John Calipari talks Auburn win, Tre Mitchell’s health and UK’s NBA All-Star Game presence

John Calipari is in a groove at the moment.

On Saturday night, Calipari led his Wildcats into Neville Arena on The Plains of Auburn, Alabama, and left with an impressive 70-59 win, handing Bruce Pearl’s Tigers their first home defeat in more than a calendar year.

One of Calipari’s most performative press conferences in recent history followed that win. Then, the Kentucky basketball head coach went to Indianapolis and watched as UK had record-setting representation in this year’s NBA All-Star Game.

The offensively focused showcase was then highlighted by a 50-point outing from ex-Cat Karl-Anthony Towns.

Now overseeing a team ranked No. 17 in the latest AP poll, Calipari and the Wildcats will try and make it three straight wins Wednesday night at LSU.

Ahead of that contest, Calipari hosted his weekly radio show Monday night and talked about the standout road win at Auburn, watching his former players take part in NBA All-Star Game festivities and more.

Kentucky basketball shows strides in defense, physicality

In recent weeks, Calipari has repeatedly said Kentucky’s biggest goal for the rest of the season is to get about 10% better defensively.

That claim, on its own, may not be quantifiable, but it’s clear that in recent wins over Ole Miss and Auburn, Kentucky has displayed defensive competency.

The Wildcats allowed well below their season-average point amounts in those two games: Ole Miss scored just 63 points at Rupp Arena last week and Auburn managed a measly 59 points Saturday.

Both Ole Miss and Auburn struggled to make shots against Kentucky.

“Defensively, the things that I’ve been talking about: In a general sense, that we have to play more physical, well that’s the whole team,” Calipari said Monday night.

“That we have to come up with 50-50 balls. That means no one leaks out. You’ve got to stay in there and come up with those balls.”

After being mired in the 120s (out of 362 Division I teams) in adjusted defensive efficiency, Kentucky now finds itself ranked No. 81 in that category, per KenPom.

“I can’t tell you that we’re not going to have some more bumps in the road,” Calipari said. “... Not many teams are playing with freshmen, and especially the number of freshmen that we’re playing. So there may be some bumps in the road, but I come back to, (this) team’s built for March.”

Additionally, Saturday’s win at Auburn brought about the most physical performance by Kentucky this season. And it also continued an impressive season-long stat: The Wildcats are 12-0 this season when out-rebounding their opponent.

NBA All-Star Game highlights former Kentucky players

The NBA’s annual all-star weekend — held this year in Indianapolis — may as well have been a multi-day infomercial for Kentucky basketball.

Both Oscar Tshiebwe and Cason Wallace (as well as “none-and-done” UK player Shaedon Sharpe) were invited to Friday night’s Rising Stars game (although Sharpe sat out with an abdominal strain). Jacob Toppin, a rookie with the New York Knicks organization, put in a strong showing during Saturday night’s Dunk Contest.

Also Saturday night, Tyrese Maxey participated in the Skills Challenge and Karl-Anthony Towns in the 3-point Contest.

Then on Sunday, UK’s biggest stars in the NBA took center stage,

Seven former Wildcats were selected to play in Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game: Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Maxey, Towns and Julius Randle (who missed the game due to a shoulder injury).

This shattered the previous record for most players from the same school to make the event. That marker had been four, done twice before by Kentucky in 2018 and 2023, and once by UCLA in 1983.

Kentucky basketball’s presence Sunday night was clearly apparent in a photo posted on social media featuring Calipari, former UK guard and current Kentucky student assistant coach Tyler Ulis and all six ex-Cats who played in the all-star game.

Not only does this collection of talent reflect Calipari’s ability to produce pro players, but it also represents plenty of college basketball success in Lexington.

Kentucky had a 188-37 overall record, with an 87-19 mark in the SEC, four league titles, three SEC tournament championships, three trips to the Final Four, two national title game appearances and one NCAA championship in the six seasons that its seven All-Stars were in school.

It should be noted that all seven of Kentucky’s selections to the NBA All-Star Game were one-and-done college players.

“No one’s done it with young players like we have,” Calipari said.

Tre Mitchell is not yet back in Kentucky basketball practices

In last week’s home win over Ole Miss, Kentucky had all 16 players available for the first time this season (in the 24th game of the season) when fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell returned from a two-game absence due to a back injury.

But, that full player availability lasted only 24 minutes of game time: Mitchell exited that game against Ole Miss with a left shoulder injury early in the second half.

That shoulder injury also kept Mitchell out of Saturday’s win at Auburn.

On Monday night, Calipari gave a brief injury update on Mitchell, saying that UK’s veteran frontcourt player didn’t practice fully Monday. Calipari said Mitchell did some running during Monday’s practice.

Mitchell averages 12.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists this season, and has started all 22 games that he’s played in for Kentucky after previous college stops at UMass, Texas and West Virginia.

Next game

No. 17 Kentucky at LSU

When: 9 p.m. EST Wednesday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 18-7 (8-4 SEC), LSU 13-12 (5-7)

Series: Kentucky leads 92-28

Last meeting: Kentucky won 74-71 on Jan. 3, 2023, in Lexington