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LEXINGTON - At least three times, Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson made sure to note his comments meant no disrespect to Kentucky. After all, the Wildcats had just beat his team 88-50 on Saturday at Rupp Arena.
But Sanderson certainly pointed out numerous flaws in the Wildcats — and Kentucky coach John Calipari didn’t really disagree.
“No disrespect to Kentucky, but we self-destructed,” said Sanderson when asked about his team’s 24 turnovers and UK’s 35-11 run to end the game.
Kentucky led 43-29 at halftime, and Calipari wanted to see his team put the hammer down to start the second half. Instead, the Cats waltzed out, gave up two easy scores — one came when freshman Archie Goodwin missed a 3-point shot and was late getting back on defense — and let Lipscomb cut into the lead. Calipari was so infuriated that he eventually substituted four players at one time, something he seldom, if ever, does.
“Start of the second half, Kentucky wasn’t ready to play. They gave us every opportunity,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson said teams that make “Kentucky guard full possessions are teams that will give them problems.”
Lipscomb lost 91-45 at Mississippi last month. Asking any coach to compare Ole Miss to Kentucky during Calipari’s previous three years would not have been a hard question. This year it might be different.
“I just think Ole Miss has a bunch of seniors and older guys. They guard better than Kentucky does,” Sanderson said.
But can anyone really argue that a team might guard better than Kentucky, even if Lipscomb did shoot only 21 percent in the second half? Calipari can’t, because he says his team continues to have too many individual breakdowns on defense.
“They (Ole Miss) force you into turnovers. Kentucky doesn’t necessarily force you into turnovers. They were self-inflicted (turnovers today),” Sanderson said. “Ole miss got up into you. They are a strong, athletic, physical team. They are going to win a lot of games in the SEC. They are just a physical, nasty team that can match up with Kentucky’s size.
“I will be shocked if they are not top five in the SEC. They are good. They can apply a lot of pressure, turn you over and get easy baskets. They are better than they have been in the past. That just comes with having seniors.”
No one can describe Kentucky as a “physical, nasty team” — and Calipari said to wait and see what inside players like those at Mississippi and Tennessee might do to his team if the Cats don’t get nastier — even if the Cats did get hit with two technical fouls Saturday. With 16 minutes to play, they were being outrebounded by Lipscomb before eventually winning that battle 42-32, mainly because Lipscomb stopped making shots.
But does Sanderson think Kentucky can eventually be good like Calipari’s other three UK teams have been in March?
“Calipari has won a bunch of games, and there’s a reason for that,” Sanderson aid. “He’s got a bunch of really good players. The bottom line is: Will those kids listen? Listening is a skill. He has a bunch of (high school) All-Americans. Sometimes they are hard to coach. If those guys buy in and not resist what he is trying to teach them, they’ve got a chance to be as good as they want to be.”
Kentucky certainly is better when Kyle Wiltjer, who had missed 25 of his previous 30 3-point tries, goes 7 for 9 from 3-point range and scores a season-high 23 points. More importantly, Wiltjer got 12 rebounds — his first double-double at UK — and responded well to not being in the starting lineup for the first time.
Nerlens Noel stuffed the stat line again — seven points, nine rebounds, seven blocked shots, four steals, one assist — but also got a technical foul and managed just five shots against a team not nearly as big and physical as he’ll see from Louisville in two weeks or in Southeastern Conference play.
Alex Poythress scored 11 points, but was 2 for 11 from the field and just could not finish near the rim. He also had just four rebounds, which is one reason he played just 25 minutes and did not start the second half.
Archie Goodwin? This was maybe his worst overall game at Kentucky. He got two first-half fouls and finished with 10 points — all in the second half — four rebounds, four assists and two blocks. He made a great hustling play to come from out of nowhere to block a fast-break layup, but he was just out of sync offensively despite going 5 for 9 from the field.
Julius Mays? Kentucky’s shooter was 1 for 8 from the field.
Ryan Harrow was a bright spot with 12 points in 31 minutes, both Kentucky highs. He was 6 for 13 from the field. However, he had just two assists and only one rebound even though he said after the game he thought he had more. And Jarrod Polson was solid with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting.
Calipari said his players were going to be questioned about why they didn’t play with more energy.
“What are you afraid of? We all see it. What we all want to see is change,” he said. “You can blame whatever you want to blame. Say whatever you want, but at the end of the day everybody watching in the building and on TV wants to see you battle at a higher level.”
Calipari initiated tougher practices last week. He said one week was not time enough to change what players had been doing for “eight or nine years” and that he would welcome players saying they are too exhausted from practicing too much when they fail to make a play rather than hear a player like Poythress say he got beat for a rebound because his big toe hurt, as he did Saturday.
Then Calipari issued a warning that Kentucky fans should heed even if they want to discount what Sanderson said.
“If we don't start changing, we're going to struggle. That's just how it is. We've already struggled in any game that anybody had any physical toughness to them,” he said. “You either want to change, or you have your excuses of why it's happening. Let's just change. That's my thing. What we're doing is trying to get them to change.
“Another thing is we've got to come together as a team. ... Don't talk, you're selfish, bottom line. If you quit on a play, you're selfish. You care more about how you feel than what the team needs. You can say what you want. ‘I'm not selfish.’ Yes, you are. If you don't talk to your teammates, you're a selfish player.”
Calipari echoed Sanderson’s comment about his players needing to listen much better.
“If they are listening, they're not changing, and that's what was frustrating for me today. I thought I'd see more of a change. I saw little change. We just went five days, and I saw little change. So if I see a little change in this next week, from that point on, folks, we're not winning many. That's a fact,” Calipari said.
“Now if I see change and change and change, it's on. Everybody would say that's where they thought they could go. They're hearing, but they're not listening. They're hearing what we say, but they're not listening to it. Sometimes you've got to hit rock bottom, but each individual right now thinks they're good, like, ‘I'm OK.’ Individual guys, thinking, ‘I'm OK.’ Until they all start, you know, caving a little bit, but we'll see.”