John Calipari explains how he's using Tyler Ulis as an example for this year's Kentucky team

Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari brought back one of his former players as an assistant, point guard Tyler Ulis. So far, Ulis has been helping the Wildcats’ headman get his incoming crop of young talent prepared for the upcoming season.

But his presence is doing something else for Kentucky this season. As Calipari explained, it’s actually helping to empower the Wildcat players on the court.

“I’ve told this team, I want this team to play like his team played. Which was he basically coached the team,” said Calipari. “You’re seeing, I’m trying to do less and less when I’m coaching. And the reason is I want these kids to feel empowered to go make mistakes go do stuff. Call what you want. I don’t really care long as you’re fighting. With him, he would walk over and say, ‘let’s do this.’ That’s fine. ‘Let’s do this.’ Let’s do it.”

Ulis is already helping and rubbing off on the Kentucky players the right way. In Kentucky’s recent matchup at GLOBL JAM, big man Tre Mitchell came to Calipari with a suggestion that resulted in a huge basket for the Wildcats.

“Today Tre came into the huddle and said, ‘the guy’s doing this. If you let me screen, Antonio is going to be open.’ And that corner three he made; that was Tre. I’m like, perfect. That’s how you want to coach. You want them to feel that it’s their team.”

Ulis was brought on as a student assistant coach last December.

Calipari on using a small lineup

The Wildcats are 2-0 at the Toronto-based event, defeating Team Germany and Team Canada, but it hasn’t been easy. Calipari has had to deploy some unique strategies to keep Kentucky competitive, while they are down a few players. One of those unique strategies has been fully displayed this week at GLOBL JAM. With 7-footers Ugonna Onyenso and Aaron Bradshaw out due to injuries, UK has been forced to utilize a small-ball lineup. The new look fits Kentucky well, as Calipari explains.

“I don’t know if you have to with Adou [Thiero] playing the way he’s playing. I mean, Adou is 6-foot-7. The question is, we got two 7-footers, and they’re both good. They’re both different,” Calipari said.

Calipari couldn’t be more spot-on. Onyenso is a shot-blocking machine, who is limited outside the paint. Bradshaw is an energetic, new-school center, who can knock down a 3-pointer if necessary. Both would provide Kentucky with much-needed rebounding.

Despite Kentucky winning both games at GLOBL JAM, the Cats were out-rebounded in both contests. Even in a blowout loss, Canada snagged 14 more rebounds than Kentucky. Then again, Kentucky won.