By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky John Calipari knows how loud it can get inside Allen Fieldhouse.
“It literally moves you, I was there, I coached there,” said Calipari, who noted the historic arena is “much louder” than Rupp Arena. “It’s like you’re at a concert and you’re near a bass.”
For the first time in his tenure as coach of the Wildcats, Calipari, who began his coaching career at Kansas (1982-85), will return to the prestigious arena Saturday when the two teams tangle in the SEC-Big 12 challenge.
Although he spent just four years with the Jayhawks, it was enough time to not only enhance his coaching career but the experience changed his personal life forever. Calipari met his wife, Ellen, adding more lasting memories to his short stay in Lawrence.
“It was a great time for me,” Calipari said. “It was a great time for me because, can you imagine being 23, 22 and your first opportunity to be around the game is in a program like Kansas? I just felt every day I woke up, I was like, ‘I can’t believe this’ and I had the same feeling when I got this job.”
The Wildcats (16-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) enter the contest between the two winningest programs in college basketball on a high note after winning three straight following a disappointing 75-70 loss at Auburn two weeks ago. Calipari’s troops have won their past three games by double digits, including an 88-54 rout of Missouri last Wednesday.
“We’re beginning to have a swagger because we’re guarding,” Calipari said. “We’re finally starting to do some stuff. We’re finally starting to become a team that I’m like, ‘OK, that looks like somebody I coach.’”
Kansas coach Bill Self isn’t a fan of playing non-league opponents so deep in the year, but Calipari doesn’t mind stepping out of league play during the peak of the conference season.
“When I was at UMass, I always, later in the year, played a game like this,” the Kentucky coach said. “Usually, it would be in February to get out of the league so that we could get ready for our run in the NCAA Tournament. This is a different deal. This is like a March.”
Self said the Wildcats are on a “serious uptick” and believes the showdown will prove to be beneficial to both programs.
“I think for us and maybe for Kentucky, too, it’s going to be good, and it’ll be good for us to have to play a game where you have to exert so much energy and hopefully get a little mojo back,” he said. “I think it’ll be good.”
Kentucky has won three straight over the Jayhawks, including a 72-40 blowout at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis last season Calipari said the previous game won’t have a bearing this time around.
“(Self) will remind them that a different Kentucky team got them pretty good last year,” Calipari said. “I’m not worried about last year’s game — that’s totally different. We’re going into a hostile environment.”
Calipari wants his team to experience the nostalgia of Allen Fieldhouse but also is eager to get a feel for how his team performs in a the hostile environment going into the final stretch of the regular season.
“I’m anxious just to see how we respond,” he said.
Scouting Kansas
The Jayhawks (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) have lost two of their past three games, including an 85-72 setback at surging Iowa State earlier this week.
Four of five starters — Perry Ellis (16.7 points per game), Wayne Seldon Jr. (14.6 ppg), Frank Mason III (13.4 ppg) and Devonte’ Graham (10.5 ppg) — average double figures.
“You have a team that’s comfortable in that environment,” Calipari said. “I think that’s both schools. To win those kinds of games as an opponent you’ve got to be careful of runs and 3s. A team like that can score a bunch in 12 to 15 seconds and that’s what you’ve got to guard against. Really in a game like this, you’re just trying to give yourself a chance to win the game. You’re not trying to go and blow anybody out because it’s just unusual.”
Hawkins update
Calipari said Dominique Hawkins returned to practice this week and remains hopeful the junior guard can return to the lineup in the immediate future.
Hawkins has missed the past seven games because of an ankle injury.
“He’s not 100 percent, but you know, it would be a nice game to walk into — be out a month and walk into this game,” Calipari said.
Game tracker: Kentucky at Kansas, 7 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, 98.1 FM WBUL
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com