ATHENS, Ga. _ For John Calipari, it's all about finding the right rotation by March.
The Kentucky basketball coach starts each season with a practically remade roster. He experiments. He juggles lineups. He tries different combinations. He wants to see what works, what doesn't, what he can expect as the calendar progresses.
"I have to figure this thing out," he often says.
So the significance of Kentucky's 78-69 win at Georgia on Tuesday night is that Calipari may have figured some important things out when it comes to his rotation.
Tuesday's second half was arguably the Wildcats' best 20 minutes of basketball to date for a team now 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. Trailing the host Bulldogs 37-31 at the half, Kentucky outscored the home team 47-32 the rest of the way.
The Cats shot 58.6% from the floor while holding Georgia to 40.7 percent. They outrebounded the Dawgs 23-12. They outscored Georgia 28-14 over the final 10 minutes to turn a five-point deficit into a nine-point victory.
They did so with Calipari, Mr. One-and-Done, relying on basically five players _ four veterans and a talented freshman. To begin the second half, the UK coach benched EJ Montgomery and Keion Brooks from his original starting lineup in favor of grad transfer forward Nate Sestina and sophomore guard Immanuel Quickley.
And Cal pretty much stuck with that lineup. Brooks played just 2:13 of the second half. Montgomery played 4:39. Meanwhile, Sestina played 16:11. Nick Richards played 16:57. Ashton Hagans, Tyrese Maxey and Quickley played all 20 minutes.
"I just left them in there," Calipari said afterward.
With good reason. After sitting 12 minutes of the first half with two fouls, Richards scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in the second half. Quickley scored 12 points. Sestina contributed eight points and seven rebounds. Maxey dished out six assists, despite the fact an amazed Calipari said afterward he was on the freshman to pass the ball more.
Having three ball handlers on the floor in Hagans, Maxey and Quickley worked well with the rebounders up front in Richards and Sestina. And Maxey did admirable board work, grabbing four in the second half and eight for the game.
"Coach told me if I didn't rebound I was coming out," Maxey said. "I was just trying to win the game."
The performance was stellar enough to make you wonder if this will be Cal's primary lineup moving forward. Montgomery still lacks the fire and physical nature needed to turn his considerable gifts into consistent production. Brooks is a freshman feeling his way. Same for fellow freshman Kahlil Whitney. And Johnny Juzang, another freshman who has played sparingly, is currently sidelined by a virus.
And it's not by accident that Calipari leaned on players who had been through the wars before. Tuesday was Kentucky's first true road game, after all, its first game on an opponent's home floor. Stegeman Coliseum was packed and loud what with their Bulldogs having knocked off No. 9 Memphis in Memphis just three days before.
"Tom had them ready like he always does," said Calipari of Crean, his old friend in his second year of trying to revive Georgia's fortunes.
But Richards, Quickley and Hagans were ready, too. For them, playing on the road in the SEC was nothing new. And if Sestina is new to this league, the former Bucknell Bison had played in a hostile gym or two before arriving in Lexington.
"With the veterans, you're not going to get a lot of breakdowns," Quickley said afterward. "We know what's going on. We know what to expect. We pay a lot of attention to the scouting report. That's just how the game went today."
There are plenty more down the road. The Cats return to Rupp Arena for Alabama on Saturday, but next week brings road trips to South Carolina and Arkansas. Road games at Texas Tech, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, LSU, Texas A&M and Florida remain.
And, then of course, there are the tournaments of March.
The time when Calipari knows he has to have his rotations right.
