Cats Rediscover Energy, Take Down Valpo

John Calipari bemoaned Kentucky’s lack of intensity in the Wildcats’ first loss of the season against UCLA on Saturday.

The Bruins, he said, had beaten the Cats in the area that had been their hallmark seven games into the season: energy.

So, how would UK regain its edge in the days before its next game?

“We practice that way,” Coach Cal said.

With three days to prepare for a Valparaiso team coming off a win over top-25 Rhode Island and featuring an All-America candidate, the Cats went to work.

“I put Isaiah (Briscoe) opposite De’Aaron Fox so they could go head to head and had two different teams and they competed like crazy,” Calipari said. “If you practice that way, you’ll play that way. If you’re casual, you’re casual in a shootaround, you’re going to play that way.”

Save for a brief bobble out of the gates, the No. 6/7 Cats (8-1) were back to their usual selves, as well as their winning ways, in dispatching the visiting Crusaders (7-2), 87-63.

“It was fun,” said Mychal Mulder, who had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench. “That was a really good team. We were looking forward to the competition, and an opportunity to bounce back. We’ve been waiting to get back to competition and we’ve been working real hard in practice. We were happy with the results.”

So too was Calipari. Of course there were things that bothered him – like the start that preceded a 21-0 run that turned a tie game into a 25-4 lead for the Cats – but he saw the bounce return to his team’s step.

“That was a heck of a win for us,” Calipari said. “I was worried about that game because when I watched the tape and how they played and what they did, it’s exactly what bothered us. Straight-line drives, getting people to the rim, isolations, isolating a guy that struggles defensively. That’s the kind of stuff they did. But it was a good — gave up too many rebounds, too many offensive rebounds, and we’ll watch the tape on that. But I was happy with the effort.”

As everything does for Calipari-coached teams, that began on the defensive end. 

With Alec Peters, that All-America candidate, UK sent waves of defenders his way. The result was 23 points and eight rebounds for the senior forward, but it took him 20 shots and a second-half cramp to get there.

“All I said is, he’s going to get his, let’s make it hard,” Calipari said. “Don’t leave your feet, don’t put him on the free-throw line. Don’t give him straight line drives. Make him score through your chest. If he can do that, great. And that’s what we tried to do.”

Elsewhere, the game plan wasn’t all that much different. The Cats wanted to make things as difficult as possible for their opponents, and no one did that better than Dominique Hawkins, the 6-foot ball of defensive energy. During Hawkins’ first stint – which spanned 3:58 starting at the 16:07 mark of the first half – Valpo didn’t manage a single point.

“Dom goes in and just changed the whole complexion because of how he defended on the ball,” Calipari said. “And he kind of disrupted what they were doing offensively.”

Told of Calipari’s effusive praise, Hawkins had a response that was equal parts characteristically endearing and full of self-awareness.

“Thanks, Coach, for that,” said Hawkins, who added six points and four assists. “I know my role. I come in the game, I’m able to bring energy and if I’m open I take an open shot.”

There’s never any doubt about what kind of effort Hawkins will give when he checks in. The rest of the Cats made some strides toward that on Wednesday night, but there’s still a way to go.

“Energy shows our athleticism,” Calipari said. “Lack of energy shows all the other warts that we have. We are so fast. ‘Well, why wouldn’t you run fast?’ ‘I didn’t feel like it on that play, I’m is going to just kind of jog.’ What? Fly every play. When you can’t fly, you come out. If I see guys not flying, I’ll take them out. I mean, it’s, I’m not saying on missed shots or turnovers, I’m saying you don’t have energy, you’re not flying up and down that court, you’re out.”

What Calipari is asking is simple, but that doesn’t make it easy. He’s still not ever backing off that demand.

“That energy is how we have to come out every day,” Calipari said. “And it’s hard. But you know what? It is what it is.”