John Calipari lays out Kentucky's keys to a deep run in March

John Calipari is a firm believer that this Kentucky team can make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament next month. Especially after a 75-63 win over a solid Ole Miss team on Tuesday night — a much-needed bounce-back victory after dropping four of the last six — there are more reasons for optimism than there were a few days ago.

During his weekly radio show on Monday night, Calipari said that this group is built for a run in March. But what exactly does that look like in the head coach’s eyes? After beating Ole Miss, he rattled off a handful of bullet points that he believes will result in the recipe for Kentucky’s postseason success.

Let’s start from the top.

“In the NCAA Tournament you can’t score 65, 63, 62 (points),” Calipari said. “You can maybe in one game but you’ll get beat. You’ve got to be able to score points. We can do it.”

Kentucky certainly can score a ton of points. 75 against Ole Miss was light considering how most games have gone this season. Only twice this season has UK scored under 65 points. They’ve hit at least 80 points in all but four of 22 games played. UK’s adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, sits at 120.6, good enough for seventh in the nation.

So scoring lots of points is already taken care of. What’s next?

“You’ve got to have a player that can go off in a game so you can advance,” Calipari continued. “We have a couple of those.”

In fact, he’s got more than a couple. Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard, and Rob Dillingham are all liable to explode on any given night. Those three lead Kentucky in scoring. Reeves and Dillingham have both eclipsed the 30-point threshold this season while Sheppard’s season-high is 25. Throw DJ Wagner into the mix, too. His season-high is 28 points.

So that’s two boxes checked. What’s the third item on Calipari’s list?

“You can’t be a high turnover team because the team you are going to play, they are in the NCAA Tournament. They are going to be a low-turnover team. We are a low-turnover team.”

Another bullseye. Kentucky averages just a little over 10 turnovers per game, which ranks among one of the lowest marks in Division I college basketball. According to KenPom, UK’s non-steal turnover percentage of 5.2 percent is the nation’s second-lowest clip. Kentucky has more single-digit turnover games (13) than double-digit ones (11) this season.

Boom. So what’s the final point?

“And lastly, defensively you got to be more connected.”

That one is still a work in progress, but some was made against the Rebels. Ole Miss shot just 37.5 percent against Kentucky, including a 5-22 (22.7 percent) mark from long range. Ugonna Onyenso sending back 10 shots, which tied a Rupp Arena single-game record, sure helped the cause. Calipari has mentioned several times over the last few weeks about getting just 10 percent better on defense. They did against Ole Miss.

But what about the stuff that Kentucky doesn’t do right now? What still needs to change?

“The issue is will we be physical enough? The reason we were physical (against Ole Miss) — DJ is physical. Tre (Mitchell) is physical. Ugonna is physical. Adou (Thiero) is physical. Now you’re playing four of your top eight are physical players. They are going to bang. That was one of our issues. 50-50 balls. We missed some today again… We are still not where we need to be.”

It wasn’t perfect, but Tuesday night was certainly a step in the right direction there, too. Luckily, Kentucky is already pretty darn good at those first three things. It’s the last couple that just need a little bit more work. With a few more weeks left in the regular season, there is still time left on the clock.

“If we get those things squared away — the hardest thing to be is what we already are. And if someone is not playing well, what can I do? I will put somebody else in. What happened last year when we hit a game where a guy couldn’t make a shot and we had to stick with them? We had no choice. There was no one to stick in. Now you’ve got some different things. Shot blocking will also make a difference and it does make a difference defensively.

“We’ve got a ways to go.”

Watch the latest John Calipari press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.