Everything John Calipari Said After the LSU Loss

Since Kentucky lost at LSU on Wednesday night and has another game at 4 p.m. Saturday in Rupp Arena against Alabama, UK coach John Calipari had to rush through his postgame press conference and conversation with Tom Leach on the UK Radio Network.

Remember after the win at Auburn Saturday the postgame press conference for Calipari was a show where he was his swaggy best. But after the loss where UK blew a 15-point lead in the second half, Calipari was in no mood to talk even though both Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham took questions from the media.

So what did Calipari say in his press conference? Here is everything he said:

Opening Statement…


“Fifty-fifty balls cost us the game. It’s all we talk about. Fifty-fifty balls. Not only the last play, the play before that. Up 13, we have it, they jerk it from us, kick it out, make a three, make another three. Now it’s anybody’s ballgame. Matter of fact, we may have been up 15. You can’t win. Don’t tell me about your offense. If you’re not going to come up with 50/50 balls, you can’t win but I’m going to say this: all that being said, I was proud of these guys, in this environment, doing what they did.“Making that last shot, someone blocks it, I got to watch the tape and see who did not grab that ball. The winning ball. Who didn’t grab it? And why? Why not dive on the floor just to get the ball and tie up the game? Fought to get back, made baskets, (Rob) Dillingham made some unbelievable plays. He did what he does.”

On what went wrong after the 15-point lead…


“I don’t know but I’ve watched all their games. They were down 24 on Tennessee and they came back and made it a five-point game. They were down 16 against South Carolina and made it a game. So why don’t you say what are you guys doing when you’re down 15? What happens to your team? Because they just change. I think Florida had them down 16 or 17, so I told my team that at halftime, ‘they’re going to make a run.’

“Every game I’ve watched they’ve made a run. Now you have got to make a run back, but, we had been getting 50/50 balls. We reverted a little bit today. But you have got to give them credit. It was a great game for them and a great win. They toughed us for those balls which made the difference in the game.”

On Kentucky’s defense in the second half…

“We held them to 39 percent (shooting from the field) and we were doing everything and then again, there’s game slippage and that’s what happens with young teams. We do have the youngest team in the country. That stuff happens and it seems to happen at the wrong time but I thought we did everything we needed to. Cross switched late, they take a tough shot, we get the ball, one-point game.

‘You may say, why did you shoot it so quick (on Rob Dillingham’s late shot)? Because we have a lot of people coaching, and that’s fine. Because if you miss, you want to offensive rebound. Tie game, you wait. A one-point game, you don’t and then you hope your defense, you come up with a loose ball, and the stuff we did. I thought we did good except we didn’t grab the ball. But give them credit.

“Guys, we’ve got a late flight and we’ve got an early game on Saturday so I’m out of here. I’m trying to get my team on the bus too.”