What John Calipari said after No. 15 Kentucky's 85-81 win at No. 4 Tennessee

Everything John Calipari said after No. 15 Kentucky’s 85-81 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena:

Opening Statement 

“Two really good teams battled it out. They have veteran players and I told Rick — Rick and I talked last night — I said the thing about your team, it doesn’t matter what the score is, they think they’re going to win. Then after the game, that’s what I told him. I said, I told you that. They’re down nine (in the final minute) and all of a sudden they’re figuring out how they try to win. That’s a veteran team. We were trying some different things, but (Dalton) Knecht went absolutely bonkers on us. 

“And the plays that bothered me were the threes because we were saying make him bounce it. And then, you know, guy backs away or doesn’t run through. But Justin (Edwards) was really good for us. Ugo (Onyenso) was really good for us. I don’t play guys with two fouls in the first half. Fourteen minutes to go in the first half, Robert has two fouls. Now you kind of see why. He stretched the game out. He made the plays that got us up double digits and he doesn’t have to play thinking I can’t foul. I can’t. No, he’s, he’s fine. He’s got two fouls he can play basketball now. And I told him, if you don’t want that to happen, don’t foul, don’t reach in, don’t get underneath the guy when he comes down on a shot and you stay in. But he was good. And Antonio (Reeves). I just thought for, again, a great rebounding team that we out-rebounded, I mean we fought.

“But again they won the championship. I told Rick what a job he did with this team. And think of the gauntlet you play the last four games, the end game was us and we’re playing better. 

We’re healthy. Now we got Tre (Mitchell), not all the way back, but at least he can play. But it was a good game.”

If he had a conversation with Kentucky’s players about how a win over Tennessee would give the Wildcats a top-four finish in the SEC and a double-bye in the SEC Tournament

“No. You know the only tournament that matters to me after this weekend. That (NCAA) tournament. So no, we never discussed it. I don’t even know if they know, but I did tell them after the game, since you’re winning, we’re going to get a bye. I give them the rest of today off and then they get Sunday and Monday (off). They get three days off. So no one caught that. 

Kentucky center Ugonna Onyenso not taking a shot in the game but helping Kentucky win

“The biggest thing was he rebounded. How about Antonio Reeves being our leading rebounder. Reed (Sheppard) gets six. Ugo gets six. Justin Edwards gets six. I mean we had a lot of guys (contribute). We just had to fight. This is one of those games. Everybody’s got to be in the fight. You can’t leak out, you got a battle, you got to hit first. They’re a veteran team. They very rarely do they lose here. Have they lost the league game here? (South Carolina). And they returned the favor (against South Carolina).”

Reed Sheppard playing well in the second half 

“The only thing that late game, people that are really following us know late game, he’s kind of plays late game like it’s early in the game. But that’s why he is who he is. So my choice is just, I may have to take him out in some of these stretches because I kept telling him we got two turnovers or two timeouts and we still were throwing balls not crossing that court. The one with under a minute or whatever, I should have called a timeout. And I was yelling to them, but the official was too far and they didn’t hear me. So that’s on me. But he will make free throws. How about the threes today that he made? And understand Tennessee won the championship. This game was, at the end of the day, for them was, you know, it’s a Kentucky game, which they want to win, but it wasn’t a life and death thing for us. Our kids played, competed.” 

If that kind of firepower for Kentucky gives him confidence that they can win tournament games

“I hope they feel that way, as long as they pass the ball to each other. Again, we had 16 turnovers. That’s not who we are. We only had 12 assists. I thought there were times where Antonio held the ball, held the ball. You haven’t seen that all year. And I told him, if you can’t get a shot or drive, throw it to somebody. See if they can. What do I keep telling these guys? Whoever you throw it to can play so you don’t have to just throw it to them. Let them make a play. But it is, again, I got the youngest team in the country that is coming together, but it’s the youngest team in the country. Did I have five freshmen out there at times? Well, even if you say Ugo, Ugo reclassed. So he might as well be a freshman. He just turned 19. So we were pretty young with Antonio being the veteran and he played really well.” 

Seeing Justin Edwards keep playing and playing well after struggling

“Well, I told Tom, we were walking and I just said, you know, I know there were people (said) you should take himout. That’s it. He’s not this. And I believed in him and I told him that. And the greatest thing for me, what he said to me, coach, I believe in you. I said, kid, just keep working. And it doesn’t always work on your time. Sometimes it takes more time. The biggest thing with young kids, they’ve got to be their biggest cheerleader. And the only way you can do that, you can’t be phony with yourself. You’ve got to be a guy that lives in the gym. If you’re phony, then no one is helping you. You’ve got to be your own cheerleader. When things don’t go right, I can’t believe I missed it, but I’m making the next one.”