John Calipari says he tried calling timeout down the stretch against LSU

In what feels like a more common occurrence at this point than it should be, John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats lost a close game with a timeout still on the board.

Down by just one with 27 seconds left, No. 16 Kentucky had a chance to beat No. 21 LSU on the road Tuesday night. Unfortunately, without its pair of star point guards, all hell broke loose in the final possessions for the ‘Cats.

Oscar Tshiebwe made an excellent effort to steal an out-of-bounds pass from the Tigers, but wildly chucked it near midcourt where Kentucky would ultimately lose the ball and give up an easy transition dunk to LSU. Since no UK player had full control of the ball during that play, calling a timeout wasn’t an option then.

Still, Kentucky trailed by three with 14 seconds left and one timeout still in its back pocket.

Davion Mintz then dribbled the ball up the sideline as time was ticking away; Calipari motioning his hands like a windmill for Mintz to sprint up the floor. But before UK’s temporary point guard could break halfcourt (where a timeout could have feasibly been called), LSU poked the ball away, leading to another fastbreak dunk that officially put the game to bed.

Kentucky could have called its final timeout while Mintz was bringing the ball up in the backcourt, although UK would have had to begin its offense there out of the break instead of closer to the basket. Maybe Mintz (or Calipari) calls a timeout if he gets the ball across halfcourt? Or maybe let him get his own shot, considering he was coming off five consecutive points for the ‘Cats.

However, the game didn’t have the opportunity to unfold that way. UK lost 65-60 without ever taking its final timeout. But Calipari would tell you he sure did ask for it.

“And again I tried to get that timeout late,” Calipari said in his postgame press conference. “Joe (Lindsay, one of the on-court officials) must not have heard me, I was right there in his ear screaming it. But maybe my voice is going.”

The tape, however, tells a slightly different story. Perhaps Calipari was referring to an earlier portion of the contest down the stretch, but that wouldn’t be relevant to the end-of-game situation. UK still had a timeout to give. The video does not suggest he tried to call that timeout in the final 23 seconds of action. And if he did, it certainly wasn’t being screamed right into the ear of the official.

Kentucky had a final timeout down three, didn’t use it, and lost as a result.