By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky coach John Calipari liked the way his team responded from a three-hour marathon practice session this week.
Calipari used the extended workout, a rarity for the Kentucky coach this time of the year, to get his team’s attention after the Wildcats (19-5, 9-2 Southeastern Conference) blew a 25-point lead in a 92-85 triumph over LSU Tuesday night.
Calipari said the players used the workout to “create some habits that we’ve gotten away from” during the past month. Prior to the win over the Tigers, the 15th-ranked Wildcats had lost three of their previous four games.
“We did what we have to do. I feel much better with the direction,” Calipari said. “When it takes you three weeks to get to a point, it’s going to take you time to get out of it’s because you’re trying to create different habits, both offensively and defensively.”
According to Calipari, the team’s breakdowns on both sides of the ball, involved a lack of effort, combined with strategy mishaps contributed to the team’s struggles that began with an 82-80 loss to Tennessee on Jan. 24 in Knoxville.
“Some of it was just plain energy, effort and enthusiasm — and others it was some little technical stuff, both on offense and defense, that we had to do different things,” he said. “It’s not always just play hard. Some of it is. I thought it was – we’re on a good path.”
The team’s main emphasis following the unexpected close call against the Tigers has been getting better on the defensive end of the court. Kentucky gave up 58 points to LSU in the second half, double the amount of scoring it produced in the opening frame.
“We’ve got to get back to having a defensive presence and making it about defense,” Calipari said. “Our offense is fine. We’re moving the ball now, doing stuff. You can’t be on defense 70 percent of the time, which means you can’t just come down and shoot a quick-contested shots because now you’re on defense 70 percent of the time and you can’t win that way. You’re going to break down, and you’re going to give up baskets, and you’re going to have some of the issues that we’re having.”
Calipari seeks a better showing from his team starting with Saturday’s encounter at Alabama. The Crimson Tide (14-9, 7-4) broke a two-game losing streak with a thrilling 90-86 quadruple overtime win over No. 24 South Carolina earlier this week. The Kentucky coach expects Alabama to take a similar approach Florida did in an 88-66 rout of the Wildcats a week ago in Gainesville.
“They’ll probably go at us like Florida did,” Calipari said. “Let’s go right at them. Let’s punch them in the mouth. Let’s shoot balls and forget about missing them — just shoot them and we’ll go rebound them. Let’s move the ball a little bit; make them stay in a stance long, see what they do. Throw them into some pick-and-rolls. They’ll probably go off that game plan. Hopefully we are little different team from that game down there.”
As Calipari knows, the Wildcats have time on their side going into the final month of the regular season.
“Thank goodness we gotta month to get this right,” he said.
Diallo sticking with the plan
Kentucky mid-year enrollee Hamidou Diallo spoke to the medi for the first time Friday and isn’t making any plans to play this season. Calipari also said Diallo’s main focus is getting prepared for next season.
“I came in with a certain plan, so the biggest thing for me is just sticking to that plan and just preparing,” he said. “This semester is just preparing me for next year, for the most part. It’s been hard to do, but it’s a plan that I have thought about, well thought about before coming. So it’s a plan I think is best for me to stick to.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Alabama, 1 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS (Channel 27), 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter