UK HealthCare John Calipari Show Dec. 11th 2023

Hosted by the Voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leach, Calipari will take questions from basketball fans across the country. Fans can call the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop phoneline at 1-800-606-GAME (4263) or [phone]. Calipari will also take questions via Twitter. Fans choosing to go the social media route can tweet their questions to @UKSportsNetwork.The show is broadcast in Lexington on 630 WLAP, online at UKathletics.com, on UK Sports Network affiliates, on the Kentucky men’s basketball Facebook page, and through the UK Athletics app.Fans can also download the show as a podcast through iTunes, Spotify and iHeart by searching “UK Sports Network Radio.” Additionally, you can locate the podcast at UKAthletics.com/audio.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Kentucky. There's nothing better better oncea fly Yeah, big blue day thing,
part of a lifelong family. Ohperdition. That's three football honey takes

(00:22):
with pre ball. I thought drownyou you the fans. Let's get on
with this from the UK Sports Network, this is the UK Healthcare John Calipari
Show. Talked to Coach Cow calledthe Clark's Pumping Shop phone line at eight

(00:43):
five nine two eight zero Cats it'seight five nine two eight zero two two
eight seven or state wide at oneeight hundred six oh six game. That's
one eight hundred and six oh sixfour two six three. You can tweet
questions too at UK Sports Network.The UK Healthcare John Calipari Show begins now

(01:11):
alongside the coach. Here's the voiceof the Cats, Tom Leach. Hey,
everybody, welcome into the UK HealthcareChack Calipari Show. As the Wildcats
are back in the Bluegrass. Afterdefeating Penn eighty one to sixty six on
Saturday in Philadelphia, Wildcats now havefinal exams this week and they'll work their

(01:32):
practice schedule around those schedules for theplayers and then head down to Atlanta for
the CBS Sports Classic and a matchupwith the North Carolina tar Heels at five
thirty Eastern time on Saturday afternoon,second half of the doubleheader that will also
feature UCLA versus Ohio State. Whenwe come back, we will chat with
Coach cal This is the UK SportsNetwork. You're listening to the UK Healthcare

(02:00):
On Calipari Show on the UK SportsNetwork. The John Calipari Show is brought
to you by Coca Cola, theKentucky Lottery, Little Caesars, and by
UK Healthcare The Big Blue Nation.We appreciate you, guys, Thank you
what it feels like to hear theBig Blue Nation. The John Calipari Collins

(02:25):
Show is brought to you locally inLexington by Baptist Health, Chick fil A
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CUA ensure equal housing lender membership eligibilityrequired. Welcome back into the show,

(05:03):
as we welcome in Coach Cal,who is out on the road. He's
going to be with us for thefirst couple of segments here and Cal was
a nice win on Saturday for youguys. Yeah, I was really,
really proud of, you know,playing a team that first of all,

(05:23):
can shoot thirty threes and has fourguys that can shoot him. That really
a veteran team that really plays together. They had one young player, but
he was pretty good, the Perkinskid, and it was one of those
games where you were going to reallyhave to be disciplined defensively. I was

(05:46):
disappointed. I mean, we're upsixteen with a minute to go and a
half and all of a sudden,it's a ten point game. Come on,
But that's what happens to young teams. And you know, as that
watch the tape, my thought was, man, do we got a long
way to go? And then mysecond thought was, but if we can

(06:10):
get there, holy cow, wellwe got a long way to go.
I mean, adding guys at thistime, at this stage, with not
a whole lot of practice. Uglewill start practicing this week. So you
got two of the three. Wellhe played this weekend. I'm hoping he's
able to give us something if weneed him. But you know, it's

(06:33):
you know, we're playing a teamthis weekend that's big, big players and
strong players, and you know willbe the ultimate challenge. But to go
into Philly to you know, playa team like Penn who beat Villanova,
and Villanova comes back and beat Uclathat lost three overtime games, or they

(07:00):
would have been nine to zero.So no, we're I was happy and
you know, to win by fifteen, it could have been a little bit
more. And you know what happensgetting to the grinded out game. You
know, you're watching games where ateam doesn't they just keep playing and shooting
and jacking, and all of asudden you give the other team a chance

(07:23):
to beat you. And I thought, you know, how we finished the
game, We're starting to get there. Having the guards that you do,
I would think over time, asthis team evolves, that should be a
strength that the way you close outgames to have those kind of guards.
Right well, if you noticed Iwent to three point guards to finish the

(07:46):
game off and my best teams,that's how we played with three point guards.
And I thought those three did welltogether. So we just we there's
some discipline things. Offensively, westill are trying to make the hardest play,

(08:07):
you know, and they're leading toturnovers for no reason. And it's
not just one guy, but it'stwo or three. And I've got to
get that under raps. Just makeeasy plays. We did it against UNCW.
Why are we making the hardest play. If a guy's open, just
throw it to him. And mypoint is everybody on this team can play,

