John Calipari talks Bradshaw, Wagner and more after Kentucky basketball wins in Philadelphia

Kentucky basketball got back to its winning ways Saturday afternoon, although the Wildcats had to survive another second-half scare.

Despite a game effort from the Penn Quakers, Kentucky emerged with an 81-66 victory in Philadelphia that was highlighted by a breakout performance from freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw.

Playing in just his second college game, Bradshaw posted a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double. He also had three blocks. Bradshaw’s plus/minus of +17 was the best of any player in the game.

Another balanced scoring effort from the Cats featured 17 points from freshman guard Rob Dillingham and 16 points from fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves.

Kentucky’s bench outscored Penn’s 40-5, with Bradshaw and Dillingham doing most of the damage.

Postgame, John Calipari spoke to reporters in Philadelphia about Bradshaw’s big game, UK’s ability to bounce back from last week’s shocking home loss and more.

After some initial thank yous that Calipari delivered to the presenting sponsors of Saturday’s game, here’s everything the Kentucky head coach said:

Question about how Kentucky guarded after the UNC Wilmington loss:

You can answer that (laughter). Here’s the biggest thing: We missed a lot of shots today that could have been assisted, but we passed the ball to each other.

One of our goals… is pass the ball, just to pass it. Not to make an assist. Just pass it to pass it. And how about this? Someone may do it to you. And then we all look good again.

We still, I have some guys that have to make the absolute hardest play they can try to make, and they make it one out of four, 25 percent of the time something good happens. The other three are turnovers. And breakouts for the other team.

Hopefully, when we hit February, that won’t be the case. But the kids fought today and let me say this: I told (Penn head coach Steve Donahue), ‘I woke up at 4 this morning worried about this game.’

Every time I watch tape, (Penn) is making 25 3s. They’re jacking balls, they’re back cutting. I think we had a fairly good game plan of what we had to do. But it doesn’t matter, they run their stuff, it’s a Princeton offense.

It’s (Donahue’s) wrinkle to it too, so it’s not all Princeton. And all I can tell you is one, he’s a terrific coach and a good guy. He did remind me that we played against each other.

He was at Randolph-Macon and I was at Clarion… He was a terrific player too, by the way.

Question about expecting such a good performance from Aaron Bradshaw based on what he’s seen in practice:

Yeah. Somebody told me to sub him, and I said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Are you watching this?’

But he needed to come out some. You know who rebounded better with him in the game? Tre (Mitchell). Because now Tre’s not having to beat down a… he lets Aaron do that.

(UK players D.J. Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw join podium alongside Calipari)

What D.J. gives this team... (is) a will to win. He’s not afraid to lose. We’re not thinking about losing. We’ve got a will to win. He leads our team. He talks like he’s a senior.

He gathers them and he builds their confidence because of what he says to them. And now, he’s getting more consistent in doing all of the other stuff: Defensively today he did a heck of a job.

Like you said, Aaron coming in. Before the last game, (Bradshaw) practiced one day. And then we played him, because the doctor said you could play him. Great, he’s in.

And today he did some stuff… how about block a shot to take… Now (opponents drive) and ‘Oh, he may be in there.’

But Adou (Thiero) did his thing. Justin (Edwards) did his thing. Let me give you one other thing about Antonio (Reeves), and I said it to the team. The best thing that happened is he missed all of those open shots. Now I need to know, can you now make a play?

And he did. He drove baseline and he made a floater. He had a tip-in on D.J.’s up and under scoop, lefty throw, and Antonio tipped it in. And he made the 3 that basically ended the game.

Now, he hasn’t done that before, so it was a big thing for him, too.

Question about playing small without Aaron Bradshaw, but now being able to play bigger lineups and what that means for Kentucky’s trajectory this season:

I have no idea right now. But all we did was we put Tre, who did not — he usually makes shots — did not make a shot, and we were putting him in ball screens and if we want to do stuff with Tre, we’ll do it where he handles the ball.

Kind of like (Nick) Spinoso does for (Penn). The same. And Aaron, what he did was a great job of screening, and then rolling hard and these guys found him…

Question about coaching against Steve Donahue previously in the 2010 Sweet 16 (UK vs. Cornell) and if that gave Calipari any clues about Saturday’s game:

No, I just watched the tape of this year. My staff said they were going to play zone. They’re going to play all zone.

And I said, ‘No,’ because (Donahue) looks at the numbers. Against zone, we’re 1.3 (points per possession), against man we’re 1.01. So why would you play zone?

So I was right again on that one. The biggest thing you have to do is if (Penn) gets into the rhythm and the half-court, you’re done. You are done.

The La Salle game, how (Penn lost it). The Maryland Eastern-Shore game, how they lost it. You understand, (Penn) should have like no losses. And they beat Villanova. Villanova made a late flurry, a late flurry of trying to get baskets, but they’re good… We may have to play (Penn) again… hopefully that’s it.

