Whoever you throw it to can play. Adou (Thiero) did it a couple of times again. Just try to shoot it. Like — that’s one of our biggest things, the way we shoot 3s. The big thing for me today, we guarded. We guarded. I mean, their guards are really good. We guarded the 3-point line, stuff that we have been working on. It’s just going to be a process. And I keep saying to everybody ‘We’ll break through.’ We will. My teams break through. The difference is we’ve had to add guys. And I will say it again. If we’ll defend a little better. Be physical. 50/50 balls including rebounds. Tre (Mitchell) being in there today helped us. He goes and gets those tough rebounds. Which we don’t get. Now you get them with him in the game.

And then lastly, let’s improve our defense by about 10%. Because when you score and don’t turn it over much. And have individual players like Robert and Antonio (Reeves) and D.J. and Reed who can just go get a shot when they want to, that’s a recipe for a team that can do well. If they fight, play physical, 50/50 balls and get better defensively. The other stuff, you saw today it doesn’t really matter who I put in. The five guys out there, they can all play basketball. They can all shoot it and pass. All right, we done?

Question about Tre Mitchell’s injury.

Went to get X-rays, so no, I don’t know.

Question about Kentucky’s defense.

Pressure. Pressure. We weren’t backing up. It’s something that I just said look, the start of games are bad for us because we’re back. We can’t be that way. My whole career the first five minutes, four minutes of every game we pressed. Even if it was an ugly press. Not to press them, to get my team playing with a motor. I told them prior to the game. They are not getting an offensive rebound in the first five minutes of this game. Do you hear me? They are not. Do you know how many games that they get three, four, five offensive rebounds in the first three minutes of the game. Antonio rebounded. You know, he went in and mixed it up. We still — Justin’s got to do more rebounding the ball.

But a good win. And they are a good team. Like I said, I watched the tape. They had Auburn down 15. And Auburn inched their way back in the game. Their guard play is good. Their big guys are huge. They made free throws today. I’m like, it kinda happens to us.

Question about Ugonna Onyenso’s development.

How about he made free throws. If you think about it. Those are big. Now. I told him you can’t go one for two and miss a dunk and then go one for two from the foul line. Dunk it and then you will get one more and if you miss that, that’s OK, we got two.

One of the things that’s bothering me is we are throwing him really hard passes for him to catch. Like Adou threw him a lob, just came up through. Like, you can’t do that to him. When he’s doing all that he’s doing defensively. Don’t do that to him. Don’t give him the ball in bad areas.

Now, rolling down the middle. Reed found him. D.J. found him. Robert found him. You know. Was he a double-double? (No.)

If he hit those free throws he would have had a double-double.

Question about balancing playing time through struggles for Rob Dillingham.

Well, I give him another chance. I tell him I believe in you, but you’re not going to play playing the way you’re playing. If he would have came out and had two more turnovers he would have sat. Because the turnovers were not like good turnovers. It was like giving them the ball for layups down the other end. Did that in Florida down there, and in the second half he played out of his mind.

It’s nice to know that he, like I told him last game. He was minus-13. I was watching the game and no, he’s not playing real well. But I left him out for a long period of time because the other group played well together. So now, there’s four or five minutes to go and you keep a kid out eight minutes. Is it fair to him to put him in, in the guts of that game? It’s just not fair.

If he would’ve come to me — and I told him this. And said I’ll be fine, put me in, I would have put him in. I would not... Just go in. I’m not doing that to that young person. He loses the game on a missed shot? No, I’m not doing it, unless he wanted in. It’s like Reed telling me stick with me when I’m throwing balls all over the place. I’ll be fine, I’ll settle down.

They are talking more. We are doing some things in practice that they suggested to me. Some of it is to hold them accountable. We’ve got to be held accountable defensively. So here are some ideas. We did them and we went with them.

Question about what Calipari meant when he said Kentucky was “built for March.”

Well, the next two games don’t. It’s over this period of time. So, in the NCAA Tournament you can’t score 65, 63, 62. You can maybe in one game, but you’ll get beat. You’ve got to be able to score points. We can do it. You’ve got to have a player that can go off in a game so you can advance. We have a couple of those. You can’t be a high turnover team because the team you are going to play, they are in the NCAA tournament. They are going to be a low turnover team. We are a low turnover team.

The issue is, will we be physical enough? The reason we were physical today. D.J. is physical. Tre is physical. Ugonna is physical. Adou is physical. Now you’re playing four of your top eight are physical players. They are going to bang. That was one of our issues. 50/50 balls. We missed some today again. Justin didn’t dive up for the ball. He tried to pick it up with one hand and then threw it to them. 50/50 rebounds. Tre helped us today. We are still not where we need to be. And lastly, defensively you got to be more connected. So, if we get those things squared away. The hardest thing to be is what we already are.

You know, and if someone is not playing well, what can I do? I will put somebody else in. What happened last year when we hit a game where a guy couldn’t make a shot and we had to stick with them? We had no choice. There was no one to stick in. Now you’ve got some different things. Shot blocking will also make a difference and it does make a difference defensively.

You know. We’ve got a ways to go. I’ve explained that now. That’s about the 10th time I’ve explained what I meant so, and no disrespect, but I’m done explaining it. You guys explain it to each other what I’m saying about why I think March. But we have to go take care of business. If we don’t get more physical when we play. If we don’t improve our defense. If we don’t come up with 50/50 balls. Tough rebounds. Then it doesn’t matter, this over here. But this over here is the hard thing. All of the stuff I told you right there. What kind of skill does that take? No skill. Do you want it or not? What about this stuff over here. That takes skill. And you know.

This story was originally published February 14, 2024 at 2:05 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