Frustrated would probably be the best word to describe Kentucky coach John Calipari after Friday night’s 78-61 win over East Tennessee State. Too many defensive breakdowns. Too many turnovers. Too many mental mistakes. Too many missed free throws. Yet it is almost like Calipari can’t stay mad at this team. He understood his freshman-dominated team didn’t quit in its loss to Kansas Tuesday. He knows mistakes being made now are correctable.
“Here’s what I love about this team. They’re trying to do what I’m asking them to do. I don’t want to get frustrated. I did today because I thought guys got selfish. And I don’t know if it was selfish and they – or they just don’t know. But I know this: A bunch of great guys that do want to please me,” Calipari said after the game.
“You know how lucky I am to be coaching guys like that? And I gotta keep reminding myself of that because I want them to be better every night out. Well, guess what, they’re not machines, they’re not computers, they’re not going to do that.”
Calipari said it is his responsibility to help the players grow individually to make a better team.
“That’s my responsibility. And if I see a guy slipping, just because he’s going to try to do things the way he wants to do them or is going to try, I gotta say something and I got to be firm about it,” Calipari said.
“If a guy’s turning the ball, I just say, ‘Look, either we can’t give you the ball as much or you can’t be on the court as much.’ It’s just one of two. We’re a team that turns it over normally 10 to 12 times a game, which is perfect. We usually get 15 or 16 assists. In this game we had 17 assists, 22 turnovers.”
Calipari noted that his first team had more turnovers than assists early in the season before reaching the Elite Eight. He also knows this team will get better.
‘Wenyen (Gabriel) had — he’s better than he’s playing. Shai’s better than he’s playing. PJ’s (Washington) way better than he’s playing. He did some good stuff, but he’s just a better player than he’s playing right now. I’m telling you, when you’re not in sync together, all of a sudden everybody looks kind of bad. Would you agree? Like every guy kind of looks off kilter,” Calipari said.
“And it’s all based on, we got to do this together. We’ll get back to work this weekend. We’re going to practice Saturday and Sunday, do film both mornings, practice both evenings, and we got a tough game, a game that’s going to be another tough one for us to win. And then you got another tough one on Wednesday. ”
East Tennessee State University coach Steve Forbes left Rupp Arena impressed with UK — and what might lie ahead for Calipari’s team.
“As talented, athletic, and fast as they are, they can turn defense into offense. I think right now that’s something they’re going to thrive in. I think they’ll get better and better offensively at the half court as the season goes along. Coach’s (Calipari) team usually do, and I think right now his defense is ahead of his offense,” Forbes said.
“But a lot of the teams are like that right now. Vermont came in here but they have a much older group that has played together for a long time, they ran offense deep into the clock and got shots and made them. But they shot 60 percent in the second half and still lost. So that tells you how good their defense really is in my opinion.”
“I was really concerned about their length, their rebounding. I was just really worried we weren’t going to be able to score. Let’s be real, they’re young kids that just came off a big stage Tuesday. They’re playing Kansas and now they’re playing Eastern Tennessee State. It’s human nature, it’s not Tennessee in their head, and that’s just a part of it. We’ve clipped some teams because of that,” Forbes said.
Kentucky freshman guard Quade Green, who had a career-high 21 points, didn’t want any part of the Kansas letdown theory.
“They were a good team though. They came out of here with a lot of confidence, wasn’t scared. We just won, that’s all,” Green said.
Freshman Kevin Knox said the performance was not what UK wanted.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted in the second half and the first half coach Cal wasn’t happy at all, but at least we got the win and we will enjoy it,” Knox said. “Usually when you come off losses and close games like that you usually come out tough and come out fighting because you want to get back in the winning column, but I don’t know what was up tonight.
“I think some of it had to be effort. Defensively, we weren’t the way we were supposed to be; the way we practice. But we will bounce back. We got practice in the morning and we’ll fix it.”