John Calipari turns focus to 'one big and four scorers' in March

Concerned about Kentucky‘s high-octane offense slowing down in March? Don’t be. Shoot, look at Saturday’s 111-point explosion vs. Arkansas as an example of John Calipari’s plan entering postseason play — the final stretch that saw the Cats turn a nine-point deficit into a nine-point win, to be specific.

That group was five freshmen: Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard, DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards and Zvonimir Ivisic. Coach Cal won’t be limiting his rotation to those five specifically, obviously — guys like Antonio Reeves, Tre Mitchell and Adou Thiero will have a say in that conversation — but the core foundation and style of play will stick.

The goal? Four scoring threats with one big.

That answer from Calipari comes after a fan asked for his thoughts on playing Aaron Bradshaw and Ivisic together on his call-in radio show. In short, he’s tried it and certain matchups may call for a two-big lineup, but that’s not the plan when the SEC and NCAA Tournaments ramp up next week and beyond.

“I played those two together at Vanderbilt and they did pretty good,” Calipari said Monday. “I’m trying to go with one big and four scorers. The reason is, we really score. Now, if you defend, you end up winning by a bunch. But I kinda like it that way. There may be times I try two bigs because we may be playing a team that has two bigs and we try to make them match down with us. OK, that doesn’t work, let’s match that with them. That’s what’s nice about having bigs.”

That’s not to say a guy like Ugonna Onyenso won’t see the floor at all — put him next to four offensive-driven players and he’s shown he can produce. If he’s going to play, though, he’s going to have to do what he was brought in to do: defend.

If not, the other bigs have too much offensive upside to be sitting next to Calipari on the bench.

“I’m telling Ugo, you got 11 blocks in a game to set the record. If you defend, I’m going to play you more. If you’re not defending, these other two are too good offensively, so go in there and defend,” he said of Onyenso. “Block shots, rebound, be great in pick-and-roll. Does that take skill or confidence? Well, it does take confidence — you’ve got to be confident defensively. That’s more effort and energy and desire than making a shot or throwing the right pass.”

That’s what stuck out in the Arkansas win. It’s easy to look at the scoring output and record-breaking numbers, but it was actually defense that won the game against the Razorbacks. Sure, the Cats allowed 102 points on 53/41/96 shooting splits, but when push came to shove, the group known for its offensive success put together key defensive stops.

“You understand at the end of the Arkansas game we stopped them five straight times? Everybody wants to talk about that group offensively, but we stopped ’em five times in a row and that’s why we won the game,” Calipari said. “Sometimes you just put in your five best defenders. And how about this one? Those five can score, too.”

That’s the beauty of this team. They’re not forced into one style with certain players stuck in the rotation. You have your go-to options, but flexibility allows for a greater error margin in case March Madness inevitably mucks things up.

Whatever it takes to survive and advance.

“The deeper your team is in March, the more room you have for error. Whether it is foul trouble or — they’re not machines, they’re not robots — they play awful. How about if they can’t make a shot, he’s 1-8? Now you don’t have to leave him in to go 1-16. You go with somebody else,” Calipari said. “The deeper your team, the more room for error. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it gives you more room for things to go wrong and still win. The whole idea is survive and advance, however.

“If you survive and you advance, I don’t care what anybody says about how it was or what you did or what you said. We advanced, next. Here we go. When I said this team is built for March, those are the kinds of things I was talking about.”

Among those pieces capable of helping Kentucky survive and advance? How about the one who led the charge against the Razorbacks, Rob Dillingham?

“Folks, you understand in March, you only have to dominate for about three or four minutes as a player. You dominate,” Calipari said. “Who dominated against Arkansas for three, four minutes? Robert Dillingham. And that was the game. Then you move on to the next round.

“Do you have players who can dominate the game for three, four minutes in a stretch? The more you have to do it, the better your chances are.”