4-Point Play: John Calipari predicts a breakthrough

It’s been a tough stretch for Kentucky as it trends in the wrong direction ahead of March, an unexpected development for a John Calipari-coached team dominated by freshmen. Young talent typically plays its best ahead of postseason play, not sputters toward the finish line.

It feels that way after losing three straight inside Rupp Arena for the first time in the building’s rich history with just eight regular season games to go. Big Blue Nation has hit the panic button.

Will things turn around before it’s too late? John Calipari sat down with Tom Leach to explain why that answer is a confident ‘yes’ during his call-in radio show Monday evening. We break down some of his most important comments tonight on 4-Point Play.

Kentucky is built for March

This team’s got some issues, obviously. You don’t lose four of six playing perfect basketball. Those things need to be addressed — and quickly.

That doesn’t change anything about the long-term vision for the Cats, though. Calipari feels just as good about the group today as he did before the season started.

“I’ve got all my coaching buddies call and they say, ‘I love your team.’ And I love this team too. But we’re built for March,” he said. “Now, real simply, we have to get more physical, we have to get 50-50 balls — and that includes rebounds that are free that we’ve gotten and we haven’t gotten (lately). We’ve got to get, let’s say 10% better defensively.”

How does that happen? Well, it may mean playing certain guys while others see their playing time take a hit. This team has the offensive weapons from top to bottom, but if you can’t guard a lick and get bulldozed into the stanchion on every touch, you can’t win.

So that’s the next step for Calipari.

“When I am coaching this team, you’re gonna say, ‘Why is so and so in more than so and so?’ Probably because the guy will play more physical, would be better defensively, and will come up with a couple balls,” he said. “That’s the differential between this group because we can all score. Folks, we’re number one in scoring, number one in 3-point field goal percentage, number one on baseline out-of-bounds offensively. How about this one? I didn’t know this, we’re top five in blocks. I mean, even our defensive rebounding (is No. 24). I’m gonna say it again: physical play. We’re getting banged around, so if someone’s more physical, they’re going to play more. Don’t think that it’s for any other reason. If you’ll come up with 50-50 rebounds in traffic and dive on the floor, that’s going to help us win more games.

“And then defensively it comes down to trusting each other. That means everybody’s got to do their job, which means you gotta cover and talk. And if we get a group that defends and they’re better, they gotta stay in.”

Those conversations have already begun. And as difficult as they may be, it’s the winning recipe for this team down the stretch as it fights to make a necessary run in March.

“We will break through — I can remember saying this in other years. I’m with them every day. They celebrate each other, they like each other, they accept coaching,” Calipari said. “I talked to different guys about, ‘Look, here’s where you are’ and they go, ‘I trust you coach. Just do your thing. Let you coach and let me play.’ But I believe in the team.”

Dillingham and Sheppard will have autonomy over playing time

Wait, the guy who played four second-half minutes in the loss to Gonzaga controls when he plays?

Well, that’s going to be the goal moving forward, at least. Coach Cal explained why Dillingham didn’t see the floor much down the stretch, simply riding the hot hand that rallied the team back from down 12 to take a six-point lead with 12:30 to go. He told both him and DJ Wagner that would be the plan, something they were both comfortable with.

And then by the time Kentucky needed a shot late, Dillingham had already been cold on the bench and didn’t want to put his freshman guard in a bad spot to heat back up on short notice. It was more circumstantial than anything, bad timing with how the game played out.

“I didn’t feel comfortable doing that, putting him back in when I left him out that long,” he said.

A way to combat that moving forward? Freedom to enter the game at will — within reason, of course. Or make it clear you’re ready to contribute, at minimum. Calipari will trust their judgment and find an opening for them both.

“Now, what I’ve said to Reed and him — Reed came to me, I can’t remember what the game was (Arkansas), but he said, ‘Stick with me, I’ll be fine.’ I told him, ‘If you’re ready to go, you say that. If you look shaky to me, you’ve just got to tell me you’re good,'” Calipari said. “‘Stick with me, Coach.” In that case, the next time that happens, Robert will stand up — if he’s in the right frame of mind to do it — and say, ‘Coach, don’t worry about it. I am good. If you need me, I’m gonna go in and play.’ I didn’t want to put that on Robert.”

There’s mutual respect and understanding. Dillingham was kept in the loop, nothing to do with how he was playing and certainly not how he’s been playing. Simply bad place, bad time.

“He has played so well, I’ve gotten so many compliments from my coaching friends, Hall of Famers, about, ‘This guy creates his own, you’ve got to play him the right way, he’s shooting a high percentage’ and all of that. The game kind of played out,” he said. “They’re not robots and they’re not computers. Sometimes they can play through stuff and sometimes they don’t. And that’s that’s why I did what I did. … Robert knows I’m with him and he knows I love him.”

Tre Mitchell returns to practice

Will Kentucky have its full roster available for the first time this season against Ole Miss? Things are trending in the right direction for Mitchell, who missed back-to-back games at Vanderbilt and vs. Gonzaga.

He returned to practice Monday while Wagner was also back after making his return following a two-week absence against the Zags. And it sets up the possibility of Calipari finally having the pieces in place to finalize a rotation. Again, the offense will come no matter who is on the floor. Physicality and defense will decide who plays.

“(Tre) practiced, DJ practiced, so we’re getting back to having a full roster for the first time this year,” Calipari said. “But let me tell you: no excuse because we’ve got good players. We have to be more physical. So if I’m playing people, I want you to look and say he’s doing it because they’re more physical than the other guy. If I’m playing people, you’re gonna say they defend better and that’s why he’s playing them. And then the other thing is, that guy will come up with tough rebounds. That’s why he’s in and the other guy’s not. That may be a guard too.”

Adding players, but cutting and finalizing the rotation.

How about a zone? It’s not ruled out vs. Ole Miss

Calipari countered the baseline out-of-bounds defense struggles by dabbling a bit with zone over the past week. Could we see it soon in traditional halfcourt sets? Don’t rule it out against the Rebels.

On one end, you can’t give up clean looks to high-level 3-point shooting teams. You can’t sacrifice rebounding, either. But if you’re getting beat on straight-line drives off the dribble for easy twos, it’s something you’ve got to consider. And he is.

“We have a 2-3 zone we can use. When you’re playing teams that really shoot well, I’d rather have someone near them. Rebounding out of the zone is a little harder because you’re not really in an area vs. go hit a body and you end up running in. But we have a zone in,” Calipari said. “Mississippi is in the top 15 in 3-point shooting percentage. We’re No. 1, but they’re in the top 15. They shoot over 40%. The question would be, would they move it around till they could shoot an open three? Would that be an issue?

“The other side of it is, you’re playing somebody that’s running downhill and getting in the lane. If we can’t guard the guards, then you know what? You’ve got to play a 2-3 zone.”