Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari says some of his players were crying following the team’s 78-74 loss to Michigan State on Tuesday night, and he believes that’s a good thing.
“We had guys crying in there, which is a good thing,” Calipari said after the game. “That was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist after Indiana last year. So you had kids crying in there, and I want it to hurt like that. I knew this would get their attention in the first half.”
Calipari feels that the emotion shows how much his players care, and he believes that is a good sign for the future.
“The biggest thing is if you don’t do this together, you will not win. You’ll never be a special team. So you gotta truly do this together, and that’s both on defense and offense.”
Losing the game probably didn’t come as much of a surprise for Cal. He complained leading up to the game that his young team wasn’t ready for the contest so early in the season. Spartans coach Tom Izzo retorted that Calipari could always forfeit if he were that opposed to the game.
In the end, it was an extremely close and exciting game. Highly-touted freshman Julius Randle went for 27 and 13 and looked great, so nobody will hold it against Kentucky for losing to Michigan State by four in November when March rolls around. Like Calipari said, it’s a good sign that his players felt that badly after the loss.
