Everything John Calipari said after UK basketball scored a Senior Night win vs. Vanderbilt

Kentucky’s home finale this season at Rupp Arena certainly went better than last year’s.

Twelve months ago, the Wildcats were on the wrong end of a shocking home loss to Vanderbilt, one that partially overshadowed the final home game of legendary Wildcat Oscar Tshiebwe.

But on Wednesday night — as the Wildcats celebrated a quartet of seniors — the outcome was decidedly in Kentucky’s favor.

John Calipari’s Wildcats are now on a four-game winning streak following a 93-77 win against Vanderbilt, playing the role of UK’s Senior Night opponent for a second straight season.

Freshman guard Rob Dillingham tied for a game-high with 23 points, including a late first-half scoring flurry that put Kentucky in the lead for good after a pedestrian start.

The Cats also got 20 points from fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves after the Chicago native was honored on Senior Night. This marked Reeves’ sixth straight game scoring at least 20 points.

Kentucky dominated Vanderbilt on the glass (44-32) and the Wildcats had 22 second-chance points compared to just four of that variety for the visitors.

Kentucky (22-8 overall and 12-5 in SEC games) now finds itself in a four-way tie for second place in the SEC standings. Tennessee, UK’s opponent on Saturday, clinched the outright SEC regular-season championship with a win Wednesday at South Carolina.

After UK’s game, Calipari met with media members at Rupp Arena to recap the Vandy win, look forward to the Tennessee game and discuss other matters related to his team.

Question about Antonio Reeves being an elite scorer.

Great layup shooter. Mid-range game, as good as anybody in the country. And he’s shooting 50% from the three. What’s he doing from the foul line? I think he’s missed one in the last 10 games. Every other one he’s made. For us, he’s also rebounding. He’s defending better.

Look, he gained weight so now he’s a different player. He also has lived in the gym. When he misses he is stunned. Stunned. Because he’s shooting 5,000 shots every two weeks or more. Eight thousand, whatever it is. The guy is putting up shots. Sometimes you just got to show up every day. Show up every day even if you’re not the best. At your best. You show up and he does. But I’ll tell you Robert (Dillingham), again, he just did stuff that separates the team. He and Z (Zvonimir Ivisic) together.

I wanted those two in. When he got his third foul, I let the thing go a little bit cause I looked him and I said we will be fine. I put him back in and he makes play, play, play, ballgame. D.J. (Wagner) made 3s. He’s back to shooting over 40% from the three. Tre (Mitchell) is where DJ was 10 days ago, two weeks ago. You take of that kind of time, it’s going to affect you offensively. It’s going to affect your motor. You are going to be a little bit behind the action. But he came up with a big rebound. He made a basket near the goal which we needed. So, he will be fine.

By the way, Adou (Thiero), stuck him in the game. He’s the one that rebounded and offensive rebounded for us. Justin (Edwards) made the shots that we needed in the second half to create some space but give Vanderbilt credit. They played good. They played good.

Question about how Calipari plans to shorten the rotation, and if he plans to do so at all, with this Kentucky team.

I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Because Z wasn’t at his best today and then Aaron (Bradshaw) got pushed around so we had to go with Ugo (Ugonna Onyens). We needed offense at the end to separate so you go back with Z. We can also play Justin at 4. We have been good with Justin at 4, which we were again today.

So some of it is the feel of the game. Yeah, we are different. And I say it again, we got enough guys we have room for error. Somebody fouls, somebody is just not playing well. OK. Just be ready for the next game and we will finish this without you and don’t worry about it, we’re all good. But you know, we outrebounded, 27 assists. I mean we’re doing, we’ve got to get Reed (Sheppard) (better) at late game stuff. How about the pass he threw to Antonio. Why would you do that? We can’t do those kind of things late.

Now, Mississippi State, he made that shot. What about the passing though – he’s better than that. I told him you can’t take that many chances those last four or five minutes. Just play solid. And he can do that. And then, the way he is shooting the ball. You’ve got to guard him. The space is the court and we get to the rim.

Question about Rob Dillingham as a play creator.

If he is choosing to play that way, he’s as good as there is in the country. He really is. If he chooses to play that way, sometimes he’s not choosing to pass it and I’m going to try to score this. Today, he took one bad shot. He knew it. But I gave him one play a half that way. And I don’t say much.

But if it goes to two or three, you are out. Because we respect the fact that we are giving you the ball and letting you go. Just make easy plays, shoot the ball. There was a play that I told them, I said we are snapping it and he kept it and did his step back and just threw one. Now he was hoping it went in so he could say okay, But it didn’t so he looked at me, my fault, no kidding it is your fault. But it’s one half. That is fine. What he’s doing by us letting him go a little bit. It’s demoralizing, if you are on that other side. Make three 3s in a row. Make two layups and two passes for dunks.

He’s good, I told him today the greatest thing about him and I said for him what I was saying to him, if I take you out, you don’t have to say anything. The whole building is mad at me. So you are fine. They are mad, why is he taking him out? That’s why he started laughing. I said you have to get mad, they are mad at me. Just be ready to go back in and play.

Question about Reed Sheppard thinking like a coach.

He’s got a coach’s mentality. Like he will come to me with stuff like different players, you know. He’s the greatest in that. Just give it to Robert and we will get away from it. Like, think about that. People are talking about Reed too. And he’s like, yeah, let him do his thing. I’m fine. Great teammate, terrific player, unbelievable feel and reactions.

Except you’ve got to recognize with three, four minutes to go it’s not early in the second half where you can go try some stuff. But he will be better. I just said to him, I didn’t raise my voice. I said you are better than what you are playing at the end of games. You are turning it over and leaving 3-point shooters and you are doing stuff. You are too good, you are too good of player. I’m saying this, I love coaching him because he’s an unbelievable teammate. The guys know they can count on him.

Question about D.J. Wagner being more dangerous with an improved 3-point shot.

He was out two and a half weeks and did not touch a basketball. You would miss 40 in a row (laughter)... Well. I told him the whole time. Look, I believe in you and it’s going to take time. You took two and a half weeks off and didn’t touch a basketball. The thing that goes, his energy, his toughness, his defense, none of that went. It was, couldn’t make a shot.

So now like you just said, he’s like 50% or better from the 3 when he was 0 for whatever. Look, his whole life he has been chased. People have tried to make a name at his expense. He knows how to deal with it folks. If you are chasing your whole life and you come to Kentucky and now they are chasing you, you may not respond the same way. These guys have all been chased their whole careers. They were chased. So they know how to deal with it. They are just — the problem is they are 19 and the guy they are going against is 24, 23, that becomes a little bit of an issue.

Question about Kentucky entering the final game of the regular season, and the SEC Tournament, with positive momentum.

What we did learn was we had some trap games in there we didn’t respond. You know how worried I was about the Arkansas game. I hate to tell you, I was worried about this game too. If you were at our shootaround, you would know. I was not mean or nasty, but I was on it. Because I needed them to be on it because I knew Vandy would come out and play well, like every team that we play.

And that we were going to have to play well over 40 minutes and we could get them. But you are not going to play bad. We would have been down 12, 15 at the half. We made some shots to go up five. So, you know, you want them to learn about trap games. And every game this team plays, they are the youngest team in the country. Every game they play, it’s another experience they get to see. When you’re playing against 23- and 24-year-olds, they’ve been through all of these experiences. These kids have not. Vandy came out and tried to throw some zone at us. They did some different things. I thought we responded.

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