John Wall’s message to John Calipari is clear. And UK’s coach embraces it: ‘Let them play’

The reasons why Kentucky men’s basketball should have started SEC play with a loss Saturday afternoon at Florida are plentiful.

And they were readily apparent throughout 40 minutes of basketball inside a sold-out Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville.

For a moment, put aside the final result — a gritty, 87-85 comeback win for the Wildcats — that served as a marquee moment for UK’s freshman-led team in a hostile environment.

These were some of the standout statistics, in a bad way, from Kentucky’s first conference game of the season.

▪ Kentucky, which entered Saturday’s game with a 2.06 assist-to-turnover ratio (the second-best mark in the country), had only six assists against nine turnovers.

▪ The Wildcats entered their SEC opener shooting 50.3% from the field, but made only 45.6% of their shots against the Gators.

▪ Those shooting numbers were even worse from 3-point range: A 42.8% 3-point shooting team entering the game, the Cats went just 5-for-20 (25%) from distance.

▪ While the Cats were again short-handed without Adou Thiero (second on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game), the Cats lost the offensive rebounding battle (11-8) and the second-chance points matchup (16-13).

▪ A final negative number: Kentucky had only six steals Saturday at Florida. That was a full three steals below the Cats’ average entering the contest. And for the first time this season, freshman defensive dynamo Reed Sheppard didn’t record two steals in a game. (He had none.)

And don’t forget the qualitative factor of fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves being the only UK player in Saturday’s game with significant experience playing on the road with the Wildcats, as well as the quantitative factor of Kentucky trailing Florida by as many as 11 points in the first half and by eight points at halftime.

It all comes together to paint a murky picture regarding UK’s ability to start SEC play with a win.

Yet, the Wildcats did so anyway.

Postgame, the Herald-Leader asked Calipari what he learned the most about his team inside the O’Dome.

“That they can get themselves changed within a game. That’s hard now,” Calipari responded. “You start playing bad, and you flip it around, within the game, now that means you’re a five-star player. Because you’ve lived it … It’s hard to flip it. … We had a bunch of guys out there that struggled, and we figured out a way to win, made shots.”

The ability to win in close, down-to-the-wire situations has suddenly become a calling card for this Kentucky team.

UK outlasted Saint Joseph’s in overtime at home, then executed down the stretch against North Carolina when the Tar Heels couldn’t.

Saturday’s second-half revival from the Cats was capped by a dead-eye 3-pointer from freshman big Aaron Bradshaw with less than 90 seconds left. After a few defensive stops and some clutch free-throw shooting from Sheppard, the Cats had secured a win to begin their pursuit of a 50th SEC regular-season championship.

“It just builds our confidence as a team,” Sheppard said. “The more that we stick together and just play simple.”

Something stressed by Calipari during his postgame press conference was Kentucky’s multifaceted ability to win games.

These Cats are clearly deep: Through 13 games this season, five UK players are averaging 12 or more points per game.

In order, Reeves (19.0 points per game), Rob Dillingham (13.7), Tre Mitchell (12.7), Sheppard (12.6) and D.J. Wagner (12.1) are Kentucky’s leading scorers.

Last season, UK finished with only three players above this threshold. Just two players averaged 12 or more points for UK across the 2021-22 campaign. Nobody during the disastrous 2020-21 season averaged even 12 points for Kentucky.

The last time Kentucky had five players average 12 or more points for an entire season was the 1970-71 team featuring Tom Parker (17.6 points per game), Mike Casey (17), Tom Payne (16.9), Kent Hollenbeck (14) and Larry Steele (13.1) That squad went 22-6 overall and won the SEC with a 16-2 conference record.

Oddly enough, that group of Wildcats didn’t win an NCAA Tournament game despite having two chances to do so: UK lost to Western Kentucky by 24 points in the Mideast Regional semifinals, and then again to Marquette by 17 points in the Mideast Regional third-place game.

But focusing again on this year’s team, there’s obvious advantages to having a bevy of players who can produce and score.

“The past couple years if a guy played bad, he just was bad the whole game. Just how it was,” Calipari said, before alluding to Reeves’ 1-for-15 outing in last year’s NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas State.

“This team, the good news is if you’re not playing great I can sub you (and) it doesn’t hurt us that much, your play. And I told these guys a thousand times that: You don’t have to be great every moment you’re playing. We have enough guys now. We’ll just sub and be ready for the next sub or the next game.”

The Swiss Army knife nature of this Kentucky team can easily be noted in the box scores from UK’s 11 wins this season.

The Cats have had six different leading scorers across their 11 wins: Reeves (four times), Sheppard (twice) and Dillingham (twice) have all led in scoring for multiple wins. Bradshaw, Mitchell and Wagner have done so in one game each.

Reeves led the Wildcats in scoring Saturday for the third straight game, but in the second half it was Wagner (12 points and three assists) and Bradshaw (10 points and six rebounds) that carried the load.

Another benefit for Kentucky of having an array of players who can contribute? The ability to adjust on the fly.

In the seconds before Bradshaw’s critical 3-pointer on Saturday, Mitchell cramped up and was replaced by freshman Justin Edwards.

UK was still able to cleanly execute what was ultimately the game’s deciding play with four freshmen on the floor following a timeout.

“We have one or two guys with a will to win and you make sure they’re in the game, how about that, like, coaching genius?” Calipari said. “Leaving those guys in and let them do it.”

Another enjoyable subplot to what’s been a refreshingly good Kentucky season has been the in-person presence of former Wildcats as Kentucky has traveled the country.

None bring a bigger buzz than John Wall, and the former UK star was name-dropped again over the weekend.

In the lead up to the Florida game, Wall passed along a message to his old coach. It was simple in concept, and in delivery.

“’Let them play loose and just make sure they know the team’s better, so they may have to have the next play,’” Calipari recited.

“’But let them play.’”

Next game

Missouri at No. 6 Kentucky

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 11-2 (1-0 SEC), Missouri 8-6 (0-1)

Series: Kentucky leads 14-3

Last meeting: Missouri won 89-75 on Dec. 28, 2022, at Columbia, Mo.

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