Banged up front line makes ‘next man up’ UK mantra going to A&M

As Kentucky Coach John Calipari held a news conference Friday, a bare-chested Derek Willis happened to walk by — slow and careful, still — on the way to the training room.

“How are you?” Calipari said to Willis in a touch-pass re-direction of a question thrown at him minutes earlier.

“Oh, I’m good, I’m good,” Willis said. “I’m fine.”

“So,” Calipari said turning his attention back to the media types, “he’s good.”

The status of Kentucky’s front court loomed large on the eve of a game at Texas A&M on Saturday.

The status of Alex Poythress (knee), Marcus Lee (back) and Willis (“deteriorating” body) remained in doubt. Calipari said he had no update.

“Obviously, you want to have a full team,” the UK coach said. “But you go with who’s there. Marcus went out (against Tennessee on Thursday night) and we played better. Next man up.”

That next man could be one of two freshmen: Isaac Humphries, the native of Australia, or Skal Labissiere, the native of Haiti.

“Both of them are going to have opportunities . . . ,” Calipari said. “Then whichever one is playing better will stay in the game.”

Calipari did not seem overly concerned. When asked his reaction to Humphries saying playing rugby helped him adjust to the physical nature of basketball, Calipari said, “If that’s what helped him, we’re going to do some rugby with Skal.”

Willis targeted

After the Tennessee game, Willis acknowledged that the Vols targeted him as the defender in a matchup that could be exploited.

“What they’re trying to do now,” Willis said of all opponents. “That’s just back on me to try to play better defense.”

Calipari said Willis had to develop better defensive confidence.

“There is such a thing as defensive confidence,” the UK coach said, “and he doesn’t have it right now.”

Willis has offensive confidence, as evidenced by a career-high seven three-pointers against Tennessee. The defensive confidence can come from moving his feet, not biting on shot fakes, staying in front of his man and forcing a challenged scoring attempt.

With A&M starting two point guards (Alex Caruso and Anthony Collins) and two athletic wings (Jalen Jones and Danuel House), it’s hard to know who Willis will defend (assuming Kentucky plays man-to-man).

When asked who Willis might defend, Calipari quipped, “the guy with the Bermuda shorts and black socks.”

UK to Murray: Be quick

Willis described what UK wants the red-hot Jamal Murray to do.

“The big thing they’re focusing on with Jamal right now is him not, like, setting up,” Willis said. “When he sets up, the defense kind of gets to set up, too. So they just want him to make his move quickly and go from there.

“When he does that, like last game at South Carolina, he just took the ball and ripped baseline. That’s what we want and he can do that every time.”

When told of Willis’ explanation, Murray nodded.

“He just wants me to play solid,” he said of Calipari. “ Not try any crazy flip shots or bad shots. Mostly play solid on defense.”

In the last four games, Murray has made 21 of 37 three-point shots. He all but shrugged.

“I’m supposed to hit shots,” he said. “So I’m not going to get overly excited when I do.”

A&M season

Texas A&M has had two seasons this season. With a 7-0 start in SEC play, the Aggies were ranked in the top 10.

“This is everything I could kind of hope for as a senior year,” Caruso said of that portion of the season.

Then Texas A&M endured a recent five-game losing streak against SEC opponents. That puts the Aggies, who have lost five of their last seven games, in need of a victory against Kentucky to stay in the championship race.

To explain the reversal of fortune, Caruso cited the grind of a college season.

“It’s long,” he said. “It can be a bit redundant. And I think we got caught up in looking, ‘Hey, we’ve had so much success. Like, I don’t think we need to prepare.

“And I don’t think we prepared as well.”

The solution, he said, was “being able to refocus and get back into the groove of what we were doing versus maybe not taking it as serious.”

Four of Texas A&M’s recent losses were by five points or less.

“They’ve struggled some, but everyone has,” Calipari said. “We’re all in the same boat.”

Etc.

▪ Caruso needs 12 assists to be the career leader at A&M. “One of the best passers you’ll ever see,” Calipari said.

▪ A&M is 3-1 against ranked opponents this season. The loss was at home to South Carolina, 81-78.

▪ Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and sideline reporter Shannon Spake will call the game for ESPN.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Banged up front line makes ‘next man up’ UK mantra going to A&M."