By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky coach John Calipari complained Friday that his team made “no attempt to go get balls” at times during Thurday’s win at Vanderbilt and that his team has to play more physical starting with Saturday’s game against Texas A&M.
“The main thing is, if you don’t want any body‐to‐body contact, you won’t win in this league. You just won’t. They’re either going to want that kind of play, which we accepted last year, or you won’t,” Calipari said.
And how physical is Texas A&M?
“Very physical. Big. Strong. Their three man is as good of a player as we have in our league. They push the ball. They play both man and zone. They try to jam pick‐and‐rolls. They’re a post‐up kind of team, ala a little bit of Kansas, corner cuts and high‐lows, screening from behind with big and big and trying to go from high to low. They’re going to go after our big people, that’s how they play. They’re a good team. They’re a really good team,” Calipari said.
Kentucky made Vanderbilt look good the final 13 minutes after blowing a 47-31 lead and having to rally to win.
“We didn’t rebound. We weren’t physical. They blocked us out, we didn’t block them out. We had a chance of being up 25 at half. We turned it over. We threw Alex (Poythress), Alex is what he is, and we threw the ball back to him three times, which led into charges. That was us. If you throw it backwards to him, because the defense is standing there, so you throw it back, he runs in and runs people over. We did it three times,” Calipari said.
“That kind of stuff which was dumb and, again, the monitors had a couple of our guys playing really hard and had one guy just doing what he does, like no change. And, had another guy so high that he was playing too many minutes. He’s playing so hard, that now you know what’s happened but that means that Kyle (Wiltjer) has to play better and other guys have to play better so that we can get them off the floor.”
6 Responses to Calipari says Kentucky has to want body to body contact to win in SEC
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I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s game. I am ready to put the ugliness of last night behind and move on. This team is a total enigma, but I think we will see a better performance against A&M (mainly because it really couldn’t be any worse).
I think some of these guys are thinking more about body to body contact with a cheerleader, instead of an opponent.
It’s getting to be time to put up or shut up. A poor performance tomorrow will put a real damper on things, even with a win. Man, I hope they come out on fire. My psyche can’t take much more of the ups and downs.
Harrow is so frail. He needs to muscle up some. I don’t know if his body is going to hold up with the pounding he will take in SEC play. I think he is very skilled, but needs some weight on his frame.
Larry Pup, that is a very valid concern I think
I thought the same thing the other night. Don’t know if it’s a lack of toughness or actual physical weakness. Probably a combination of both. Worries me that he risks serious injury or illness.
I agree with both of you. I told my wife during the game, I am wondering if Harrow is tough enough. With that said, I have not been in that major level of play, but it just seemed like he took a shot that was not that big of a deal. He acted like he was really hurt, but if his breath was knocked out that is different. I don’t know, I wish them all the best. We just need more D from a certain Sophmore. GO CATS!
On a team full of players with noticeable flaws, Harrow is our best player.
There’s more to talent than how high a kid can jump or how quick he is.