Kentucky coach John Calipari has changed his approach.
Leading up to his team’s first game of the season next week and final exhibition contest against Clarion on Friday night, the Wildcats have been practicing twice per day in an effort to get better on both ends of the floor. 

He wasn’t satisfied with his team’s performance in an exhibition game against Campbellsville earlier this week at Rupp Arena and decided to shift gears behind the scenes.

“It’s a new Coach Cal,” Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins said Thursday. “He’s more intense and focused. He finally got to see what we needed to work on after our first game. We didn’t go hard enough on both sides of the ball - we have to work on everything.”
Calipari said his goal is to get his team on a higher plane.

“Coming in, everything was positive and upbeat,” he said. “Now we need to get to the next level. I tried to be the same guy and get them to the next level, but it didn’t work. Now, they have the other guy. All I’m doing is holding the bar higher and they need to get that bar. If they don’t get it, then we do it again and again. Then, there are some peer pressure things we do and I get louder. I love my team, I just don’t love where we are right now, but we have to be patient.”

Kentucky senior guard Mark Krebs doesn’t mind pulling double duty.
“We stay focused in practice,” he said. “We have a good morning practice and then another good practice in the afternoon. This way we get to play more, learn more about the offense and go through conditioning. Breaking up the drills between practices helps us to stay focused longer.”

Cousins agreed with Krebs and said the morning and afternoon sessions will be beneficial as the season progresses.

“It’s not something that we wished for, but it’s only going to help get to where we need to go,” he said. “Anything that helps me, I’m willing to do it. We’ve been up and down and running. If you’re not running get prepared to get chewed out.  (The two-a-days) are tough - going throughout the week with schoolwork, tutors, and practice. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning is pretty tough. It’s a regular practice where we’re getting after it.”

Next game: Exhibition vs. Clarion. Friday, 7 p.m. TV: Fox Sports South. Radio: WBUL 98.1 FM.