John Calipari discusses Kentucky's ability to shoot, play in transition

The offensive flow within Kentucky’s opening contest at the GLOBL Jam was one of the biggest takeaways. In their first outing as a team, the Wildcats put up 81 points on Germany with a style of play that many have been dying to see from the program.

However, John Calipari says this might not be a one-time deal. When speaking to media after UK’s victory in Toronto, he said that this year’s ‘Cats have the ability to be a team that finds a groove from beyond the arc. Even so, he thinks that’ll only make them more dangerous considering how some of their players can get to the rack.

“This team should be a really good three-point shooting team,” Calipari said. “So at half we’re 3-15? Like, what? And then we come out, we make threes, and you separate. We took 27. This may be a team that’ll take that many, you know? It could be where you bury people because you made 12.”

“But we’re also a team that can get to the basket,” added Calipari. “These kids are a little rougher and more physical freshman. It’s a good group.”

As far as three-point shooting, Kentucky impressed in their eight-point victory over the Germans. In total, the Wildcats shot 9-27 (33.3%). Antonio Reeves (3-7, 42.9%) and, surprisingly, Tre Mitchell (4-6, 66.7%) carried a majority of that load in the outing. The other two came from DJ Wagner, who also finished above 40% on the day with his pair.

From there, UK also showed off their ability to attack within Calipari’s dribble-drive offense. Wagner and Reeves along with Adou Thiero and Justin Edwards, with a few flashes from Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard mixed in, all showed an ability to get downhill from the perimeter as a group. That led to good looks and finishes inside or kicks out to the perimeter for those 27 looks from three.

Again, Kentucky’s offense has been a fairly consistent complaint over the past few seasons. Whether it was the offense they were running or the players that were running it, the results that many were looking for weren’t coming.

With that said, albeit in one game in July, this team, that is both young and short-handed, showed some potential and, after the game, Calipari only added to the intrigue with his comments from Canada.