John Calipari uses Rob Dillingham to justify mindset of benching players with two fouls

John Calipari played Rob Dillingham six minutes during the first half of Kentucky‘s 85-81 victory over Tennessee on Saturday.

Calipari has long abided by the unwritten rule of sitting his players, regardless of who they are, if they record two fouls in the first half. Dillingham was faced with this situation after picking up his second whistle in quick fashion coming off the bench.

“I don’t play guys with two fouls in the first half,” Calipari explained postgame. “Fourteen minutes to go in the first half Robert has two fouls. Now, you kind of see why. Rob (Dillingham) stretched the game out. He made the plays that got us up double digits. And he doesn’t have to play thinking ‘I can’t foul.’ No, he’s fine. He’s got two fouls (in the second half). He can play basketball now.

“And I told him, ‘If you don’t want that to happen, don’t foul. Don’t reach in. Don’t get underneath a guy when he comes down on a shot. And you’ll stay in.'”

Dillingham would go on to play 11 minutes in the second half, logging 17 total minutes off the bench. He scored 11 points, but also contributed three assists and three rebounds during his limited minutes as he finished with four total fouls. His most important point, however, came during the final 10 seconds of the game. He nailed a free throw to put Kentucky up four points, keeping the game out of reach for Tennessee during its final possession.

The shot was one of redemption for Dillingham, who was put in the same position against Florida earlier this season. The Gators would go on to nail a game-tying 3-pointer and eventually beat Kentucky in overtime inside Rupp Arena. Dillingham made good on his opportunity the second time around.

Dillingham shut the door on the Wildcats’ seed-shifting victory, according to Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update. In Lunardi’s projection, the win moves Kentucky from a 4-seed to the 3-seed line. Currently the No. 12 overall seed, a move to the 2-line would be tough to predict unless the Wildcats win the SEC Tournament.

For now, Kentucky will just have to play who’s in front of them. That starts on Friday during the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Their matchup is not yet set in stone, and will play the winner between Ole Miss and Texas A&M on Thursday evening in Nashville.