John Calipari talks defense, Ugonna Onyenso and more after UK basketball loss at Texas A&M

The Kentucky men’s basketball team came up short on Saturday afternoon.

A thrilling matchup between UK and Texas A&M at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, went the way of the Aggies, 97-92, after overtime was needed.

It would take a long while to hit on everything that transpired across the 45 minutes of basketball played, from freshman center Aaron Bradshaw’s continual foul trouble to freshman guard Rob Dillingham’s microwave scoring off the bench that erased a late deficit.

Also part of the story of Kentucky’s first conference loss of the season were the 25 offensive rebounds that Texas A&M had in the game, the 1.23 points per possession the Aggies averaged for the contest and UK’s inability to make a shot from the field in the extra period.

Afterward, UK head coach John Calipari met with media members — including the Herald-Leader — to discuss all that transpired, and more.

Here’s everything Calipari said after the Cats dropped to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in SEC play in the 2023-24 season, likely blowing a chance to move into the top 5 of the AP rankings in the process.

Opening statement:

Congrats to Texas A&M, that was a hard-fought game.

How we got back into it and then, how we get up five and just, you know, I think our young inexperience showed through. I did a bad job down the stretch to even, we have stuff, what we run and I got away from it because they were switching and I should have just done what we do.

And the other thing is, you know, we had Justin (Edwards) trapping on that out-of-bounds when (Wade ) Taylor took it out. Shouldn’t have trapped, just stay. Don’t let Taylor get it back.

So that’s on me. But, you know, just freshman shots, like, ‘I’m just shooting this.’ What? We took about four of those. But we fought, and we fought and that’s, you know, what this team has been. You could see they have a will to win. They’re not going to give up, even though the other team’s playing well.

Question about Kentucky missing all eight of its shots in overtime.

I don’t know. I’ll watch the tape and I’ll give you an idea, but right now I just know we took some awful, like, ‘Why did you shoot that?’ It had a one-in-10 chance of going in, we’re trying to win the game.

Defensively, they ran downhill the whole game.

Question about his concern level with the UK defense.

Yeah, but, you know, there’s stuff that we can do and get better. We’ll get guys back, Adou is still out... Physical toughness and some different things and, you know, I think we’ll get better.

I’ll tell you one thing that’s hard to do is get your offense going. And like at halftime, I walked in and I’m like, ‘They’re doing three things that are hurting us.’ We went after those three things, but getting beat to balls, you know that what (Texas A&M) does. They throw it and go get it and you either grab it, or they do.

I mean, there was a play where we had a guy standing there, bang, and there was another one standing there next to the guy and it goes And-one. In that moment, young guys may freeze a little bit, but again we’re out there with a bunch of young kids and hanging in, doing some good stuff.

But, (Texas A&M) played well. That’s as well as I’ve seen them play in all the tapes I’ve watched, but I say that (just) about after every game.

I think our defense, we were in the top 50 defensively. It isn’t like we’re that bad. They offensive rebound on everybody.

Question about if he was surprised that Wade Taylor (31 points) and Tyrece Radford (28 points) scored the ball so well.

No. If you watched our games, I’m stunned they didn’t bank any in because that happens to us (laughter).

So, no. I mean, they were laser-focused. I told our team, ‘They’re desperate.’ They’re a desperate team at home, they’ve got to have this game. Let’s make it hard for them to beat us.

I thought we did, but again, at the end of regulation when we had a chance and then the overtime it was almost like ‘I’m going to do my own thing.’ And that’s on me as a coach. That means that what I’m trying to communicate to them is not getting through to some guys.

And I’m not... Look, every one of them fought and did stuff to help us be where we were.

Question about Ugonna Onyenso’s performance in a career-high 31 minutes.

I thought he did good. Had a couple plays, there was one in regulation where he didn’t get over and a guy goes down and it’s an and-one. ‘Come on man, we’re saying it every timeout.’

A couple balls that he could have gotten, but I’ll tell you he was blocking shots, he was rebounding in traffic, he’s 7-foot tall. Aaron (Bradshaw), it wasn’t his game. It’s what happens sometimes.

Question about Texas A&M switching on defense in the second half after playing man-to-man defense in the first half.

No, they switched in the first half. They were man-to-man, but they were switching and they also were playing zone. (Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams) got away from the zone because we’re pretty good against any kind of zone, but they were switching, they were doing some stuff.

And they didn’t switch the 5 man, but everybody else, you know they were switching on down screens, they were switching. But we’ve seen that and we were ready for that, but we just have to... When we’ve got five guys on the floor, every one of them can play basketball: They can pass, dribble and shoot.

So you don’t come down and go no pass, pick-and-roll and try to get a shot. You don’t have to do that. Now, some teams do because they’ve got two, three players and the other guys are screeners or rebounders, whatever you want to say.

Not our team.The ball moves, and then we have two or three different finishes, we didn’t get something, we drove, okay, here’s our finish. And I said to the staff I just can’t accept that. And part of it was me trying to get them to move the ball, you know, force motion, having calls that make the ball move.

And then we threw it away. For a layup. And then we fumble one. For two shots. I mean, we did stuff today that we haven’t done all year. But, I’m not taking away, Texas A&M played well. They deserved to win the game.

Question about Kentucky’s ability to defensive rebound.

We’re getting better. It’s hard. (Texas A&M) put three guys and they’re standing there pushing and shoving and tipping and doing the things. You’ve got to be alert. There were three or four where we just let them, no one, the guy was standing there next to him, but he didn’t do anything.

Those are lessons for these guys. In a game like this, one or two possessions matter.

Question about the goaltending call that went against Kentucky in the first half.

Well, if it hurt us they won’t change it, but anytime there’s a play that they know, you know. I said the one where I thought we had a goaltend.

If you’re going to do that call, then do the other one. It’s the difference in the game. We’ll he had to call goaltend, since he didn’t we can’t review it.

Well then I would say yeah, I’m not for it. Let’s, there’s a goaltend, and let them go in four minutes and if it was, give them the two points. If it wasn’t you take it away... But, that wasn’t why we lost the game.

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