John Calipari takes blame for late-game mistakes vs. Michigan State

Kentucky had several opportunities to put Michigan State away tonight; instead, the Cats repeatedly shot themselves in the foot, making crucial error after crucial error down the stretch. Missed free throws, defensive breakdowns, and stalled offense led to the Spartans’ 86-77 double-overtime win. Afterward, John Calipari said his team simply wasn’t ready for the moment because they haven’t been able to practice or play as a complete group yet this season.

“I saw Tommy [Izzo] in the hallway and I said, ‘You were more prepared to finish a game off than we were.’ We missed free throws where we could have separated but we rebounded better, we transitioned from where in the first half, they got seven points. We didn’t get a point in transition. Second half, we got more than they got. We did enough to win the game but we were discombobulated at times. We were making calls and guys were — we just haven’t practiced together. Some of the late game stuff, you know, again, we’ve had three guys out that you expect to play.”

Kentucky led by four with just under four minutes to play in regulation. The Cats had a chance to go up three with 0:15 left but Cason Wallace only made one of two free throws. After Oscar Tshiebwe blocked AJ Hoggard‘s layup, the Spartans got the offensive rebound. On the inbounds play, Malik Hall was wide open under the basket for a dunk to tie the game and force overtime. After Wallace went 1-2 at the free throw line again with 0:07 left in overtime, Michigan State masterfully moved the ball down the court for another dunk by Hall to force a second extra period. Watching Tom Izzo put on a coaching clinic while Kentucky crumbled felt like salt in a lot of old wounds.

“We play a certain way on the baseline and Oscar hasn’t been around us in four weeks,” Calipari said of the defensive breakdown at the end of regulation. “So no one leaves their man. The only guy that helps is the inbounder’s man and we left the guy. We tried to switch. Well, no one — we don’t play that way. But again, he hadn’t played in four weeks and if he’s not here, you know, it’d have been hard for us.”

Calipari said that with time, he and his team will come up with plans for late-game scenarios.

“I’ve got a lot to learn about our team and I thought these guys fought like heck. When you talk about late-game situations, that’s on me as a coach. Let’s go. Let’s figure this out. I come back and say, we just haven’t been together to do it.”

“We’re not ready for teams that are ready to finish off the end of a game, and that’s on me,” he added later on. “Lance even said, ‘Coach, we haven’t worked on this, Maryland and touchdown and plays with 4-5 seconds to go.’ I said, ‘We haven’t had time and we haven’t had the team here.’ So now I’m doing it with five guys and four. So, some of it is on me.”

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

Calipari admits he should have played Reeves more at the end

Antonio Reeves was Kentucky’s leading scorer coming into tonight, averaging 20.0 points and five threes over two games. Reeves struggled tonight, shooting only 1-7 from the floor, 1-3 from three-point range, but when the Cats needed a bucket to stay alive in the overtime, he was nowhere to be seen, playing only three minutes in the extra periods. Looking back, Calipari admits that may have been a mistake.

“When Oscar went out with the fifth foul, I was going to go more with Antonio but I had to leave Cason [Wallace] in and then I’m thinking, okay what do we do? Hindsight is, maybe play him and just let him go get baskets for you, which he can do.”

Calipari said he also liked what he was seeing from his team on the floor at the time, so he wanted to stick with it.

“I had guys, whether it was [Ugonna Onyenso], Daimion [Collins], Chris [Livingston], Antonio, normally they’re playing more but what happened was you get into a rhythm and you’re like, okay, let’s stick with this. I only made subs, you’re riding a team that’s doing what they’re doing.”

CJ Fredrick was also cold from the outside, going 2-7 from the floor, 1-6 from three. Even though they were missing the vast majority of their shots, Calipari still wanted Reeves and Fredrick to keep firing.

“There were shots our guys did not take. One was 1-7 and the other was 2-7 but there were shots we didn’t take. My thing is, look, you’ve got to shoot them. You’ve got to make that play and if you don’t, we’ll rebound your miss.”

For those of you rooting for a lineup featuring both Reeves and Fredrick, the two only played together for a combined 4:39 vs. Michigan State. Add that to the list of gripes from a frustrating night.