Kentucky rolled Saturday, but John Calipari sees the sharp curves ahead
Fairleigh Dickinson was a good team last season. The Knights from Teaneck, N.J., won the Northeast Conference and an NCAA Tournament game in the First Four. This isn’t last season. This season, FDU is now 2-6.
Thus eighth-ranked Kentucky, now 7-1, had little problem Saturday. A 17-0 first-half run staked the host Wildcats to a 20-point halftime lead. John Calipari’s club finished it off with an 83-52 romp behind EJ Montgomery’s 25 points.
“I want to thank everyone for being here,” Greg Herenda, the FDU coach said afterward. “I just wish we had shown up.”
In 10 days guess who shows up on the Kentucky schedule? Tougher teams, starting with a 6-2 Utah followed by a 9-0 Ohio State, both in Las Vegas. And then when the Cats return home they face Louisville three days after Christmas. That’s No. 1 in the latest AP college basketball poll Louisville.
No wonder that in his postgame press conference, Calipari said, “I’m looking beyond this game.”
So in the coach’s eyes, Montgomery “traded too many baskets.” And center Nick Richards, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, “didn’t play particularly well.”
Truth be told, the level of competition since UK’s stirring 69-62 season-opening win a month ago over then-No. 1 Michigan State has not been the toughest. Evansville, the team that shocked the Cats 67-64 on Nov. 12 is 7-3 with losses to SMU, East Carolina and George Washington. Since being upset, UK has defeated Utah Valley, Mount St. Mary’s, Lamar, UAB and now the struggling Knights.
“It was a Kentucky festival,” Herenda joked. “It was a Christmas parade.”
If nothing else, this soft patch in the schedule has provided confidence-builders for Calipari’s young club. And we’re not just talking Montgomery, who on the offensive end was 12-for-16 from the floor and grabbed nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Over his last two games, he’s 19-for-29 from the floor. (Said it before, will say it again: He’s a big key for this team.)
Coming off a 12-assist game against UAB, point guard Ashton Hagans contributed 11 assists with just two turnovers. Freshman Keion Brooks scored 15 points in his 16 minutes. Thanks to his effort in practice, freshman Johnny Juzang earned his first career college start. And Cal praised rookie Kahlil Whitney for his attitude after the freshman lost his starting job at least for this game.
“And we’ve got another entire week of practice again,” said the gleeful coach, adding that he’d practice twice or three times a day if he could just get UK to call off classes.
Look for more of the same next Saturday with Georgia Tech in town. The Yellowjackets were blitzed 97-63 at home by Syracuse on Saturday. And Syracuse arrived in Atlanta all of 4-4.
After that, however, it starts getting real. Utah is 6-2. The Utes scored 143 points against Mississippi Valley — “We couldn’t do that if we played 5-on-0,” Calipari quipped — then 102 in an overtime win over Mark Pope and BYU. They ripped Central Arkansas 98-67 on Saturday. The Runnin’ Utes are back to runnin’.
Meanwhile, Ohio State is an early-season juggernaut. The Buckeyes blitzed a good Penn State team 106-74 on Saturday in Columbus. That came after Nicholasville native Chris Holtmann’s club handed Roy Williams his worst home loss in Chapel Hill thanks to a 74-49 romp over North Carolina on Wednesday.
“Ohio State and Louisville, they’re saying are the best two teams in the country,” Calipari said. “And you know why? Both teams fight.”
That’s one of the two f-words Calipari is stressing. He wants “fight” and “finish.” Is his team fighting for every rebound, through every screen, for every loose ball? And how is it finishing the last four minutes of the game?
Given the recent competition, it’s hard to judge the progress in those critical areas. But we won’t have to wait much longer.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 7:51 PM.
