Back in the Win Column, UK Faces Test at Arkansas
Though rarely, John Calipari has been through four-game losing streaks.
He would have preferred explaining the experience and moving on, but that’s not how things work.
“They’ve gotta go live the experience themselves,” Calipari said. “They’ve got to go through it and learn from it. They’ve got to grow from it. They’ve gotta get stronger from it. You can’t skip steps with them. It is what it is. These kids have so many experiences they’ve never been through.”
The Wildcats can check a four-game losing streak off that list.
“It was definitely weighing on you,” Wenyen Gabriel said. “We haven’t been through that type of adversity, especially as a group. After every loss, you could feel that even in the locker room, the energy in the air. Those losses hurt and I feel like that bonded us together even more, making us more prepared for March.”
After Saturday, they can also check off ending such a streak. An 81-71 victory mercifully got the Wildcats (18-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) back into the win column heading into a trip to Arkansas (19-8, 8-6 SEC) on Wednesday. They are stronger through having experienced both.
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| Kentucky at Arkansas | ||
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Sat., Feb. 20 – 9 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: ESPN |
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| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | UA |
| 18-9 | Record | 19-8 |
| 7-7 | Conference Record | 8-6 |
| 75.8 | PPG | 82.8 |
| 70.7 | Opp PPG | 75.1 |
| .465 | FG% | .484 |
| .411 | Opp FG% | .427 |
| 39.0 | RPG | 35.4 |
| .330 | 3PT FG% | .400 |
| .289 | Opp 3PT FG% | .345 |
| .689 | FT% | .666 |
| 13.1 | APG | 14.9 |
| 5.6 | SPG | 6.6 |
| 5.1 | BPG | 4.6 |
“You just see we’re starting to come together off the court too, but on the court especially,” Gabriel said. “After hours, like Cal said earlier, we’ve been in the gym getting in extra shots. We’ve done workout sessions after and then our focus is just different in the locker room and when it comes to game time. We’re just happy our goal is getting closer.”
Clearly, the Cats figured out they were going to have to take an active role if the streak was going to end. They did so by getting in the gym.
“We’re just committing,” Gabriel said. “We’re getting locked in. Nobody likes losing. Sometimes taking those losses helps you go through different experiences. You get in the gym and you just want to get better.”
Their work hasn’t stopped in the gym..
UK has always been a close team, with a set of players who genuinely seem to enjoy one another’s company, but the Cats have committed to taking their togetherness to another level. After “a couple meetings,” players are more intentionally spending time together. Using this weekend as an example, players both watched the NBA All-Star Game and went to the theater to see “Black Panther.”
“It actually helps us build chemistry with each other,” Nick Richards said. “We can ask each other what we like to do on the court, what we don’t like to do on the court and each guy will know what this guy’s about to do, what the other person’s about to do. It’s actually really helping us.”
That might have been seen as just a soundbite before Saturday, but it’s difficult to argue with UK’s improved effort against Alabama. Rather than suffering from the frequent lapses that had previoualy plagued them, the Cats put together the closest thing to a 40-minute game that they have in a long time. Instead of faltering down the stretch, they flourished.
The hope now is that success begets success, just as trust is begetting trust.
“When guys step up and follow through with what’s being asked of them, the trust definitely builds up,” Gabriel said. “You get more confidence in your teammates, more confidence in the coach and at the end of the day you get more confidence in yourself.”
The Razorbacks will certainly put that confidence and trust to the test.
Arkansas has one of the best home-court advantages in the country in Bud Walton Arena. The Razorbacks are 14-1 at home and feature a starting lineup with four seniors who will be hungry to beat the Wildcats. Junior-college transfers Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon didn’t do so in two tries last year, while Arkansas has lost five straight times by 14 points or more in Anton Beard and Trey Thompson’s first three seasons.
“We’re going to Bud Walton Arena and it’s going to be loud, and you’re going to have a group of guys that have not beaten Kentucky since they’ve been there at Bud Walton Arena,” assistant coach Joel Justus said. “That’s something that I think our guys now understand what is on the front of their jersey and what that means to folks.”
The only non-senior among Arkansas’ starters is 6-foot-11 freshman Daniel Gafford, but he’s producing like a veteran. Gafford is averaging 11.7 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds after winning SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the third time. Gafford led Arkansas to its third and fourth straight wins by scoring 19 points at Ole Miss and 18 in an upset of Texas A&M.
“I think he’s extremely active,” Justus said. “The guys that are really, really talented, similar to some of the ones that we’ve had here. He can fly up and down the court on both sides. Can impact the game when he doesn’t have the ball, but then when he does have it I think he’s got a tremendous package of offensive moves. But I think before we go into any of that he just plays really, really hard.”
That’s true across the board for Arkansas, which UK will have to match.
“I think what’s really important is our energy when we start the game and our focus,” Gabriel said. “We gotta come out with that same type of energy we had last game just to continue to build on that. Any team in the league can beat you if you go out there and play lackadaisically. I just think you need to come in with focus every game.”
Take care of that and the Cats have a good shot.
“They are not going to give us the game, so you’ve got to go and say we are going to have to try to take a game from seniors, and it’s a hard task,” Calipari said. “All we are doing is, like I said – you know, they are rolling into the way they individually have to play. And it’s become encouraging, and now we will see where we are on the road in this kind of environment.”
