Davion Minitz and Kentucky will find out a lot about the team tonight when the Cats play Duke in New York. (Jeff Houchin Photo)
Much like Duke players insisted they would not treat tonight’s game with Duke any differently than any other game, Kentucky coach John Calipari had the same message Monday about the game in New York tonight.
“We approach every game the same. Like, you saw the last team (Miles College) made 11 out of 15 3s (in the first half) against us. So, every team we play, it’s the biggest game on their schedule,” Calipari said.
“You can’t make it any different. This will be the stage. All the stuff we’re saying is, look, our focus is on us. We’re going to play how we play. They’re going to play how they play. And either they’re more advanced than us or we’re a little more advanced than we think we are. But we’ll find out.
“It’s great — these are the games you learn about your team. This is it. And before our league, we play five or six games like this where we’ll learn about what we are. So, it’s going to be a hard game for us. They’re really, really good. They’re deep. They’re big. Seven-foot, 6-10, 6-11. They’re big. So, it’ll be a challenge.”
Remember two years ago what dynamic debut Tyrese Maxey had two years ago at Madison Square Garden. Calipari said it’s impossible to know what player will shine the most in a big game against the one like Duke.
“You think this guy, that guy, that guy, (but) you don’t know until the game is over and you look and you say, ‘He loved that moment.’ The biggest part of it is, guys like that aren’t afraid to look bad. They don’t care; they’re going to go play. They’re not afraid to miss a shot or take a tough shot or a game-winning shot. It’s not going to change how they see it,” Calipari said.
“They want that play. They want to be in there, mainly because they’re not afraid to miss it. And the same defensively; they dig in. It’s not exchanging baskets and what I look like. ‘I’m playing to make myself look better than the other guy.’ So, I’ve had a bunch of those guys and I’ve been fortunate to coach them in a lot of these kinds of games. And you just don’t know until the game is over.”
Calipari said he told his players just to be at their best and see what happens.
“At the end of the day, I think both teams will be fine, but we’re both going to learn about each other (in tonight’s game),” Calipari said.
2 Responses
I agree, there will be some teaching done tonight. First games are for the confident, the gamers. I think TyTy will answer the call, so will Mintz and Wheeler. The intensity of our defense will be the key to this game. I look for a lot of fouls which means more of our kids will play. We have the depth everywhere, but the post, to win that kind of game. If our defense is lax, fouls are few, and Coach only plays 7 players, Coach K leaves the floor again with a big smile. Maybe Calipari will have better luck with Schyer.
Tshiebwe was impressive. Too bad he didn’t have more help. Wheeler had a lot of good minutes, but some really bad ones too. He was trying to do to much, especially in the second half. It’s almost like he lost confidence in his teammates. Ty Ty never looked comfortable, maybe first game jitters on such a big first game. Keion’s offense suffered from him having to defend bigger, stronger guys. Davion will have to play more point as Wheeler got exposed on the defensive end. Davion is probably wondering why that didn’t happen tonight. We fought better than I thought we would. We are still learning how to play together. Duke was simply bigger, stronger, and better at almost every position. You could tell that they never felt threatened, even during our second half comeback. Calipari used to get those caliber of players. He will have to earn his pay as a coach this year. Funny how it used to be a question of whether Duke or KY was going to win it all; now neither are really in that conversation, although Duke could get there by season’s end. Calipari is still swinging and missing at recruiting bigs. Maybe its time for him to consider calling it quits after this season. It seems that BBN is too content with our non-contender status. Maybe we have a shot at winning the SEC this season…maybe. A Final Four looks to be out of reach for this team. I hope they prove this prognostication wrong. We seem to be destined to be a bottom half top 25 team, but at least that’s better than 9 – 16.