John Calipari explains why his teams won't shoot 30 3s like Alabama

As the game of basketball evolves, someone will always be the first to try and usher in the next era. In regards to college basketball, Alabama head coach Nate Oats was one of those forward-thinkers, taking the game by storm with a new-aged brand of hoops. His philosophy? Embrace the outside shooting trend that has swept the NBA and try to win through the basic concept that three points are greater than two.

For the most part, it’s proved successful. A math major at Maranatha Baptist University (WI), Oats brought his formula to Buffalo where he complied a 96-43 overall record with three NCAA Tournament appearances in just four years. His Buffalo teams slowly began to shoot more and more 3-pointers as the years went on, with his final Bulls squad taking 44.1 percent of its shots from behind the arc, according to KenPom. It was enough to entice Alabama to bring him along as the replacement for Avery Johnson.

Now in his third season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, his teams continue to stress the limits of the old saying live by the 3, die by the 3. His first Alabama team attempted 49.0 percent of its overall shots from the perimeter, the second 46.5 percent, and now 47.1 percent this season. All of those numbers either ranked or currently rank among the 20 highest in the country.

This emphasis on outside shooting has made Alabama a spectacle, but the long-term success has yet to follow. Oat’s two-seeded crew from a season ago got bounced by 11-seeded UCLA in the Sweet 16 after shooting 7-28 from long range, or 25 percent. So far, that’s been the biggest difference between a rising coach like Oats and an established one in Kentucky’s John Calipari.

“I said, we’re playing well offensively, we’re playing well enough to win. But you can’t just keep giving them open shots. It’s their game,” John Calipari said of Alabama. “They took 40 (3-pointers). I know there’s people that want me to coach that way. I’m fine. Nate (Oats) is an unbelievable coach, does a great job, has turned that thing into a monster. There’s all kind of ways of doing this.”

Calipari said this shortly after his Kentucky team beat Oats and Alabama for the second time this season, doing so by a final score of 90-81 despite missing both TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler. In the first meeting between the two teams down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama infamously shot 3-30 from distance in what was an 11-point victory for the ‘Cats. In the rematch on Saturday at Rupp Arena, the Tide did much better with 14 makes, but needed 40 attempts to get there.

Alabama got hot from deep early on, but quickly tailed off as Kentucky perfectly executed its gameplan from the final five minutes of the first half to the final buzzer.

“I’ve done this for a lot of years, and I’ve changed and tweaked and brought in the dribble drive and then talked positionless basketball and played three point guards different times and had some 3-point shooting teams, but 30 percent of the shots will be 3s for us. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. 

“But when you look at Bill Self, pretty good coach. His numbers are about the same. 28, 30 percent. Wow, we should take 60 percent should be threes and play all guards — come on, man, we’re Kentucky. What are we playing for? We’re playing for March, to put ourselves in a position to win national titles. That’s what we do here.”

Now in his 13th season at Kentucky, Calipari has never coached a UK team that attempted more than 33 percent of its shots from distance. The national title team in 2012 attempted the second-lowest at just 26.5 percent. The 2014 runner-up squad was at 27.6 percent. The legendary 2015 unit settled on 27.1. In what likely isn’t a coincidence, the Calipari team that shot the most 3-pointers was last season’s 9-16 group at 32.2 percent

This season, Kentucky is hovering right around 28 percent, which ranks 346th out of 358 Divison I schools. UK has not shot 30 triples in a single game this season. But in that same breathe, it has arguably the best outside shooter in the entire conference, Kellan Grady, along with another premier shooter in Davon Mintz, who is up to 41.8 percent shooting from deep during SEC action.

UK went 9-14 from deep against Alabama on Saturday and 4-11 in the first outing. The ‘Cats know several different ways to win games. They’ve done it through mid-range jumpers, through Oscar Tshiebwe in the post, through transition buckets, through attacking the rim, and everything in between. If the 3-ball isn’t falling, Kentucky has plenty else it can rely on to save the offense.