A&M a Perfect Test as Cats Work on Toughness
John Calipari didn’t mince words after Kentucky’s loss at Tennessee last weekend: The Wildcats have work to do when it comes to toughness.
Why try to obscure the truth when it’s so plainly told by the film?
The truth telling has continued upon UK’s return to Lexington.
“The way you do it is, first of all, you show it on tape so they can accept it’s what happened,” Coach Cal said. “Then you just, it’s a process, day-to-day, and you just keep working on it. You get guys to accept I’ve got to change.”
The first step to acceptance has been an unpleasant after-action review from the defeat. That’s included both individual and team sessions.
“The guys that we were talking about – that we were concerned about toughness and that Cal was concerned about toughness – we watched the game with them individually, we watched it collectively and made them kind of answer the questions,” assistant coach Joel Justus said. ” ‘OK, what happened here?’ The other piece to that is you say, ‘OK, how do we move forward? How do we stop this from happening again?’ “
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| Kentucky vs. Texas A&M | ||
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Sat., Jan. 9 – 7 p.m. ET |
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TV: SEC Network |
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| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | TAMU |
| 12-3 | Record | 11-4 |
| 2-1 | Conference Record | 0-3 |
| 78.9 | PPG | 78.0 |
| 69.6 | Opp PPG | 66.9 |
| .483 | FG% | .460 |
| .406 | Opp FG% | .379 |
| 39.2 | RPG | 44.2 |
| .367 | 3PT FG% | .339 |
| .296 | Opp 3PT FG% | .305 |
| .686 | FT% | .715 |
| 15.3 | APG | 17.5 |
| 6.7 | SPG | 6.3 |
| 5.6 | BPG | 6.3 |
That process is of particular importance since there is imminent danger of a repeat performance considering the next opponent for the No. 21/20 Wildcats (12-3, 2-1 Southeastern Conference).
Texas A&M (11-4, 0-3 SEC) will come to Rupp Arena at 7 p.m. on Tuesday having lost three straight, but the Aggies are only two weeks removed from being ranked in the top five. Injury, illness and suspension have plagued A&M in recent weeks, as only three Aggies have played in all 15 of their games this season. Leading scorer DJ Hogg, however, was back in the lineup in a loss against LSU on Saturday, while Admon Gilder and Duane Wilson are nearing return from knee injuries and Robert Williams missed the game with the flu.
“Texas A&M has had injuries and illness, so everyone in our league knows how good they are,” Calipari said on Monday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference. “Their guards were out for a while. (Williams) was out this last game with the flu. Robert is one of the best players in our league, voted, I believe, player of the year in the preseason. My guess is they’ll all be back, so it’ll be a different kind of game.”
Regardless of personnel, the Cats can expect the Aggies to challenge them similarly to how the Volunteers did.
“That’s how A&M plays anyway,” Calipari said. “They play a physical game. They play a lot of high-low. They’re going to try to jam it over the top, they’re going to try to seal you, similar to what happened after PJ (Washington) came out of the game (when) Tennessee just threw us around.”
A&M is 12th nationally in average height according to kenpom.com, nearly measuring up to the Wildcats, who rank fourth. The Aggies are outrebounding their opponents by an average margin of plus-9.0 per game (ninth nationally), led by the ultra-athletic Williams (10.0 per game) and 6-foot-10, 266-pound Tyler Davis (8.4 per game)
“I’ve been knowing Tyler since I was in seventh grade because he’s from the same area,” Washington said. “And I’ve been knowing Rob since I was a sophomore in high school. They’re really great players. Rob is really athletic and he dunks everything. Tyler has great moves in the post. So it’s going to be a big matchup for us.”
A&M will surely be looking at the game the same way. The Aggies – a preseason SEC favorite alongside UK – don’t want to fall into an 0-4 hole in the conference.
“They’re going to be a team that’s desperate and they can’t be more desperate than us, you know, when the game happens tomorrow,” Justus said. “I think guys going through that the other night in Knoxville is exciting for our guys to get back out and play and exorcise some of those demons that were brought out the other night. I think you’ll see a group of guys that’s excited to play.”
Calipari, Justus and company are doing everything in their power to make sure that happens, but the Cats know that’s ultimately on them.
