John Calipari discusses what he could have done better in NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland
The No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats came into Thursday’s first round NCAA Tournament matchup as the heavy favorites. They boasted a young roster that featured some of the most explosive offensive weapons in all of college basketball.
In the end, the Wildcats were dealt yet another devastating dose of heartbreak in their first game, getting upset 80-76 by the No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Following the loss, UK head coach John Calipari contemplated what mistakes he made on the sidelines.
John Calipari on what he could have done better vs. Oakland
“I tried to call a timeout and I should have been quick to the trigger on the pass across court,” Calipari began, briefly cutting off the reporter’s question. “I was yelling timeout but I got it late when I knew. I saw the court and I went, ‘Time out, Time out,’ and he let go of the ball. So, I could’ve done that.”
The NCAA Tournament is a beautiful thing but excruciating thing at the same time. The cruelty of college basketball in general was well on display Thursday night.
All it takes is one player to get hot from deep and boom a team can easily get knocked out in any given round.
Oakland sharpshooter Jack Gohlke was a man possessed on Thursday night. Simply put, he couldn’t be stopped. He connected on 10 of 20 shots from long distance, connecting on 50 percent of those. Gohlke finished with 32 points in propelling the Golden Grizzlies to the upset.
Calipari had some second thoughts about how he defended the sharpshooter in his post-game press conference.
“I think maybe more Box and 1 earlier. Now, he scored. We fouled him [Jack Gohlke] once and he scored a three even when we were in that. But I think we could’ve gone earlier to that,” Calipari continued.
The Kentucky head coach is not worried about looking back at the mistakes he made in hindsight.
“But hindsight when you’re coaching, if you did something and we had won this game, you’re a genius. And if you don’t do it, you’re the bad guy and all that stuff,” Calipari explained.
He was quite happy with his team’s preparation leading up to the game. He simply doesn’t believe in making drastic changes coming into the NCAA Tournament because of the negative effects he believes it would have on his players.
“Like I said, I thought the preparation was what it needed to be. Because you cannot in this tournament, come in and start changing. You change everything. Now they get tight. Now they think too much versus just play,” Calipari continued.
“So, we made some gist adjustments to what we were doing offensively. We’re one of the best zone teams in the country, to be honest with you. And we missed a bunch of shots today,” the Wildcats head coach finished.
There will be plenty of questions surrounding Calipari’s job security this offseason in Lexington. On3’s Pete Nakos reported Calipari’s buyout is currently $33 million if Kentucky decided to part ways now. However, after the 2024-25 season, that figure drops to $27 million.
The Wildcats finished with a 23-10 overall record on the 2023-2024 campaign.
On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.