John Calipari explains decision to go zone vs. Arkansas, why he's against it

John Calipari doesn’t like zone defense, but the Kentucky coach did it anyway in the Wildcats’ win over Arkansas.

It was a high scoring affair as Kentucky beat the Razorbacks 111-102 Saturday in front of a raucous home crowd. Calipari knew it could be a wild one and boy was he right.

Kentucky led 53-48 at halftime but the onslaught from Arkansas opened his eyes and forced him to go into a zone. Spoiler alert, he hates it.

“They’re hungry,” Calipari said of his squad after the win. “They’re 19, but you know what, they know what’s going on around them. You know, we were a couple bounces of the ball away from being 1, 2, 3, 4, a couple bounces of free throws, fumbling the ball … Like I told them … this is going to be an experience that helps us grow. And it ain’t gonna be easy. I also told them the beginning of the game is going to be crazy. Don’t be fazed. 

“What was the beginning of the game? I had to go to a zone folks. I don’t ever play zone. We went to a zone just to stop them from just running through us. And then I ran a zone the last play of the half, is everybody happy? They made a three.”

Calipari was then asked what are the drawbacks of staying in the zone at that rate.

“How many teams that played a lot of zone, have done stuff,” Calipari asked. “And especially when you’re talking veteran teams, it’s different than having young teams. The good thing with us playing zone, we have no idea what we’re doing. So how can they know what we’re doing? We don’t even know what we’re doing. 

“We don’t even know our slides, where we’re supposed to go. And all of a sudden, that’ll confuse them, but the problem is it’s hard to rebound. I like guys being responsible. And I told them after we gotta come up with a plan B if someone gets it going, or we have to do some different stuff.”

In any event, Kentucky hung on for the win and Calipari can feel good about a conference win late in the season.

Antonio Reeves led the way with 22 points, four rebounds and one assist. DJ Wagner added 19 points and one rebound.

They were two of seven players in double figures for the Wildcats. Calipari and Kentucky go back into action against Vanderbilt Wednesday.