Your thoughts on your defense coming off the UCLA game?

Coach Calipari: “I thought all we talked about was energy. I worked for two days on our team. I did a little bit of stuff on them. A couple cuts that they do, some dribble drive. They (Valparaiso) are a heck of a team. They’re going to win 25, 30 games. They won 30 last year, they may do the same this year. Our whole point of a team that plays a little bit slower, you have to disrupt that team. UCLA was going to play fast, whatever we did. So you’re pressing them to get into their legs, you’re not pressing them to be disruptive. That’s not what you would do. This team, that’s what we tried to do.”

“With Peters, it was hard because he still got 23, and he had seven at the half. The minute you let up, the minute we backed up, he scored. He’s that good. But, again, that’s a team. That was a heck of a win for us. I was worried about that game because when I watched the tape and how they played and what they did, it’s exactly what bothered us. Straight line drives, getting people to the rim, isolations, isolating a guy that’s struggles defensively; that’s the kind of stuff they did. But it was a good. We gave up too many rebounds, too many offensive rebounds and we’ll watch the tape on that. But I was happy with the effort.”

“If someone didn’t play, I subbed them. You’re out. You’re either playing like there’s no tomorrow, and that doesn’t mean foul and go nuts, it means you play with unbelievable energy or you’re out. I’m playing somebody else.”

What were they doing well against (Alec) Peters early when he was struggling a little?

Coach Calipari: “We were just trapping and going at him and making him think, so he couldn’t get into a rhythm. You saw the one he shot on Isaiah Briscoe we he turned and just shot. If he gets in rhythm, he’s making baskets. He’s that good. I think, I don’t know what happened with his legs. My hope is we were running so fast that he started cramping, because we want to fly.”

“Again, we had seven turnovers, unforced, in the first four or five minutes of the game. We’re averaging 10 turnovers a game. We had seven unforced (turnover) in the first four or five minutes. I would say that maybe is the dregs from the last game. But, again, we have a ways to go, but this was a good win.”

You talked about bringing energy, that’s what you talked about. How do you do that, how do you try to produce more energy from these guys?

Coach Calipari: “We practice that way. I put Isaiah opposite De’Aaron Fox so they could go head to head, had two different teams and they competed like crazy. If you practice that way, you’ll play that way. If you’re casual, you’re casual in a shoot around, you’re going to play that way. We’re getting better. I mean, again, how did we miss all these? Who missed the free throws? De’Aaron Fox. Wow. He and Sacha.”

Can you just talk about the way that Dominique’s playing?

Coach Calipari: “He was great. Mychal was good, too. Mychal walked in the game and tipped a ball so that we could rebound and get a play. Then there’s not pressure on you. If you’ll defend, scramble, hustle and dive on the floor, you don’t have to make shots all the time.You can stay in the game. If you’re not going after balls, you’re getting beat on defense and you miss two shots, you won’t believe this. We’re trying to win. Then you can’t stay in the game. I mean, Dom goes in and just changed the whole complexion because of how he defended on the ball and he kind of disrupted what they were doing offensively. Their point guard got those two fouls right away, and then got a third because of how we played. He had to keep people off him.”

Q. Sort of along those lines, did Mychal show you enough tonight?

Coach Calipari: “Well, I had planned on being in the rotation, having a rotation and I just said I don’t care what happens in the game, we’re going to go in a rotation, and I’m going to try to stay with it. What I want to do is have him and Isaiah on the court together because Isaiah makes Mychal comfortable. Isaiah figures out ways of getting him shots he can make and Isaiah will talk to him through defense and help him. He just makes him more comfortable on the court. As we sub, when Isaiah Briscoe comes out, the next time he goes back in, I’ll usually put Mike with him.”

“We still, Isaac and Sacha, we still have to get — Derek made some shots, he missed some wide open shots, and then he made shots. But we, Derek, Wenyen, Sacha and Issac fight more, defend more and rebound more. They just, they got to come up.”

“I thought that, again, like Wenyen, I’m telling him shoot balls, man, just shoot balls. If you’re open, let it go. Don’t drive and charge, don’t try to ball, just catch it and either shoot it or get rid of it. He’s a great finisher. And again, he had three blocks today, six rebounds and he played like 19 minutes, 20 minutes.”

Q. What did you think of Wenyen and Derek and the defense they played on Peters?

Caoch Calipari: “I’m going to watch the tape. There were some good things and then they just got tired. I think our team’s able to play about four minutes at a stretch and then they have to come out. I’m playing some other guys a little bit more than that, because they’re capable. All in all, I think it’s four to five minutes and that’s it. I told them, ‘I can’t wait until finals are over so we can start three-a-day,’ and get this thing right. They have finals next week. Get through those by Wednesday, and it’s from that, Katy bar the door, right there. Let’s go. I said, you get to eat, sleep, video games. I’ll give you a little time for your video games, and then we’re playing basketball.”

Wenyen said yesterday you brought back a couple things to practice, fundamental things. What were those and did they pay off tonight?

Coach Calipari: “Yeah, they did. They’re scrambling stuff. Look, we got away. I’ve done this for 30 years, and the reality of it is there’s certain drills that I’ve done every day. At the beginning of the year you watch us practice, we’re doing those drills. At the end of the year, we’re still doing the drills. Maybe shorter, but we’re doing them, and I got away from a bunch of those, and we reverted. As the players, we didn’t pass, we didn’t give up the ball like we had been. We didn’t defend and scramble and help.”

