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  • Cats come out sluggish, but regroup to beat Buffalo 71-52

    LEXINGTON — Coach John Calipari didn’t have a hard time explaining to his Kentucky players why they were trailing Buffalo 38-33 at halftime Sunday.

    “We came out sluggish, and they were playing harder than us. The coaches told us at half time they were just out-working us. They just said ‘pick it up.’ That’s what we did,” said sophomore Dakari Johnson after No. 1 UK rallied for a 71-52 victory that was a lot harder than anticipated.

    “That was the first game where we had a little adversity. They’re a really good team. They punched us in that first half. We just regrouped and got it together in the second half. We just need to go out there and compete. Whenever it is, wherever or however the games come we just need to go out there and compete.”

    Johnson provided a bit of a spark with nine points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists in a team-high 26 minutes. He played on both platoons due to foul trouble by freshman Karl-Anthony Towns.

    “I just tried to go out there and get us back in the game, get the energy up and just try not to think a lot. I tried to calm down and make good decisions,” Johnson said.

    So did Calipari. He wasn’t tempted when one of his assistant coaches suggested at halftime that maybe he should abandon the platoon system.

    “We're playing the way we play and we're figuring it out,” Calipari said. “We're playing how we play.”

    Unless a player doesn’t play the way the coach expects.

    “If someone else is not playing well, they're going to be taken out. If a unit is not playing well, I'll take them out,” Calipari said. “Every one of these kids had a chance. Now, if I had stuck with those first guys you never would've seen Trey (Lyles), Devin (Booker), and Tyler (Ulis) do what they did. They all three played well today. Well they need that.

    “It's a good thing. I think we have guys on our team that you have to perform. Got guys on here that really want to go and play. You got to go.”

    The three freshmen gave UK a needed spark — part of what the two-platoon system is designed to do.

    Lyles opened the second half with a 3-pointer, steal and dunk to erase the five-point deficit. He was 4-for-5 from the field and had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 20 minutes. Ulis forced the pace — which UK has to do and will need to do to beat Kansas Tuesday in Indianapolis — and had 12 points (4-for-5 from 3-point range), six assists and one steal. Booker, who did not score in UK’s opening game, had 10 points and two steals. They were the only three Cats in double figures.

    “I told the team at halftime, You know what? I'm happy this happened, and if you don't start playing you're going to lose, and I'll even be happy about that. You need to get hit in the head and start understanding what we/you have to be,” Calipari said. “And I know all our fans, ‘Oh, we can't ever lose a game. We can't.’ Well, there are going to be some Ls (losses) the way we're trying to do this for a while until they get it.

    “We had a couple guys stand out and play well. Karl(-Anthony Towns) didn't play well today; Devin played better. Devin didn't play well the last game; Karl played better. Dakari did a pretty good thing. I wish he made more foul shots, because we'd go to him more. Tyler played well; Andrew (Harrison) didn't play as well as he's been playing. But he'll be fine.

    “I mean, this is how it'll go. Next game it will be Andrew playing out of his mind and Tyler won't play as well. That's what happens when you have this group of players and they get to understand — like Alex (Poythress) in the first half. Come on, Alex in the first half. But in the second half he played. It's what we're going to be for a while.”

    Calipari was happy with UK’s last eight possessions to close out the win — especially since Ulis, Lyles and Booker were all on the court.

    “They were all great possessions,” the coach said.

    He said it was “ridiculous” for UK to be able to execute that well on Nov. 16.

    “This was a big time game for us. We needed this. We needed a team that could beat us on the dribble, that wasn't afraid, that played physical, that had an inside presence,” Calipari said. “And this is it. I mean, now we go to Kansas. It's the same thing. We probably need another hit in the mouth. See where we are. There are no excuses. Well, if I played more I would really be bad. Really? There are no excuses. You either perform or you don't.”
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