Wildcats Set Sights on Spokane, Date With No. 2 Gonzaga
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This Sunday, for just the second time ever, Kentucky and Gonzaga will meet on a basketball court.
Following a 106-63 bounce-back win over South Carolina State on Thursday night, head coach John Calipari and his Wildcats now set their sights on the marquee matchup against the No. 2 Bulldogs in Spokane.
"It's gonna be a great challenge," Calipari said post-game previewing the matchup.
The game will serve as the second big test of the season for Kentucky, just five days after a tough double-overtime loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic. The Cats had multiple opportunities to win the game over the Spartans, but failed to close the deal. Calipari is doing his best to remove that negative ending from his player's mindset, instead focusing on what the outcome should have been.
"What I told them, you know, I want your mentality to be, and I've done this before, the mentality is we beat Michigan State, where would you be feeling right now, an out-of-bounds play, a free throw, a missed shot here, late game, not executing and -- but all that stuff, we didn't play great," he said. "Still should have won, could have won. I give credit to Michigan State, Tom Izzo is a great friend but I want them to have the mentality, you played well enough to win that game. Let's say you won it. How would you feel going to Spokane right now. Because half of this is the mentality."
Kentucky's biggest blunder in the box score on Tuesday was the lack of consistent shooting, as the team shot 38.6 percent from the field, but made just seven 3-pointers in 25 attempts.
That was remedied in a big way against SC State, as the Cats shot it at a 57.4 percent clip, canning 10 treys along the way. Calipari knows that staying hot from the perimeter is going to be a big key to victory for UK in Spokane this weekend.
"We needed to make shots today. You know we made only how many threes up there. Today we made shots. We only took 24. But we made shots. And you need that going in to that game," he said.
Kentucky is amidst a rapid stretch of playing four games in a nine-day span. The team took its long flight out west to Washington on Friday, throwing some strenuous travel in the mix.
To make matters worse, the Wildcats are now taking on a Gonzaga team that's fresh off a brutal 93-74 shellacking in Austin at the hands of No. 11 Texas. The Bulldogs will surely be as motivated as ever entering Spokane Arena on Sunday.
"They are going to be a lion right now because they just lost at Texas," Calipari said. "This will be a hard game for us to win. This is the great thing about November, trying to learn about your team and I still a.m. learning about my team. But I like the group. I liked them after Michigan State."
"Any top team, any competitor, they lose like that, they come home and play another big top team, they're gonna bring it, we just got to be ready for it," UK small forward Chris Livingston said. "Looking to bounce back, we're really looking forward to that matchup, it's gonna be a good game."
Highlighting the matchup is the battle between fellow All-Americans Oscar Tshiebwe and Drew Timme. Both players returned for another season at their respective programs, and both still appear to be atop the college basketball landscape.
Considered the top-two players in the nation by many, the battle that the pair will have in the post provides all the hype necessary. Calipari compared it to a similar matchup he witnessed as head coach of UMass:
"I've had this before. It was Marcus Camby and Tim Duncan. We played Wake Forest, those two played. You would have thought no one else was in the game and there were no coaches. It was one-on-one. I'm telling you. Now, they ended up the score being 52-46, I believe, and I've been wrong before, I think it was 1978, 1977, but that -- it ended up not being -- neither one, they played okay. But the hype of that was ridiculous. So I've been through it."
The two programs playing one-another is a huge deal. That luster will quickly go away over the next few seasons, however, as the schools have agreed to a six-year scheduling contract, featuring games in Spokane and Lexington, among other places.
This season, the Bulldog faithful will do its best to kick-off what's sure to be the beginning of a potentially-tumultuous rivalry.
"I'm sure it's gonna be a hostile environment. As a competitor, that's what you like, playing those type of games, so i'm really looking forward to it," shooting guard CJ Fredrick said. "They spread the floor, they move well, they got guys that can knock down shots and obviously Drew Timme in the post is a problem. It's going to take a collective unit to stop a team like that."
Tip-off between the Cats and Zags is set for 7:30 p.m. EST this Sunday, Nov. 20 and will air on ESPN.
More on the win over SC State here.
Watch: Calipari, Fredrick, Ware talk the SC State Win
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