John Calipari explains Kentucky shooting so early in final minute of LSU loss

Trailing by a point with 20.8 seconds left, the Kentucky Wildcats inbounded. About eight seconds later, Rob Dillingham hit a jumper to go up a point. Unfortunately, for the Wildcats, that left time for the LSU Tigers to go down and score. However, that timing made sense to head coach John Calipari.

As Calipari explained, it made sense to shoot so early in the final minute of the loss to LSU because of the fact that Kentucky was trailing at the time the shot went up.

“You may say, why did you shoot it so quick?” John Calipari said. “Because we have a lot of people coaching, and that’s fine. Because if you miss, you want to offensive rebound.”

In essence, John Calipari felt that Kentucky needed to save time in case of a miss. That would be a different situation if the game was tied or the Wildcats held the lead at that point.

“Tie game, you wait. A one-point game, you don’t and then you hope your defense, you come up with a loose ball, and the stuff we did,” Calipari said. “I thought we did good except we didn’t grab the ball. But give them credit.”

Immediately following that explanation, Calipari left, explaining that Kentucky had a late flight that they needed to get to.

“Guys, we’ve got a late flight and we’ve got an early game on Saturday so I’m out of here. I’m trying to get my team on the bus too,” Calipari said.

John Calipari and Kentucky will be back in action on Saturday with a tough home game against Alabama.

John Calipari questions Kentucky players for not grabbing final loose ball in LSU loss

There was a scramble for a loose ball in the final seconds of the game. Ultimately, LSU came up with it and was able to score a buzzer beater as time expired. That was a play that, after the game, John Calipari questioned his Kentucky players for not grabbing that loose ball.

“Adou [Thiero] blocks it. I’ve gotta watch the tape and say, ‘Who did not grab that ball? The winning ball. Who didn’t grab it? And why? Why not dive on the floor, just tie it up and we win the game,’” Calipari said.

“Fought to get back, made baskets. Robert Dillingham made some unbelievable plays. We went to him late and he did what he does. [But] 50-50 balls cost us the game. That’s all we talked about — 50-50 balls. Not only the last play, the play before that. … Don’t tell me about your offense. If you’re not going to come up with 50-50 balls, you can’t win.”