John Calipari on having more shot-blockers: "It just changes everything"

During the 2021-22 season, Kentucky men’s basketball posted its worst shot-blocking numbers of the John Calipari era. The Wildcats registered a block percentage of 11.1, which ranked 69th in the nation, according to KenPom. It marked the first time under Calipari that Kentucky failed to post at least a 13.0 block percentage.

The longtime head coach spent his offseason crafting a roster that would prevent that from ever happening again.

During the team’s first of four exhibition games this week on the Big Blue Bahamas Tour, Kentucky rejected 10 total shots, seven of them coming in the first half alone. UK manhandled an older Dominican Republic National Select Team by a final score of 108-56, controlling both ends of the floor from start to finish. The ‘Cats held DR to just 33 percent overall shooting from the floor and consistently contested shots at the rim and on the perimeter.

It was an obvious contrast to last season’s Kentucky squad, which exchanged blocks for more rebounds. That gameplan mostly worked, but Calipari’s best teams have always succeeded with superior length and athleticism roaming all areas of the floor. The current iteration of the Wildcats has that (and managed to retain the best rebounding center of the last four decades in the process: Oscar Tshiebwe, who averaged 1.6 blocks per game last season).

“If it’s important to me, it’ll be important to these guys,” Calipari told the media on Thursday. “What’s ever most important to me will be most important to them.”

What’s most important to Calipari right now is protecting the rim. It’s something his staff has already touched on multiple times throughout the offseason as a point of emphasis, and it was put on full display in the win over the Dominican Republic. Jacob Toppin, Daimion Collins, and Cason Wallace all recorded two blocks apiece while Adou Thiero added three to his stat line.

Both the bigs and the guards were getting in on the action, reminiscent of some of Cal’s better teams to come through Lexington — everyone can get their hands on the ball. Collins even made sure that no jump shot went uncontested. More blocks often lead to more transition opportunities, which is where Calipari-led teams have truly thrived over the years. Kentucky added 30 fastbreak points on Wednesday night.

“I said let’s go back, I want to see stats for all those other years, including last year. All the years,” Calipari said. “What you find out is everything was within five percent. Number of shots taken, field goal percentage, rebounding margins, defensive field goal percentage, assist to turnover, all within five percent my entire time here, which is why we were winning 30 games a year. All within that. In the five-year stretch (2010-15), one thing stood out: blocked shots.

“In those five years, four of those years we went to the Final Four, won the national title, were the highest shot blocking years. And I said, I’m playing guys that will block shots this year, because everything else is — what’s different? But those five (years)? You struggle to get baskets. And when I saw our guards, it’s like Eric Bledsoe blocking balls, or John Wall blocking balls. All the sudden you’ve got people blocking from all different places, that’s why I wanted to play Daimion, that’s why Jacob was gonna play more this year. Didn’t care, I’m playing them. Could I have played them more last year? Yeah, but they probably weren’t quite in the mentality they are now.”

What Kentucky gained in rebounding a season ago, it lost in defending inside the perimeter. UK held its opponents to a two-point percentage of 47.3 percent in ’21-22, good enough for 73rd in the country, per KenPom. Only two other times in the Cal era has Kentucky allowed a higher percentage: 48.0 percent in ’17-18 and 48.3 percent in ’16-17.

During Calipari’s first six seasons, Kentucky never gave up a two-point field goal percentage higher than 45 percent and even finished among the country’s top 10 best in five of those years. The constant, looming threat of having multiple shot blockers lurking near the basket is something UK didn’t have in ’21-22.

This coming season, they appear to have it — at least through one preseason game. It’s not just about being stout at the rim, though. It’s an intimidation factor that extends all over the court and causes the opposing offense to make split-second decisions.

“What shot-blocking does, I call it — it’s like there’s Casper in there, there’s a ghost in there and you don’t want to go in there,” Calipari added. “It just changes everything when you have those guys. And I’m telling you, I’m gonna play those guys who block more shots.”