Kentucky assistant coach Chin Coleman said Friday that Oscar Tshiebwe is getting in better shape and can play extended minutes if coach John Calipari sticks to a smaller rotation of players. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach John Calipari knows what to expect when the Wildcats take on Alabama Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
“It will be sold out, you know that and that’s great,” Calipari said after the Wildcats’ 74-71 win over LSU Tuesday. “Let’s go. Let’s see where we are with that.”
Since dropping its Southeastern Conference at Missouri on Dec. 28, Kentucky has won two straight, both of which have been attributed to a faster start and the play of senior Jacob Toppin. Toppin has scored a combined 45 points in wins over Louisville and LSU, respectively.
Kentucky senior Oscar Tshiebwe said the team’s mental approach to begin each game and learning from past mistakes also has been a factor during the current two-game winning streak.
“It is a mindset because we know we lost a couple of games because of how we started. If you come out not ready, then the team will make a run from the beginning,” the senior forward said. “That is why we came out with a lot of energy from the beginning.
“When we started the game, it was tough. It was a tough game and I was happy to get the win (over LSU). If we don’t come with energy like that it will affect our team. We talked about it and that we needed to bring energy.”
The Wildcats (10-4, 1-1) will need to continue the trend on the road at Coleman Coliseum, where Kentucky has split eight games in Calipari’s tenure as coach at Kentucky. The seventh-ranked Crimson Tide (12-2, 2-0) carry a three-game winning streak into the contest. Alabama easily defeated Mississippi 84-62 Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama coach Nate Oats was happy with the win but not satisfied with his team’s rebounding effort, especially in the second half against the Rebels.
“We needed to do a better job on the glass,” he said. “I think they out-rebounded us 10 in the second half. That’s an issue, too, which is gonna be a big issue for Kentucky. Kentucky’s always a great rebounding team. Their offense is aided tremendously by offensive rebounding, and obviously, Tshiebwe is probably the best rebounder in the country, so we’re gonna have to do a better job rebounding Saturday.”
An issue for Kentucky most of the season has been trying to secure the right rotation and Calipari played just seven players in the win over the Tigers Tuesday night. Kentucky assistant coach Chin Coleman said Friday a shorter rotation “may be the answer.” but didn’t say if it was a long-term solution.
“I think we’re trying to find some other guys to get into the mix,” he said. “It will be game-by-game. You may not know who those five, six or seven may be.”
Although the Wildcats have struggled at times this season, Oats said he knows it won’t be an easy encounter. He added the team’s fan base is similar to the football followers at Alabama.
“They’re spoiled,” Oats said. “It’s probably like Alabama football fans, to be honest with you. Like, we’re not in the College Football Playoffs and everybody’s upset and acts like this is a bad year. Shoot, I don’t know what the final football polls were but after I watched those two games previous it looked like we might be in the top three or four teams in the country still and people are upset around here.
“If Kentucky’s not in the top three or four, people are probably pretty upset there. They’re a really good team, though.”
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Gametracker: Kentucky at Alabama, noon, Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network.
One Response
Why would Nate Oats care that UK basketball fans might be spoiled?
I think he knew that his team would implement his game plan against this collective of young people dressed as UK basketball players, and that the hue and cry from the UK fan base against John Calipari would blow the roof off Rupp Arena.
We are not spoiled, and we are not the problem here. The problem is John Calipari. Some of us have seen this day coming for several years, and this season, today’s game, and frankly most of the season that lies ahead will continue to be ugly.
Ugly!!!!
Not by the spoiled world view of the Big Blue Nation, but the view of any basketball fan anywhere watching what Calipari and his kids treated us to today on Coach Oates court. Oates and Calipari are not bosom buddies, based on everything I here, but Coach Oates believes he benefits in the long term the longer Calipari remains at UK. So he intervenes in our "family conversation" in a way to tell us all that we should not be upset with Calipari, the condition of this program, and the direction that this program is heading.
Bottom line, Coach Oates, and 12 other SEC coaches, will speak out to defend their good buddy John Calipari to the world and do so by disparaging the members of the Big Blue Nation as spoiled brats.
UK needs to attend to its business and cleans this program of the stench that Calipari has created.
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