John Calipari says Kentucky must 'get back to who we've been defensively'

The Kentucky Wildcats closed out the season as one of the most dynamic offenses in college basketball, ranked second nationally in scoring, first in 3-point percentage and fifth in shooting percentage overall. That all tends to happen when you’ve got three of the top-six shooters in school history and the all-time leading scorer under John Calipari in terms of single-season average.

No matter how the year ended, that’s something the Hall of Fame coach wants to recreate next season.

“I don’t want to change offensively,” Coach Cal said Monday evening. “I mean, it was fun coaching it, our fans loved it, obviously the nation loved it because we were the highest-rated TV game, all of our games. I don’t want to change that.”

Then there’s the other side of the floor, something Kentucky has no choice but to get figured out. They finished the season ranked No. 334 in scoring defense, No. 131 in defensive field-goal percentage, No. 153 in forced turnovers and No. 112 in overall defensive efficiency.

There were a few solid stretches, but for the most part, the Wildcats stunk on that end. And it’s ultimately what wasted an all-time offensive group in the form of a first-round NCAA Tournament exit. Calipari knows that’s at the top of the priority list this offseason when he begins to evaluate potential changes going into 2024-25.

Among the possibilities: no chemistry-building summer trips that typically result in little more than blowout wins. Instead, how about using that time to install defense?

“We’re just removed from the season, but every year I go through that process of evaluating everything in the program,” he said. “You go through, whether it’s all the people around you or whether it’s how we’re doing things. I’ll give you an example, and I haven’t gone through everything right now, but my thoughts: defensively and physicality, how do we get back there? What about in the summers instead of Bahamas or Toronto, we’re really back to where we’re grinding?

“And we’re working on our physicality and we’re working on defense, we’re trying to set a foundation of who we’re going to be.”

He knows the offense is fun, but it’s what happens on the other end that really swings games. Put together a few big stops and it settles things down offensively rather than just trading baskets.

“I’ve always known that your defense steadies you when you’re not making shots. Or you get a little anxious and you’re turning it, you miss some shots you don’t usually miss, your defense settles you,” Calipari said. “There’s a game where your offense is gonna have to be good and your defense, but we’ve got to get back to that. That being one thing that I’ve thought about, what are we doing this spring? How do we do this?

“I’ve not worked on defense that early ever, and it’s never been a problem. But I think now I’m looking at it saying I think that’s one thing we’re gonna have to do.”

They tried focusing on the defense and covering up some of those flaws with duct tape, but you can only do so much once a team identity is formed over the course of a season. You can’t build Rome in a day.

That’s why he hopes to start building it when the players first arrive on campus.

“What was our Achilles heel? Defense and physicality. We worked on it and we tweaked it, but the physicality part, it’s hard to get maturity. This team, as it unfolded was an offensive team,” he said. “One of the better shooting teams, one of the best playmaking, free throws, but we knew what that Achilles heel was. We were trying to make sure we covered it. There were games this year where we just tried to outscore people.

“I know for us to get where we’re trying to go, we’ve got to get back to who we’ve been defensively.”

Whether that comes in the form of staff or personnel changes (or both), that’s for Calipari to decide in the coming days, weeks and months.