John Calipari shares message he gave Kentucky's bench after Georgia loss

After Kentucky lost the Georgia game last weekend, an astute observer pointed out something to coach John Calipari. Kentucky’s bench wasn’t all that into the action.

Not enough energy, not enough celebration, not enough life. So Calipari said something to the players usually sitting on Kentucky’s bench.

“Last week one of the guys said to me, ‘Your bench was not into it,’” Calipari explained. “And I went on the bus and I just said, ‘This is what someone in the media said to me.’ I’m not looking at the bench. I didn’t look at the bench today. But I told guys, ‘If you’re not going to be into it, don’t sit on the bench. If you’re hurt, sit in the seats.’

“If you’re not playing or you’re not going to play or you don’t want to get into the game, I’m OK, just sit in the upper deck. You’re not sitting on the bench.”

The Wildcats responded with a 71-68 win over Mississippi State, one in which the bench didn’t provide a whole lot on the stat sheet but did from an emotional standpoint.

The three-man bench accounted for six points, nine rebounds, an assist and a block. It was enough to get the win.

Kentucky bench playing a lot of minutes

With injuries to a couple key players, the Kentucky bench has had to be relied on a bit more than normal.

CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler have both been out due to injury, taking out a combined average of more than 52 minutes from the lineup.

“We’ve got to get healthy,” Calipari said. “Without CJ and Sahvir we’re on fumes a little bit at the end of the game because I’m playing guys too many minutes.”

Still, the Kentucky coach feels good about his team. Especially if the Kentucky bench remains fully engaged.

“We got everything out ahead of us,” Calipari said. “And there are a lot of teams, there are a lot of things that are rooting against us because they don’t want to see us in the tournament. I’ve got a good team. I’m just trying to convince them of that.”