No. 7 Kentucky hoping to click vs. East Tennessee State (Nov 17, 2017)
The youngest team in the John Calipari era will be looking to rebound from its first loss of the season Friday night when No. 7 Kentucky hosts East Tennessee State in the opener of the five-game homestand.
After shooting 41.8 percent and committing 18 turnovers in a four-point loss to No. 4 Kansas at the Champions Classic, Tuesday in Chicago, the Wildcats (2-1) will not play outside of Rupp Arena until facing Monmouth at Madison Square Garden in New York on Dec. 9.
Though freshman are a staple of Calipari's teams, this version of Kentucky has fielded a starting lineup of first-year players in the first three games.
"I've got to keep being positive with these guys and I've got to keep picking them up," Calipari said. "I've got to keep teaching and coaching and encouraging and prodding. I can't accept what they're giving. I've got to keep pushing."
Of the freshman, Hamidou Diallo is leading the team with 16 points per game while Kevin Knox is second at 14.3. They are Kentucky's only double figure scorers so far and Knox scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting Tuesday while Diallo finished 14 but shot 4-of-11.
"I've been very hard on these guys in practice, probably harder on this group than any time I've coached in my nine years at Kentucky now," Calipari said. "I'm not talking about mean. I'm talking about how we're practicing, what I'm accepting, what I'm not accepting, how I'm holding them accountable more than any team I've had. And I'm trying to be lighter in the games, tying to clap.
"I have to stand. We don't have a leader yet, so I have to lead. I don't want to lead. I'm too old to lead. I'm too old to stand the whole game. But they need me in that role right now because no one has taken this yet. But it develops. It'll develop over time."
After facing East Tennessee, the Wildcats will host Troy, Fort Wayne, Illinois-Chicago and Harvard even if Calipari doesn't think his team is quite ready.
"We're probably not ready for this," Calipari said of early-season games for his young team. "It's like throwing them to the wolves and let's go, let's figure this out."
ETSU (1-1) has lost to Northern Kentucky 81-63 and defeated Savannah State 76-61 this year as coach Steve Forbes looks to replace four of his top five scorers from last year's Southern Conference championship team.
Senior guard Devontavius Payne leads the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game, but tallied a career best 28 in the win over Savannah State. Next comes sophomore guard Jason Williams who averages 15 despite having played only one game with zero starts. Senior Desonta Bradford scores 12.5 points and is the team's top rebounder at 8.5.
"It's an historic place," Bradford told the Johnson City Press. "They've had a lot of NBA guys go through there, a lot of great guys. It's one of the powerhouses of college basketball, so coming from a fan's perspective, everybody wants to play in a place like that."
As a team ETSU is shooting only 40 percent from the field, including 24.5 from 3 point range. But the Bucs' defense is holding teams to 36.4 percent, 24.2 from 3s and is hoping to do the same on a bigger stage Friday.
"It'll be special," said ETSU coach Steve Forbes, who was a former assistant with Tennessee. "I've been to Rupp before, obviously. It wasn't a lot of fun. It's probably one of the best venues in college basketball. It gives our guys a chance to play on a big stage."