(08:31):
So you're throwing it to a guywho can play, So just give
it to him and then he'll dothe same to you. The thing I
keep saying, pass it at times, just to pass it. Just get
rid of it. So and then, like I said, we're better on

(08:52):
the ball. We blocked out waybetter. Again. Now you could say,
well Penton, well they've played apretty good schedule and you're ready.
They were out rebounding the opponents byten and we out rebounded them by ten.
You know, thirteen offensive rebounds agame, right, and we you
know how much Tom, you've beenin our practice. How much are we

(09:15):
working on body to body and blockingout? And you know we're just And
what it shows is if it's importantto us and we're really breaking it down,
they'll start doing it. And that'swhy I say we got a long
ways to go. You know.I liked some different things to finish with

(09:37):
Trey, different things to finish withAaron. I liked Aaron in the pick
and roll and running him right downthe middle of the court and open the
rest of us up. You know, there was good stuff. I said,
Antonio missed some shots, but thenthey're big shots at the end of
the game, the floater and thethree he makes. He didn't do that

(10:00):
a year ago. If he wasmissing shots, he was missing and so
that means he's maturing, he's gettingbetter. You know, there were good
things. There were some good things. You were talking about how much you
worked on rebounding last week. Iknow you also worked a lot on trying
to improve defensively. How much improvementdid you see and how much is there

(10:22):
for this team? Well, youknow a lot of it is team defense.
But team defense starts on the ball. You have to be able to
keep the guy in front of youthat you're guarding. Now, we're going
to do some things this week thatchange us up defensively a little bit.

(10:45):
I just haven't had time. Whenyou have a brand new team, you
can't worry about one hundred things.You got to worry about us playing well
together so we can win. Youteam defense, rebounding, blocking out,
and then you start expanding from there, and that's what we're gonna do this

(11:09):
week a little bit, do acouple different things and you know, make
us a little bit different at times. We're gonna get to a quick break,
come back, one more segment withCal and sister coach Chuck Martin will
join us a little later here onthe UK Healthcare John Calipari Show the UK
Sports Network BBN Game Day. It'syour weekly look inside UK Athletics Senturdays at

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(14:16):
week at seven thirty only on le xat your official station for a Big
Blue Nation Back for one more segmentwith Coach Cal and Cal you said after

(14:39):
the game Saturday up in Philly thatyou really have two teams now that darreon
Bradshaw's back and who goes on theway, So how do you see that
playing out? And we just haveto kind of learn it on the fly.
We're gonna have to you know,some of it will be in practice,
but until they perform in the game, you know, we're gonna just

(15:01):
try to figure stuff out. What'sthe best way of playing with two bigs?
Do we space the quarter with elbows? But see our bigs can shoot
threes, so you don't have todo high low and jam up the lane.
It's just different. How do weplay against the switching defense? Do

(15:22):
we then go to post ups?Which we have guys that can do it,
So there's different things we can do. Hey, let me Tom,
let me just say, I knowAppalachin Regional Health is there tonight, and
I wish I was there with you, to be honest, but you know
what it's and they're moving into Lexington, which I think is great, and

(15:45):
it's you're in a field that you'resaving lives and making a difference. And
we appreciate you guys coming to Lexington. So thank you all. Well said
cal this is a well let meask you this. You guys put up
one hundred and eighteen on Marsh wescored ninety five against Miami in the wake

(16:06):
of those games, How have youseen these last two teams play you differently,
if at all? No, whatlook here, I come back to
even last game. There were sometimes we bounced the ball before passing when
we didn't have to. And I'mgonna show the guys you did a won
dribble, not the cover space,not to create an angle. You just

(16:30):
bounced it to bounce it. Andwe got to eliminate that when we're that
team that the ball pops whoever itgoes to, can play. He can
make a play at the rim,he can make a shot, he can
then make a play run into something. I mean, we just gotta get

(16:52):
that. I love the fact thatwe're still playing fast and we got guys
running. You know that that's something. But I'm telling you you got to
defend to be able to do that. You know, we all know what
we played unc Wilmington. We didn'tpass the ball. We had forty possessions

(17:14):
of zero or one pass. Well, you're not going to win. And
it was four days after what wedid with Miami. Why would you do
that? Is that one of thoseWell I got to show you don't know,
they're young kids, They're not machines, they're not computers. But it

(17:36):
was all fixable, and I knewthat. Now I'm looking and saying,
we're not near where we need tobe, folks, I'm just telling you
we're not. But if we movein the direction that this team is capable
of doing, I'm liking what I'mseeing. And I know we're young,
and I know there were people sayingyou can't do it this way, you
can't do it with young guys.I remember back a few years ago when

(18:00):
they said you'll never win with freshmen, and then everybody started. Now they're
saying, you got to have twentyseven year olds, twenty six year olds
that have been on two different teamsor grad or you can't do this,
And may be right, but we'regonna see. All I know is I
really like the group when they're playingoff of one another. Man. They're

(18:21):
fun to watch. When you canplay randomly. It's hard to guard random
basketball. If you have to runa play every time down the court.
The other team watches tape, theycan guard it, they can switch it,
they can play the play. WhatI'd like is for us to keep

(18:45):
playing the way we are. Let'sget better defensively, Let's get some shot
blocking on the court. Let's geta guy that can just rebound because he's
bigger than everybody. But let's continueto play made a three. I mean
Trey can make threes. Trey misseda couple shots, but Trey played good.

