WATCH: John Calipari on Kentucky's loss to South Carolina

John Calipari voiced his biggest concern about tonight’s 79-62 loss to South Carolina to start his postgame press conference. Sporting a cut lip himself, Cal lamented about how his team responded to the Gamecocks’ physicality.

“South Carolina really played a physical, physical game and were a little bit too much for us. Bumping drivers and strong on the post and really physical. I guess people will watch that tape and say, ‘That’s how you’ve got to play them,’ so, we’ve got to protect ourselves somehow.”

Kentucky’s offense (and defense) was brutal tonight. In addition to only making four threes, the Cats missed six layups in the first half, drawing Calipari’s ire. He also brought up ball movement. The Cats only had seven assists, one game game after totaling 27 vs. Georgia.

“We didn’t get the ball moving,” Calipari said. “I was in every huddle saying the same thing. ‘Move that ball.'”

Other topics Calipari discussed:

• South Carolina’s ridiculous shooting. The Gamecocks averaged 33% from three coming into tonight but made 11 threes at a 50% clip vs. the Cats: “Now, against us, everybody makes shots and I was surprised that I didn’t see a bank shot today because we even see those.”
• Justin Edwards, who finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 turnover in 23 minutes: “Just gotta keep getting in, get a breakthrough.”
• Letting South Carolina dictate the pace of play: “We rolled into, instead of us playing how we play. Again, we weren’t — we played a game this year, we had 40 possessions of one or no passes. Now, we lost that game.”

Ultimately, with another dangerous road game coming up at Arkansas, Calipari just hopes his team takes today’s lesson to heart.

“My team will be fine. They got manhandled; they all know it.”

On radio, Calipari told Tom Leach that the team has some “rough” practices coming their way after a mandatory day off tomorrow.

“Tomorrow is off. We’ll go Thursday and Friday, get ready for that game Saturday down in Arkansas. It’ll be the same kind of crowd. They’ll rush the court the same way.”

Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.

While you’re at it, check out Antonio Reeves’ comments as well:

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