John Calipari details approach to sticking by players through struggles

The Kentucky Wildcats ran into struggles in SEC play this season, going 6-4 in their last 10 games. Throughout those struggles, head coach John Calipari has insisted the criticism should be put his way and not on his players.

Following Kentucky’s win over Mississippi State, Calipari was asked why he felt Kentucky would be fine despite trailing by eight points at halftime. In response, he detailed how approach to sticking by his players, even when they’re going through struggles.

“Because I knew how well they were playing and we were still in the game,” John Calipari said. “We could’ve been down 20. Then, the start of the half, where we’re 13. Timeout, go in, go in, go in. Not doing it. Now, we played through from there.”

In the end, Kentucky was able to win the game on the back of a Reed Sheppard buzzer-beater. It came shortly after the game was tied up when he hit a floater to win the game.

Ultimately, John Calipari explained that Kentucky’s youth necessitates both taking blame for issues the team has, as well as making sure that nobody on the team loses confidence in themselves.

“But, look guys, I’m coaching a young team. You take responsibility for their failures because they’re too young. You also make sure they know I believe in you, but I gotta win this game. I believe in you, but we’ve gotta win. So, if you’re not playing well, it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in you, but we’ll worry about that later and you just stick with guys as long as you can, which is what I do.”

With three games left in the regular season, winning the SEC regular season is a long shot but still a possibility. However, more important, is getting back on track for postseason play.

John Calipari speaks about big game from Reed Sheppard

By the end of the Mississippi State game, Reed Sheppard had 32 points to go along with five rebounds and seven assists. It was an effort that John Calipari found incredibly impressive.

“Well, I was about to choke him when he threw the ball deep and they get to the foul line. And I’m looking like, ‘Why would you do that? You’ve got two foul shooters, either one will make free throws and you throw one deep.’ He was trying to do the high school, I’m going to dribble it and dribble it and dribble it and all of a sudden he’s like, ‘Oh no,'” Calipari said.

“But, told the team after, he had — he plays to win. He’s not playing not to lose. There will be some ‘Why didn’t you call a timeout?’ Because of what just happened. They can’t set up their defense. They had no timeouts. And you look at DJ [Wagner] and say ‘Make something happen.’ And the ball ends up in Reed’s hand and he goes and makes it and we win the game. So I always have done that. I’m not calling a timeout in those situations. It was too early to foul a 3-point shooter. Can’t foul them with 16, 17 seconds to go. ‘You should’ve fouled anyway.’ Stop. Let me coach the team, you enjoy these games. It’s too early. He makes the 3, but we got eight seconds. So now we come down and end up winning the game.”