First Exhibition Both a Welcome Change and Needed Barometer
One by one, John Calipari watched his players go down with cramps during the Blue-White Game.
Coach Cal surely endured a cramp or two during his own playing career, but he didn’t have much sympathy.
“When they saw one guy grab his leg, they all grabbed their legs,” Calipari said after the scrimmage last Friday. “But we’re practicing twice tomorrow.”
They haven’t slowed down since.
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| Kentucky vs. Thomas More | ||
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Fri., Oct. 27 – 7 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: SEC Network |
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| UK | 2016-17 Team Stats | TMC |
| 32-6 | Record | 22-7 |
| 16-2 | Conference Record | 15-3 |
| 84.9 | PPG | 78.0 |
| 71.5 | Opp PPG | 69.3 |
| .473 | FG% | .474 |
| .424 | Opp FG% | .419 |
| 39.8 | RPG | 37.3 |
| .353 | 3PT FG% | .385 |
| .424 | Opp 3PT FG% | .419 |
| .703 | FT% | .775 |
| 15.4 | APG | 16.3 |
| 6.0 | SPG | 5.0 |
| 5.3 | BPG | 0.7 |
“We’re conditioning like crazy right now,” Calipari said Thursday ahead of UK’s exhibition opener Friday at 7 p.m. vs. Thomas More. “Like, it’s nuts.”
In fact, Coach Cal says he is working the Wildcats harder than he has any of his UK teams. Most of the players on Kentucky’s exceptionally young roster, particularly the eight freshmen, don’t have anything to compare it to, but they’ve certainly noticed.
“We’re doing a lot of conditioning, but we know we have to do that and to get to where we want to be we know we have to be in the best shape possible,” freshman Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We all understand that so it’s no problem.”
Sacha Killeya-Jones was one of the Cats who didn’t fall victim to cramps in the scrimmage. He takes some pride in that after seeing the importance of conditioning firsthand and is embracing the opportunity to improve further.
“The conditioning is definitely another level right now,” Killeya-Jones said. “It’s something we’re all buying into, we all know we need right now just based off how we want to play defense to offense in transition, rebounding, everything. We know we’re going to need our legs and we’re going to need to be able to play those long possessions.”
It takes both high-level conditioning and intense mental focus to make it through those long possessions. All the running addresses the first of those two. Calipari’s approach to teaching in practice takes care of the second.
“One of the players said, ‘Coach, you stop us so much in practice,’ ” Calipari said. “I said, ‘I cannot let you play in a way that you’re not going to be able to play.’ I stop it. No. Instead of letting them go for five minutes and then saying, ‘OK, here are the seven things I saw.’ You can’t do that with 18- and 19-year-old kids. ‘That is unacceptable. You’re not playing that way. I will sub you the minute you do that, so don’t do it. Alright, keep going.’ “
Gilgeous-Alexander has come to understand Calipari’s method. The same goes for Killeya-Jones, though that doesn’t mean it wasn’t foreign at first.
“I think coming in last year, the practices here are like nowhere else in the country,” Killeya-Jones said. “I had never practiced like this until last year. In terms of stopping, he’s stopping a lot to teach small aspects and things that are really going to be important.”
Upon reflection, Calipari recognizes all the stopping could have contributed to the cramping last week. That doesn’t mean he’s changing his stripes though. He’s just adjusted elsewhere.
“Now the problem with that is it’s hard to get them in that playing running shape, which is maybe why some of those guys cramped up in the scrimmage,” Calipari said. “But, that’s cured because now we’re conditioning at a high level like I’ve conditioned no other team I’ve coached here.”
Friday’s exhibition allows Calipari to see how his team has progressed over the last week and an opportunity for his team to play when only the referees can stop the game. And of course, the presence of Thomas More, a Division III school from Crestview Hills, Kentucky, that went 22-7 a season ago, means some colors other than UK’s Blue and White get introduced into the mix.
“Coming to Kentucky, we know that most of the time practice is going to be harder than the games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, “and we can’t wait to battle with another team and show them what we’ve been working on and what we’ve been doing this whole time.”
It’s an exciting prospect for the Cats to face an outside opponent, but Calipari knows it will bring a challenge for him. He has made up his mind that he needs to be “doubly” hard on his team in practice before backing off a bit in games, at least early on.
