Better Late Than Never: UK Out to Continue Surge vs. Mizzou
John Calipari has been working for this moment for months, trying everything in his power to get Kentucky to turn the corner and begin to play to its potential.
Of course, he wishes it had happened much sooner. Then again, he understands the alternative.
“It’s better than not blossoming, I can tell you that,” Calipari said.
The Wildcats (19-9, 8-7 Southeastern Conference) have blossomed in the form of a two-game winning streak, scoring a pair of double-digit victories over opponents likely bound for the NCAA Tournament. After taking down Alabama and racing past Arkansas, UK returns home to host Missouri (18-10, 8-7 SEC) at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday at Rupp Arena.
“We’re doing some good stuff, but we just got to keep getting better,” Calipari said. “Guys got to fall into those roles and then be good at we need them to be good at collectively.”
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| Kentucky vs. Missouri | ||
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Sat., Feb. 24 – 8:15 p.m. ET |
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TV: ESPN |
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| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | MU |
| 19-9 | Record | 18-10 |
| 8-7 | Conference Record | 8-7 |
| 76.2 | PPG | 73.9 |
| 70.8 | Opp PPG | 67.8 |
| .465 | FG% | .459 |
| .410 | Opp FG% | .402 |
| 39.2 | RPG | 37.4 |
| .333 | 3PT FG% | .383 |
| .292 | Opp 3PT FG% | .312 |
| .693 | FT% | .737 |
| 13.3 | APG | 14.0 |
| 5.7 | SPG | 5.3 |
| 5.0 | BPG | 4.5 |
Calipari is referencing a meeting he had with his team a couple weeks back, when he specifically outlined individual roles for each of his players. The idea to do that started with Jarred Vanderbilt, who brought incredible energy after debuting a little over a month ago but struggled to fit into a team had spent more than two months developing an on-court identity without him.
Vanderbilt’s rebounding and passing ability were never in question, but creating plays for himself and shooting were a struggle. Seeing that, Calipari asked Vanderbilt to channel Dennis Rodman and focus on the things that made him special and bypass trying to score outside the paint. Quickly, the UK coaching staff realized the rest of a historically young team would benefit from similar role definition.
“You would hope you would have that earlier, but it took us time,” Calipari said.
Vanderbilt has benefited from that more refined focus – scoring a career-high 11 points and adding nine rebounds in each of UK’s two wins – and so too have most of his teammates. One exception, so far anyway, is Hamidou Diallo, who scored two points in a season-low 10 minutes at Arkansas on Tuesday. Calipari doesn’t expect that to last.
“He can make plays that normal guys can’t make,” Calipari said. “He can score baskets on people because of his athleticism. We’re trying to get him to shoot pull-up jumpers, shoot free-throw-line jumpers – that’s a good play for him. And then, the biggest thing for him right now is sell in defensively. No reason he shouldn’t be a great defender.”
Diallo, at full capacity, would be a major asset against a Missouri team that ranks 30th nationally in 3-point percentage at 39.2 percent. The Tigers didn’t shoot all that well the first time these two teams met on Feb. 3, but came away with a 69-60 win anyway. The loss was the first of a four-game losing streak for the Cats.
Kassie Robertson and Jordan Barnett each scored 16 points in the game, as UK was ice cold from the field in the first half and a late-game rally came up short. Saturday also brings the added variable of five-star freshman Michael Porter Jr., who returned to practice Friday after sitting since the season opener with a back injury. Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin has not said whether Porter will play.
“They’ve got a good team,” Calipari said. “They shoot the ball well. They got good size. They lost a couple games that they could have won. They had Mississippi up seven with a minute and a half to go, two minutes, they lost the game. They’re one of those teams in that pack of teams that we’re all pretty much the same. So we gotta play the way we’ve been playing to give ourselves a chance.”
The group on the floor that ends up composing that “we,” particularly in the clutch, is to be determined. Calipari, having abandoned his short-lived rotation, will decide based on what he sees.
“The guys that are playing best are going to play, especially when you have a team this young,” Calipari said. “That means there are certain games a guy may not – he’s not ready to go – so then he won’t play as much, but we’ve been doing that here and having guys perform their roles. Now it’s easier to know if a guy’s playing well. It’s not about a made shot, a missed shot, it’s, are you doing what the team needs you to do?”
Cats Race Past Hogs in Fayetteville
It’s hard to believe these days, but it was just last week when Kentucky lost its fourth game in a row.
Just don’t ask Kevin Knox to reflect on that losing streak, at least not after the Wildcats put together one of their most dominating halves of the season in an 87-72 win at Arkansas on Tuesday night.
