Darius Miller and the Kentucky Wildcats take on Radford at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Rupp Arena. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)

If the last week or so is any indication, Kentucky can win games this year no matter how they play.The Wildcats can likely win most nights by turning the ball over 19 times as they did in a double-digit win over Kansas. They can probably blow out their share of less talented squads even if they allow 18 offensive rebounds like they did in a drubbing of Penn State. UK can probably even overcome performances similar to the one against Old Dominion, when most of John Calipari’s talented roster failed to respond to the physical play of the Monarchs.Calipari, though, knows his team won’t even approach its nearly limitless potential if the Cats don’t embrace the challenge of improving. He has watched as his team opted for quick jumpers instead of driving through contact. He has seen players shy away from mixing it up on the boards instead of making the choice to go get the ball and getting it done no matter what.”Do you catch and just get it off, or do you catch it drive and it get bumped and grabbed and held?” Calipari said. “What’s the easiest thing you can do? Shoot that bad boy before anybody comes near you. The other thing is you rebound and start running versus rebound, bring it in and be strong with it.”He also knows Radford, the team that will come in to Rupp Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday looking to pull an upset, has been watching too. “If they watched the tape they’re going to try to be physical, they’ll play zone and they’ll hold the ball,” Calipari said. “I just watched tape on them and they are a good enough team to come in here and beat us if we don’t play our game.”Calipari said after the narrow win on Sunday that Old Dominion had shown all UK’s future opponents the blueprint of how to hang with the Cats. He expects every team they face from here on out to play the same way the Monarchs did, at least until they figure out how to combat the style. Potentially providing the blueprint for UK to do just that was Darius Miller. The senior posted his best game of the young season in his team’s most challenging one, scoring 13 points to go with his five assists and four rebounds.”The (Old Dominion) game got physical, Terrence (Jones) didn’t play through bumps, Michael (Kidd-Gilchrist) didn’t play through the bumps,” Calipari said. “The only guy that played through the bumps was Darius and he got the ball wherever he wanted on the court.”Miller found his way into the sixth man role after Kidd-Gilchrist demonstrated an unmatched level of intensity. However, the veteran may have changed things around again, because Calipari simply won’t allow his team to opt for the easier path.”He may be starting; the way he played last game I may put him in the starting lineup,” Calipari said. “Some guys went back to playing passive and they aren’t going to be on the floor.”Miller’s experience from playing in many physical games throughout his first three seasons at Kentucky showed itself and it’s clear how much it could mean to this team going forward. As for the rest of the Cats, Calipari is not concerned.”He’s been there; he’s done it on the national stage while these other guys are still learning,” Calipari said. “We’ve got a good group; I like the team, I like their attitudes. I think we had a little bit of a wake-up call.”Provided his team sees this weekend as the wake-up call it was and does not turn to the long road trip or playing games on back-to-back days as excuses, the future is bright.”If they take responsibility,” Calipari said. “If they look and say ‘I have got to get better.’ As long as they understand that, we’re fine.”

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