John Calipari wants Kentucky to shoot 25 threes per game

Kentucky took an average of 17.5 3-pointers per game last season, knocking down 34.7% of those attempts. John Calipari has never had a team take more than 19.9 attempts from deep per game (2016-17) during his time in Lexington.

This season, though, the UK head coach wants his team to not just break that record, but absolutely crush it. Demolish it. Five additional attempts from deep than the most his team has ever shot — and maybe even more if they’re shooting the ball well.

Following Kentucky’s 95-63 blowout win to open the regular season, Calipari said he was not only comfortable with the 24 attempts the Wildcats launched from three, he expects it. And if they catch fire, he expects even more.

“I said this is probably a team that’s going to shoot 24, 25,” he said after the win. “If we really make ’em, we may shoot more. Because it’s not — you know people talk, ‘Just shoot threes’. It’s not that. It’s ‘make‘ threes. Make threes. … This team though, we’ve got a lot of guys that can make shots.”

Of the 24 attempts from deep, 11 fell, good for a smooth 45.8% overall. Of those 11, five different players knocked down at least one, highlighted by six makes from Antonio Reeves — a school record for most threes in a debut — and two from CJ Fredrick. Jacob Toppin, Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston all knocked down one, as well.

Reeves came in looking to let it fly, continuing his trend of doing so at the collegiate level. He took at least 3.4 3-point attempts per game all three years at Illinois State, including 5.9 per contest last season.

“It was about launching it, getting in a zone,” Reeves said after the game. “My mindset was to keep launching the ball and they’ll fall. Just don’t think about it, that’s my thought process coming into the game. Just launch, they’ll eventually go in.”

As for Fredrick, he enters the season as a career 46.6% shooter from deep, widely considered one of the best 3-point specialists in all of college basketball. Now, he has a complementary piece on the wing capable of hitting threes at an elite rate, a serious problem for Kentucky’s opponents all season long.

“Two shooters, two guys who can make plays,” Fredrick said. “When I’m out there, I’m looking for him. If he’s open, I’m throwing to him. It’s fun because in practice for the past month, we’ve been competing against each other every day. Now, to put on the same jersey and see him hit a three, it’s a lot better than going at each other every day in practice.”

The two shared a moment after the game, acknowledging just how fun it was to torch the nets the way they did together on the floor. It’s exactly how they hope to play moving forward, a free-flowing, “random” style of play that results in serious production.

“After the game, he sits next to me in the film room and I just joked with him, ‘Man it’d be fun if we could play like that all year, just running up and shooting, making plays for each other and just playing basketball,'” Fredrick added. “Everything is random, it’s not designed, we’re just hooping. Running up and down, if we’re open, shoot the ball. If not, we’re trying to make a play for someone else. It’s fun basketball.”

Of the team’s 24 attempts from three, 13 came in transition, the most in a single game during Calipari’s time here in Lexington. That’s a recipe for success, says Fredrick.

“When we started to run up and down and hit shots, it put a lot of pressure on them on the offensive end,” he said. “We were able to just keep getting out in transition and knock down shots. That opened the floor up so much.”

Cason Wallace flirted with a triple-double on his birthday, finishing with a smooth 15 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes. He added a 3-pointer himself, but was thrilled to feed the hot hands in Reeves and Fredrick. It made him look better, too, giving the star freshman some easy assists in his college debut.

“Man, we have a great team. Tone and C-Fred knocking down threes,” Wallace said. “… That’s why I had so many assists this game. Just throw it to ’em and tell ’em to shoot it. More than likely, they’re going to make it. I have trust in them and they have trust in me.”

Overall, 39% of the team’s attempts came from deep, a significant change from 27.9% last season. They only hit the 39% mark three times last season. And you better believe the Wildcats are comfortable reaching that number.

“I’m definitely comfortable with that,” freshman wing Chris Livingston said. “We have a lot of great shooters, great 3-point shooters that can really get a lot of threes up, especially if we’re getting stops and playing fast. That’s a very accurate number we can strive for.”

Calipari is comfortable hitting that number and he’s encouraging. Now it’s on the Wildcats to convert when they take them.

“I like that number, like that number a lot. 25 threes is a lot of threes. We’ve got to make them,” junior forward Lance Ware added. “You don’t have to make them all, but you can’t miss them all. If you miss them all, it’s going to be a long night. But the way CJ and Antonio shoot the ball, I just don’t see them going on a cold streak together.”

No more “archaic offense” takes from national media members, at least to start the year. This Kentucky team is invested in taking (and making) shots at a significant rate this season.