John Calipari knew the Dominican Republic national team he's coaching needed some competition before heading to the FIBA Americas Tournament later this month, so he turned to his network of former Kentucky stars now in the NBA.
The result was an exhibition against a team dubbed ''the Pros,'' led by John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Jodie Meeks and other former players that was as much preparation for the Dominican Republic's quest for its first Olympic bid as it was a treat for the Wildcats fans who packed Kentucky's Rupp Arena on Monday night to see it.
''All the (Dominican Republic) players came up to me and said, `Cal, coach this game to win. This game is big back in our country. Coach us to win,''' Calipari said. ''And I did. I told the bench, `Look, I'm not subbing a whole lot. We're going to play it out.'''
That's exactly what they did, and the Dominican Republic got the 106-88 win over the Pros, even with the Detroit Pistons' Charlie Villanueva sitting the game out. Francisco Garcia led the Dominican Republic team with 30 points, Edgar Sosa scored 29 and Al Horford had 17 rebounds and 12 points.
The teams will face each other again on Tuesday night at Louisville's Yum! Center.
The Pros were cobbled together with about a week's notice while the Dominican Republic has been in Lexington since July 31 to train with Calipari for the Americas Tournament, which runs Aug. 30 through Sept. 11 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The winner gets an automatic bid to the 2012 Olympics in London.
''I think if we had gotten a little earlier notice we would have been in a little bit better shape,'' said the Pros' Tayshaun Prince. ''The UK fans have been good to us. Obviously we let them down tonight, but we were a little out of shape.''
The sold-out Rupp Arena erupted in cheers when Wall, now with the Washington Wizards, hit an alley-oop dunk on a pass from Keith Bogans late in the first period. On the next trip to the Pros' basket, Garcia answered with a definitive block of a breakaway dunk attempt by Eric Bledsoe.
Though several of the Pros teammates played together at Kentucky and see each other regularly during the NBA season, their only formal practice with coach Joe B. Hall came at a 1.5-hour shootaround on Monday afternoon. Hall drew up a few pick-and-roll and high-low sets for his team but let them spend most of their time shooting.
''I didn't care what they did. They're pros. They wanted to win,'' said Hall, who led Kentucky to the 1978 NCAA title. ''They did what they thought they had to do to win.''
The Pros dazzled the fans with dunks and hit a few clean 3s while managing to get a few blocks and swipes in. It still wasn't enough to overcome former Louisville teammates Garcia and Sosa, who went a combined 11-of-21 from the 3-point line. The Dominican Republic outshot the Pros 47.4 percent to 37.5 percent and outrebounded them 55-41.
The Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins led the Pros with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Meeks scored 17 points, Wall finished with 15 and Nazr Mohammad had 11. All of them agreed they'd love to come back to Lexington in the future for perhaps an alumni game or another exhibition.
''It was emotional walking out there and hearing our names called and playing in front of 24,000,'' said Wall, who added he'd experienced ''nothing close'' to the Rupp atmosphere in the NBA. ''But we also wanted to help Coach Cal out.''
Calipari thanked the Kentucky fans at halftime and yielded to their chants of ''Eloy Vargas'' by letting the forward who will be a senior for Kentucky in 2011-12 play for the final minute of the game. Vargas hit a jumper in the paint with about 45 seconds to go and a dunk with 18 seconds to go, drawing some of the only cheers from the blue-clad crowd for the Dominican Republic team.
The Wildcats fans had plenty of boos ready for Garcia, Sosa and Horford, gave the crowd a Florida Gators chomp in honor of his alma mater when introduced. Sosa, who hit a 25-footer to help Louisville beat rival Kentucky in 2010, drew a round of applause when he was given a technical for arguing with the referee.
Still, the Dominican Republic players got what they were hoping for.
''That's as talented as of a group as we're going to face,'' said Horford, who plays with the Atlanta Hawks. ''The style of ball is a little different, but we have to give those guys credit. They came in, had one walkthrough together and just played.''
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