John Calipari had hilarious celebration plans after thrashing Vanderbilt 93-77: "My wife is making me soup"
Kentucky coach John Calipari got his revenge on Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena, beating the Commodores 93-77 on Wednesday and avenging last year's 68-66 senior night loss.
Talented freshman Rob Dillingham starred, registering 23 points, while Antonio Reeves managed 20 points.
The win means that 15th-ranked Kentucky (22-8, 12-5) is tied for No. 2 in the SEC standings with Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina after Tennessee grabbed the SEC regular-season championship title outright.
After winning, Calipari described how we would be celebrating the win to a courtside reporter:
"I'm outside my house, my wife is making soup and I'll be in bed by midnight. Oh yeah!"
Kentucky's coach said that the game against the Commodores was a potentially tricky matchup that concerned him.
“You know how worried I was about the Arkansas game?” he said. “I hate to tell you, I was worried about this game, too. If you were at our shootaround. You would know.”
John Calipari addresses DJ Wagner's shooting issues
Kentucky's maverick guard DJ Wagner missed 15 straight 3-pointers between Jan. 23, when the Wildcats played the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Feb. 24, when they faced the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Coach John Calipari persisted with Wagner, and he has started to repay that faith at just the right time of the season. He has gone 9-for-14 against Mississippi State, Arkansas and most recently, Vanderbilt.
John Calipari explained why his star struggled with his shooting during that barren month-long run.
"I told him the whole time, 'Look, I believe in you, and it's going to take time. You took 2 ½ weeks off and didn't touch a basketball,'" Calipari said. "The thing that goes — his energy, his toughness, his defense? None of that went. ... He couldn't make a shot."
After going 3 of 5 against the Commodores, Wagner talked about the uptick he has undergone and how he dealt with the shooting struggles.
"I feel like confidence is always the most important thing, no matter if you're missing shots, if you're making shots," he said. "It's always important to stay confident no matter how many shots you're missing.
"As long as you put the shots up and you get in the gym, your muscle memory is gonna do the rest for you. ... Some games, you ain't gonna make shots. That's just how it is."
With freshmen, hometown hero Reed Sheppard and maverick guard Robert Dillingham firing on all cylinders, John Calipari will be glad to have another offensive weapon to deploy during the business end of the season.