Question about outrebounding Penn by 10:

You realize they outrebound everyone they play. They are outrebounding everybody by seven. And coming in, we have worked the last week on blocking out. We invented drills to get them to block out.

And when we’d scrimmage, what would happen? We’d stop: ‘Why did you not block out?’

So (Penn) gets 13 offensive rebounds a game. They come. And some of it is because they’re long bounces, because they’re shooting 3s.

But us outrebounding them, so what happened? (points to Bradshaw).

Now the other guys do their thing and he can go do what he does… But it’s his first real game and I play him 30 minutes. What’s wrong? I don’t know what I was thinking.

Question about Aaron Bradshaw being the main difference rebounding for Kentucky:

You had (Wagner) on the court, so our ball defense was better. And if there was anything (Bradshaw) could get his hands up and he plays that kind of game.

And then he can reach above, they called a foul on him that was not a foul. Because he just reached.

‘But you’re over top of him?’ Yeah, I’m 7-2. I’m going to be over top of him. I’m not pushing.

So he rebounded that one, and he had about three that way. And he had a couple others, obviously. And he threw the ball ahead.

This is going to be interesting, us figuring this out, because you’re exactly right. I have two teams: I have a small team and now I have a big team.

And then when do they play? I went today to the grind it out, to use clock and the did well. Robert (Dillingham) didn’t, he drove baseline and threw his crazy (pass) so he was done with it.

Then I went to Antonio and we did it and he scored a basket. Now there’s two-and-a-half minutes (left) and they don’t have enough time.

(Bradshaw) in the pick-and-roll. He wants to pop some, because he thinks he can shoot 3s. So I’m like, ‘You’re rolling to the basket. But there may be a point where he gets 20 rebounds and seven blocks and we’ll pop him and let him shoot some 3s.

Question about what was said in UK timeouts when Penn cut Kentucky’s lead to two points early in the second half:

We weren’t matched down. So they were just coming up, throwing it to the open man for a 3. And then offensively I’m like, ‘Here’s the shots we started the half with.’ And that’s, I hate to tell you, the shots we started the last few games with, which are low-percentage shots.

Why would you do that?

I’m just telling you, whatever I say to do (to Wagner) he does. And can I just say it? That moment, he does it. (I’m) trying to get him to shoot the ball a little bit higher, so he’s worked on it.

Trying to get him to cut harder, he does it.

And (Bradshaw), I know he wants to play, and he’s trying to prove himself. I want to have a whole team of guys trying to prove themselves. That’s when you’re good.

The guy who didn’t play today because of (Bradshaw’s) minutes was Jordan Burks. And he’s played well all season. So that’s somebody I’m going to have to sit down. Now, I’ve also moved him to the 3, so he’s in heaven, because he was playing the 4 and 5.

He was playing the 5. He’s not a 5, he’s a 3. Now I moved him there, he was so happy he almost broke his hand, his hand was swollen, and he still practiced.

He said, ‘Man, I’m practicing. I’m finally playing the 3.’ I’m out here. But he’ll get time with this group. He will.

Question about playing in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center:

These guys have been in here watching the 76ers and somebody called the radio show and said, ‘Why not The Palestra?’

Now, I’ve coached in The Palestra a bunch. And I love The Palestra, because I had to play there, we were in our tournament. But if the choice was there, getting beat, and those rims there are like sewers. If you hit it on the rim, it’s going in…

It’s a great venue, maybe one of the greatest to play in. And I’d go back there and watch a game there. I don’t think I’d want to bring my team there, though.

Calipari, unprompted, on D.J. Wagner:

One thing with him, he practiced one day with us. Like he hadn’t practiced. When he got hurt, he never was in (practice) until one and I said, ‘I want to start you.’ And (Wagner) says, ‘You should start Reed (Sheppard).’

I said, ‘No, I’m starting you to make sure you’re OK, and you’re leadership and how you play is going to be good for this group.’

He did good, they both (Bradshaw and Wagner) did good.

Question about Calipari now being the all-time active wins leader in NCAA Division I men’s basketball following the retirement of Cliff Ellis:

I talked to Cliff last night, he’s a good friend. That means I’m old, that’s what that means.

Cliff Ellis is one of the neatest guys, and a hell of a coach now. I saw his Clemson team play Connecticut, it might have been in the NCAA Tournament… Cliff sings, he plays piano, he makes you laugh.

He’ll call me. The year we were struggling he said, ‘You got three haircuts… Three more haircuts and the season’s over, you’re fine.’ That’s what he said to me and we bust out laughing.

He told me last night he wrote something down when he was 42 years old about 14 things he wanted to do. ‘I’m sending it to you, wait until you see what I was writing when I was 42. I’m 78!’

What he did at Coastal. How do you win at Coastal? I’m not saying it’s a bad school and all that, I’m saying the other programs that you’re going against probably have more than you and he did it.

So I invited him to Kentucky. ‘Why don’t you come up?’ I said, ‘If you like to coach my team and get a couple more wins you’re welcome to do it.’ He said he might.

He’s a good man. He’s a good man.

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