4-Point Play: Coach Cal finds five with defensive will to win

We can officially hit reset after an up-and-down week on the road for the Cats. It started with a disaster in Columbia and ended with a hard-fought, gritty win in Fayetteville. The offense sputtered while the defense saw tangible growth, moving up to No. 70 nationally in defensive efficiency after entering the weekend at No. 98 — a 28-spot jump after a single game.

There was nowhere to go but up, but hey, progress is progress.

Now it’s about finding that balance. The offense had been historically good while the defense was equally bad, at least under John Calipari. Maybe we can settle for elite in the former category and solid in the latter? We talk about how Kentucky gets there in tonight’s 4-Point Play.

More to learn from defense than offense

Kentucky scoring 63 points is deceiving with both the what and the how. The first instinct is to throw a fit about the nation’s most dangerous offense sputtering in back-to-back performances, but factor in that the Cats scored 39 in the second half on 1.18 points per possession with a 48.5% scoring rate. And they were an abysmal 9-26 on layup attempts (34.6%) for 34 points left on the floor while going 14-43 on two-point field goals (32.5%) as a team that converts 54.5% from two overall.

Part of the turnaround was making some of the gimmes they were missing in the first half. Another part was adjusting with improved ball movement to get second and third looks, using the easy paint touches Kentucky got early to kick-outs for clean shots and additional drives rather than taking the contested lay-ups — the Razorbacks rank third nationally in block rate, essentially the only thing they consistently do at a high level. That extra step gave the Cats some breathing room to get back to what they’ve done well all season.

The biggest difference came on the other end of the floor, Kentucky holding Arkansas to 57 points — 20 under its season average — on 33.3% shooting and 21.1% from three. And it wasn’t just the counting stats, either. Forcing tough shots, ballscreen coverage, rotations, communication, it was all better. Not perfect, but better. And the fight was there, something that had limited the Cats from making strides before.

They played winning basketball down the stretch, learning how to win in a slugfest. That’s going to pay off in March.

Did Coach Cal find his closing five?

“Reed, Antonio, DJ, Tre and Ugonna. We’ve been saying it.”

A college coach called John Calipari and told him something caught his attention on film, a stretch where the Cats put together multiple defensive stops while moving the ball and creating open looks on the other end — one offensive rebound by Ugonna Onyenso with a kick-out to Reed Sheppard and dish to Antonio Reeves for the made three specifically standing out.

“Ballgame. Those are daggers. And you know what? I sat there and said, ‘This may be our finishing team. The game is winding down, here’s who you have in.'”

That was the five-man group Kentucky rode the majority of the second half, Sheppard running the show as the lead guard with Onyenso anchoring the defense, Reeves and Tre Mitchell hitting clutch shots and DJ Wagner keeping the movement rolling away from the ball. Interestingly enough, that’s been Kentucky’s most frequent lineup over the past five games by a longshot at 14.0% of possessions.

Calipari’s staff jumped in and reminded him it’ll have to be a game-to-game thing — remember Aaron Bradshaw saving the day in Gainesville or Rob Dillingham nearly stealing the win in College Station? This team has a ton of dudes capable of playing at a high level, no reason to limit it to five.

But Coach Cal is making it clear he likes that five in crunch time.

“The end of that game, the will to win defensively. And the guys, DJ, Reed, Antonio, Tre and Ugo, kind of tell you that maybe at the end of games they need to be in together because of how they guarded — you ready? — together.“

Rob Dillingham returns to practice (and plays well)

Kentucky was expected to have a full roster for the first time all season with Adou Thiero returning after a seven-game absence. Then RobWitDaShifts woke up without that F, a stomach bug wiping him out from the matchup, one that saw the Cats score just four points in the first 10 minutes. Go figure.

The good news is he’s back and feeling better, returning to practice Monday — and playing well, might I add.

“Yeah, he was pretty good today,” Calipari said.

Here’s the thing, though. Coach Cal wasn’t shy about singling out some selfish defensive play we’ve seen recently, subtly calling out Dillingham for “going rogue” at South Carolina.

“Literally the defense is a connectedness of a team, where no one is going off-script to just go steal a ball,” he said. “Because the minute you don’t steal it, what is it? It’s a three because they reverse it and the guy you left is wide open. Why did you do it? ‘Well, I thought I could steal it.’ No you didn’t. You knew you couldn’t steal it, but you went anyway. Those are the things we just point out. But we have a really smart team, really good group of young people.”

Dillingham has been terrific all season with slip-ups here and there — albeit crucial ones. Minimizing those plays on both ends is clearly a point of emphasis moving forward.

Antonio Reeves is Kentucky’s best perimeter defender

Arkansas’ best player, Tramon Mark, took 17 shots for just 11 points while turning the ball over three times in the loss. Want to know why? Mr. All-American candidate himself, Antonio Reeves.

Reeves is a superstar offensive talent, averaging 19.5 points on 50/43/87 splits, but what if I told you he’s the team’s best on-ball defender, too? Calipari believes so, which is wild considering the reputation No. 12 had in his debut season as a Wildcat.

“I looked at him and said, ‘Man, you had two huge threes.’ He’s just grown,” Calipari said. “And you know who our best perimeter defender is? I mean, he’s it. You have to understand, last year, I’d say, ‘OK, who is left? Antonio, just try to stay in front of him.’ He’s gotten physical, he plays hard. He’s just so much better and I’m proud of him.”

That’s your SEC Player of the Year. And that’s a First-Team All-American. Argue with someone else.