Kentucky was out-coached and out-played, says Calipari
John Calipari did not hide from the blame after his team’s stunning loss to Utah in Las Vegas. He was gracious in defeat in his postgame press conference, saying, “That was a great win and they deserved it.”
“He out-coached me, the way they did it,” Cal admitted. “They out-played us. They deserve to win the game.
“It’s disappointing, but I say this,” he continued, “I’ve done this 35 years, so this stuff happens. What I gotta get a team to understand is — my team, more than any I’ve coached in the last five or seven years, that team needs each other.”
Calipari was unable to use the youth excuse in this one, considering he had the most experienced roster on the floor in T-Mobile Arena. Utah has 12 new faces on its roster, including 10 true freshmen, and that young bunch jumped on the Cats early and controlled the game until the very end.
“How about they had three freshmen starting, two sophomores, and they punched us in the mouth?” Cal said. “All of this stuff about my young team? He has a young team too. One guy weights 250 — no, 195. The other guy weighed 260 — no, 210. They weren’t beasts that way, what they did was they physically fought. They fought for position, they fought you on defense, they found for rebounds, they fought running down the floor, they out-ran you. It’s what I’m trying to get my team to do.”
Unfortunately it was too late in the game when Kentucky decided to fight back.
12 Comments for Kentucky was out-coached and out-played, says Calipari
This loss doesn’t surprise me at all. Kentucky isn’t what it used to be, and since Calipari can’t get the quality players he used to, it shows up in the results. Saturday will be ugly.
Same excuses day in and day out!
I remember when UK used to land great players. This team is a reflection of their coach, underachieving and full of excuses.
His usual response.
I have a thought. When you are one of the highest paid coaches in the country, regardless of sport, maybe you should not keep getting out coached. This seems to happen all the time and it’s ridiculous. He says this every time yet nothing changes. If it wasn’t for next years class, Cal really should be on the hot seat if this season ends up in the crapper.
Who you got as a replacement?
A little foreshadowing in the article to our inevitable loss in the sweet-16 to a team we shouldn’t lose to.
Someone should start saving these post, how many times have we seen Cal say this after a bad loss (specifically K-State and Auburn).
I would never in a million ya ads trade the last decade with Cal, but my god the dude is stubborn as hell when it comes to switching up his philosophy.
I’m not ready to count this team out quite yet, but you had to know it was going to be a bad season when Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery were our starting front court.
people: we got outplayed and outcoached!
cal: i got out-coached and the team got outplayed!
same people: No CaL, SEY sumpin ElSe! I watch CatZ 30 Years.
Wonder what Cal will say after Ohio State and Louisville give him a beat down. This team is like the NIT team.
We just are not very good. Until we get some low post scorers like Towns or Patterson, we wont succeed.
Chris Beard for starters.
When you make a zillion dollars a year, it is unacceptable to admit after bad losses that you didn’t do your job. No one bothers to ask a simple question: “Coach Cal, why were you out coached…again?” Or, “What are you doing to improve your coaching so that you don’t lose to weak teams that don’t belong on the same floor?”