Freshman Cason Wallace has impressed Jacob Toppin with his leadership skills. (Vicky Graff Photo)
After Kentucky’s win at Tennessee, players credit a team meeting after the South Carolina loss for getting the season turned around going into today’s game with Texas A&M.
Thursday senior Jacob Toppin and freshman Chris Livingston got to add their insights on what the team meeting meant to the Wildcats and why it worked.
“Just having player-only meetings or even when we have meetings with coaches, we’re allowed to have our inputs and say what we got to say and they really listen to us,” Livingston said.
“They really take in what we’re saying and it really comes into effect. So definitely player driven with coach leadership.”
Player driven is what Calipari always wants for his teams and if he’s getting that, it should make the next six weeks go a lot better.
“It helped us understand who we are as individuals, how we could get better,” Toppin said Thursday about the team meetings. “We all looked at ourselves in the mirror and understood what we needed to do to get better.
“Not just for our individual selves but for this team in order to win. It was definitely important for success.”
Toppin said perhaps a surprising leader had emerged in the last week.
“We have a lot of guys that are starting to take on that (leadership) role,” Toppin said. “Even Cason (Wallace), a freshman, he’s taken on that leadership role. I like that for him because he could be a leader for this team.
“But everyone’s been vocal on and off the court, making sure everyone’s staying disciplined and understanding of what we need to do to continue to win and do something special.”
Kentucky hosts Texas A&M, 5-0 in Southeastern Conference play, Saturday afternoon. The Aggies beat Florida 54-52 Wednesday for their seventh straight win.
One Response
Wallace has accepted this role and the team is better for it. Now, Toppin, Livingston, and Frederick will have to step up their game as more teams will try the A&M strategy of triple teaming Oscar. Reeves has done so coming off the bench. Starting is nearly as important as finishing the game. The starters need to step up their games as Reeves may become the next Cat teams try to stop.