Calipari’s complaints aside, Kentucky again leaves little doubt. ‘I see a different team.’

John Calipari took a seat a few minutes after Kentucky’s 96-70 dismantling of Illinois State on Friday night and offered up the rare opening statement that actually had something to do with the game that had just been played.

“A lot of good,” UK’s coach began.

His tone said there was a “but” coming.

“But 24 offensive rebounds — you’re not gonna win games in our league,” Calipari continued. “Every coach that watched the game … they’re gonna say, ‘We’re just shooting it and running four guys at the rim. They’re not gonna block out.’”

Rebounding, one of the basketball principles Calipari holds most dear, was a problem yet again for his young Wildcats, who did indeed give up 24 offensive rebounds, a stat Calipari repeated several times over the next 10 minutes and an issue that has vexed him all season long.

Kentucky’s two 7-footers — Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso — struggled mightily on the boards. Bradshaw had one rebound in 15 minutes. Onyenso had two in 10 off the bench. Calipari told them afterward that he couldn’t play them if they couldn’t do better than that.

“That’s not being mean,” he said. “I’m just keepin’ in real.”

Calipari said the Cats “reverted back to where we were” on the glass, allowing the Redbirds to box them out and — instead of trying to move around them and fight for the boards — simply attempting to reach over them and tip balls around.

“I mean, you gotta be kidding me,” he said, growing more exasperated the more he talked about it. “Twenty-four offensive rebounds? And all they did was bum-rush us. There was no X’ing. There was no, ‘Screen the guy to get free.’ … They blocked us out. We didn’t go get any balls. We got a few. But not like they did.”

When was the last time Kentucky gave up that many offensive rebounds? Not on his watch, Calipari claimed after this 26-point win. “You can look back. I can’t remember one of my teams in 15 years giving up 24 offensive rebounds. I can’t. I can’t remember.”

It’s actually happened three times in his 15 seasons as UK’s head coach, though the most recent was in 2016 — Stony Brook grabbed 25 of them in an NCAA Tournament game the Cats won by 28 — and the other two instances came more than a decade ago.

With a week before SEC play begins — the Cats start that slate next Saturday at Florida — Calipari lamented UK’s rebounding. He also talked about defensive “breakdowns” after a game in which UK gave up easy looks by playing porous perimeter D, yet again. And, according to his players, the coach also blasted their ball-screen defense, imploring them to be more physical in those situations. Another common theme for this season.

So what, exactly, does Calipari like about these Cats as the calendar flips to 2024 with league play up next?

“The way we’re playing,” he said, matter of factly. “We got a good team.”

And, complaints about defense and rebounding aside, that remains unquestioned. This Kentucky offense is rolling. It seems almost impossible to stop. And when the Wildcats can score like this, few teams anywhere will be able to beat them.

Against Illinois State, the Cats shot 57.1% from the floor. They made 11 of 25 from 3-point range. They dished out 23 assists. They committed only six turnovers. For this Kentucky team, it was more of the same.

“I was very impressed with them on film coming in,” Redbirds coach Ryan Pedon said. “Very impressed.”

Pedon is plenty familiar with Calipari and the Wildcats. Now in his second season at Illinois State, he was previously an assistant at Ohio State for five seasons, competing against Kentucky there and keeping an eye on the Cats during his other college basketball stops. Pedon said that Calipari’s talent level over his decade and a half has remained constant. “Elite,” was his word for that. But not all “elite” players play the same way.

“I see a different team this year, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve followed them from afar for a long time. And I see a different team. These assist numbers that they’re getting are ridiculous. And when you get elite-level talent — top-five, top-10 type of players — usually those guys are more concerned about themselves. I don’t see that this year. And that’s going to make them really, really tough to beat throughout the season.”

Kentucky improved to 10-2 with Friday’s win. The Wildcats are ranked No. 8 in the country. They’d be much higher if not for the shocking loss to UNC Wilmington (with starting point guard D.J. Wagner sidelined). They’ve beaten No. 9 North Carolina on a neutral court and run then-No. 8 Miami out of Rupp Arena in a rout.

And they’ve shown they can come at you in a bunch of different ways.

On Friday night, it was Antonio Reeves dropping 27 points on his former team. Reeves, who played three seasons at Illinois State before transferring to Kentucky, was 10-for-15 from the floor. In Kentucky’s previous game — a 95-76 win at Louisville — he scored 30 and made 10 of 16 shots. For the moment, he has the hot hand for the Wildcats.

“I’m just feeling confident and comfortable out there,” Reeves said. “My teammates are finding me and looking for me out there. Everything is just coming along, and we’re jelling together really well.”

Last season — especially at the end — it seemed the weight of Kentucky’s offensive world was on Reeves’ shoulders. If he was on — as he was in a 37-point outburst in an upset at Arkansas in the regular-season finale — the Cats were fine. If Reeves was off — as he was in a 1-for-15 nightmare in the NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas State — the Cats were doomed.

This season, there’s no such pressure.

“You have choices now,” Calipari said. “You start rotating ’em in, and somebody’s having a tough day? We can still win, so don’t worry. Before, we had to ride ’em. And if they went 1-for-… — you know, you rode ’em. Now, it’s not on you, it’s on us. Go play your best, go play harder than them, go have a ball.

“And if you got it rolling, you play. If someone else has it rolling, they’ll play.”

With this team, a Wildcat or two (or three or four) is bound to have it rolling on any given night.

On Friday, UK trailed 13-9 at the first TV timeout. In came the dynamic duo of Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard, and out went the Redbirds, who gave away that lead lickety-split — a 9-0 Kentucky run immediately following the super subs’ arrival on the court.

Sheppard stayed on the floor for nearly 10 minutes in that opening shift. The Cats outscored Illinois State 26-10 in that span. When he finally headed back to the bench — drawing an ovation from the sold-out Rupp Arena crowd — UK led 35-23. And the margin never dipped below 10 points from there.

“Reed Sheppard is the real deal, man. Yeah, he’s the real deal,” Pedon said. “And I think he, to me, separates them from maybe some other years past, where they didn’t have a guy like Reed Sheppard. And (now) they do, with all the talent around him.”

Sheppard finished with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals.

Dillingham added 16 points and seven assists. Wagner scored 14 points. Tre Mitchell was scoreless and took just one shot in the first half, but he ended up with eight points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a plus-30 rating in 29 minutes.

Lots of ways to beat you.

“They’re gonna be hard for anybody to guard,” Pedon said.

After the game, Wagner was asked how much Calipari talked about rebounding.

“A lot,” he said. And he was smiling.

Wagner knows Calipari is going to be on them as soon as the next practice starts. The UK coach teased “a bunch” of two-a-days for his Cats between now and the Florida game. And when Calipari gets into the gym to lead those practices, Wagner teased what kind of audience will be waiting for him.

“There’s always room for improvement in every aspect of the game. You’re never too good to get better,” the 18-year-old said. “We’ve got a team full of hard workers. People that love to live in the gym. If you walk in the gym throughout the day, it’s rare you’re gonna see the gym empty. There’s always gonna be somebody in there. … I feel like that just shows the love that everybody has for the game of basketball.”

Next game

No. 8 Kentucky at Florida

When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 10-2 (0-0 SEC), Florida 9-3 (0-0)

Series: Kentucky leads 109-41

Last meeting: Kentucky won 82-74 on Feb. 22, 2023, in Gainesville

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