Alabama Offers Next Opportunity for UK to Build Trust
Of all the players on this Kentucky team, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has come the closest to buying into what John Calipari is asking of him.
He makes mistakes, of course, but Gilgeous-Alexander unquestionably trusts his coach.
So, what is his message to his teammates in whom Calipari is still trying to build that trust?
“We all obviously want to get to the next level and I think nobody in the country has the track record that Coach does,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think guys that listen to him and trust him get to where they want to go and do great things.”
As luck would have it, a couple of them made an appearance on campus this week.
With the NBA All-Star break this weekend, Willie Cauley-Stein of the Sacramento Kings and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat were at the Joe Craft Center on Wednesday. Don’t think for a second that Coach Cal didn’t take advantage of their presence.
Kentucky vs. Alabama | ||
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Sat., Feb. 17 – 2 p.m. ET |
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Coverage | ||
TV: CBS |
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UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | UA |
17-9 | Record | 17-9 |
6-7 | Conference Record | 8-5 |
75.6 | PPG | 73.5 |
70.7 | Opp PPG | 68.2 |
.466 | FG% | .469 |
.409 | Opp FG% | .405 |
38.8 | RPG | 36.5 |
.329 | 3PT FG% | .330 |
.291 | Opp 3PT FG% | .312 |
.686 | FT% | .678 |
13.3 | APG | 12.9 |
5.7 | SPG | 6.8 |
5.1 | BPG | 6.0 |
Calipari didn’t have the two lottery picks address the team…not directly anyway. He just happened to have a conversation with them very much within earshot of the Wildcats before practice. It should come as no surprise that they delivered exactly the message Calipari wanted.
“Willie Cauley-Stein walked in yesterday and he said, ‘Why aren’t they just trying to do this together? Playing with, just be one, and then they all benefit,’ ” Calipari said. “I said, ‘Why did you trust me?’ “
Cauley-Stein answered by pointing at all the photos of UK’s current NBA players adorning the walls of the practice gym. Enough said, so it was Adebayo’s turn.
” ‘Bam, why did you trust me? We never threw you the ball until late in the year,’ ” Calipari said. ” ‘Because I knew what I wanted to do and you were trying to help me.’ And I said that out so that they could hear it. You just gotta trust that I’m trying to help everybody, but I can’t do it at the expense of the team.”
Of course, things worked out well for Cauley-Stein and Adebayo, who combined to reach the national championship game, another Final Four and an Elite Eight during their careers at UK. Reaching and even surpassing those heights is the goal for this team, even as the Wildcats (17-9, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) carry a four-game losing streak into a matchup at Rupp Arena with Alabama (17-9, 8-5 SEC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“I keep telling them, I’ve done this 30 years,” Calipari said. “I’ve done just about anything you could be through in this game. I’ve been through it. And, having a losing streak, I’ve been through this.”
It has been a while though.
UK hasn’t lost four in a row since the season before Calipari’s arrival, while Calipari himself hasn’t experienced a four-game streak since 2004-05 at Memphis. The players, meanwhile, have likely never experienced such a thing. Gilgeous-Alexander hopes it can be the final push the Wildcats need to follow the lead of their predecessors now wearing NBA uniforms.
“You can’t be stubborn and lose,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You have to give in. We’re all trying to win and trying to be good, so we gotta give in.”
UK came agonizingly close to a signature win at SEC-leading Auburn on Wednesday, but the Cats closed with a cold spell and the Tigers took advantage. There’s some solace to be taken in that effort, but only so much.
“They’re looking at my eyes,” Calipari said. “They want to know, please tell us. Like, there’s no magic wand. I thought they did enough to win that road game. And again, let’s say this: That’s a No. 1 seed. We’re on the road and we’re winning by four points with a shot with six minutes to go. We have our chances. It could have been a two-point game. We missed a one-footer and that would have been with about two-and-a-half left. OK, so we’re not that far. But, you have got to win games. Close losses don’t do it.”
UK will return home after three road games in its last four, but that guarantees nothing against an Alabama squad that has won back-to-back games. The Crimson Tide have an elite defense – sixth nationally according to kenpom.com – and it’s carried them to impressive wins over three of the four teams to which UK has lost during its losing streak.
“They’re good,” Calipari said. “They’re a good team. They’ve got some young guys playing well. They’ve got their veterans playing well. They’re physical and athletic. They’ve got length. They’re a good team. They’ve beaten good people. They’ve beaten ranked teams. Beat Auburn, so they’re good. They’re a good team.”
