Antonio Reeves felt good about his shots but missed his first 14 shots Sunday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
John Calipari was not going to blame Antonio Reeves for Kentucky’s 75-69 loss to Kansas State Sunday.
Certainly Reeves missing his first 14 shots before making his final attempt in the last minute of play was a huge factor in the game but not the only reason UK lost the NCAA Tournament second round game.
“It hurts you, but I don’t want to put it on him. We had other guys that didn’t post much either, and so it wasn’t just one guy,” Calipari said.
Senior Jacob Toppin was just 1-for-7 from the field and had only two points and four rebounds in 28 minutes (he was also in foul trouble). CJ Fredrick was 1-for-3 in 20 minutes and had three points. Even Oscar Tshiebwe (25 points, 18 rebounds) and Cason Wallace (21 points, nine rebounds, four assists) both had five turnovers.
However, not having Reeves make shots limited what UK could do offensively.
“Then you are left to playing one way, and that’s to try to throw it in to Oscar or try to get one of these two (Wallace and Chris Livingston) to get a basket, and Chris got that offensive rebound and made a 3 in the corner,” Calipari said.
“Cason was — you think about it. Here’s a guard who has played solely point guard, which has made him a better player, but he goes 9-for-11 and gets nine rebounds. What? We outrebound them by 19.
“We only have five turnovers in the second half, and we lose? And we lose. So, again, when you look at that, you can’t — in these kinds of games, you’ve got to make those shots. You’ve got to make baskets. You’ve got to make those free-throws.”
Reeves certainly knew Kentucky needed his scoring to advance in the tournament. He said his shots felt fine but just “were not going in” but did not.
“If you are a shooter, you have got to shoot,” Reeves said after the game. “The shots were definitely there. Sometimes it comes off (your hand) great but you still miss. I kept being aggressive. It was a just a tough day for me.”
Reeves said Calipari and teammates encouraged him to keep shooting.
“I thought they would (go in), too,” Reeves said. “Shooters have those slumps. Some come early, some come late. I would not have thought it would come this late.”
He said his teammates were playing well and had Kentucky in front in the second half. He kept his confidence “high” and was confident “being the shooter I am” that he would start scoring to help the team.
“If I had open looks, I would take it. It just wasn’t my day. Every time it went off my hands, I thought it was going in,” Reeves said.
16 Responses
I don’t blame Reeves because he gave his all for the team this year. Love his smile and tremendous attitude. None of these players wanted to lose! You start with 68 teams and only one ends happy, the other 67 are disappointed. Ask Duke, Arizona or Purdue! The pressure on this team was tremendous and may have led to the season’s outcome. Sporting events are meant to be fun, not nerve wracking! I look forward to next year and i love our coaches and players. Thank God for Summertime! I hope a few of these players come back for a championship next year.
Absolutely ridiculous for a lot of idiots, who apparently don’t know much about basketball, to be blaming Calipari for the loss. The players are human and unfortunately, several had a bad night at the worst time. Despite not having Wheeler, and horrible off nights by Reeves and Toppin, they probably would have won if the little point guard from Kansas State hadn’t had a career night. His shots and his passes were unbelievable. The Kentucky coaches and players did an incredible job getting as far as they did, considering all of the adversity theat they endured. Can’t wait until next year. Maybe their luck will even out.
Vic not sure most UK fans consider not making the tourney,losing to Saint Peter’s and now going down to Kansas State has incredible. Think I saw Gonzaga has been to Sweet Sixteen 8 straight years. Think about that compared to UK the last few years
History hasn’t been our side except Rick Pitino era and Cals first 5-6 years when he took over. Other than that we had spells of not getting to the final four 10- 20 years later. But we are enduring the worst spell as of late.
Holy smokes good point Larry..
Hot shooting and cold shooting was contagious for this team this year. CJ couldn’t buy one the last half season and Reeves and Toppin were inconsistent. Sweet Sixteen teams re simply more consistent. The defense was better but K State hit big shots at crunch time. We did not take care of the ball all season long, and it showed.
When are we allowed to blame Cal for our once great program slipping? These aren’t the same guys that went 9-16 three seasons ago. The assistants are all different as well.
The only common denominator is Cal.
I have noticed one thing about people that still defend Cal. He says blame him not the kids and his defenders say the same.
Then we lose and his defenders say it wasn’t Cal that shot 2-22.
They finally played aggressively, that’s why they won the first game
Calipari needs to forget about grooming kids for the NBA. He needs to stop having favorites…this kills team chemistry. He needs to let kids play to their strengths instead of forcing them to accept a role that he determines…that’s why Hopkins left and will also be the reason Livingston leaves. He needs to learn how to coach a zone and mix up his defenses. He needs to focus on fundamentals like free throws, post passes, pick & roll defense, and staying in front of your man. He needs to play more uptempo which means playing more players and looking for early shots versus running down the shot clock. These are things that the other SEC coaches are doing and their teams are not afraid to play us, even in Rupp. I wish he would quit chasing after prima dona OAD type kids and recruit kids who love to play and would die to play for UK. This would require him to learn how to spot potential and then coach them up like Pitino does. His way is not working anymore. He needs to change or move on…and I hope that he moves on.
Oh, and all of you Calipari lovers can move on with him.
Who you going to replace him with einstein??NO ONE RECRUITS LIKE CALIPARI. I am guessing you could care less about Kentucky basketball. Your just here to show everyone what a LOSER you really are PUS boi
I have never blamed the players for one minute! Barry, Larry, and 1996 – as you said – only one common denominator!
P.S. I think that it is wrong to use our resources to provide a free NBA training camp with benefits!
Reeves was 1 for 15 in that game, 1 for 15 but he felt they would start to go in. Now that was funny. After making just one shot he continued to shoot. I am guessing that is why he started at Illinois State. Please no more portal players
Remember Max that Calipari recruited Reeves
Cal has to do something to get this mojo back. He (his offense) has been terribly predictable of late and he still has not found a zone defense he likes. Fundamentals, fundamentals and more fundamentals. Get fundamentals right and you have something to build on, otherwise stay home.