"If you're not going to rebound, I'm not going to play you," Calipari warns the Wildcats

With Friday night’s 26-point win in Rupp Arena, Kentucky Basketball completed its non-conference schedule before SEC play begins next week in Gainesville. There is still the Gonzaga game in Lexington in mid-February, but Friday’s victory over Illinois State marked the end of the 2023 calendar year and its 12-game non-conference slate. The Wildcats finished November and December with a 10-2 record as the team enters another eight-game break before opening league play against Florida on January 6.

In the meantime, there is a lot of work to do at the Joe Craft Center with few interruptions. So much is made of “Camp Cal” each year, when the winter break on the school calendar and long gaps between games give Calipari time to push his team forward at the turn of the season.

Following Friday’s win, he revealed what Kentucky will focus on when the team returns behind closed doors for midseason camp. 

Rebounding.

After Kentucky allowed 24 offensive rebounds to Illinois State, the most Calipari can recall any of his teams allowing in a single game, he made it clear that rebounding will continue to be a point of emphasis moving forward as it is his biggest concern with the Wildcats.

“Right now, it’s rebounding,” Calipari replied about his biggest worry. “I mean, you gotta be kidding me. 24 offensive rebounds? And all they did was bumrush us.

“So, that concerned me. But we got time.”

Yes, there is some time, but rebounding has been an ongoing issue since the start of the season. Calipari already tried old coaching tactics, like blocking off the rims in practice before the trip to Penn, to encourage crashing the glass. Still, some of his players ball-watch instead of putting a body on someone when a shot is in the air. Calipari intends to continue drilling that point home: they must fight for boards.

If they can’t grasp the concept soon, Calipari will move to the keeping it real part of coaching.

“If you’re not going to rebound, I’m not going to play you. I don’t carry who you are,” Calipari warned.

“We’re gonna work on it. We’ve got some time. They’ve got an individual workday tomorrow. They’ve got a day off on Sunday. And then we got a bunch of two-a-days to get us in the right time frame of mind.”

He added, “This is a great lesson. You don’t fight, this is what happens. Wait till you get in our league and you don’t fight.”

Looking ahead to Gainesville, Calipari said, “It’s going to be a hard game down there. It’s always a hard game. Sold out already. Sold out weeks ago. They’re good. They’ve got size. The big kid’s good. Guard play is good. Florida’s good.”

Based on Calipari’s overall message, Kentucky will want to rebound in that game, too.