John Calipari is embracing a spaced-out, high-paced offense

Kentucky shot 29 three-pointers on Friday night in a 95-72 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan College. The ‘Cats managed to knock in 11 of them, good enough for an overall percentage of 37.9 percent; a very respectable number from distance.

During the entire 2020-21 season, Kentucky never shot at least 29 three-pointers in a single game. The most fired up over 40 minutes a year ago was 28 in a loss to Mississippi State. But let’s take this a step further…

The last time a Kentucky team attempted at least 29 triples in one regular-season game was all the way back in Dec. 2011. NEARLY TEN YEARS AGO! An 8-1 Kentucky squad blew out Chattanooga 87-62 behind a team-high 24 points from Doron Lamb. UK shot 33 threes that game and connected on 12 of them (36.4 percent). That squad would go on to win the NCAA Championship.

Head coach John Calipari’s goal for this team won’t be that Kentucky shoots upwards of 29 threes in every game. His goal will be to make the deep shot a more viable threat to opponents; ideally opening up more driving lanes and inside touches for Oscar Tshiebwe.

“My son (Brad Calipari) said to me, ‘We took 29 threes.’” Calipari told the media after Friday’s win. “I said, ‘What was the percentage?’ He said, ‘37.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m good with that.’ You shoot 37, 40 percent, you probably should shoot 29 threes. My thing is, if you watch this, I imagine a lot of teams watched this, they’re going to say, ‘We’re taking away threes.’ It ain’t all bad for us because we are a driving team. We will try to get to the rim or hard closeouts.”

Now, this was only an exhibition, and nobody is planting national title expectations on the backs of this team right now. But what we saw Friday night goes back to what Coach Calipari has been harping on throughout the offseason; this team will spread the floor and play fast.

Not only did UK accomplish the first part to the tune of nearly 38 percent shooting from beyond the arc, but the ‘Cats also pushed the pace on a consistent basis. While it wasn’t a 110 percent, full 40-minute effort, it was a different style of offense than the Big Blue Nation has become used to under Coach Cal. He wants everyone to run even when they think they can’t run anymore.

Picking up the pace

Kentucky sprinted to 21 fastbreak points compared to zero for Kentucky Wesleyan. UK added 18 points off of 12 KWC turnovers. With speedy point guard Sahvir Wheeler in control of the Wildcat offense, he was constantly pushing the ball up the court. Once the ‘Cats hauled in a rebound, all five players would turn around and gunned it for the other end of the floor.

UK can beat opponents in virtually every way off the fastbreak. The next step will be putting it all together where nobody is taking a second off. An all-out attack that scares defenses into declining offensive rebounds in favor of getting back in transition.

“I thought we had a couple guys that didn’t play with the kind of motor they needed to all the time,” Calipari added. “It’s not just making shots. It’s flying up and down the court.”

For what feels like the first time in the Calipari-era, Kentucky has several high-profile shooters. A great way to take advantage of that is to set up a shot before the defense can get back. Through one exhibition game, UK did exactly that.