On what he’s seen from the guys in practice now that they’ve been scrimmaging more …

“This time of the year with the Camp Cal, even going back to the days when I played for Cal we did Camp Cal, this is where you see his teams markedly improve. The scary thing for us and for our opponents is that we’ve got so more room for improvement, individually and as a team. The focus is on scrimmaging. We’ve got so many young guys and so many guys that are inexperienced, being one of the youngest teams in college basketball. You get better and you improve at a faster rate through scrimmaging instead of drill work. It’s just the nature of these kids and their makeup today. So, individually guys are getting better and as a team we’re getting better in areas that we needed to improve in.”

On emphasizing rebounding …

“It’s twofold (on improving). Rebounding has always kind of been about a want to and a will to. There’s some positioning things and some technique things that we’re working on, but more than anything it’s just when that ball goes up on that rim, do you think it’s yours? We’ve got one or two guys that think that way. The rest of the guys have got to catch up to that identity. That’s what we’ve been focusing on.”

On Texas A&M’s frontcourt and its ability to rebound …

“Not just those two (Tyler Davis and Robert Williams), they’ve got one of the most imposing frontlines in college basketball, not just in our conference. They do a great job of running their offense which puts bigs around the rim for offensive rebounding. That’s why they’re one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country, and it starts with Davis. He’s averaging four – four or five offensive rebounds a game. So, it’s going to be crucial to block out, keep your man away from the ball, and then get our guys to go get the ball. Then at the same time we’ve got to get our guards rebounding. That’s one of the areas. Our guards are so big, so long, so athletic that they’ve got to use that to their advantage to go rebound. We’ve been focusing on Malik Monk in that area. He should be a guy that goes and gets five, six, seven rebounds a game – because he can. And he has the ability to. He’s one of the other guys that we’ve been focusing on too. He’s got to come help us defensive rebound.”

On Tai Wynyard earning playing time for his competitiveness on the boards in practice…

“Yeah, it’s a message. It’s no secret that we’ve got to get our big guys, our other big guys to catch up to the level of that Bam is. Obviously, not everybody is going to be Bam physically. But it’s not so much what Bam does physically as it is what he does mentally to approach the game every day. He is a wrecking ball on the basketball floor offensively and defensively. So, we’ve gotta get our other bigs, and Tai is one of those guys – he plays that same way. Now it’s up to Tai, can he catch up to what we’re trying to do scheme-wise offensively and defensively so he’s not behind on the floor and hurts us in that way. What he does give us is a physical – another physical guy like Bam who throws his body around and goes after rebounds.” 

On Bam Adebayo’s recent play and if he’s on the cusp of something great …

“He’s on the cusp. He’s there. He’s wherever you want to put him. His best days of basketball are still in front of him. He’s learning every day. He comes to practice to learn and to work every single day. I haven’t seen him take a day off since he’s been here. So when you’ve got that kind of physical talent and you have that kind of mental approach to the game that ‘I can always learn and get better,’ it’s scary to think where he’s going to be in the years to come.”

On being a coach that brings an SEC team into Rupp Arena ….

“Obviously it’s a big game. You’re talking about the flagship program in the SEC if not the country. Every other team in this league – you want to be in that position. You want to be the top dog. And to do that you’ve got to beat the best. It’s a different approach probably for your team. As a coach you’re mentally getting ready to come into Kentucky and play against one of Cal’s teams and play at Rupp (Arena).”

On Texas A&M always playing close games with them …

“Well, Billy (Kennedy) does a great job with his team. First and foremost, with them it starts with defense. That’s why they’ve played our team so well – because of how well they played defensively and how physical they are. It’s why they’ve been one of the best teams in this conference since Billy’s taken over at Texas A&M. It’s going to be a fist fight. All of our games have been. They’ve been down to the wire, so we expect nothing less.”

On Texas A&M center Tyler Davis …

“Obviously he has size. It’s a huge factor, but he plays one or two moments ahead in the game. He’s always angling for position in the post. He’s always angling before a shot is taken to get offensive rebound position. It’s what makes him so effective down there. He’s very similar to Bam in that way. Bam thinks the game the same way. He’s always a step or two ahead of his opponent. That’s what the better players do. They see the game ahead and a little faster paced then other guys do.”

On Malik Monk balancing defensive rebounding and getting out and running …

“It’s why we’re one of the fastest teams in the country. We’re fast at every position. We’ve got so many guys that can rebound. We want to get that ball out and get it up the floor. Him being one of the fastest guys on the team – and he’s so effective in transition – if we can throw it up to him it’s a bucket or foul for the other team. He has to pick and choose his moments. Obviously it’s harder for him when he’s guarding a perimeter player to get defensive rebounds. So he’s got to have a balance of knowing when he can go get a defensive rebound, and when he has to go out in transition.”

On De’Aaron Fox …

“Very disruptive. Again, defensively he can be even more disruptive. We’ve been watching some tape with De’Aaron of Tyler Ulis specifically on the defensive end of the floor. Just thinking back to Tyler he was just a difference maker defensively, even at his size. He disrupted anything any other team tried to do. So we’re trying to get De’Aaron to see the game defensively in that same way. If you can get him to that level being 6-3, 6-4, long arms, athletic, quick, smart, intelligent – all those things – then he can take his game to a different level, too.”