(19:07):
How about with Aaron he gets ninerebounds. Yeah, because Aaron takes
some of the heat away from him. Speaking of Aaron, did he play
more and even better than you mighthave thought possible in his second game?
Well, I just was coaching thegame. I didn't realize I played him
that much. But when you're coachingthe game, you know you kind of

(19:32):
don't want to take out somebody who'smaking a difference. I know what I'm
doing starting the game and subbing realfast is because I want to get that
group all in the game in thefirst three four minutes. So we have
that seventy eight guys that are allin in the first three minutes, and

(19:52):
then we go from there. Ireally think there's gonna be a game.
Justin is gonna get thirty minutes andhave points, and it'll be him one
time, it's gonna be Read onetime, it's gonna be DJing one time,
or two of them. Antonio willgo crazy someboy Ron will go crazy
and make shots and be playing that. I'll leave them in the game a

(20:15):
little bit longer. We've got anice group. Can't forget about a dude,
can't forget about Jordan. I didnot play Jordan because of that game,
and I told him prior to thisis a hard game for you because
they're coming together and curling and backtuttingand stuff that he's still learning. But

(20:38):
I'm not afraid to play him,and I know what his motive is.
And Ad has done some great things. We needed a couple of block shots
where they did a reverse layup andhe was on the other side and he
just let the guys shoot it.That's when I went to airing because he
would have blocked that. But yougotta have those plays so that they know

(21:00):
you can't just come in here andscore, which we've had some games.
DJ didn't practice until Friday up therein Philadelphia. I thought he was really
good. Yeah, you know,he's stuck a kid that he came up
to me and I said to theteam. At the Friday practice, we

(21:23):
practiced an hour and what fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, and I just said,
I'm going to start DJ because Iwant to see him in the game
early to make sure that he's okay, and then he'll be able to come
out and tell me how he's feeling. He came up to me and said,
coach, you can start reading,and I said, I appreciate you

(21:45):
saying that, but you're going tostart the game. And what he adds
to us there's a leadership, there'sa will to win. There's the ability
to get his team together and talkto them, and he does that.
He's a good on ball defender.I thought he did a good job on
their leading score. I mean hetook three or four or five shots away

(22:08):
from him that in the normal gamehe would have shot. And he's getting
better offensively, you know, makingdecisions. What did he have seven assists
and two turnovers? Seven and two? Yes, and I think Reid had
three and zeros I think it wasten and two between your two point guards.
Rush and that's what we need now. I got to get and I'm

(22:30):
telling you we had ten turnovers.Four to five of them were look away
passes across their body for no reason. You could have thrown it to the
guy in the corner. Why didyou try to wrap it around and throw
it to the middle of the court. Why did you do that? And
so I've got to really, youknow, I'm not trying to I don't

(22:56):
want to hold anybody back. Andsometimes I watch Justin and you don't come
out for misshots for me, Sothat's a bunch of ball that doesn't happen.
You don't come out unless you're gettingbeat on the dribble, you're getting
beat rebounding, you're not diving onthe floor. You don't deserve to be
in. But offensively, you're gonnaturn it over some you're gonna miss some
shots. It's not why you comeout. Justin. I just want him

(23:22):
to let loose and do what hedoes. See he's not like a one
dimensional player. He's one of thosebalanced block shots, rebound score and transition,
make open jumpers. He's a goodpull up shooter, can make threes
if he has it going, terrificfree throw shooter. He's an all around

(23:44):
player. At six eight, youdon't have to compare yourself to shots that
he took or he took. Youdon't because we don't have anybody else like
you. And that's his value.When he's being evaluated. His kid can
do a little bit everything. CalI know you got a run. We
appreciate you jumping on with us andsafe travels back to the Bluegrass. Thanks

(24:08):
coach Cal. Here on the UKHealthcare John Calipari Show. And when we
finish up, it's Clark's Pumping ShopBBN Radio with Darreon Headrick, So one
hour Insiders look at UK Athletics andDarren's guest tonight will be Cameron Mills,
who celebrated a birthday yesterday, Soa belated happy birthday to Cameron from our
UK Sports Network team. He andDarren will chop it up on UK basketball

