Gabriel, Vanderbilt UK’s Best Examples of Changing Priorities

John Calipari wants his players to be honest with themselves about how they’re playing.
 
He’s found the best way to check in on that is to simply ask.
 
So Sunday, Coach Cal turned to Wenyen Gabriel. The sophomore was about to launch into the kind of self-critique Calipari is looking for, but he stopped Gabriel in his tracks.
 
“You played really good,” Calipari said. “You played unbelievably good. Your tip that gave Kevin Knox a chance to get fouled probably won the game and the play before you tipped in. You were unbelievable and you were 1 for 7 and couldn’t hit the side of a barn.”
 
Gabriel was right to look for things to improve in his game, but a greater lesson was at play. The 6-foot-9 forward had missed nearly all his shots, but no one – maybe not even Knox with his 34 points – had contributed more to Kentucky’s win at West Virginia in which the Wildcats had overcome a 17-point deficit with 17 minutes to play.
 
Gabriel’s effort was indispensable, and his nine rebounds – five coming on the offensive end – three blocks and three assists reflected that.
 
“That’s just one of the things I know going into every game that you can control,” Gabriel said. “You can control how hard you play, how much energy you bring to the team. I just feel like since that was what the team needed, as a leader that’s what I can bring to the table every day. I just focused on that and usually the shots come with it, but they didn’t fall last game. I have confidence in myself. It’s going to come back.”
 
The interesting thing is that quote could have been attributed to a teammate of Gabriel’s just as easily.
 
Since Jarred Vanderbilt made his debut Jan. 16, he hasn’t been able to get much of anything to fall from the field. He’s shooting just 5 of 22 (22.7 percent), but Calipari can’t help but put him on the floor. He has 29 rebounds in 49 minutes, including 11 in 11 minutes in the win at West Virginia.
 
“He’s a crazy athlete and he just plays hard,” Sacha Killeya-Jones said. “That’s the most important thing. If he goes out there, and he’s still trying to get in the flow of things offensively with the team and everything. He’s doing a great job with everything he’s doing. He knows, right now, the one thing he can control is how hard he plays and he’s doing a great job with that. Eleven rebounds in 11 minutes is insane. That’s one of the reasons we won the game.”
 
Vanderbilt has snagged an astounding 34 percent of UK’s misses on offense during the time he’s been on the floor. For the sake of comparison, Nick Ward of Michigan State currently leads the nation among qualified players in that statistical category at 20.3 percent.
 
“He’s physically tough,” Calipari said. “He’s got a quick twitch. He’s quick to balls. Mind moves great. He sees things before where the ball goes and goes and gets there.”
 
Getting Vanderbilt going on offense is a work in progress, but the energy he and Gabriel play with is a good starting point. It’s also a powerful lesson for a young team.
 
“It shows you it doesn’t matter, you all worry about the wrong things,” Calipari said. “I had three calls on Wenyen Gabriel like, ‘Man that’s the kid. He’s slender but he still fights.’ “
 
Scoring points, hitting shots and most of the reasons why UK’s youngsters became highly touted prospects to begin with don’t matter so much anymore. They’ve been replaced by unselfishness, effort and a will to win.
 
“Trying to get them to think the right way and just come together and be about each other,” Calipari said. “That game they were. There was a desperation and again anybody that could not stay up with it we just didn’t play. For whatever reason, boom, OK now let’s go and that was what you saw.”
 
The challenge for No. 21/22 UK (16-5, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) is make that desperation a regular thing. The Cats’ next chance comes in a rematch with Vanderbilt (8-13, 2-6 SEC) at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
 
“You guys fought,” Calipari said. “You played with unbelievable spirit in the second half and you beat a really good team on the road. Now you’ve got to build on it. So you talk about it, but we don’t know until the game is – you throw the ball up and we see if they understand that’s how you have to attempt to play every game. That kind of fight.”