Tom Leach can verify John Calipari let Jacob Toppin have it at shoot around

Jacob Toppin wasn't making shots at Saturday's practice but a "pep" talk from John Calipari changed that in the game. (Vicky Graff Photo)

During Kentucky’s shoot-around before Saturday’s home game with Alabama, Kentucky coach John Calipari said he got on Jacob Toppin for not making shots because he was worried that would carry over to the game if Toppin didn’t focus more on making shots.

Toppin made five of nine shots and scored 13 points in the 90-81 victory.

Kentucky Radio Network’s Tom Leach was at the Saturday shoot-around. He verified on Sunday Morning Sports Talk on WLAP (630 AM) that Calipari was not embellishing about getting on Toppin.

“He coaches them hard. He is his own good cop/bad cop. It doesn’t take two guys to do it with him,” Leach said. “But it comes back to getting guys feeling good about themselves.”

“They were going to have to make some shots with what they were missing (TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler). There were not going to get out in transition as much with  no Wheeler. They were going to have to do things differently to make shots. Other guys were going to have to make up those points. But he (Calipari) was definitely not embellishing about getting on Toppin.”

However, Leach said Calipari was also not throwing in the towel like some thought he was indicating Friday when he said he would rest players to get them healthy for postseason play even if that meant taking a regular-season loss.

“I figured they would be focused after the loss at Tennessee just like they had been all season. They just had some slippage in the Tennessee game and they had to come up with a new plan with guys out. He has a veteran group that pays attention.”

“On the one hand, Cal was saying he had to get Wheeler and Washington healthy and if they lost a game, fine. But if you watched the shoot around, there was no sense they maybe needed a  miracle (to win). They came up with a plan and he said it would give them a way to find confidence and that they (Alabama) won’t be ready for it.”

Alabama wasn’t but it will be more difficult to surprise LSU Wednesday night if both Wheeler and Washington don’t play — and that seems likely.

“You cannot keep tricking people and throwing curveballs before it gets figured out. They are better with Wheeler and Washington,” Leach said. “It’s probably going to be even harder against LSU but they certainly did a marvelous job with a game plan and then executing it against Alabama.”