(24:30):
coming up in the next hour onmany of these stations right here on the
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can deliver more for you. Wow. Welcome back into the show and want

(26:48):
to remind you. If you're headingdown to Atlanta for the CBS Sports Classic
this weekend, UK alumni and friendsinvite you to a pregame party at the
Hudson Grill Downtown. It's at onetwenty Marietta Street Northwest in Atlanta. It's
near the State Farm Arena where thegames will be played and the pregame get
together will get started around noon.There's a UCLA Ohio state game that starts

(27:12):
at three Carolina and Kentucky will tipat approximately five thirty and again Hudson Grill
Downtown conveniently located near State Farm Arena, where your UK gear get ready to
cheer on the Cats against the TarHeels. You can go to the UK
Alumni Association's website and get more detailsabout hooking up with the Cat fans in

(27:33):
Atlanta. We are joined for thebalance of the show now by sister coach
Chuck Martin. And this was agood team that you guys faced on Saturday.
They had, as Cal mentioned,they were three overtime losses, so
the record could have been better,but they had beaten a good Villanova team,
took Saint Joe's down to the wire. Saint Joe's handed Princeton its first
loss yesterday, so that improved Kentucky'sresume with Saint Joe's getting a nice win

(27:57):
there. But Penn was a teamthat tested you guys with having a really
good passing big man and a bunchof guards. Absolutely, I mean,
this is a team that's a littlebit underrated. Maybe they doesn't get the
recognition that it deserves nationally, butthey could very easily be nine and one.
As we mentioned, They've lost anumber of games in overtime. Beat

(28:18):
a beat a good villain over team, and anytime you play the Ivy's particular
Penn, particularly Penn, their coachdoes such a great job of spreading you
out and getting you to go backdoor and play off their hybrid five man.
They're fun to watch, but anightmare to play against. But it
is good to as long as youcan win as you can win to play

(28:40):
against that style and some other unconventionalones because you could run into it in
the postseason. Absolutely, I thinkwe'll be able to, hopefully here in
March. Kind of use this asa reference point. We've played a team
like this before, who moves theball, who plays through their five men,
and it was a really good winfor our They made a few runs

(29:00):
at us and we were able tosustain it and pull away eventually. It
was a really good road win.Got an extended look at Aaron Bradshaw,
and man he was good. Oneof my favorite plays was where he ran
the floor, spreaded the floor andReid found him and he kind of caught
it, scored it in all inone motion. But we saw him make
a three really good in the pickand roll there in the second half too.
Absolutely, it was great to seehim back home performing the way he

(29:23):
did, and obviously for us toget the win. But he did so
many good things. Protect the Ram, had three block shots, had a
double double, great in transition,really good and pick and roll at d
RAM and as you mentioned, whenhe's left alone, he's got his feet
set, he's got the ability tomake an open shot. And I think
he's the guy that is really goingto help your offensive rebound and get a

(29:44):
little better. I think so.We caught a glimpse of that against Penn
the other night. And the greatthing about Aaron is he's on the glass
on both ends of the floor,the offensive glass and a defensive glass protects
the RAM. But he doesn't compromiseat least I don't think he compromises the
way we play offensively, the waywe want to play. Right. We're
going to continue our chat with coachMartin here in just a moment as we

(30:06):
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(30:27):
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(32:27):
remember it's just a game. FirstWatch, the daytime Cafe, is serving
up good mornings to Wildcat Country.Here at First Watch, we begin each
morning at the crack of dawn slicingfresh fruits and vegetables, baking muffins,
and whipping up our French toast batterfrom scratch. We use only the finest
ingredients for the freshest taste around.Whether you want breakfast for lunch or lunch
for breakfast, at First Watch,everything is made to order and freshness is

(32:52):
never compromised. First Watch is proudto be the official breakfast of UK Athletics.
Go Cats Never're back with the action. Coke zero sugar might be the
best coke ever. That's right,Jim, With an irresistible taste and zero
sugar. Coke zero sugar is amust try for any sports fan. So
make sure you wait, Jim,I didn't mean try it right now.

(33:15):
We're still in the air. That'scoke ever. Take a taste, Jen,
Really no, not right now,Jen, We've got a game to
call. Trive It Behind Kentucky Basketballpodcast hosted by Curtis Birch, also the

(33:40):
UK Healthcare John Kellock Perry Show isavailable on podcasts all available for free,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio,and the official UK Athletics app. If
you have a question for us,send it in at UK Sports Network on
x or Twitter. You can alsocall us so the Clark's Pumping Shop phone

(34:02):
line as we're visiting with the UKassistant coach Chuck martin North Carolina, the
opponent on Saturday in the CBS SportsClassic. You and I we're just talking
about off the year. They're big, led by Armando Baycott. They're one
of the oldest teams in the countryas opposed to you guys being one of
the youngest. And I was justlooking starting to do some prep today.
They get a lot of points atthe free throw line. Yeah, a

