John Calipari wishes he'd played Chris Livingston more in the second half

Slow starts have plagued Kentucky this season, but with Rupp Arena rocking, the Cats came out on fire vs. Kansas tonight, taking a 9-4 lead at the first media timeout. Chris Livingston scored four of those points and doubled his output in the next four minutes. Livingston’s eight points are the most he’s scored since the Florida A&M game on Dec. 21.

Yet, in the second half, when Kentucky was struggling to get momentum going against the Jayhawks, Livingston was nowhere to be seen. He played one minute after halftime, a decision John Calipari told reporters he regrets because it hurt Kentucky’s rebounding. Kansas won the battle of the boards 34-29 and had a stunning 8-4 advantage on the offensive glass. The Cats came into tonight’s game averaging 12.5 offensive rebounds per game. Tonight, they had only four, and zero second-chance points.

“Chris Livingston should have played more in the second half and the reason is, he could offensive rebound,” Calipari said after the 77-68 loss to the Jayhawks. “He can go get balls. The problem was they weren’t playing him and it was crowding the court for Oscar [Tshiebwe]. And that’s why, I told him when I took him out, ‘I’m only taking you out because they’re not playing you and they’re crowding the court and we need Oscar to get the ball.'”

“The only thing that I said was that Chris could have gotten us some more rebounds and gone and done some things,” Calipari added later. “He’d gotten points. He went to the rim. He got, you know, got to the basket, which is what we talked to him about.”

Calipari further explained his decision to not play Livingston during his postgame radio appearance with Tom Leach.

“In the second half, we were going to go at Oscar. Like, we’re going at Oscar. They weren’t playing Chris. His man was immediately running to Oscar and that’s why — I talked to him and said, ‘Chris, the only reason I took you out is they’re not playing you and I’ve got to free up this court for Oscar.’

“Which, we got back in it and three points and one point and two points. But, we didn’t get any offensive rebounds because Chris wasn’t in. That’s the trade-off. So, in hindsight I say, let’s play him more and let’s figure out where we put him if they’re trying not to play him. But I tell you what, he fought. He’s been practicing. He’s got a great attitude and I was happy with how he played.”

Maybe next time, if a team is leaving Livingston wide open, keep him in and let him try to score? Just a thought.