“When we get in these games, I’m going to have to back up a little bit because this is not the swaggy, ‘we got this’ group,” Calipari said. “They’re still trying to figure out who they are, which means I’ve gotta back up and accept some of the stuff I see – which normally I don’t accept.”
That’s easier said than done for a Hall of Fame coach, but Calipari isn’t giving himself any choice in the matter.
“That’s what I have to do,” Calipari said. “In other words, other groups I was tough on, and in games when there was slippage, I didn’t let that slippage keep going. ‘No, it’s not acceptable. You’re at Kentucky. I don’t care how old you are. We’re not doing it.’ And then I got louder if I had to and then I did what I had to.
“I think right now, this group, where we are is go hard in practice, hold them accountable and then accept where they are in the games right now. This is where we are.”
Cats Show Talent, Long Road Ahead in Blue-White Game
John Calipari has preached patience every chance he’s had. Coaching his youngest team to date, Coach Cal has warned fans to expect bumps on Kentucky’s road to March. The reasons why were apparent during the Blue-White Game on Friday night. So was the fact that fans are going to have plenty of fun watching these Wildcats along the way.
UK looked far from a finished product in its annual intrasquad scrimmage in Rupp Arena. Turnovers and fouls came in bunches, but so did thunderous dunks and impressive drives. Potential, albeit raw, was on full display as Blue downed White in front of a crowd of 15,530 – the second largest in the history of the event – by a score of 88-67.
Not coincidently considering the result, the stars of the evening both suited up exclusively for the Blue team. Versatile freshman forwards Knox and PJ Washington were a handful throughout. Knox had 22 points and seven rebounds and Washington had 21 points and five rebounds, the pair shooting a combined 18 of 26 from the field.
UK’s two returning forwards – Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones – showed improved form from a season ago. Gabriel scored 19 points, while Killeya-Jones had 10 points and six rebounds.
Quade Green split his time between the two squads and didn’t hesitate to shoot. He scored a combined 18 points, but made time for passing too. The 6-foot point guard had a game-high seven assists. His point-guard opposite, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, had 14 points and five assists.
All nine active players expected to contend for spots in UK’s rotation scored in double figures, the balance of this year’s roster on display. Hamidou Diallo scored 15 points and Tai Wynyard and Nick Richards had 10 apiece. Richards stuffed the stat sheet elsewhere as well, grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking eight shots in serving as an intimidating defensive presence.
UK to Play Morehead State in Exhibition for Disaster Relief Funds
In light of recent disasters around the country, UK Athletics will play a small part in helping those affected by adding a third men’s basketball exhibition game to Kentucky’s 2017-18 schedule. The NCAA has granted a special waiver for the Wildcats to host Morehead State.
UK will host the Eagles – coached by former Kentucky staff member Preston Spradlin – for the inaugural “Kentucky Cares Classic” on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in Rupp Arena to raise funds for those affected by the devastating hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico and wildfires in California.
Net proceeds from the game will go to Team Rubicon, a non-government 501(c)(3) organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. Team Rubicon is currently active in Florida in response to hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico and is soon to begin work in response to wildfires in California.
The Kentucky Cares Classic will not be televised or streamed, but the game will be broadcast on radio on the UK Sports Network and its affiliates.
Tickets for the game at Ticketmaster.com and by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Fans may also purchase in person at the Rupp Arena box office. Tickets will range from $10 to $100 with net proceeds going to victims of the recent natural disasters.
The two schools last played in the regular season in November 2012 with UK owning a 10-0 all-time advantage.
Not only will the exhibition games pair a couple of in-state schools for charity, it will also be a homecoming of sorts for Morehead State’s Spradlin. Spradlin spent five seasons at Kentucky, first as a graduate assistant (2010-11) and then as the assistant director of basketball operations (2012-14).
Kentucky Picked to Win 49th SEC Title
The Kentucky men’s basketball program finds itself in familiar territory under the direction of ninth-year head coach John Calipari. A select panel of media voted the Wildcats to once again win the Southeastern Conference championship. Should Kentucky achieve that standard, it would mark the sixth regular-season title under Calipari and the program’s 49th overall.
It’s the 13th time since the 1998-99 season the Wildcats are the overall preseason favorite. UK was picked to win the title a season ago and did not disappoint. Calipari has directed his teams to regular-season SEC crowns in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Each school selected media members that cover their team and additional media from across the nation were selected by the conference office to comprise the voting panel. Points were compiled on a 14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Each media member also voted for two All-SEC teams.
