John Calipari on Kentucky's mentality heading into game vs. Gonzaga

Kentucky needed a feel-good win to get the taste of Tuesday night’s loss to Michigan State out of its mouth and prepare for Gonzaga. They got it vs. South Carolina State, beating the Bulldogs 106-63. No Wildcat played more than 25 minutes, including Oscar Tshiebwe, who John Calipari considered holding out to rest for his matchup vs. Drew Timme on Sunday. Instead, Oscar played 14 minutes, putting up six points and seven rebounds because he’s a machine and that’s what machines do.

With the tune-up behind them, the Cats can finally focus on Gonzaga. When asked about his team’s mentality heading into the Sunday night primetime matchup, Calipari said he told his guys to act as though they’d beaten Michigan State because they played well enough to win.

“What I told them, I want your mentality to be — and I’ve done this before — your mentality is, we beat Michigan State. Where would you be feeling right now? An out-of-bounds play, a free throw, a missed shot here, late game, not executing. But all that stuff, we didn’t play great. Still should have won, could have won.

“I give credit to Michigan State. Tom Izzo is a great friend. But I want them to have the mentality, you played well enough to win that game. Let’s say you won it, how would you feel going to Spokane right now? Because half of this is the mentality.”

To say Kentucky didn’t shoot well in Indianapolis is an understatement. The Cats connected on only 38.6% of their shots, 28.0% (7-25) from three. South Carolina State is ranked No. 352 in defensive efficiency in KenPom, giving Kentucky the perfect chance to warm up. The Cats did, making 57.4% from the floor, 41.7% (10-24) from the outside. CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves each hit three three-pointers after going a combined 2-13 vs. the Spartans.

“We needed to make shots today,” Calipari said. “You know, we made only how many threes [in Indianapolis]. Today we made shots. We only took 24 [threes], but we made shots and you need that going into that game.”

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Gonzaga is “going to be a lion right now”

Gonzaga is ranked No. 2 in the country but lost to No. 11 Texas by 19 last night. Calipari said the loss will only add fuel to the Bulldogs’ desire to beat the Cats on Sunday night.

“They’re going to be a lion right now because they just lost at Texas. So this will be a hard game for us to win. This is the great thing about November, trying to learn about your team and I still am learning about my team. But I liked the group. I liked them after Michigan State.”

Kentucky departs for Spokane tomorrow. What will we learn about the Cats on Sunday night?