John Calipari details his message to players going through shooting slumps

In Kentucky‘s victory over Florida on Saturday, guard CJ Fredrick had a tough night shooting. Despite his struggles, Wildcats head coach John Calipari had a message for his sharpshooting guard — keep putting up shots.

“I sent him a text, all of them; you don’t hurt your team when you miss a shot,” opened Calipari. “You don’t hurt us when you turn it over. You don’t hurt us when you get bullied or miss a layup, or you don’t dive on the floor. You hurt us if that turns into four more possessions like that. So you got to go on to the next play.

“I told CJ, in the huddle, I said, shoot. If you were open, you let that ball go. This team has confidence in him. And I’m going to tell you what else; the other teams — we know he went like one for 15 or whatever over a couple of games — the other team still play him as a shooter. Because they know he can shoot.”

Fredrick’s overall struggles continued as he shot 40 percent from the field. However, as the season advances, a good sign was that his three-point shot appeared to return to form. Fredrick went 3-6 from beyond the arc against Florida after struggling mightily in five of Kentucky’s last six games. In the future, the Wildcats will need more performances like this out of their senior guard, especially if they have aspirations of winning a national championship this season.

Calipari reveals Kentucky’s different mindset ever since Tennessee game

After getting blown out by Alabama on the road only to return home and lose to pitiful South Carolina at home, the Kentucky basketball season looked to be on its last legs. However, the Wildcats used that rock-bottom feeling as motivation to improve. Nearly a month later and Kentucky hasn’t lost an SEC game since the catastrophe against the Gamecocks.

In their most recent win, the ‘Cats staved off a feisty Florida team after they made a late rally once Oscar Tshiebwe fouled out. Alas, Kentucky had several guys hit huge free throws down the stretch to ultimately seal the deal, including Daimion Collins, who has been absent from the lineup in most of the recent wins, but was called on when Oscar went out and came through in the biggest moment of his career so far.

After the game, head coach John Calipari was absolutely thrilled with his team’s performance. He explained how this group has really come together in the last month. Below, you can see his full comments on the matter:

“Let me just say, folks, this was a heck of a win for us. To do it and, you’re seeing teams all over the country get beat. I only read about us when we get beat, but there are teams across the country that are getting beat, and it’s because that happens.”