John Calipari puts Kentucky win over Kansas in historical perspective

No. 12 Kentucky demolished No. 5 Kansas 80-62 on the road, handing the Jayhawks their first loss at home of the season inside a packed Allen Fieldhouse. The game was the host of ESPN’s College GameDay, but Wildcat head coach John Calipari is used to the spotlight.

“Look, I don’t even know who we played two weeks ago, to be honest with you. But let me just say this. We’ve won a lot of games. Won a lot of games against ranked teams,” Calipari said. “We’ve done it all kinds of different ways.”

This win stands out for many reasons. For one, it’s Kentucky’s first non conference Quad I win of the season. It was also the most impressive true road performance for this Kentucky squad — something that was beginning to become a habit for a team that’s undefeated at home.

Calipari prides his team’s ability to play well under pressure, and they did so and then some under the bright lights a national spotlight at The Phog Saturday night.

“The one thing I told these guys, I said, ‘I’ve done this a long time.’ And I said, ‘I’ve been in many of these games on the road where it’s (ESPN’s College) GameDay. All this pressure is on that other team,'” Calipari said. “I can remember going to Gonzaga when I was at Memphis. GameDay and Gonzaga — everything is on that other team. If you play for 40 minutes, I told them, you watch what happens. It’s a hard deal. You’re supposed to win, you got GameDay, everybody’s jacked up, the kids feel it. And again, they’re not machines, they’re not robots, they’re kids.”

The way Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe plays the game, you’d think he was one, though. The junior notched 17 points and 14 rebounds to go with four steals. Junior forward Keion Brooks Jr. scored a career high Saturday night in Lawrence with 27 points on 9-16 shooting.

“I really know when I’m gonna have my better games. I started off the game with a tip-dunk, so that let me know I was gonna be really into it,” Brooks said postgame. “And then I just kept playing hard throughout the whole game. Teammates did a great job of hitting me in my spots and I made shots.”

Kellan Grady hit four 3-pointers, Jacob Toppin didn’t miss on his four shot attempts, and Sahvir Wheeler scored seven points and eight assists. The one person that fans believed would be the X-factor, TyTy Washington, only had two points in 32 minutes on the court.

Kansas head coach Bill Self said postgame that Kentucky is a team that could win it all. If they play like they did at Kansas against everyone, who’s to say they won’t ?