(34:24):
big, strong, physical team,veteran team who played a lot of games,
and I think they were able toreally do well in the portal.
They've got some kids who came intothe program fitting really nicely early on.
This is this is a really goodteam. This is one of those teams
that in March can make a run. So it'll be it'll be a really

(34:47):
good matchup, good challenge for USin Atlanta this weekend, and you know,
for Aaron, it'll be just histhird game back, and I mean
it was great on Saturday. Nowthis is an interesting challenge for him.
That was a five guy Saturday thatplayed out away from the basket. This
is a true low post five.Yeah, completely wrong, Yeah, completely
different. Baycott is He's been areally good player, real consistent player,

(35:07):
one of the better big men inthe ACC for the last four years.
If I'm not mistaken, he's oneof the all time. He's the all
time leading rebounder at U n Cor close to it. So he's a
he's a handful physical load, understandswho he is, so it'll be it'll
be a challenge for all of uswatching their Yukon games. Most recent one

(35:28):
they've they'll have come in I thinkon a Battle eleven day break. They
were pressing a good bit in thatgame. Is that pretty much standard for
them now they've done that a fewtimes throughout this season. You know,
they want to speed the game up, they want to get possessions, they
want to get up and down.They feel like you're your turnover prone,
They'll they'll try to trap you seeif they can get an easy basket.
Luckily for us where we're one ofthe better teams nationally and in regards to

(35:52):
taking care of the ball, we'reonly turned the ball over eight times per
game, so that's that's pretty goodfor any team, let alone a young
team. One thing probably might testthat back to the Dean Smith days,
they were doing for the run andjump sure you know, coming at you,
and Hubert Davis is a disciple ofRoy Williams. Back to the Dean
Smith all the way through that lineage, they still doing that kind of stuff.

(36:13):
They're doing a little bit full courtpress. They they can get you
in a deep corner, they'll trapyou. If they can get you over
half court and you're being careless withthe ball, they'll run at you a
little bit. So maybe not asmuch as Coach Smith back in the day,
but they're certainly trying to turn youover a little bit more this year.
I know when Roy was there,big thing Cow would always be working
on in those matchups that Carolina loveto break even after made baskets and they

(36:37):
were coming up the side and justflying up the court, still doing that.
They're trying to get back to that. You could clearly see that in
the games that they've played this year. They're trying to push the tempo as
hard as they can. All makessome missus, So we got to really
be conscious go to the glass,but we gotta sprint back and take away
easy baskets. R J. Davisreally good guard, gets the line a

(37:00):
lot too, but really playing wellfor them right now, averaging twenty points
in the last five games. Andif I'm not mistaken, he's pushing the
tempo transition as you just mentioned.But you know what, he's just as
an effective and half court he's tremendousand pick and roll and if he can
get his feet set, you knowhe can he can make it from three.
So we've got to be we've gotto be conscious of where he's at
the entire time. Back watching thepractices getting ready for Toronto, it was

(37:23):
the thing that kind of was evidentback then was how unselfish this group was
and how well they passed the ball. Now you know that's carried over obviously
to the season with the low turnoverrate. Sure save really for the Wilmington
game is but the only outlier onthat is this. Did that just kind
of come organically or were the thingsyou guys worked on to bring that about?

(37:45):
I think those guys have a greatfeel for one another, which is
really interesting because we've got so manynew guys. I think the Toronto trip
really helped us. He gave usa chance to to spend a few days
together and get to know each othera little bit better. And as I
mentioned before this year, I thinkCoach Cows did an unbelievable job of placing
guys in the right position, andI think our offense has been perfect for

(38:07):
these guys. Opened the cord up, used Trey early on as a facilitator,
and Rob Reid DJ justin. Thoseguys have been been tremendous as well
as Antonio. Yeah, and AntonioSaturday, I thought his game got a
little overlooked because there was so muchexcitement about Aaron Sure dealing him hit some
you know that big four point playopportunity late hit the three, spectacular shot,

(38:30):
DJ Reid really good and Antonio's gamegot a little bit overlooked. Cal
mentioned it when he was back onthe big three that he hit that I
think started with a Bradshaw block savedby Edwards. But then he also had
a key tip in where DJ misseda layup, but Antonio was right there
to tip it in. Yeah,he did some really good things, you

(38:51):
know. He Uh, there wasa lull middle of the game where he
missed one of two shots, buthe stayed encouraged and kept playing hard.
As you mentioned, hit the bigthree, got the tip in, played
like a veteran, played like aguy that you can count on and rely
on. I was looking at hisnumbers today. He shot I think forty
three percent on two point shots lastyear. This was at Kenpalm dot com,

(39:14):
and that was below what his numberhad been historically at Illinois State.
Well, this year he's up shootingsixty percent now inside the arc, so
that makes him so much harder toguard. Yeah, I think he's really
worked on his mid range game andhe's gotten stronger. More importantly, I
think he feels more comfortable in thesystem, and I think when when he's
playing with the guys on the floorthis year, we can space you out

(39:37):
so well. You can't just sagin the paint. If you do,
we make you pay from a threepoint line where we're shooting almost forty I
think forty one percent from a threepoint line, So I think there's more
room to operate as you drive theball. This year, haven't. I
know Cal is still preaching that thisteam should shoot twenty five to thirty threes
a game. Haven't quite gotten tothat number in these last two games.

