Two late plays irritated John Calipari in Kentucky win vs. Florida

No. 7 Kentucky looked the part of a top-10 team against Florida on Saturday, as John Calipari’s Wildcats moved to 25-6 on the season (14-4) with the 71-63 victory and clinched a No. 3 seed — and a double-bye — in the upcoming SEC Tournament.

Kentucky got the job done thanks in part to a great effort from Oscar Tshiebwe, who had 27 points on 11-of-16 from the field, along with 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks — a performance that, according to Calipari, should be more than enough to win Player of the Year honors. Kentucky had three more players finish in double-digit scoring, too, as Sahvir Wheeler had 13 points on 6-of-10 from the field, plus four assists and two rebounds. Kellan Grady had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three assists and Davion Mintz had 10 points on 3-of-8 from the field.

But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Calipari’s team in the second half, as the Wildcats outscored Florida 38-26 in the first half but surrendered the first five points of the second, allowing the Gators to creep back in. There two plays in particular that stood out to Calipari, whose Kentucky Wildcats were outscored 37-33 by Florida in the second half. There were two key turnovers in the game’s waning minutes that Calipari cited in his postgame press conference.

“It’s not (concerning),” Calipari said of those turnovers, continuing, “the play that made me mad was Sahvir (Wheeler) trying to throw a lob to Jacob (Toppin). Why would you do that? The game is over. And then the other one was Jacob throwing the long pass to Sahvir. Why would you do that? The game is over and they’re not fouling. And so, Davion held the ball and you know what I said? You better make two. You’re holding it to get fouled. And he went one out of two. There were some things.

“But look, we’ve got different ways to it in. I probably wasn’t fair to Keion (Brooks) to have him take it out. It just wasn’t fair. He hadn’t played much this game, and after I did it, I took him out. But it was just — that’s on me. I mean, come on. You’ve got to have some sense when you’re coaching. A feel for who’s going to be the guy taking it out, where is he in the scheme of things.”

John Calipari goes off on the notion that Oscar Tshiebwe might not win National Player of the Year

If anyone has made their case for National Player of the Year, it’s been Oscar Tshiebwe. He’s currently breaking records that’ve stood at Kentucky for decades and is on pace to be the most dominant big man of the John Calipari era — which is saying something when players like Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Willie Cauley-Stein and others have all came through the program in the last 13 years.

“I’d be surprised, you know, but I’ve been surprised before,” Calipari said about Tshiebwe potentially not winning the award. “The things that [Tshiebwe] has done hadn’t been done for 50 years. Years. So how could you not do it?”

Tshiebwe totaled 27 points and 15 rebounds (including 11-straight to start the second half), adding two blocked shots and three steals in Saturday’s 71-63 victory over the Florida Gators. With each game, the 6-foot-9 junior continues rewrite the record books of one of the most storied programs in college basketball.

After Saturday’s game alone, Tshiebwe notched his 13th-straight double-double, which is the most for a Wildcat since at least 1967-68, not to mention his 25th double-double of the season overall, which now ranks second in the nation in that category. He is one behind the school record of 26 by all-time UK great Dan Issel set back in 1969-70. Staying on the topic of Issel, Saturday was Tshiebwe’s seventh game this season with at least 20 points and 15 rebounds, the most since Issel’s seven 20-15 games in the 1968-69 season.

He has scored double figures in 13 straight games, the most at UK since Immanuel Quickley had a 20-game stretch during the 2019-20 season. Tshiebwe, who is the nation’s leading rebounder, has 18 straight games with double-figure rebounds, longest streak in one season since Kevin Marfo of Quinnipiac’s 20-game stretch in 2019-20.  Tshiebwe has also grabbed double-figure boards in all but two games this season — both due to foul trouble.

While Calipari can’t tell whether or not Tshiebwe will ultimately earn Player of the Year honors, “I can tell you that I’m proud of him,” Calipari said. “And it’s not only on the court [but] off the court. This kid’s a model citizen with how hard he works.”

Tshiebwe has been going around Lexington speaking to elementary school students and sitting in on ESL learning classes to better help them understand that just because English isn’t your first language, you’re not out of place in America. Tshiebwe, who speaks six languages and knew no English whatsoever when he arrived in the States in 2015, can relate to them directly. Add that onto his membership in the University of Kentucky FCA group that has turned into him speaking to church-goers during Sunday service, what isn’t there to like about the guy?

“He’s a beautiful kid and he’s just playing. He’s so thankful. You know, so faith based. I mean, it’s been great. I’ve enjoyed coaching him,” Calipari said.