Bolstered by its Work on the Boards, Kentucky Outlasts Alabama in Rupp Arena
Four straight losses were enough for Kentucky.
PJ Washington scored 16 points, Kevin Knox added 13, and Kentucky beat Alabama 81-71 on Saturday to end a four-game slide.
“They played desperately,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “We gave away some games this year and we have to start taking games away
from people, which means desperation.”
The Wildcats (18-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) displayed a sense of urgency against the Crimson Tide, especially in the rebounding department.
The Wildcats held a commanding 44-27 edge on the glass and grabbed 20 offensive boards, resulting in 20 second-chance points for the
hosts.
“They were desperate and they had a lot of energy,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said.
Quade Green scored 12 points, Jarred Vanderbilt scored a career-high 11 off the bench with nine rebounds, and Nick Richards added 10 points
for the Wildcats.
Vanderbilt played a key role down the stretch for the Wildcats and finished with nine rebounds.
“We came together the last five minutes,” Vanderbilt said. “We made some key plays down the stretch, took care of the ball and we just
executed.”
For Kentucky, which hadn’t won since an 83-81 overtime win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 30, fending off the Crimson Tide (17-10, 8-6 SEC) wasn’t
an easy task. The Wildcats have won six straight over Alabama, including 11 of the past 12 games.
“It felt like we were back to normal and back to where we needed to be,” Washington said. “We just need to keep building from here.”
Alabama, the top defensive team in the conference, forced eight ties and 15 lead changes until the Wildcats gained control midway through
the second half to avoid a fifth straight loss. Kentucky led for the final eight minutes.
Knox, Kentucky’s leading scorer, sat out 14 minutes of the first half because of foul trouble, but picked up the scoring load with all of his 13
points in the second half. Knox connected on first field-goal — a 3-pointer with 13:22 remaining — to ignite the Wildcats’ stagnant offense and
spark the team’s impressive finish.
Kentucky led 39-34 at the break amid four ties and 11 lead changes. The Wildcats got most of their scoring off the bench in the opening half
with Green and Washington combining for 15 points. Green paved the way with nine and made four of five field goals.
“They just outworked us,” Alabama forward Donta Hall said. “They were a hungry team.”
NOTABLES:
• Richards scored Kentucky’s first four points with two dunks. He’s scored Kentucky’s first points of the game nine times, tied for the team lead
• Kentucky’s 39 points in the first half was its most before halftime since scoring 41 vs. Louisville, which UK beat 90-61
• Alabama never led by more than three, and its last lead was 59-58 with 8:34 to play
• UK opened up its largest lead, 11 points, with 44 seconds to play in the second half. UK had not led by more than seven since the win at West Virginia on Jan. 27. UK led by more than 10 points for the first time since defeated Mississippi State on Jan. 23
• Kentucky won rebounding 44-27 and offensive rebounding 20-9. UK’s offensive rebounds were one outside the top 10 for most of the Calipari era
• Alabama’s 27 rebounds were tied for the second fewest by a UK opponent this year
• UK’s plus-17 rebounding margin was its highest in SEC play. The only higher rebounding margin UK had this year was plus-23 in two straight games against Troy and Fort Wayne in November
• Five Wildcats scored in double figures for the first time since Nov. 26 vs. UIC
• Kentucky’s 81 points were its most in a regulation SEC game this season
Wildcats’ Schedule Ranks No. 4 in Country
Kentucky’s young team was put to the test early and often with another formidable nonconference schedule and it has led up to an even harder league slate.
As of games played through Feb. 17, UK’s nonconference schedule ranks No. 5 overall in the country. Throw in the much-improved Southeastern Conference, which is considered by some this year to be the best league in the country from top to bottom, and UK’s strength of schedule is the fourth toughest in the nation (as of games through Feb. 17).
Twelve of UK’s 13 nonconference opponents made a postseason tournament in 2017, including eight who made the NCAA Tournament. Three of those advanced to the Sweet 16 or better.
Five nonconference teams finished the 2016-17 season with an RPI in the top 50 and four ended the season in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. All told, Kentucky’s 2017-18 nonconference opponents combined for a record of 314-134 in 2016-17, a .701 winning percentage.
Kentucky’s nonconference schedule saw the Wildcats play in premier venues such as the United Center in Chicago (vs. Kansas) and Madison Square Garden in New York (vs. Monmouth), took them to a Big Blue Nation favorite in New Orleans (vs. UCLA), and featured a difficult trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, to play the West Virginia Mountaineers in January.
The league, which is being projected to have as many as eight NCAA Tournament teams, has been even tougher.
A quarter of ESPN’s top-100 recruits in the 2017 class signed to play in the SEC. The league is coming off a season in which its teams combined to go 11-5 in the NCAA Tournament and had three teams advance to the Elite Eight.
Seven UK opponents entered the 2017-18 season ranked in one or both of the major polls, including three top-10 opponents. Twelve of the league’s 14 teams are in the top 100 of the RPI.
Getting loose on Super Tuesday game day in Arkansas. Let’s go, #BBN pic.twitter.com/QN9B5VSU3p
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 20, 2018