(39:58):
Is some of that because of howteams play in you or just game circumstances.
I've been game circumstances. I thinkwe're going into every game trying to
shoot the three, trying to playfast, get out and transition. I
think the if the three is openand our feet is set, I think
Coach Cal feels comfortable letting these guysshoot it. And if we continue to
shoot at a high rate, whichwe have been, I think we're going

(40:20):
to continue to let it fly.Kentucky still leads the country and assists to
turnover ratio two point two to zeroto one, first in the SEC in
three point percentage, fewest turnovers pergame, assists per game almost twenty first
in the SEC, in a turnovermargin almost a plus six first in the

(40:42):
SEC, and fast break points pergame first of the SEC with a point
plus eighteen scoring margin first in theSEC, and field goal percentage at fifty
percent. So a lot of positivenumbers right now for the Cats. We'll
continue get a couple of questions toget to. You can send those in
at UK Sports Network. You cancall it the Clark's Pump and Chop phone
line. You can post on theFacebook page for Kentucky Basketball. This is

(41:05):
the UK Healthcare John Calipari Show onthe UK Sports Network. My Skyline order
has always been the same, threecheese conies, no onion, no mustard.
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(41:28):
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(42:10):
Big Gluination Liquor Barn has everything youneed for this week's Wildcat action.
To stock up on all your gameday supplies, head to your narest liquor
Barn store. You know, youcan also place an order for pickup or
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(42:31):
Cats. First Watch, the daytimecafe is serving up good mornings to Wildcat
Country. Here at First Watch,we begin each morning at the crack of
dawn slicing fresh fruits and vegetables,baking muffins, and whipping up our French
toast batter from scratch. We useonly the finest ingredients for the freshest taste
around. Whether you want breakfast forlunch or lunch for breakfast. At First

(42:52):
Watch, everything is made to orderand freshness is never compromised. First Watch
is proud to be the official breakfastof you. Okay Athletics, Go Cats,

(43:15):
We are back. A couple ofsegments left here with a sister chrisch
Chuck Martin talking about Kentucky basketball asthe Wildcats get set to head to Atlanta
and face North Carolina on Saturday.By the way, we'll get back to
basketball in a moment. But afriend of the show, Jennifer Palumbo,
tweeted out today an event, thecharity event that she had m seed last
night and there were some musical performances, one of them by your wife.

(43:38):
She's quite impressive. She's the realstar to family by far. She was.
It was a fun, fun night. Really. If you follow Jennifer,
you can see a clip of hersinging a song from Hairspray that was
was just tremendous. So she canyou sing that well in a shower?
That's all I got. Let's getback to a question at UK Sports Network

(44:00):
from Doc. He says, theteam has been great after timeout and on
baseline out of bounds and sideline outof bounds situations. Do you anticipate committing
to that in conference play when teamsscout those and it might require new sets
to be practiced as the season goeson. You know what, this team
has a great The IQ collectively onthis team is unbelievable, and I think

(44:22):
that's why we've been able to executeoffensively and defensively after timeouts on OB's and
side outs, different situations that we'veencountered throughout the year. Coach cow has
been able to diagram certain things outof a timeout and we've been able to
execute it really well. And defensively, we've been able to understand what the
opposing team is trying to execute andtake them out the action. So we're

(44:45):
you know, we've been really goodcoming out of timeouts. I don't anticipate
that change and as the season goeson, you know, I know,
you guys work on what the otherteam does under the basket, out of
bounds, and on the side whenyou're preparing for the game. But I've
always thought, you know, Cow'steams being so young, you didn't it
took a while to really work ona lot of those kind of actual plays.

