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Kentucky surprised almost everyone by controlling the pace to get a win it desperately needed at Auburn a week ago. However, it might have been an even bigger surprise that Kentucky cranked the pace back up against Alabama, the nation’s highest scoring team, to get another big-time win it desperately needed.
“We played diferent, didn’t we? So you are playing to win. You won’t believe this. So how do we have to play to win? Different games you got to play different. This one I thought we may have to outscore them because of how good they are all offensively,” Calipari said after the 117-95 win over Alabama.
In between the wins over Auburn and Alabama, Kentucky blew a 15-point, second half lead and lost at LSU.
“I probably believed too much in them. I’m thinking we will get LSU, it may be a hard game because they are really playing well. They had Florida beat. They beat South
Carolina. They are really playing well. Don’t look at their record. They are playing well right now,” Calipari said.
“If we get them (LSU) and get this, then we are playing for first place (in the SEC). We lost a couple, we missed a free throw (in one loss). No, you make the free throw and we win that game. Now all of a sudden we are in first place.
“I need you to think in terms of your mindset being, if that free-throw, do you know that free-throw went down – bang – went up to the top of the backboard. Do you know which one I’m talking about? And came back and went in. Let’s say that didn’t go and we won this game. Why don’t you think in terms of that.
“We didn’t play great down there and give LSU credit but let’s think as though we won. We beat Auburn, we beat them, we beat this and we beat that and now let’s go and play. Young kids, you know, are goin to get overwhelmed by stuff. That’s my job to keep them going.
“You can’t deal with the clutter. All the outside stuff. Everybody has an opinion. That’s great. I agree. Can we just move on now? And this team, they are doing good stuff.”
16 Responses
Yes, shooting 70% can do wonders. Unfortunately, that level of offensive performance is not sustainable, and is quite rare.
The common element that this team has is very poor defense. Yesterday was no different at that defensive end of the floor.
Cal said we may have to outscore them. Well they did. And they had to..Alabama shot at a high percentage. It’s hard to not be happy about this victory. But it’s probably an exception than the rule. But we’ll take it.
We got to see some of the best offense that you can get along with some of the worst defense that you can get. Yes, we did tighten up on the 3’s once they went 4-4 beginning of game but that was the only defense played. Why is it that every team we play can almost score at will at the rim and yesterday was no exception? Yet we struggle on offense every game trying to efficiently take it to the rim. The coaches talk the talk and then fail to walk it. What does this staff work on during the week?
They had 6 uncontested dunks, 2 uncontested layups and 2 missed layups, (Bama) in the first 10 minutes. It was about 24-26 somethineg like that. After that we tightened up until we had a 35 point lead and then relaxed again and they closed it to 21 points.
I agree, take away bamas scoring in the 1st ten mins of the game & after that we actually locked em down til like the last 9 mins of the game when we already had 98 points & were up 35 & bama only having 63 pts, then you could tell they knew the game was over & started slacking off on D a bit, but the point is they can play hella defense when they’re focused on playing defense as hard & they’ll play offense. Btw watching the bama & auburn game made me realize we wouldn’t of lost any of the games we lost when DJ was injured & didn’t play cause he’s by far our best backcourt dawg defender & no way we lose to UNC Wilmington or Florida for sure & we’d be 21-6 10-5 SEC at least
Alabama is the highest scoring team in the country and one of the few that have a defense that is worse than ours, according to stats.
Alabama shot well enough to win most games they will play, but UK shot exceptionally well, and as TheProfessor stated above, that is not sustainable. Thiero and Edwards were 5 for 5 on three pointers. How many times is that going to happen?? I wouldn’t want to bet the season on that happening again.
As I stated in another post, I would really like to know what Alabama’s stats were with about 5 or 6 minutes left in the game. UK seemed to go cold and Bama heated up to close the gap. If they hit 7 or 8 of their last 10 shots, that boosted their shooting percentage a lot, and I wouldn’t be worried about it. If that were true, UK might have held them under 50%. I would consider that fair since they are the highest scoring team in the country.
But lets face it, it is very rare to win a game when the other team shoots 57%!!
I’ll take it, but I bet it doesn’t happen again this year.
I can’t tell if ur complaining bout UK’s defense against bama? You just wrote why it looks like bama lit it up against us. the first 10 mins & last 8 mins of the game helped bamas scoring total & FG percentage, especially the last 8 mins when we were up 35 & had already scored 100 pts & game was out of reach so we let off the gas on defense & basically let em score 32 pts or something like that the last 8 mins. So no KY didn’t play bad defense against bama in fact it was the opposite
But it is, after all, KENTUCKY. Don’t ever doubt them. They’ve been my team for 81 yrs & they very seldom have not shown up. GO CATS. YOU’VE GOT THIS.
That is a great run Bob … keep hanging in there my friend
Your awesome Bob, I wish there were more true blue fans like you. And not so many part timer’s👍
In an article about 2 months ago Calipari said you just can’t outscore teams, then he played a half court grind it kind of a game for several games, and we looked terrible. We are good when we play fast, and thanks to the Alabama game it seems like it’s possible to just outscore teams, and win! That’s why , and how you win….you outscore your opponent. Turn the offense loose and let’s see what happens?
Nobody mentions the afficiating in the LSU game. I thought they got the calls on there home court, and the same fouls were not called on the other end. For some reason that seams to make a lot of difference 😁.
Ky might not have another shooting night like that, but then they don’t really have to, to win. I would love to see BIG Z get the ball more free throw line in, and on defense be able to stay home and not have to go out as far to the three point line and take away his strength that he has with his length. If Ky can figure out what help and recover means, we can beat any one, and not just on a given night. There is no home court in the NCAA, and I like Ky’s direction they are going, and our chances on a neutral court.
And congrats to you Bob, you are a true fan😊
I agree, well said… It took us a while but I think UK is finally figuring it all out & there coming together at the right time, they’ve just looked a lot better since after we lost to Gonzaga against ole miss, auburn Alabama, & if fucking luck wasn’t on LSU’s side then them too, I still think, even more now we’re easily the most talented team in cbb this yr but we’re young & we’ve had insanely bad luck with injuries so our record doesn’t indicate how truly special of a team this is & how we could easily get in the tournament & destroy everyone the way uconn did last yr
Amazing how FREE BIG Z makes a difference.let’s face it if he gets the minutes n his stats per minutes is about the best including Tonio who is awesome. Z came here because of his history. he didn’t forget how to ball. OK I would like to see Z n Ugo in at same time tostop the easy paint points. Ugo can block at times but hasn’t got the experience not to leave his man but with 2 , 7 footers to help each other out. should really cut down the easy layups.
Edwards rose and one main part is he thought team first and not shoot ,drive one n one. If he keeps this up his offense is going to zoom also agressive rebounding. there is no way a 6’9 guy cant get a rebound in 29 minutes. Cal took his foot off pedal last 8 minutes allowing Bama to outscore Cats by 15 . his subbing was just bad at this time as well as in first half. DJ has to stop forcing it and losing ball. HIs D is super,
Finally 2 footers should always be ready for the dunk spot. there should be at least 8-10 points a game with 2 of them in at same time
Go Cat’s
Coach Calipari and the Wildcats surprised us with a smart win against Auburn and a high-scoring victory over Alabama. He’s emphasizing the need to adapt strategies for different games, focusing on the positive, and keeping the team motivated. Let’s cheer on the Wildcats as they navigate challenges and continue their impressive performance!
He has done that and got some huge wins lately