Kentucky cruised to a 76-42 victory over Division III Translyvania on Friday night, but it wasn’t all positive coming out of the Wildcat locker room.
The most talented team in the country only led 41-30 at the half and allowed six three-pointers in the first half before they made a run in the second half to put the game away.
A trio of freshman led the way for Kentucky as backup center Dakari Johnson had nine points, eight rebounds, a steal and a block in 17 minutes while shooting guard James Young stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. Julius Randle looked dominant at times with 16 points and 12 boards in 26 minutes.
Among the interesting takeaways from this game includes an interesting quote from head coach John Calipari as he told John Clay, “We had a lot of non competitive guys out there. They’re just going to have to learn. This was a great lesson for them.”
“If you don’t compete, I’m taking you out, which is what I’ve always done throughout my coaching career until last year. I couldn’t.”
Randle also thought he could have played better and mentions that in this video interview also posted from John Clay.
Although Kentucky’s first half was so-so, with so many new pieces and freshmen getting significant playing time, they’re going to take some time to fully adjust and mesh together, especially on the offensive end.
Calipari’s “non competitive guys” quote is interesting though because with so much talent in Lexington it means that guys have to produce in order to earn playing time and some McDonald’s All-Americans will be stuck on the bench.