Calipari anxious to see how Kentucky performs vs. UCLA, a "really good" team

Saturday’s game vs. UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic is Kentucky’s final “big test” before conference play. So far, the Cats are 1-2 vs. marquee opponents, losing to Michigan State and Gonzaga early in the season and beating Michigan in London on Dec. 4. The No. 16 Bruins are 9-2 in Mick Cronin’s fourth season, losing back-to-back games vs. then-No. 19 Illinois and No. 5 Baylor in the Continental Tire Main Event in November. Since then, they’ve won six straight, most recently blowing out No. 20 Maryland in College Park 87-60 last night. Kentucky has won four straight, but it certainly feels like UCLA is entering Saturday’s game with more momentum.

John Calipari made an appearance at today’s media opportunity to discuss the matchup. While he feels good about the progress his team has made in practice this week, he knows they’ll face a tall task in a UCLA team starring a potential first-round NBA draft pick in Jaime Jaquez Jr. The 6’7″ senior leads the Bruins in scoring with 17.1 points per game on 56.3% shooting.

“I’ve watched a bunch of tape of them and they’re really good,” Calipari said. “The biggest thing is they’re really physical. Defensively, they’re really physical. They’re fighting screens, they’re fighting the post, they’re fighting pick-and-rolls. If you don’t fight, you have no chance in this game so you’ve got to negate that part of it. Really hard to do. Not many people have been able to do it.

“And then, when they shoot the ball like they shot yesterday, they become oof. They’re really good. They’re probably like us, there was a game they could have won and they’d be in the top five but right now they are one of those teams that I watch and say, they have a little bit of everything. Jaquez is a first-round draft pick. He can go get baskets and is really good.”

How Kentucky limits Jaquez is a post all its own coming soon to this here website, but the Bruins have other weapons. The backcourt of senior point guard Tyger Campbell and junior Jaylen Clark will provide quite a challenge for Sahvir Wheeler and Cason Wallace. The Bruins forced 11 Maryland turnovers in just the first half last night, leading to 17 points.

“Defensively, they get their hands on a lot of balls too, so if you drive, if you just think you’re throwing, you’ve got to be aware and the guy that you’re throwing it to has got to move to a more open area,” Calipari said. “If you stay where you are, they’re going to get their hands on balls. They’re really good. This will be a really hard game for us. Like, it will be.”

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Antigua: “We’ve had four great days of practice”

Calipari gave his players a few days off following the win over Yale to focus on finals and get their legs back under them after the trip to London. Once back on the court, they’ve been focusing more on scrimmaging. So far, Calipari is pleased with the results.

“Good. It’s going fine. I made it a little rougher but we’ve got to play games and see what happens.”

Associate coach Orlando Antigua, who also spoke to the media today, agreed.

“We’ve had four great days of practice,” Antigua said. “Guys have been locked in, been physical. As we get settled in with our rotation and everyone understands our defensive principles and what’s expected of each of them, I think once you get into a good rhythm like that, it translates to the games and we’re starting to see a lot of that in our games.”

Kentucky has faced physical teams before the season, most notably Michigan State in the opener. When asked how UCLA is different than the Spartans, Calipari again mentioned the backcourt.

“They’re probably — you’re talking the same kind of stuff but the toughness for UCLA also comes from their guards. Their guards will play physical and bump and grind. They’re after it. They’re good.

“I’m anxious to see how we perform. I think we’re better than we were three weeks ago. I think we execute better. We’re playing more together instead of, okay, all we can do is throw to you and you try to get a basket. We’re doing things together better. I think there’s less confusion on what we’re doing and that’s because we’re together practicing. We’re together doing a lot of scrimmaging more so than I’ve done in the past.”

Antigua agreed that having the full team together, almost in full health, has helped. Everyone talks about Oscar getting back to 100%, but Antigua said Sahvir Wheeler’s recovery from an early-season knee injury is just as important.

“I think our best basketball is still ahead of us. I think it’s taken a little bit of time for everyone to get in sync. Obviously, with the Oscar [Tshiebwe] piece, the CJ [Fredrick] piece. The other piece is Sahvir [Wheeler]. He’s the point of our spear on defense and he sets the table for us in terms of keeping us organized, making sure everybody knows what they’re doing, where they’re at. Putting extreme pressure on and stressing the other team’s defense with his speed and setting the table for all our guys. He’s historically been an unbelievable layup-maker and he’s now starting to get his rhythm back and get going and finish some of the layups we’re accustomed to seeing him finish. And then, those little 15-20 foot pull-ups. He’s starting to get his legs under him.”

Kentucky failed its first two tests of the season and showed progress in its third. To beat a surging UCLA team, the Cats will need an A+ effort across the board. One way or the other, Saturday’s game should tell us a lot as we approach conference play.