John Calipari Show notes & quotes, presented by Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse

John Calipari had plenty to say during tonight’s call-in radio show. First, though, a message from our friends at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse.

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Guard play simply wasn’t good enough

Kentucky didn’t get enough out of its backcourt in South Bend, and Calipari made that clear to open his call-in show.

“I don’t want to take away from Notre Dame — we didn’t play good,” Calipari said. “Our guard play was not good at all. The movement of the ball, the spacing of our team.”

Sahvir Wheeler was played off the floor due to offensive struggles, with Notre Dame daring him to shoot open jump shots, killing the team’s spacing.

“The first thing is, if they play that way, you have to play a little different,” Calipari said of his conversation with Wheeler. “Maybe not do some of the things you were doing, just run our team. Just do that. The second thing is, this has to have happened to you before. Well, tell me what you did. How did you play? How did you go against it? Instead of me guessing, you tell me.”

Calipari said Wheeler also struggled defensively, as did TyTy Washington.

“It wasn’t just him,” he said of Wheeler. “I thought TyTy started really solid, and maybe we didn’t go to him enough. That was an issue, we needed to. But he didn’t finish, and it was also defensively for both of them.”

Still in position to win

Despite Kentucky’s shooting struggles and defensive miscues, the Wildcats were still in position to come out on top.

“We’re up two with a minute (and) 30 (seconds) to go,” Calipari said. “Should have won the game. We held them to 60, 62 before the last play. Do we lose games when we give up only 60 points? Normally we don’t. … As bad as it was, we still were in position to win. In my mind, we should have won — up two with a minute (and) 30 (seconds) to go. Do we have work to do? Yeah. Am I happy? Come on, you know me.”

He compared it to Kentucky’s loss to Duke to open the season, saying the Wildcats were a few plays here and there away from pulling out the win. At the end of the day, he expects to win those games.

“At the end of the day, our teams win these kinds of games,” he said. “I thought we were going to win, but we didn’t.”

Time for football practice

Calipari wants to see more toughness out of his team against Ohio State on Saturday. As a result, he’s going to host “football practice” at the Joe Craft Center the rest of the week.

“Now we get after it for our next game with three days of football practice. Why? Because I’ve got to prepare them to play great. I told them today, I don’t know if that means win or loss, but I know how you’re going to have to play and what we have to do. We’ve got three days to get after it.”

If you’re not ready to handle the physicality, step aside and let someone else take your spot.

“I said, ‘If you don’t want this, it’s too much, get the flu, whatever you want, hamstring, bad back, whatever. Step aside so we can do what we have to do.’ … It’s going to be physical.”

Ohio State is “long and strong”

Kentucky is going to need a little bit of football practice this week. Ohio State’s physicality will make this a “hard game” for the Wildcats.

“They’re very physical. Their big guys are not 6-11, but they’re 6-7, long and strong,” Calipari said. “If you wait for them to get in your body, you’ve got no chance. They go high-low, set unbelievable screens, many of them on one possession. It’ll be a hard game for us.”

Tuesday’s telethon for tornado relief will be “(on) another level”

UK Athletics and LEX18 will host a telethon to raise money for the victims of this weekend’s tornadoes throughout the state, an event Calipari expects to be on “another level.”

“What I really like about this telethon and the others we’ve done, the athletic department was involved,” Calipari said. “The other coaches, we bring them in and they all came through. This is going to be another level, and part of it is because these athletes and coaches really want to add and be a part of this. From 4-7 (p.m.), you’re going to see all of these athletes into this. My team will get on there at 7 o’clock and my guess is — even though it’s 7-8 (p.m.), they’ll stay on longer to field calls and do what they want.”

Calipari assured fans all funds will go to tornado relief in the state, with all donations being matched dollar-for-dollar.

“Matching dollars,” he said. “There’s going to be some exciting things announced on this telecast about what people are doing, what people are involved and how they’re involved. This will be something that is big. American Red Cross has promised us 100% of what is raised will go to Western Kentucky. That’s where it will go. You’re going to be able to be involved and know it’s there. … I think it’s going to be a pretty big number.”

Kentucky must protect Oscar Tshiebwe

Tshiebwe put forth a superstar performance against Notre Dame, finishing the day with 25 points on 11-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist.

Calipari is obviously proud of the Kentucky center and his growth as a player. The team, though, must protect and help him by picking up the slack elsewhere. Opposing defenses are going to start double-teaming him in the post, especially if UK’s shooting struggles continue.

Will the Wildcats help him moving forward?

“I’m really proud of him,” he said. “We’ve got to protect him, though. We’ve got to have great spacing. You have to because — are you going to let him get 50? You’re going to trap. We’ve got to do better, and that’s my mission right now.”

Calipari explains late timeout decision

Why did Calipari not call a timeout during Kentucky’s final possession of the game? He gave a step-by-step of the process during a typical 30-second timeout on the sideline.

“Ten seconds, nine seconds to go. Let’s talk about it and understand why I normally don’t call timeout. I normally don’t,” Calipari said. “If you call a timeout, OK, you’ve got a 30-second timeout. You bring your team over, you draw up a play. ‘Listen, listen! We’re going to do this! Alright, now to get it in, we’ve got to go on a zipper cut and in. Now, when we get it in, you only got 10 seconds, so we’re gonna do this.’ And then the horn goes. ‘Ah!’ And then somebody says to me, ‘What if they go zone?’ ‘Ah, go give it to Jimmy. Jimmy, just go.’ I mean, it’s not as easy as you think. The best thing you can do is let a guy go.

“… I’m still learning about my team. Seeing that, I probably would have called a timeout. Probably would have done something, if they were man or zone, ‘Here’s what we’re doing.'”

BBN shows out in South Bend

Kentucky may not have pulled out the victory, but Big Blue Nation did its part. And Calipari noticed.

“I thank the fans,” Calipari said. “I walked out at Notre Dame in South Bend — wind blowing and cold — we had, I’m not gonna say half the building, but I bet you we had almost half the building. I’m just telling you, our fans, that’s what makes this different. That’s what makes Kentucky what it is. You go on the road like that and half the building is your people. Come on.”

Dontaie Allen will “get his opportunity”

The in-state product may not have played at Notre Dame, but his opportunity is coming, especially if Kentucky’s shooting struggles continue.

“Dontaie is going to get his opportunity if guys don’t start making them,” Calipari said. “I’ve been on him about, when we do shooting drills, you cannot shoot the ball like you’re in a HORSE game. You have to be shot-ready. As you’re catching it, it’s leaving your hand to go off.”

Calipari still likes his team

The loss stings, but Calipari remains optimistic about the long-term potential of this group. They just have to get back to “who (they) are” to get to that point.

“We’ve got great kids, we do,” Calipari said. “I think we’ve got a team that before it’s all said and done, we’ll be fine. I hate losing. … Right now, we have to get back to who we are.”