“We can go over the scouting report, we can go over film, but just a mindset of competing against other bigs and competing against other players,” Nick Richards said. “I’m really excited for that game.”
Fans to Paint Rupp Blue, White for Texas A&M Game
Adding to one of the best home-court advantages in college basketball, one side of Rupp Arena will be painted blue and the other white on Tuesday, as fans are being asked to wear colors based on the section they will sit in for Kentucky’s game vs. Texas A&M.
Fans can reference the graphic below to find their assigned color and dress according to their section number.
No. 23/22 Tennessee Outlasts No. 17/14 Kentucky in Knoxville
Facing its second straight road test of the season, Kentucky appeared poised to continue its early season conference momentum.
PJ Washington looked unstoppable in the first half, Wenyen Gabriel was raining 3-pointers and Kentucky looked fairly in control in establishing a 37-29 lead despite battling various illnesses within the team throughout the week.
But then Washington started cramping in his legs early in the second half, Gabriel got into foul trouble and UK’s toughness began to crack as Tennessee started making shots.
Despite the strong first halves from Washington and Gabriel and Quade Green’s 14 points, No. 17/14 Kentucky lost at No. 23/22 Tennessee 76-65 on Saturday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Volunteers outscored the Wildcats 47-28 after halftime, the largest margin of victory in a second half during the John Calipari era at Kentucky, to deliver UK its third straight loss at Tennessee and its fourth in its last five games.
The Wildcats (12-3, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) have now lost five games in Thompson-Boling Arena under Calipari. No other team Calipari has faced can claim more than three victories on its home court during his time at UK.
The Wildcats connected on 46.2 percent (24 of 52) of their shots, while the Volunteers hit 45.5 percent (25 of 55) of their field-goal attempts. Kentucky was 7 of 19 from behind the arc, while Tennessee hit 8 of 22 from long range.
Kentucky outscored Tennessee 32-30 in the paint, and the Wildcats held the advantage in bench points 18-17. The game was tight early before Kentucky went on a 7-0 run to open a 16-9 lead. Tennessee scored the next six points to cut the lead to one, but Kentucky answered by scoring the next eight points to establish a 24-15 advantage.
Tennessee (10-4, 1-2 SEC) was able to get within one, 28-27, before Kentucky finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 37-29 lead into the break. Washington had 11 points, a career-high three steals and two blocks in the first half alone for the Wildcats.
In the second half, the Vols put together a 10-2 run to tie the game at 39 apiece. The teams would trade leads and be tied for the next few minutes, and the game was even, 47-47, with 13:57 left. That’s when Tennessee went on a decisive 13-3 run to take a 60-50 lead with 8:15 remaining. Without Washington (cramps) and Gabriel (fouled out) for much of the second half, UK had no answer.
Kentucky was able to get within seven on two occasions, the last coming when Knox hit a pair of free throws with 5:37 left in the game. However, the Wildcats would get no closer.
Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield led all scorers with 20 points.
NOTABLES:
• UK lost its first game of the season when leading at the break. UK was ahead 37-29
• Tennessee made 8 of 25 3-pointers. UK had limited its last three opponents to 11 of 70 from 3-point range
• Kentucky grabbed a season-low 30 rebounds
• UK committed a season-high-tying 23 fouls
• The Wildcats attempted a season-low 52 field goals
• Tennessee went 18 of 22 from the free-throw line. Both outputs were season highs by a UK opponent
• Green’s team-high 14 points came on a career-high-tying three 3-pointers
• Nick Richards had nine points and eight boards. His nine points were the most since scoring 10 against Monmouth in mid December
Bounce Back
The Wildcats don’t lose very often during the John Calipari era, but when they do, they almost always bounce back.
UK improved to 40-8 under Calipari following a loss after a victory over Louisville that followed a setback vs. UCLA. Kentucky’s back-to-back losses to Kansas and Tennessee in 2016-17 were its first since also losing back-to-back games at Kansas and at Tennessee in 2015-16.
The Wildcats have only lost back-to-back games eight times during the Calipari era and they’ve never lost three in a row with Calipari on the sidelines — including avoiding a three-game skid despite trailing by 14 to Georgia in the first half on Jan. 31, 2017. The last time UK lost three games in a row was in February 2009 when the Wildcats dropped four straight games to end the regular season.