Knox scored 23 points in the win for Kentucky (19-9, 8-7 Southeastern Conference), which won for the sixth straight time over the Razorbacks. It was also the Wildcats second straight win after its long-forgotten losing streak, a victory that helped them avoid losing five out of six games for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
”I don’t remember that (losing streak) at all,” Knox joked. ”I just remember the last two weeks.”
Knox was one of five players to finish in double figures for Kentucky, which shot 46.3 percent (31 of 67) in the win and overcame an early 11- point deficit.
It was the dominating fashion with which the Wildcats took control of the game in the second half that left the Bud Walton Arena crowd stunned. After Arkansas (19-9, 8-7 SEC) took a 61-56 lead midway through the half, Kentucky outscored the Razorbacks 31-11 to end the game – thanks in large part to a 23-12 rebounding edge in the half and a 46-29 advantage for the game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points for the Wildcats, while PJ Washington finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Quade Green added 12 points and Jarred Vanderbilt scored 11 for a Kentucky team led by its usual influx of freshmen, one that appears to have righted its ways after its four-game swoon.
”The thing I can’t do for these kids is there’s experiences they’ve got to live that I cannot talk them through,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. ”When you’re playing all freshmen, there’s experiences they have to go through — one of them is being down 11-0 on the road to a team that was so hyped to play this game that it was crazy.”
Daryl Macon scored 26 points to lead the Razorbacks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. It was the ninth time in the last 10 games Macon has scored 20 or more points. Anton Beard added 13 points and Jaylen Barford scored 12 for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks entered the game 14-1 in Bud Walton Arena with an average margin of victory of 17.2 points per game. They opened Tuesday night on an 11-0 run, but Kentucky recovered from the slow start to end the half tied 43-43 — thanks in large part to a 22-10 halftime edge in points in the paint.
The change in momentum was a sign of things to come during the Wildcats game-clinching run in the second half.
NOTABLES:
• UK’s 43 points in the first half were its most since a season-high 54 vs. Monmouth on Dec. 9, and the Wildcats’ 87 for the game was their most in league play and most since scoring 90 vs. Louisville
• Kentucky’s 15-point margin of victory was its most since the Louisville game
• The Wildcats made 85 percent at the free-throw line (17 of 20), a season-high clip
• UK dominated the battle of the benches 38-6
• Knox reached double figures for his team-leading 22nd time and scored 20 or more for the seventh time, also a team best
• Washington’s double-double was the second of his career and UK’s first since Knox’s double-dip on Jan. 3. Washington has scored in double figures in three straight games, all of them off the bench
• Green played a career-high 34 minutes while Gilgeous-Alexander played 39 for the fourth time this season
• Five Wildcats scored in double figures for the second straight game, the first time that’s happened since Jan. 14 and 17, 2017
• UK’s 87 points are the most it has ever scored in a road win against Arkansas
• Kentucky improved to 69-1 (.986) in the Calipari era when scoring at least 87 points
• The Wildcats have a rebounding margin of at least plus-17 in consecutive SEC games for the first time since March 2 and 5, 2003
• UK corralled the offensive rebound on at least 50 percent of its field-goal attempts in consecutive SEC games for the first time since Feb. 14 and 17, 2015
UK to Honor 1978 Team this Weekend
The 1978 Kentucky men’s basketball national championship team will be honored this weekend, including at Saturday’s home game vs. Missouri, as UK continues to honor elite teams of the past.
The team will watch practice of the current team this week, take a tour of UK’s facilities, enjoy a Friday evening social and then watch Saturday’s game in Rupp Arena. The team will be introduced at halftime.
The 1978 team is one of six programs being honored during the 2017-18 athletics season, as selected by a newly formed reunion committee UK has established to honor elite teams of the past.
UK Athletics established a reunion committee as a way to honor great Kentucky teams of the past. The committee was formed to define official parameters of recognition, identify and select deserving teams, and coordinate dates and arrangements with the specific programs. Input from current head coaches and administrators was taken into account when setting the criteria.
Standards for selecting teams each year will include but is not limited to final records, conference championships and postseason finishes. The committee will place emphasis on honoring teams that coincide with yearly markers (for example, a 25th anniversary of a team’s championship), although other factors will be taken into consideration. Special attention was placed this year on teams that would typically fall outside the committee’s reunion windows moving forward.
The 1978 national championship team, Kentucky’s fifth overall and first without the legendary Adolph Rupp, capped a 30-2 season that included the SEC championship. Under head coach Joe B. Hall, Jack Givens averaged 18.1 points, Rick Robey averaged 14.4 and Kyle Macy added 12.5 points per game. Givens put on one of the finest individual performances in NCAA championship history in leading the Wildcats past Duke in the title game. Givens scored 41 points, three short of the national championship game record. Robey added 20 points.
