Everything John Calipari said after UK basketball scored a signature win over No. 8 Miami

Where to begin?

Kentucky basketball notched as impressive of an early-season win as has occurred in some time Tuesday night: No. 12-ranked UK blew out No. 8-ranked Miami (Fla.) 95-73 in Rupp Arena as part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.

Reed Sheppard led the way for the Wildcats with 21 points, and the in-state freshman phenom was one of five Kentucky players to score in double digits.

Rob Dillingham added 12 points and a career-best nine assists (with no turnovers). The Dillingham-Sheppard duo is becoming a key weapon for the Wildcats off the bench.

The Wildcats kept what was statistically the best 3-point shooting team in the nation in check: Miami entered Tuesday’s game shooting 45.8% from behind the arc. On Tuesday, the Hurricanes went 5-for-19 (26.3%) from deep.

Kentucky turned a five-point halftime lead into a laugher just minutes into the second half thanks to a barrage of points: UK outscored Miami 53-36 after halftime.

According to ESPN, the 22-point margin of victory that UK enjoyed Tuesday marked the Wildcat’s second-largest win over an AP top-10 team since John Calipari became Kentucky head coach in 2009.

That other game? A 32-point win over Kansas in 2014.

And the Cats did all of this mostly without the services of D.J. Wagner. The freshman guard took a hard fall after driving to the basket late in the first half and didn’t return to the game.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari had plenty to discuss postgame: the early prognosis on Wagner’s injury, another star performance by Sheppard and UK’s up-tempo offense, which generated 23 fastbreak points.

Here’s everything Calipari said after a statement win from his team.

Opening statement:

Got outrebounded again. Wow. Pretty good.

Question about not losing a second-half lead tonight compared to the Kansas game.

The only thing I did was, we played it as an eight-point finish. We wanted to keep shortening the game and make baskets. We are still not quite there. We didn’t finish off. We got too late in the shot clock. Some of them, you want to go and shoot it and rebound it and you kick it out and you go again. And now you just used the minute off the clock. They don’t have a chance to beat you.

We hadn’t worked on any of that with Kansas. I was just trying to get them to be a basketball team, pass to each other. So we really didn’t. Now we are beginning to. I’m trying to put guys in situations in these kind of games and see how they play. We still had some break downs, discipline. You can’t just do what you want to do. We’re a team. There was a game plan, stick with it. And we kind of got out of it.

But to be honest with you, the way we run and fly up and down the court, you know, I don’t know if you can remember some past years where I’m just yelling “Go, go.” You could hear me through the TV. Because that’s how I wanted us to play. But to play that way you have got to run. And it can’t be me telling you to run. Just run.

And it was good stuff today. I did not see D.J. (Wagner), but I think they said his ankle, he just didn’t — he wasn’t going to come back. So we were really short-handed, but a good game against a good team. I mean, defensively we were saying make the 3 hard, make them take tough 2s. They can beat you with 3s. And they also beat you if you turn it over, because they unbelievably finish at the rim. And we just didn’t turn it over that much.

Question about the early impact from Reed Sheppard.

He’s — the biggest — my best players that I have coached man, I’ve coached NBA, MVPs, you know, those players are even-keel. Now, they will get emotional about a play, but they are never up and down. Those guys, they just are like that (indicating). And that’s how he is.

Now, I was just with Chip Rupp. The family, the Rupp family, has been unbelievable to me. Chip and his son, Brad, they grew up together and, so, I saw them last night. And he said, I watched Reed as a ninth grader, a 10th grader, 11th grader, 12th grader. And everybody is talking to me like is he a knock-down shooter.

He was never a knock-down shooter. When I saw him, that was — you know, what he has done? He lives in that gym. He works. And he’s made himself kind of like Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). And some of these other kids that I have had, they build their own confidence. It’s not me saying you’re great or you are bad or... you know, it is them.

But I always saw his ability to have a feel for passing. His hands, I am not joking when I say this, that’s Stacey’s. That’s who that is. Jeff wasn’t that way. Stacey was that way. And, you know, you just see him get his hands on balls. But, again, he had about five break downs today that were discipline. He just, like, why did you try to steal that? Why are you leaving your feet? We are not playing that way. But he was young. He is young. I don’t know, his plus-minus was probably off the charts again. Yeah, 35. So...

But it was good. I mean, you know, we didn’t take as many 3s. And I know some people would be so mad because you’re telling me how to coach and we need to take 35 3s and he doesn’t listen and all of that stuff. There are games you are going to take more and there are games you are going to take less. It is just how it is.

Question about Calipari telling the student section to stop an ‘overrated’ cheer toward Miami.

Yeah, I just — you know, our fans are the best. Our students are the best. But I just — you know, that kind of stuff I’ve never been — you know, we get it everywhere we go. And sometimes we got some coaches that would encourage that. I just don’t; you know, they don’t deserve that. They are young kids.

You know, let them — we may end up playing them again and then all of a sudden, you know, that’s living with them. So, no, I just said don’t do it. And how about the fans? They responded and just stopped. That’s how good a group that we have.

Question about UK players trying to feed off the fan base.

I don’t think they do. I think they are into each other and they really like each other.

Question about Kentucky finishing against Miami, unlike against Kansas.

How about we were up and then all of a sudden I look and we were down, call a timeout, and then we are up five at half time, which was the Kansas score.

But I’m just — to play as fast as we play, it doesn’t — it is not just what it does for us, it is what it does to an opponent. And especially Jim’s like I am, he is not playing a whole lot of guys. He was riding those guys. And now all of a sudden in that second half that’s when it hits. But, you know, I thought, again, we passed to each other, 26 assists. I loved the one where Robert got it and threw it right back to Reed and then Reed hits the... I mean, come on. People are not holding the ball, they are getting rid of it. So it is good stuff.

Question about UK’s assist-to-turnover ratio.

When you have players that can dribble, pass, and shoot, like Shai Alexander said, you play this way and you won’t turn it over that much. We only had three at half time and Adou had two that were easy. What did you just do? Why didn’t you look at him and throw it underhand to him? You rocket it to him. And the other one, you threw. Like, we would have had one at half time. And the speed of that game, now think about that, how fast we are playing.

Pretty good stuff.

Question about Calipari’s confidence in Kentucky continuing to limit turnovers while posting high assist totals.

This is how we play. And, again, I would say this and I know I am not — every team I’ve coached I’ve had to coach different. If I tried to play this way last year, why are you laughing? We have got people laughing. I couldn’t have played this way, who we had. Now, I am not saying they are not good players.

Oscar’s getting 30 rebounds a game in there. But he’s not Tre, Tre’s not him. I wish he rebounded a few more balls. But you can’t play this way if the guys are not good with the ball and confident 3-point shooters. So we’ve had three guards when we had (Tyrese) Maxey and (Immanuel) Quickley and Johnny Juzang and Ashton (Hagans). I mean, we played that way but we didn’t have a five like Tre. We had Nick Richards. So he is more of a rim runner and a shot blocker and...

But I’m anxious to get a couple of the bigs back. And, I mean, the people that come in my gym, we have got people that have never walked in my gym that are giving their opinions of what these big kids are or when or why or this or rumors or... I don’t get it. I mean, I really don’t understand it. Like Aaron, the guy’s on TV watched it today and yesterday, watched him. So I’m hoping he plays Saturday. But what if he doesn’t? Was I lying? No. I just think he will play Saturday. If he doesn’t he will play the next Saturday.

Z finally, did not practice today, got sick. I don’t think he is telling the truth. I am telling the truth. Had 104 fever. Isn’t it going to be fun when we get these guys back? How about we talk that way? So it is what it is.

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