(45:06):
It's usually mainly early in the year, let's just get the ball in
bounds and then we'll get into something. But maybe it's this team's you know
basketball IQ that maybe that's a littleahead of schedule. With this group,
you know, their IQ really isoff the charts, and they really understand
spacing and timing and execution. Andit's hard for any team, but again,
let alone a young team to understandthe progression of that play. So

(45:28):
if you take away the first option, these guys are really really good in
terms of what's the second and thirdoption. And that's been super impressive for
me as a as a new memberof the staff and Kentucky Basketball to see
these guys be able to execute aswell as they do coming out of timeouts.
This will probably assuming be the look. I think they're probably even more
experienced than Kansas, maybe the mostexperienced team combined with talent that they will

(45:52):
have faced at this point. Yeah, I test them. I agree with
that. They've got experience, they'vegot talent, they got size. It'll
be it'll be a big time challengefor us, but we've got to We've
got a few days to prepare andand we're gonna do the best we can
to make you guys proud. Hereback to what we were talking about with
this team, that you know howwell they they passed the ball. We're

(46:14):
talking about that back to the summer, getting ready for Toronto, and and
sometimes what I'm about to say,you know, kind of bites them in
the in the backside when they geta little too cute with some passes.
But it seems like there are alot of guys that I always think great
pastors see one or two moves ahead. Sure, and it seems like you
have a bunch of guys that cansee the whole board, if you will

(46:36):
that way. Yeah, these guysare great. They can see the game
in real time, and that's areally difficult thing to do, whether you're
a player or a coach, andit's always easier to sit back in the
office and rewind the film and andkind of teach. But they can they
can see how the defense is playing, are the offense is playing in real
time and make those adjustments during timeoutsand and in certain cases make those adjustments

(46:57):
throughout the game during the live ball. And that's really really impressive. We're
chatting with coach Chuck Martin. We'vegot a call from Corey in Owensboro.
You're next up on the Clark's PumpingShop phone line. Corey, what do
you have for us. Hey,thanks for taking my call, Coach Parton,
I'm good av on the staff.Hey, just real quick, I'm

(47:19):
gonna get off from here. We'vegot to have this unc game. I
feel like billing him is the closestthing we've had since MAXI. I feel
like Bradshaw appears to be what weneed in the middle. My thing is
and one thing, and I'll getoff from her. Wagner and Edwards I
feel like they might be being heldback a little bit. Thanks for taking

(47:43):
my call. How so, Corey, I don't know. I just feel
like we have so many guys thatget you in the lottery. I mean,
Wagner and Edwards are lottery guys.Yeah, there's a bunch of guys
with the draft potential in this group. All right, go ahead, coach.
You know, we've got a goodgroup of kids, and everyone has

(48:06):
a different talent that they bring tothe team. And on certain nights you'll
have Rob have a you know,an unbelievable night, and then another night
you'll have Aaron Bradshaw step up backhome at Philadelphia. So it's just a
matter of time, you know,DJ, He's gonna have a moment,
which he has already but he'll he'llhave a few more great moments throughout the
year. Justin Edwards. This teamis so unselfish and so so selfless that

(48:30):
on any given night, at anygiven time, any one of those guys
can break out and score twenty pointsand have already and have already. That's
right. Hey, you're gonna endup with six or seven guys that have
twenty point games in them this season. I think the championship team in twenty
twelve had six different guys with Dariuscoming off the bench that went for twenty

(48:52):
or more in a game. WithJustin, he's a guy that you know
is coming a got six seven,six eight, that has a versatile skill
set. It just looks to memaybe he's still not fully comfortable with how
he understanding exactly what his best wayto play is at this level yet,
and I'm sure that will come.Yeah, you know, everyone's journey is

(49:14):
different, but he's he's an extremelyhard working kid. He's in the gym
every day, super versatile. It'sjust a matter of time before he breaks
out. But he's had some reallygood moments already. Yeah, and he's
just got to focus in on defendingand rebounding and letting the game come to
him, which he does, andgood things are gonna happen for him and

(49:36):
us good free throw shooters. He'sa guy that you know, you could
easily see he gets a couple ofyou know, offensive rebounds or tip dunks,
he gets to the line, oryou know, four or five points
there, maybe gets a couple ofrunouts. Calano has talked to him about
that. All of a sudden,he's got ten, twelve points without ever
making a jumper. Yet, yeah, effortless, you know. And the
other night, I felt like hewas on his way to having a really

(49:58):
big night, and he picked uptwo quick fouls, and so he finds
himself on a bench, and hegets back in the game and gets an
easy basket and picks up his thirdand in his fourth, and just made
it hard for him to play andfind a rhythm. But I felt like
he got off to a good startthe other night. One segment left,
and we'll get to that when wereturn with Coach Martin here on the UK
Sports Network, Hey, Wildcat FairLittle Caesars, the home of Hot and

(50:22):
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(51:55):
for this week's wildcat action. Tostock up on all your game day supplies,
head to your new There's Liquor Barnstore. You know. You can
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the Liquor Barn website or on theapp. It's just that easy to shop
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(52:19):
Before you use that backcope, where'sthe gas line and where's your wallet?
Because you hit a gas line andit's going to costume. Not to mention
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(52:40):
accident, no fines. Oh andit's the law. First onch the Daytime
Cafe, is serving up good morningsto wildcat country here at First Once.
We begin each morning at the crackof dawn slicing fresh fruits and vegetables,
baking muffins and whipping up our Frenchtoast batter from scratch. We use only
the finest ingredients for the freshest tastearound. Whether you want breakfast for lunch

