What we learned from the first John Calipari Show of the season

The crossover period is coming to an end as Kentucky football prepares to take on the Louisville Cardinals in the regular-season finale. Basketball season, though, is just ramping up, the Wildcats sitting at 4-1 on the year with an upcoming Black Friday test scheduled inside Rupp Arena against the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Mark Stoops has broken down previous matchups and previewed upcoming opponents on his weekly call-in radio show from the start of the season, and now it’s John Calipari‘s turn. His show returned Tuesday evening and is set to run through Monday, March 25. Most broadcasts will be live on Mondays throughout the season with the exception of a few Wednesdays thrown in during the SEC schedule.

What did we learn from the first one? Let’s break it all down this morning on KSR.

Calipari is on the road recruiting

This week’s John Calipari Show was actually more of the Orlando Antigua Show, as Cal and a few assistants are on the road recruiting this week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. We learned Tuesday that Chuck Martin and Chin Coleman joined Calipari on the road to see Kentucky signee Boogie Fland, along with dynamic wings VJ Edgecombe and Billy Richmond — a trio of Northeast standouts.

The Kentucky head coach added that he will host practice Wednesday before hitting the road once again to see four additional recruits to close out the day. Then he’ll return to Lexington for the team’s annual Thanksgiving festivities.

Who could the staff be checking out? That has not yet been confirmed, though Prolific Prep superstars AJ Dybantsa and Tyran Stokes did announce Kentucky offers this week. Maybe Calipari is heading West? If not, he’s got plenty of talent in ’25 to check out — a class the Hall of Fame coach said was “looking even better” than the second-ranked group he’s already signed in ’24.

No update on the bigs

“Not anything that we — yeah, no. Not really.”

That was the extent of Calipari’s injury/eligibility updates on Kentucky’s trio of unavailable 7-footers. Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso underwent surgery for their respective foot injuries this summer while Zvonimir Ivisic remains sidelined awaiting clearance from the NCAA.

Calipari confirmed Bradshaw was “a week or two” away from practicing following Kentucky’s season-opener vs. New Mexico State on Nov. 6 — 16 days ago. At the time, he added that Onyenso was two weeks behind his freshman frontcourtmate. KSR has learned that Bradshaw has been participating in workouts and continues to ramp up his efforts, progressing nicely ahead of his anticipated debut, expected in the coming weeks. He’s close.

Maybe that’s why he shared “God is great man” on his Instagram Story on Tuesday?

As for Ivisic, you never know until that paperwork comes through. The wait continues.

Rebounding must improve

Kentucky was outrebounded 42-37 in the team’s 96-88 victory over Saint Joseph’s, including a 14-6 deficit on the offensive glass. That led to 16 second-chance points for the Hawks in the nail-biter on Monday.

And the tape didn’t do the Wildcats any favors.

Until the team gets Bradshaw, Onyenso and/or Ivisic on the floor, Calipari needs his current group to figure it out, simply put.

“The biggest thing I saw when I watched the tape is we didn’t block out, no body-to-body stuff. We went for, what was it, seven, eight days? That’s all we talked about. And we were pretty good at it. Now we kind of revert, so it’s not a dominant habit right now. We’re gonna have to create that environment where a shot goes up, you go hit a body. Can’t let them just run to the rim. We’re not big enough right now.”

Some glaring defensive miscues

Kentucky is putting up points on offense, but defense remains a work in progress. It’s allowed 81.3 points per contest over the last three games, highlighted by an 88-point effort for Saint Joseph’s that included 15 made 3-pointers.

“Pick-and-roll defense, I thought stunk again. And part of it is on the ball, we’re melting in screens,” Calipari said. “The other part is if you’re the guard and you’re fighting the screen, you gotta get back in front of the man. You can’t just accept being on the side because the big’s got to stay then. We had a late switch where if you’re a four man or a three and your man screens the ball, it is an automatic switch. And we had one lane, the guy just drove for a layup.

“We had another one where we backed away, the guy got hung up on the screen and we give up threes. Now, when I watched the tape, some of them were guarded threes. Some of them we were breaking down and they were getting in the lane and kicking that out.”

The will to win was there

Rebounding and defensive issues were obvious, but you know what else shined through? Resolve and fight, an ability to take haymakers and throw them right back.

“For us to show we had a will to win, it means you’re not playing not to lose. When you play not to lose, you lose,” Calipari said. “These team played to win the game, which showed me some stuff.”

He noted that Saint Joseph’s came in with “nothing to lose” and “played out of their minds, really were physical with us.” That’s what happens when you play with house money — clearly one of Cal’s new favorite quips.

“You’re shooting loose as a goose because you’ve got nothing at stake,” he added. “You don’t think you’re supposed to win.”

And yet, the Wildcats found a way to pull it off.

It’s bigger than basketball at Kentucky

The Wildcats will be serving at the Salvation Army on Thanksgiving morning before practice in the afternoon and dinner at Calipari’s house. It’s an annual tradition at Kentucky, an opportunity to stress the importance of servant leadership with his players.

The message: you’re blessed to be in this position.

“I think it’s so important that these young people know you. You engage with people, you engage with everyone. You approach everyone like they’re royalty,” he said. “Now you’re making people feel special. You ask them questions. Where are you from? How many kids do you have? I said this last night, only by the grace of God it’s not us going to the American Red Cross to have Thanksgiving dinner.

“It’s such an important thing that we teach them over Christmas that we’re going to take care of ten families and we serve them dinner, serve the meal to them. We give them gifts, take care of their kids, give them rent checks, we do stuff.”

Those within the Kentucky basketball program are role models to many, especially around the state. That’s what these players signed up for when they decided to come here, an added responsibility beyond what they do on the floor.

Calipari wants his players to use that platform for good.

“It’s so important for these guys to know you’re gonna be in a position to make a difference with people. Some of it is spending a minute and a half, just being engaged and letting them feel special, he said. “The other side of it is being able to do stuff for others who are less fortunate and maybe just came up against it, stuff worked against them. Now they’re in a position where they need a helping hand. It’s a good time.”

Another tough test against Marshall

What can fans expect on the other side of the Thanksgiving holiday? Well, it won’t be a pushover.

Calipari says the Thundering Herd will be yet another opponent you leave the game having a ton of respect for.

“We come back and we play Friday. And it’s another opponent that you look at and say well — the people that left the St. Joseph’s game said, ‘Man, they’re really good,'” he said. “That’s playing us in our building. It’s great for my team to understand that when we play, it’s the other team’s Super Bowl, especially in our building.”

As for the specifics, they’re coached by Dan D’Antoni — older brother of Mike — and play an uptempo style with nice size and 3-point volume. They’ll present a real challenge for the Wildcats.

“That’s been their tradition (playing fast),” Orlando Antigua added. “This is another team that’s going to put up you know, 25 to 30 threes in a game. I think earlier today they were playing in a tournament down in the Caymans and put up about 30-35 threes in that game. They want to play fast. They’ve got some decent size, got some bigs that are a decent size.

“So we’re gonna have a challenge trying to keep those guys off the glass, but we want to play fast. We want to get up and down and utilize our strengths and our ability to play through our guards and attack open space. We’ve got to keep building on the things that have helped us win.

“Marshall is going to present another challenge.”