Kentucky Basketball Previews UCLA

On if it’s crazy to say that the UCLA game will be won by the team that plays better defense …

“This is a shot maker’s game. If either team is not making shots, you’ll be in trouble. I doubt both teams won’t be making shots so you better hope it’s not you. Both are good shooting teams and have players that are able to go on runs. We score in different ways. We score a little bit differently than (UCLA) scores, but if you’re missing baskets and shots, then it’s hard to win a game like this. To advance in the NCAA Tournament, you can’t be a team that scores 62 points a game. If you want to win a national title and get to Final Fours, then scoring 62 points a game makes it really hard. Here’s why: You’ll play a team that scores 75. If you can’t score 75, then you just lost that game. That’s why I think you’d like to have your team scoring near 80. Seventy-five to 80 points a game is about what you want. If it’s more than that, then you’ve probably got a pretty good shooting team or deep team.”

On how helpful it is that UK’s offense doesn’t really rely on jump shots right now …

“I think Malik (Monk) is shooting the ball well right now. Isaiah (Briscoe) made two 3s last game. I have no issues with De’Aaron Fox. I believe he’ll make shots. He’s doing similar to how Tyler Ulis did, including last year’s game against UCLA – he couldn’t make a shot. He got going and he was fine. I think Derek Willis, Wenyen (Gabriel), and Dominique (Hawkins) – Dom has 22 assists and two turnovers for the year. Can I say that again? Twenty-two assists and two turnovers for the year. He made a three, free throws, and Mychal (Mulder) is making shots. Brad (Calipari) has made shots. I don’t think that’s going to be our issue. I think defensively there are some things that we’re going to have to work on. We have a couple of guys that have to start stepping up, fighting and being more aggressive. We’ll see.”

On how he’s seen the younger guys improve even after beating teams by 20-plus points …

“It’s more of what I see in practice. I’m not worried if we’re playing a team that we’re capable of beating by 30. You know I’m not a guy to run scores up. I’ll put subs in with five or seven minutes to go. That’s not who I am. All I need them to do is come in here and practice every day. This reminds me of a couple of the teams, to this date, where we have not had a bad practice. There have been times where I walk in here and it’s February and we have yet to have a bad practice. Those teams were those teams that were like, ‘Woo.’ It’s all based on there. They’re not responsible for the schedule. You have some coaches apologizing to the team that were putting them in the bad situations. Look, Michigan State, Arizona State and the teams that we played; now we got the teams here. After UCLA, we have Valpo. You look by Valpo, they just beat a top-20 team in Rhode Island. These all will be hard for us.”

On how well this team shares the ball …

“Well, they share it. There’s a couple reasons. They’re really skilled, so you can share. When you’re not skilled, you put your head down and you bounce it and you run people over. OK? Or you’re not skilled enough to be a basketball – that kind of guy. Second thing is, their minds think quick. So they can see stuff and recognize quickly. If you have to process, ‘Alright, the ball is coming to me and I think this guy here is going to be open. Now let me try to –,’ you can’t play the way we’re playing. And it’s hard to figure that out until you coach a guy, so there are guys that I’ve had that you have to know that that’s who they are. OK, they’re going to play a little different. But when you put five guys with nimble minds and are skilled, that’s what you get. Bap, bap, bap, bap. Doesn’t mean you win every game. Doesn’t mean you make every shot. Doesn’t mean you don’t turn it over. But that’s kind of who they are. You demand it. If a guy’s open, throw him the ball.”

On how much UCLA fits that description …

“They play the same way. If a guy’s open he gets the ball.”

On if he sees the comparisons of UCLA’s Lonzo Ball to Jason Kidd …

“He’s really good. Like, he’s big. He sees the court. He’s OK to take no shots. He doesn’t care. Or if he needs to score 25 he will. He’s good. He’s good. He’s smart. You can see on the court, he’s like our guys – he’s got a nimble mind. He’ll see something happening before it happens. He’s good.”

On if the Jason Kidd comparison with him is crazy …

“Somewhat, but he shoots it probably better than when Jason was in college.”