On missing Tyler Ulis’ on-floor management …

“Well, he was savvy in that way – especially the experience he had on this level. Being a two-year college player, it’s funny to say that’s a veteran nowadays. So De’Aaron has those instincts as well, and then it helps that he has Isaiah Briscoe next to him in those situations. De’Aaron’s developing. Isaiah’s instinctual in that way so both of those guys have made us effective in those pressure situations.”

On if there is a particular guy he’s been impressed with during Camp Cal …

“All of them, really. Every one of them is going two, three, four times a day. You can’t help but get better. And all of them are attacking it – attacking this process. None of them are shying away from it. And they all know individually they’ve got to get better because they’re striving for something individually, and then collectively we all know we have to get better so we can help each other going forward.”

On Cal being on Wenyen Gabriel pretty hard recently and if there is a “good cop” on the staff to help him along …

“[Laughs]. Yeah, we all do – and Cal does it, too. He’s one of those guys that has to get better for us. Derek’s gotta get better. Wenyen’s gotta get better. Isaac’s (Humphries) gotta get better. Tai’s gotta get better. Those guys have gotta step their games up. And Wenyen’s had his moments, but he’s a typical freshman. He’s going to be up and down. You just expect more out of our freshmen.”

On how much it’s just building strength with Gabriel …

“That’s a big part of it. That’s a big part of it. He’s playing against some older, strong, veteran players, so he gets moved out of the way physically from time to time. But for Wenyen, it’s not (a matter of) a want to; he’s got a motor that just won’t stop, and sometimes physically he can’t get to where he wants to be. But he’s improving every single day. I mean, he’s improved night and day from when he stepped on campus, so you project him out and he continues at this rate, he’s going to be a fantastic player.”

On how the players’ mindsets change with all these practices during Camp Cal …

“They know. You’ve got the veteran guys from Dominique (Hawkins) and Derek, (Mychal) Mulder). (Isaiah) Briscoe has been around now for a few years. They help the younger guys to know the expectations coming into this Camp Cal. You know the schedule from when classes end. That last final, you know you’re going to be in this gym 24/7 getting better. You’re getting better individually, getting better shooting the ball, getting better handling the ball, getting better watching film and watching yourself and watching your team. They understand the approach that they’ve got to have mentally is going to help them in the long run.”

On if they ship has sailed on playing a big lineup with Adebayo and Humphries …

“No. We’re working on a lot of different things. That’s the scary thing I keep saying about this team is there’s so many different ways we can get better. I know Coach has talked a little bit about playing – I know you say the other night with Mychal Mulder at the four – playing a smaller lineup. Playing without a big with Wenyen and Derek at the four and five. And then we’ve also been looking at a big lineup. So this team has gotta be versatile as we get into the meat of conference play and down the stretch – that we can play different styles against different teams, and playing big is one of them.”

On the different between Camp Cal now and back when he was playing …

“I don’t know if I can remember back that far. It’s similar. It’s similar. You’re in the middle of that winter break where there’s no classes and you’ve got that almost a month of no class. It’s the same approach. You might as well throw your – we didn’t have cell phones back then – but now you might as well throw your cell phone away and throw away your TV remote because you’re going to be in this gym getting better. That approach hasn’t changed.”

On the importance of his rebounding against Ole Miss …

“I feel like it’s just something we’ve been trying to work on. It’s a necessity in the game of basketball. You have to rebound. We shot fairly well. I think, personally, I didn’t really shoot good so I felt like playing defense and rebounding was kind of the way I could contribute in that game.”

On his missed free throw at Ole Miss to help Isaiah Briscoe get his triple-double …

“I guess what happened, Zay had said something after I think we had lost the ball. The ball had went out of bounds and we ended up getting the ball back. He said something about how he needed another rebound and I don’t know what happened. But yeah, I guess I was shooting free throws and just pointed at him to go that way (left) and then I just tried to bank it and missed real bad and it kicked out to him so he could get a triple-double.”

On how much he practices that …

“Honestly, I didn’t even really know what happened, but I was like I’ll try and do what I can. Just had a good bounce and got to him.”

On if he’s now a late-game weapon if UK needs to miss a foul shot …

“See, I kind of thought about that. We’ve been practicing free throws a lot too, and I was almost thinking about practicing missing free throws, because we’re practicing making them. I don’t know, it could be a circumstance of where at the end of the game you want to hit it at the right point to get it back. It could be a thing.”

On what Coach Cal means when he talks about “trust” on this team …

“He’s been on Wenyen (Gabriel) a lot about it in practice. I think it’s just a thing of where you, as a player, personally you want to outplay the guy you’re going against. So, I feel like in certain situations you have to help out and then you have to rush to get back to your guy. I don’t want to say we don’t trust each other, but on the court I don’t think we communicate efficiently at times, and I think that’s just where we get a little discombobulated.”

