Strength of Kentucky is in the pack

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky will be going for its 26th straight win Tuesday night when it plays at Tennessee and a win would give No. 1 UK a new school record for wins to start a season.

Kentucky coach John Calipari had experience with long winning streaks when he coached at both Massachusetts and Memphis. He’s hoping those experiences will help him this season.

“The reality of it is the kids have to manage those things. It’s not me because I’m not out there on the court,” said Calipari.

He remembers his first long winning streak at UMass, and admits he did not manage it well.

“I knew we were slipping. But we kept winning so I put my head in the sand. I was just like, ‘Let these guys go do their thing.’ And I had done it years before when wewent on win streaks in previous years — 17, 15, whatever they were at UMass — and what you get as a coach, you win and you want to move on to the next game and you try to put your head in the sand when you have issues that you gotta deal with,” Calipari said.

“I did a little bit of the same but got better at Memphis. I’m trying really hard not to do that here, to do my job, to correct them, to be tough on them, to not worry about score and coach them. But it’s hard.”

Calipari says players know they are unbeaten and have won many games by big margins. That sometimes leads them to wonder why he gets so upset over mistakes.

“ They’re looking at me like, ‘We’re up 25 and haven’t lost and you’re losing your mind.’ My point being, if I allow it now then I gotta allow it in March. And if in March I allow it and it costs us a game, that’s on me. That’s not on these kids,” Calipari said. “And so I’m trying really hard to just stay focused on what’s at hand. Don’t put my head in the sand.

“If there’s issues, I bring them out. If there’s issues in the team that I’m not liking what I feel, I bring them out. Even if I’m wrong, I bring them out. Let’s talk about this. And they’ll, ‘Look, Coach, you’re just dreaming. What were you doing? You’re reading a book and things pop in your mind? We’re fine.’”

Calipari doesn’t think his players are focused on an unbeaten season.

“They’re worried about trying to win the next game and how do we play. My message to this team is going to be real simple. Today, it’s going to be, our strength is in the pack, more than any team that I’ve ever coached,” Calipari said Monday. “And I’ve coached a lot of good teams. More than any team I’ve coached, the strength is in the pack.

“And I said, ‘It doesn’t mean we don’t have some aggressive, tough wolves that’ll come after you.’ But by themselves, they’re not the same. In the pack, we have a little swag about us. We’re a little more aggressive. We’re really about each other. Guys aren’t afraid to step out and risk.”

He’s had star players like Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Camby, Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose

“We knew that one guy could go do this and carry us. That’s not what we have (this year),” Calipari said. “The strength of this team is in the pack.”