John Calipari reveals what he learned about his roster against BAL Select

After picking up the victory on Saturday against the Africa representative in the GLOBL JAM showcase, head coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats are set to play in the events gold medal game. Kentucky’s win against BAL Select was a hard-fought victory that shed some light on the makeup of the Kentucky players, according to their head coach.

“Here’s the thing that I loved about it. One, we had to go rebound the ball to win. And you know what? We ended up outrebounding them, and they were way bigger than us,” said Calipari. “The second thing was I needed to see who can make shots in the moment. When the game is close, you gotta make a shot. Well, you saw Antonio, you saw Tre, you saw DJ, you saw Reed, you saw Justin. You know, Jordan went in because we were in foul trouble, and he did his thing.

“But it was a good game. And I told them after the game literally was just a game. We’re in the gold medal game. They’re in the bronze game. If they beat us by 100, we’re in a gold medal game; they’re in the bronze game. And they came out and played. That’s the best they’ve shot watching games, and they fought, and they wanted it. And I said it’s because it’s you guys. They know who you are. And they know what Kentucky is. That’s every time you play; wait till tomorrow night. It’s gonna be crazier.”

Kentucky beat the Africa representative ball 104-92. In the process, the Wildcats won the rebounding battle 46-44 despite missing their size on the interior. And Kentucky got a huge boost from their bench guys for this game Tre Mitchell, Antonio Reeves, and Reed Sheppard. All three scored in double figures while shooting better than 60 percent from the field.

Mitchell was Kentucky’s leading rebounder finishing the game with eight rebounds while tacking on seven assists to go along with his 12 points in the game. Reeves was the games leading scorer with 27 points and had four rebounds and four assists to match. And Sheppard finished with 18 points on 60 percent shooting from the field with eight assists, two blocks, and two rebounds.

The GLOBL JAM showcase is almost over, and Kentucky finds himself in the championship game, which will be against either Canada or Germany. Wildcats have victories over both teams in their previous matchups. But as Calipari highlighted, no matter who they face, the Kentucky players must prepare for a battle in their final game of the showcase.