On Calipari saying he’s focusing so much on defense and rebounding it’s effected his shooting …

“Yeah, I’m just kind of in a shooting slump right now. I’ve been in the gym a lot more just shooting. I don’t know, I think it’s one of those things too where maybe I need to condition a little bit better. Maybe it’s getting to my legs or something. I don’t know, just hopefully playing at Rupp, a comfortable environment, I can get it going offensively. Hit a little more shots and go from there. But I do want to continue doing what I’m doing defensively with rebounding and all that.”

On how difficult it is to play a complete game at this level …

“It’s very important, especially being my senior year, I feel like this is kind of like you need to start turning it on right now. As we get into postseason stuff I feel like I need to be more consistent, I guess.”

On why the Kentucky-Texas A&M matchups so frequently result in close games …

“I just feel like the past years they’ve been a real well-rounded team. They have veteran players, they play well, they don’t make a lot of mistakes, and if you make a mistake they make you pay for it. I think it was my sophomore year we had the 38-1 team that came down to, I think it was overtime, I think Trey Lyles came through for us and got us the win. They’re just a really well-coached team, really good team to play against. You learn a lot when you play against them. Pretty excited to see what’s in store tomorrow.” 

On if the “trust” thing applies to him …

“Yeah, I think at times it does apply to me too. I think from my standpoint it’s the communication thing. People kind of think one thing and you’re thinking something else.”

On rebounding …

“We’ve been focused on it a lot in practice too. We have these rims, basically, where every time you shoot a ball there’s no way you’re going to make a shot. So, we’ve been doing that. A lot more bumping, being physical with each other. It just became a focus because we know if we’re going to continue far in the postseason you have to outrebound teams and you gotta be able to have an inside presence. It’s just very important to our team right now.”

On Texas A&M …

“They had a really good senior class last year. So, I know they lost some people and I think I heard they had some injuries as well. They’re still a really good team. They have a really good coach and they always have a good game plan for us. It’ll be interesting. It’s one of the games of the year we take a lot away from it and learn a lot. It’ll be a good experience, I think.”

On how he’s playing …

“I’m not really satisfied with how I’ve played. I always nit-pick myself. I feel like I’m doing an alright job. I just really want to be more consistent with each game, kind of put it all together. It’s like one game I’ll shoot good but then I’ll get beat on defense or don’t rebound well. Now it’s like, I’m playing defense and rebounding a little bit better and I can’t hit a shot. I kind of just want to like put it all together and be more complete.”

On whether it feels good to get more of a chance …

“Yeah. Coach has been putting a lot of confidence in me during practice and stuff. He’s helping me a lot more now and I feel like I’m getting more of a chance.”

On whether that builds his confidence …

“Yeah, definitely. When Coach has been putting a lot of trust in you and kind of pushing you, obviously it makes you a lot more confident.”

On how he’s different as a player this year …

“I’m definitely a lot more physical this year. Working with Rob (Harris), getting my strength and conditioning a lot more so I’m feeling a lot better as a player and I’m obviously using my strength well down low and trying to get every rebound I can.”

On whether he was nervous in the Ole Miss game …

“A little bit, yeah. I’m going to be honest with you, I was kind of nervous. Obviously sitting the whole time and just watching, you want to get out there and play. So just a little nervous. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to, grab as many rebounds, but that’s all good.”

On what kind of feedback he got after his last game …

“Just rebound. That’s the reason they want to put me in the game, is just to get every rebound. So that’s really what I’m going to try to focus on doing.”

On whether he knew he would be first off the bench …

“Yeah. They told me the day before in practice.”

On what he needs to do to get more playing time …

“Rebound. And just fight, really, because that’s really what we’re all looking for from the bigs and stuff, is just the fight and the effort. Obviously that’s my game, so I’m just trying to really push myself and just get every rebound and fight for everything.”

On why he was confident when he learned he would play more …

“I’ve been working hard and when you work hard you’re going to see results. So obviously I had a lot more confidence in myself and just really wanted to get out there.”

On how much Calipari is stressing rebounding overall …

“He’s definitely harping on it a lot. He’s getting on people. He stops practice all the time if somebody gets an offensive rebound and says, ‘You need to box out,’ and stuff like that. And play more physical. So yeah, he’s definitely getting on the team more about rebounding.”

On what they are getting out of scrimmaging more …

“Definitely getting a lot more game situation stuff down. Obviously scrimmaging helps the team a lot more and people are enjoying practice a lot more too.”

On the difference in his comfort zone compared to last year …

“It’s definitely a lot wider now. I’m a lot more comfortable here. I’m able to get as much work done as I need. I’m definitely a lot more comfortable.”

On whether it was the right decision to sit out last year …

“Yeah, I feel like it helped a lot more, just being able to sit out and watch people and learn how the game’s played over here because it’s obviously a lot different to basketball back home.”

On whether he was ever worried he wouldn’t get a chance …

“Not really, no. I always know if you work hard you’re going to get a chance. So I just kept pushing myself and tried to get extra workouts in and stuff.”

On whether there was a turning point for him in practice …

“Definitely. Maybe a couple days ago, I had a practice and I was really standing out. For me, Coach Cal was helping me a lot more and I was playing a lot better. I feel that’s kind of what started it off.”