If the Kentucky men’s basketball players are tired of having head coach John Calipari beat the importance of intensity for 40 minutes, Penn head coach Jerome Allen offered a pretty good perspective following UK’s 86-62 win over Penn on Monday night at Rupp Arena.
“Once the ball goes up in the air, whether you’re on the playground or whether you’re in Rupp Arena or whether you’re in the Palestra, you’ve got to play the game,” Allen said. “It’s great for you guys to write about and the history and all that, but as long as I have the opportunity to coach these young men, no matter what arena we go into we are going to expect to win. That’s the habits we got. Our habits match our expectations.”
That advice may have been beneficial for Kentucky before the game.
Whether it was a Louisville hangover, looking ahead to conference play or just a pesky Penn team that lived up to its historic success, Penn looked past the banners in Rupp Arena and took the fight to Kentucky the first 15 minutes of Monday night’s game and led 31-19.
Guard Tyler Bernadini, who entered the contest averaging 7.7 points per game, nearly had a career night before halftime. The senior hit 5-of-6 shots in the first half, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range for 16 points. He finished the game with 22.
Kentucky, with a stunned Rupp Arena crowd of 21,681 fans, looked headed for a loss similar to that of Gardner-Webb and San Diego of years past. Penn was getting wide-open looks and burying them with ease.
“They weren’t missing,” freshman point guard Brandon Knight said. “We were leaving guys. We were missing assignments. They were playing great in the first half. We were giving them open opportunities. On the offensive end, we were missing easy shots and easy layups that we normally make.”
And then, as if UK head coach John Calipari flipped a switch, Kentucky turned it on, closing the first half with a 12-0 run and burying the Quakers by the halfway point of the second half.
The Cats turned up the pressure on the defensive end, started closing on the perimeter shots and started making baskets at a lights-out rate. For every layup Kentucky missed in the opening minutes, the basketball gods made up for with an unbelievable shooting stretch.
From the 2:55 mark in the first half when Doron Lamb made a layup until Terrence Jones’ dunk with 2:53 left in the game, Kentucky hit 22-of-25 shots. The contagious shooting streak transformed a 32-21 deficit into an 86-52 blowout.
“When you look at this, we have got good stuff,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “But you know what, we want more. I want more than just, ‘OK, we won by 12.’ I want this team to start understanding, you’ve got to be a little bit of a juggernaut and that means five guys, one heartbeat. We are not one heartbeat right now. We are about a heartbeat and a half. We are not, bang, bang, bang. We are not there yet.”
Calipari still isn’t satisfied because he sees flashes of greatness that are held back by lapses of unfocused play.
When Darius Miller goes for nine points and six rebounds in the second-half alone, how can you explain a two-point first half? When a player like Josh Harrellson has improved so much and posts his second straight double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), why does it feel like Eloy Vargas isn’t making progress?
And if a team gets five feet of space in the first half to drain seven first-half 3s, how do you then limit them to just one trey in the second half?
“Subbed some guys, subbed some players,” was Calipari’s answer. “It only takes one guy breaking down. The first half, we left corners, which we never do. We just left guys in corners. We don’t leave corner shooters.”
It’s inconsistency Calipari is still dealing with, and it’s not all youth.
“That’s all effort and hustle plays,” Calipari said. “You want us to play like that all the time. And I know I’m asking a lot. I’m asking guys to come every game ready to go and ready to battle. But I think if you demand a lot, you get a lot. If you accept mediocrity, you’re going to get it every single time. If you accept what they want to give you, that’s what they are going to give you. I’m not accepting anything but your best.”
Knight and Lamb have clearly gotten the picture. Lamb has accepted his role off the bench and continues to be instant offense (16 points Monday), and Knight (22 points) has improved day and night since the Maui Invitational.
“Different player, isn’t it?” Calipari said of Knight. “That’s what you are trying to see with guys that want to change and want to get better. We’re on him about his defense, and you know what, today he went out and said, ‘I’m going to guard better,’ and he did.”
Jones was the epitome of the inconsistent performance. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, but it was a quiet double-digit effort and a far cry from the opening-season play of the freshman forward.
“At the end of the day, if I have done my job, and Terrence has responded, Terrence Jones will be the best player in the country by the end of the year; if he wants to be; if he wants to listen and change,” Calipari said.
Monday was just another example of how close Kentucky is to being a legitimate contender and how razor-thin the margin is for being one-and-done in March. Inconsistency can plague this team or effort and intensity can overcome it.
And that’s why Calipari, no matter how impressive the Louisville win was or how dominating Monday’s second half was, continues to want more.
“Shouldn’t I expect that?” Calipari said.
Anything less and a first half like Monday’s will be the team’s shortcoming come March.
