John Calipari needs to draw up a win Saturday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
For a team that has lost four straight games and won only once this season, practice time is important. Yet the past few days Kentucky has not had enough players available to scrimmage in practice.
“We’ve had some guys out with some stuff. But the guys that were there got better,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said Thursday. “The issue becomes feeling the success that goes along with you’re getting better, and that’s what’s been hard.
“And it’s been hard because of veteran teams. We’ve got to have a breakthrough at some point.”
Calipari said he wasn’t sure if he would have players miss Saturday’s game with North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic.
“We need guys to practice today. We have to scrimmage some today. We’ve gotten a lot done, but we’ve got to go up and down a little bit to get the flow of the game a little bit,” Calipari said. “Carolina kind of plays that, whether you make it or miss, they’re flying it up your back, and so you kind of have to get used to some of that kind of stuff. It’s hard on a quick turn, but it’s hard for all of us.”
This game got harder for Kentucky Wednesday when the scheduled opponent changed. The Cats were slated to play UCLA but now UK gets North Carolina and UCLA plays Ohio State.
Calipari said all teams agreed to the switch for what was described as COVID-19 protocol procedures and his only concern was having time to prepare.
“That means we’ve got to watch tape and I don’t want to start watching tape until you tell me it’s done and every coach has agreed to do it. I said we would, that it doesn’t bother me, but we’re all in the same boat,” Calipari said. “UCLA was probably preparing for us and now they’re probably preparing for Ohio State and same vice versa. North Carolina wasn’t preparing for us; they were preparing for Ohio State. So, we’re all in the same boat.
“Either game was going to be hard. I mean, UCLA is a terrific team. They play tough, and so is North Carolina. Both of them are top-20 teams. Either one, it didn’t matter, it was going to be a hard game.”
Kentucky will be flying to the game in Cleveland after it took a bus to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech in its last game. Calipari said that was done for safety reasons, not budgetary concerns, and that it was his decision. However, he admitted he made a bad choice because he thought it was only a four-hour bus ride when it was really six hours each way.
“When they told me it was six hours, I go, ‘What are you talking about? We’re going to Atlanta.’ They said, ‘It’s six hours. It’s six!’ And I only learned that about four or five days before the bus ride. And you know what, I’m not putting it on (anyone else). It was 12 hours in a short period of time we were on a bus,” Calipari said.
“I’m telling you, I was on a bus that long one time in my life and that was when I was in college. I took a bus to the Poconos to work the Five Star Basketball Camp. Well, maybe at (UNC) Wilmington. We went to Asheville (North Carolina) one time and we drove a bus. It was a bad bus too.
“So that’s on me. That was my mistake, but I thought it was four hours away. That’s how much I’m driving around. I’m kind of like the guy that doesn’t know how much milk costs even though I do. I’m at Kroger more than you could believe.”
