John Calipari on Ohio: "This is going to be a really hard game"

After starting the season on basketball’s biggest stage vs. No. 9 Duke, Kentucky returned to Rupp Arena to lick its wounds vs. two much easier opponents, Robert Morris and Mount St. Mary’s. Tomorrow night, the Cats will get their first “mini-test” of the seven-game homestand. Ohio is 3-0 with wins over Belmont, Cleveland State, and Robert Morris. The Bobcats made the NCAA Tournament last year, knocking off Virginia in the first round before losing to Creighton. John Calipari is looking forward to seeing how his team responds after two relatively easy wins.

“This is an NCAA Tournament team,” Calipari said of Ohio. “Terrific for us to play. It’s what we need. We’re gonna learn. These early games, that’s what you do.”

“They shoot from like every position”

Ohio lives and dies by the three. The Bobcats average 81.3 points per game, 31.3 of those coming from three-pointers, which ranks 20th in the country. They’re making 12 per game, which is tied for 14th nationally. As Calipari said, the momentum of the game can change quickly if the Bobcats are hot from outside.

“That’s how they get on runs,” Cal said. “It’s the three they shoot from like every position. The five, the four, the three, the two. The point guard’s averaging 20 [points] a game. They were in the NCAA Tournament a year ago and most of their guys are back. They’re playing a little different than last year but they’re still unbelievable.”

That point guard is Mark Sears, who was named MAC Player of the Week after averaging 21.0 points in Ohio’s first two games. His average is down slightly to 19.3 points following their 85-71 win over Robert Morris, but Sears may be the main candidate for “Random Guy To Light It Up In Rupp.”

Perimeter defense and long rebounds

Kentucky’s backcourt will obviously be challenged, but Calipari said his entire team will need to step up to contain the Bobcats, who are capable of firing from deep from positions one through five.

“Their big guys are all like fours, even their sub,” Calipari said. “And they all pick and pop, shoot threes. I mean, their fours and fives shoot threes. Deep threes. That’s who they are.

“And one of the issues becomes long rebounds. In the games that I’ve watched, they’ve killed the other team where they’ve missed a shot and the ball bounced and they get it and score that so you’re going to have to get long rebounds. If you’re shooting threes, they’re bouncing out there.”

There’s been a lot of talk about Kentucky’s non-conference schedule lately, but Calipari insists that a mix of “tune-up” games and mini-tests is the way to go with this group early on.

“We need this game to just continue our path. You need to have tune-up games — you can’t just go throw kids into the fire. You need tune-up games, but you also need to get challenged.”

Attendance has been, let’s say, underwhelming at Rupp this season. Calipari hopes that won’t be the case tomorrow night.

“This game, we need our fans at the game,” he added. “This is going to be a really hard game. Hard game.”