02-18-2018, 09:20 AM
John Calipari has been asking for a sense of urgency from his team.
He delivered the request in different terms before Kentucky's game on Saturday.
"We gave away some games this year," Calipari said. "I could tell you them. We had leads late and just gave the game away. We have to start taking games from people, which means desperation and I told them that prior to the game. We gave some away. Now we gotta take some back."
The Wildcats took one on Saturday.
In dire need of a win to snap a four-game losing streak, Kentucky played like it. Locked in yet another game that appeared poised to go down to the wire, the Cats wrested control from visiting Alabama in the closing minutes. UK (18-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) outscored the Crimson Tide (17-10, 8-6 SEC) 23-12 over the final eight minutes to claim a crucial 81-71 win.
"We just wanted to get back in the winning column," Jarred Vanderbilt said. "Going on the road, we lost some games so we definitely didn't want to give up another one at home. We wanted to protect our home court and we just went out there and fought, like we had nothing to lose. We played with desperation, but we didn't put the pressure on ourselves. We just wanted to go out there and play hard and execute."
As Calipari demanded, the Cats didn't luck into the win. Rather, they willed themselves to victory with sheer effort. They did it by pounding the glass to the tune of a 44-27 rebounding edge and 20 offensive boards.
"Kentucky played an outstanding game," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "Especially with their offensive rebounding, we knew coming into the game that we had to slow them down and transition and really do a great job on the boards. Unfortunately this wasn't our best night rebounding. They made us pay the price for it.
No one played a more important role in that than Vanderbilt, who once again scarcely could get a shot to fall for most of the afternoon. In spite of making just one of his first seven shots, Vanderbilt played with reckless abandon on the glass, leading UK with nine rebounds and five offensive rebounds in just 19 minutes.
"I'll tell you who I'll compare him to: Dennis Rodman," Calipari said. "That's who is. Be Dennis Rodman. How about this? Be Dennis Rodman. He did alright."
In the final few minutes, when a few shots finally went in, Vanderbilt really took over.
The 6-foot-9 freshman scored six of seven Wildcat points as UK stretched a two-point lead with 3:15 left out to a much more comfortable 76-69 margin with less than 90 seconds to go. Even as he felt the relief of seeing some shots fall and scoring in double figures for the first time of his career, Vanderbilt was more concerned with making sure he and his team took care of the little stuff.
"We huddled the guys up, especially me, just trying to be that leader on defense and I was like, 'We need to get these loose balls because these are the plays that we lost in the last couple games,' " said Vanderbilt, who finished with 11 points. "That's the reason why we lost. We buckled down, we locked up on defense, got steals, made plays and we executed. That's how we got the win."
That all-for-one attitude seemed to permeate the team in a way it hadn't prior to this game. Quade Green, who had 12 points and four assists and played solid defense on Alabama star Collin Sexton down the stretch, believes it started earlier in the week.
"We just talked to each other," Green said. "Everybody was doing something wrong so everybody had to fix their problems. And when everybody fixed their problems, we all had the same problems. We had to just come as one and fix that."
By no means, however, is a win on Saturday a final fix for UK. Another stiff road test at Arkansas awaits the Cats on Tuesday night, but it's a lot easier facing it after a win.
"I'll tell you: These guys have been in the mornings, in the evenings," Calipari said. "They've been working on their own. They've been spending extra time and it's starting to show. Now we got another game. Now we gotta to go to Arkansas. ⦠It's going to be a hard game for us. It's another hard game."
http://ukathletics.com/news/2018/2/17/me...-skid.aspx
He delivered the request in different terms before Kentucky's game on Saturday.
"We gave away some games this year," Calipari said. "I could tell you them. We had leads late and just gave the game away. We have to start taking games from people, which means desperation and I told them that prior to the game. We gave some away. Now we gotta take some back."
The Wildcats took one on Saturday.
In dire need of a win to snap a four-game losing streak, Kentucky played like it. Locked in yet another game that appeared poised to go down to the wire, the Cats wrested control from visiting Alabama in the closing minutes. UK (18-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) outscored the Crimson Tide (17-10, 8-6 SEC) 23-12 over the final eight minutes to claim a crucial 81-71 win.
"We just wanted to get back in the winning column," Jarred Vanderbilt said. "Going on the road, we lost some games so we definitely didn't want to give up another one at home. We wanted to protect our home court and we just went out there and fought, like we had nothing to lose. We played with desperation, but we didn't put the pressure on ourselves. We just wanted to go out there and play hard and execute."
As Calipari demanded, the Cats didn't luck into the win. Rather, they willed themselves to victory with sheer effort. They did it by pounding the glass to the tune of a 44-27 rebounding edge and 20 offensive boards.
"Kentucky played an outstanding game," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "Especially with their offensive rebounding, we knew coming into the game that we had to slow them down and transition and really do a great job on the boards. Unfortunately this wasn't our best night rebounding. They made us pay the price for it.
No one played a more important role in that than Vanderbilt, who once again scarcely could get a shot to fall for most of the afternoon. In spite of making just one of his first seven shots, Vanderbilt played with reckless abandon on the glass, leading UK with nine rebounds and five offensive rebounds in just 19 minutes.
"I'll tell you who I'll compare him to: Dennis Rodman," Calipari said. "That's who is. Be Dennis Rodman. How about this? Be Dennis Rodman. He did alright."
In the final few minutes, when a few shots finally went in, Vanderbilt really took over.
The 6-foot-9 freshman scored six of seven Wildcat points as UK stretched a two-point lead with 3:15 left out to a much more comfortable 76-69 margin with less than 90 seconds to go. Even as he felt the relief of seeing some shots fall and scoring in double figures for the first time of his career, Vanderbilt was more concerned with making sure he and his team took care of the little stuff.
"We huddled the guys up, especially me, just trying to be that leader on defense and I was like, 'We need to get these loose balls because these are the plays that we lost in the last couple games,' " said Vanderbilt, who finished with 11 points. "That's the reason why we lost. We buckled down, we locked up on defense, got steals, made plays and we executed. That's how we got the win."
That all-for-one attitude seemed to permeate the team in a way it hadn't prior to this game. Quade Green, who had 12 points and four assists and played solid defense on Alabama star Collin Sexton down the stretch, believes it started earlier in the week.
"We just talked to each other," Green said. "Everybody was doing something wrong so everybody had to fix their problems. And when everybody fixed their problems, we all had the same problems. We had to just come as one and fix that."
By no means, however, is a win on Saturday a final fix for UK. Another stiff road test at Arkansas awaits the Cats on Tuesday night, but it's a lot easier facing it after a win.
"I'll tell you: These guys have been in the mornings, in the evenings," Calipari said. "They've been working on their own. They've been spending extra time and it's starting to show. Now we got another game. Now we gotta to go to Arkansas. ⦠It's going to be a hard game for us. It's another hard game."
http://ukathletics.com/news/2018/2/17/me...-skid.aspx