John Calipari is Toying with the Lineup in Cancun

John Calipari told ESPN's Andy Katz that he is playing with the idea of putting Daniel Orton on the floor with DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson:

Kentucky coach John Calipari spent Sunday afternoon in Cancun, Mexico, thinking of ways to tinker with his lineup. The Wildcats have displayed shaky defense in two of their four games. Miami (Ohio) and Sam Houston State combined for 162 points and 33 3-pointers.

"It's the biggest team I've coached, including the New Jersey Nets," Calipari said by phone from Cancun, referring to his Wildcats. "We finally played some defense against Rider, shutting someone down. That's a very good Rider team [that beat Mississippi State]."

Calipari said the recent play of freshman forward Daniel Orton may mean more minutes for him in the lineup. Orton played only 10 minutes against Sam Houston and didn't score. But he played 23 against Rider and he put up 14 points and grabbed six boards.

"I may have to play Orton and DeMarcus Cousins together because Orton is playing so well," Calipari said. "I'm going to have to steal some minutes from somewhere."

The dilemma for Calipari is that he has to keep Patrick Patterson on the floor, so if he also has Cousins and Orton, that's quite a big lineup. Patterson can hit the face-up jumper or 3-pointer, which could mean he would be the more likely of the three players to be off the block.

Meanwhile, Calipari also may need to tweak his backcourt. Freshman John Wall isn't an issue with his 20.3 points and 7.3 assists (and 4.3 turnovers) average in three games. But suddenly fellow freshman Eric Bledsoe has to play sound fundamentally. Bledsoe has a team-high 22 turnovers (and 14 assists) in four games.

"They've been sloppy turnovers," Calipari said. "I told him he's got to raise the bar."

Calipari said he wants him to be aggressive, but without turning the ball over so much.

Kentucky plays Cleveland State in Cancun on Tuesday and then either Virginia or Stanford on Wednesday.

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