After Tuesday's SEC 92-85 home victory over last-place LSU, Kentucky coach John Calipari was anything but happy. A win's a win, but the Wildcats nearly blew a 25-point lead and gave up 50 percent shooting. The defense, along with the effort, sparked Calipari to suggest a 3-hour practice that night.
"I would have them meet me at the gym at 10 o'clock," he told the Lexington Herald-Leader afterward, "and I would have gone three hours until 1 in the morning. Until people were puking."
Calipari, citing a basketball culture that frowned upon such a tactic, said that wouldn't happen. But he did stay true to his word on a rigorous practice the next day.
"Just got out of a 3-hour practice," Calipari tweeted. "It was 90 percent [defense]. Carried each other off the floor. Nobody puked. Well, may have in locker room but not on the floor."
No. 15 Kentucky (19-5, 9-2 SEC) has surrendered 83.8 points per game. An 88-66 loss at Florida forced Calipari to hit the "reboot" button on his young team. As Gary Parrish wrote earlier this week, it's too early to be write off Kentucky, but the defense is a glaring issue.
Kentucky visits Alabama (14-9, 7-4) on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), giving us a chance to see if Calipari sufficiently retooled his defense.