Bama is one of the youngest teams in the country, starting three freshmen. That includes star point guard Collin Sexton, who is third in the SEC in scoring at 18.3 points per game. That will make for a hyped matchup between Sexton and Gilgeous-Alexander, but it’s one UK’s point guard is paying little mind. His team is his priority.
“We know that this thing is winding down and we’re going to have pick it up soon,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’re all trying to get to that final game and we gotta win some games to even get to the tournament right now. We’re all just trying to win.”
If the Cats can pull it off, they believe it could change everything.
“One win could put you on a roll just like how one loss could put you on a losing skid,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think once we get that one win we’ll be good and we’ll see what worked and I think this time we’ll continue it and we’ll go on a winning streak.”
Wildcats Drop Fourth Straight, Fall at No. 10/11 Auburn
Kevin Knox scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds, but Kentucky lost to No. 10/11 Auburn 76-66 on Wednesday night at Auburn Arena, UK’s fourth straight loss. It’s the first time the Wildcats have lost four in a row in nine seasons under John Calipari.
Kentucky (17-9, 6-7 SEC) got 13 points and five rebounds from PJ Washington, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Wildcats hit 25 of their 54 attempts (46.3 percent) from the field, while holding Auburn to 22-of-60 shooting (36.7 percent). Kentucky hit
just 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) from behind the arc, while Auburn made 8 of its 27 attempts (29.6 percent).
Auburn (23-3, 11-3 SEC) took advantage of its chances at the free-throw line, hitting a sizzling 24 of 28 (85.7 percent) from the line. Kentucky was able to hit 13 of 20 (65 percent) from the charity stripe.
Kentucky got out of the gates quickly, taking an early 10-4 lead. However, Auburn scored the next seven points to take an 11-10 lead with 11:09 to go in the half. Kentucky took the lead back, 12-11, on a dunk by Nick Richards, but Auburn scored the next five points to establish a lead that the Tigers would hold for the remainder of the half. Auburn would lead by as many as eight points before settling for a 39-33 halftime edge.
Auburn would maintain a similar advantage through the first five minutes of the second half, but Kentucky would not give in. The Wildcats used a 7-0 run to take a 49-48 lead with 13:10 to go in the game. In fact, UK would lead by as many as four points on three occasions in the second half, the last coming with 7:06 left when the Cats held a 59-55 advantage.
From there, Auburn would assemble a decisive 13-2 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 68-61 lead with 3:57 remaining. Kentucky would get within four, 68-64, with 3:14 to go, but Auburn finished the game on an 8-2 run. The Wildcats failed to make a field goal over the final 5:01 of the game, the fourth straight game UK has had to endure a field-goal drought of five or more minutes.
NOTABLES:
• The Kentucky defense limited Auburn to just one make on 16 shots to open the game
• It was a rare night where the Wildcats held an opponent to less than 40-percent shooting but did not win. UK is now 162-14 under Calipari when keeping the opponent to less than 40 percent from the field
• Jarred Vanderbilt grabbed 10 rebounds in only 21 minutes
• UK still owns a decisive edge over Auburn in the all-time series, 92-19
Current Skid an Anomaly for UK, Calipari
Kentucky is currently in a four-game losing streak since its back-to-back comeback victories vs. West Virginia and Vanderbilt. The Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament prospects are still in very good shape with a strong résumé (more on that below) and more opportunities ahead in arguably the nation’s best conference, but if there’s a sense of uneasiness in and around Big Blue Nation, there’s a reason why: this current skid rarely happens at UK or under John Calipari.
UK’s current four-game losing streak is entering waters Kentucky and Calipari generally don’t swim in, but they’re worth pointing out for perspective of the success UK and Calipari have had:
• The four-game losing streak is the longest in Calipari’s nine seasons at UK. As a matter of fact, prior to this four-game skid, UK had never lost more than two in a row under Calipari
• Calipari hadn’t lost four in a row since dropping four straight games at Memphis to end the 2004-05 regular season. As a matter of fact, Calipari — owner of the most single-season wins at UK, Memphis and UMass — has only lost four or more games four times during his career (once at UK, once at Memphis and twice at UMass). His longest career losing streak is just five games, done twice at UMass. On the flipside, he’s had 18 streaks in his career where his teams have won 10 or more consecutive games during the season, including winning 15 or more straight games nine times, 20 or more six times, 25 or more five times, and 30 or more one time
• Another example of UK’s long and storied success, it’s just the seventh streak of four or more losses for Kentucky since the 1927-28 season