(53:04):
or lunch for breakfast. At FirstWatch, everything is made to order and
freshness is never compromised. First Watchis proud to be the official breakfast of
UK Athletics. Go Cats Head timefor a couple of quick questions if you

(53:28):
have them for Chrich Chuck Martin,who's with us for the last segment here
of our show. Let me remindyou that BBN Game Day, presented by
Central Bank airs all season long onSaturday mornings at nine on WULAX. Here
in Lexington, they'll be previewing thematchup with Carolina This weekend. Check UK
athletics dot com Slash UK Sports Networkfor TV affiliates and times in your area.

(53:51):
Fans outside the state can also watchat UK athletics dot com, Slash
Videos or on the Kentucky Wildcats Facebookpage. Just talking about Justin Edwards,
you know, guys that are findingtheir way. Jordan Burks now in a
role. With Aaron coming back,it changes the mix a little bit.
And so Cal said, he's playingthem at the three some, you know,

(54:15):
back to playing Carolina this WEEKND teamthat can potentially get you know,
an opponent into some foul trouble.With as much as good as they are
getting to the foul line, Icould see this is a game where he
might have a role. Yeah.Absolutely, it's We're a team that has
depth, and Jordan's played the centerspot, you know, early in the
season. Obviously he's moving back tomore of a natural position. But if

(54:37):
we find ourselves in foul trouble,hopefully we won't, but if we do
have an Aaron back and Trey,and as you mentioned, Jordan gives us
a little bit of depth to battle, depth to battle against Carolina size because
they they're big and strong and we'vegot to we've got to be able to
resist the glass a little bit andnot give them easy baskets at the rim.

(54:58):
Yeah, this was what probably yourbest rebounding game as a team on
Saturday against Ben. Yeah, reallygood. I mean, and again obviously
Aaron being being able to play hisdouble double is three three blocks. I
mean, we were able to,as I mentioned, protect the rim and
rebound the ball, which allows usnow to get out and transition and get
easy baskets. And you had mentionedthat earlier in the show. Aaron had

(55:20):
a possession where he you know,rebounded, there was an outlet, he
ran the floor and got the layup, which is, you know, puts
pressure on the defense and we're hopingto do that Saturday. O Cal made
a great point in his post gameSaturday talking about with Aaron back, it
may help Tray be a better rebounderbecause he was just kind of fighting to
survive against the guy like you know, Dickinson and shoes guys, and now

(55:42):
he's playing is a much different matchupto block out. Yeah. Absolutely.
Now there's more attention on Aaron,which allows Trey to have a one on
one battle on the glass. Hewas also conscious of fouling. He knew
that he was really our only truebig guy two weeks ago, so he
would play hard, but he wasvery conscious of not getting a foul trouble,

(56:04):
knowing that if he got in foultrouble, we would be in trouble.
But this freezes his mind a littlebit to go play and and know
that that Aaron has got his backand it will help him out on the
glass a little bit more. Isthere much of an adjustment for trade now
with Aaron back as far as therole he's playing for you in terms of
I think if you were a freshmanor a younger player, it would be.
But he's been around the block afew times and he's one of the

(56:27):
one of the one of the playerson our on our roster with a very
high i Q. So he canmake the adjustment. And I don't I
don't think so. I think Ithink he'll be okay. I think he'll
be okay. And this is finalsweek for the guy, so kind of
uh practice, kind of whenever youcan get everybody there right correct. Yeah,
yeah, big week for these guysacademically, so we uh, that's
a priority for our guys and we'llwe'll work around the academics. Coach Chuck

(56:50):
Martin. Thank you, sir,Thank you so much. Appreciate you guys
having me sounds good. We're gonnaclose out by reminding you about the PEP
rally sad. This is at Atlantaat the Hudson Grill Downtown. It's at
one twenty Marietta Street Northwest in Atlanta, and it's the UK Alumni Association there.

(57:12):
They have one of the biggest alumniAssociation chapters in the country there in
Atlanta. So, but you don'thave to be a member of the Alumni
Association to come to the party.So alumni and friends go to the UK
Alumni website and you can find outmore. Kentucky up to number fourteen and
the new AP poll number fifteen inthe coaches poll at the tar Heels,
number nine in both poles. Aheadof the matchup coming up on Saturday,

(57:36):
it'll tip at five thirty Eastern.Join David Cameron for the Don Franklindo Countdown
to tip off coverage starting at fourEastern from Atlanta right here on the UK
Sports Network. This has been theUK Healthcare John Calipari Show on the UK
Sports Network. The John Calipari Showwas brought to you by Coca Cola,

(57:57):
the Kentucky Lottery, Little Season,and by UK Healthcare oh Kentucky Basketball is
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