“To be honest, they played with more energy than us. I had to call a timeout a minute into the game. This game, the way the game started, even though we turned it over, you could see the energy in one team. Energy shows our athleticism. Lack of energy shows all the other warts that we have. We are so fast. ‘Well, why wouldn’t you run fast? I didn’t feel like it on that play, I’m going to just kind of jog.’ What? Fly every play. When you can’t fly, you come out. If I see guys not flying, I’ll take them out. I mean, I’m not saying on missed shots or turnovers. I’m saying you don’t have energy, you’re not flying up and down that court, you’re out.”

What did Peters show you after he returned from injury there in the second half?

Coach Calipari: “I know how good he is. I grabbed him after and I said, ‘I love watching tape of him play.’ He just knows how to get shots. He knows how to get people in the air. He’s a great foul shooter. I’m stunned he only got four fouls off today. Normally, he’s getting 9 or 10, as you know. He goes eight rebounds, 23 points, all I said is, ‘he’s going to get his, let’s make it hard.’ Don’t leave your feet, don’t put him on the free-throw line, and don’t give him straight-line drives. Make him score through your chest. If he can do that, great. That’s what we tried to do. There was no — and I put different guys on him. I went from Bam to Wenyen to Derek to Isaiah Briscoe. We put all kind of guys on him.”

How do you keep your young guys from kind of losing their mind when there are 27 NBA scouts in the building?

Coach Calipari: “Probably they didn’t know, unless they read the paper, where I said there were going to be a lot of NBA scouts there. They probably don’t know. Like I said, there were signs today that we could be really good. Then the question is, how good do we want to be? Do you want to come and practice and get better or are you looking for ways to, I mean, this is hard for these kids. They have never, in their lives, practiced this way. And what I’m saying is, I’m not saying they weren’t coached and all, I’m saying they were never in the gym every day with players this good, going against each other, every day. Every day like Dom is playing De’Aaron Fox or Isaiah Briscoe and they’re trying to take his lunch. So, Bam is trying to dunk on Isaac. Isaac’s trying to score on Sacha. Wenyen and Derek are going at each other, because they’re trying to get minutes. So, every day Malik is going against Mychal. Hard matchup, but if Mychal can stay in front of Malik, he can guard anybody. So, it’s a way that they need to build and go, but again, let me just say this about Valpo. You’re talking about a team that beat a bunch of people already, all on the road or neutral sites. They beat Rhode Island at home, a top-25 team. That energy is how we have to come out every day, and it’s hard. But you know what? It is what it is and you’re here. We’re playing everybody’s best shot, we got to disrupt, we got to be the aggressor, we got to attack the basket, we got to make the extra pass and we got to make easy plays. You have to dunk balls that are around the rim. Can’t turn it over 17 times. But again, seven were in the first four minutes of the game.”

On them playing with better energy…

“I think we definitely played with better energy. Coming off the loss, we wanted to get things rolling early. We keyed in on the things we messed up last game against UCLA. We came out a lot more focused and had way more energy.”

On the game plan against Alec Peters…

“We were going to shut him down at the top and make him see two people in the post. He is the second leading scorer in the nation, so he’s going to get points but I think we did a really good job defending him. I looked up at one point in the game and saw he had 19. He got to the line and hit his free throws. He’s a good player and will perform, but for the most part we did well against him.”

On Dominique Hawkins being a game changer…

“Without a doubt. He’s an unbelievable defender, he brings energy, pressures the ball full court and he played great. He hit his 3’s tonight, made shots and he overall played really well. There’s not much more you can say.” 

On the 21-0 run and causing 14 missed shots…

“We got really focused. Coach was telling us the whole week after the UCLA game that we need to focus more on our defense disturbing the ball handler, and making sure that we make tough shots.”

On the intensity of practice…

“We basically did what we always do but focused in on defense really well in practice. We did the same drills that we usually always do but Coach was focused in making us go a little bit harder than we usually do.” 

On his reaction to the loss…

“It was just a loss to me. I have lost a couple games since I have been a UK player. Maybe we needed the loss to show that if we don’t come in and play that someone will come in our house and beat us.” 

On having better energy this game than against UCLA…

“Oh, definitely. I definitely felt the energy when I was playing and the fans were really into it and every defensive stop we got we were trying to push the ball into the basket. ” 

On Peters coming in as the nations second leading scorer…

“Yeah. He is a terrific player, very fundamental. Basically, we were trying to trap him once he got the ball in the post. He has a hot hand and we had to make him take a tough shot.” 

On his motivation level tonight after not playing against UCLA …

“I go into every game motivated regardless of the game. I was motivated in practice and kept working hard so I didn’t let that bother me at all. I don’t make those kinds of decisions. If coach thought the match-up wasn’t good, then that’s his choice to make so I respect that. I was ready for my opportunity and when that came today, I tried to make the most of it, as I do for every opportunity that I get on the court. I’m just moving forward, continuing to work hard in practice, and prove that I can actually play.”

On the energy level in practice with this year’s team compared to last year’s team …

“Every team is different. There’s a notable difference in the way that we play, but energy level is something that both teams understand. Every game that we go into, this team is jacked up ready to play. You’re going to get the opposing teams’ best every time we play.” 

On being able to focus on basketball over winter break …

“Finals will be over pretty soon, so you don’t have school work to worry about. You wake up and it’s basketball until the moment you go to sleep. It’s a really good opportunity for us as a group. We’re already a close-nit group with a strong bond between us all. We’re going to spend that time together in and outside of the gym. I feel like that’s going to be a great time for us to develop as a team and really grow.” 

Valpo Coach Matt Lottich Quotes