On what he’s seen form UCLA’s TJ Leaf …

“Leaf has been good. Big guys have been good. Steve’s (Alford) son (Bryce Alford) has been good. They have a full team of guys. The guys come off the bench have played well. I’m forgetting the wing’s player’s name. [Reporter says Isaac Hamilton.] Yeah, he may be – because he can score in so many different ways, he’s got a little beastly to him. He’s good. He’s good. This will be one of those games, let’s throw it up and see what happens. I mean, it’s going to be hard for both teams.”

On if this is one of those games that is fun to coach in from a preparation standpoint …

“I used to say that. As I get older, no. Let’s just win by 30, run and go get something to eat and we’ll be fine. I enjoy the preparation of these games to try to make sure I’m putting my team in the best position to win. But what I’m going to tell them, ‘You don’t know if you’re going to win or lose until you win or lose. So you might as well worry about preparation, having a good game plan and a little bit of a backup, and then having a great night sleep, and then let’s go play the game and see what happens.”

On this game being a preview of what March will feel like for the freshmen …

“We’re at home. It would be the same if we were on the road. I’d say we’re on the road. That’s why I like playing neutral games. It gives a better idea of what the game would be like. When you’re at home in Rupp Arena, OK, we may get beat, but we’re at home in Rupp Arena. If we get beat, that probably means we would’ve got beat by 20 on a neutral court, and that’s the same thing if we were on the road playing in front of a ridiculous environment. Well, that’s not the NCAA Tournament. It’s just not. The fans love it and all that good stuff. Our thing is to be ready in March. Everything is a learning experience. This is going to be learning. Steve has done a great job with his team. He’s really playing to their strengths. You watch them play, they play to their team’s strengths. They’re not trying to do stuff that they can’t do. Their big men can really shoot 15-footers. Their big men can shoot some 3s, so they play that way. Now, they’ll post it and jam it, but if I don’t have anything, I’m screening on the perimeter and shooting the 3. They do a lot of good stuff, and that’s why I said this is a game where you must talk because they bring people together. They do a lot of guard-to-guard screens. They try to throw lobs to Ball. I mean, they’re good.”

On players using hand sanitizer to avoid getting sick …

“Each of them have it in their rooms. We got sick this week. A couple of the guys got sick, so we sanitized everything. You guys are fine. This, locker room, bathroom, shower, videos, common areas, bathrooms over at the lodge (we’re all sanitized). We just fumigated everything so dead animals everywhere [sarcasm]. I just tell them all the time, ‘Hey, you’re going to get stuff on your hands so wash your hands and use that stuff.’ ” 

On Tai Wynard’s growth as a player since getting to UK …

“Tai is not even the same kid. The problem is that he’s behind Bam (Adebayo), Isaac (Humphries), and Sacha (Killeya-Jones) who are a little bit in front of him. But, that kid goes in and he’s tough, he’s good around the basket. He shoots the ball better. He’s getting in shape. He’s getting closer to where he needs to be. It’s a little harder because he’s behind these guys, but there’s no question that he’s a better player.”  

On De’Aaron Fox’s triple-double …

“I didn’t (see the play in question). My major question, the overriding thing in all this and one of the things I just didn’t sleep the night before is because I wanted to make sure Brad (Calipari) got his three points, his assist and his rebound. And when he had those in there I said, ‘Did he have it?’ I don’t care about anything else. As long as Brad got his stuff in (those) stats, we’re good [joking]. We’re not. I stuck him back in and I would have left him in longer if he needed more because there were seven minutes in the game. It wasn’t two minutes and I stuck him in. It was seven minutes. And the other thing is he’ll probably have another one so he wasn’t worried about it. I said, ‘You know they may take away your assist.’ He said ‘I don’t care.’ “

On if the players can get too excited for a big game like this …

“No, just be the best version of yourself. It’s all we talk about all the time. What do you look like when you’re at your best? And if you have a question, come and see me. I’ll explain it again. But that has been talked about a lot. But let me say this: Could they go in here and lose their minds? Yeah, they’re all freshmen. They’re all sophomores. The sophomores might as well have been freshmen. So yeah, they can go in here and this be overwhelming for them. Then we’ll move on to the next game. We’ll figure out what it was and how we’ve got to do it, what we’ve got to do. What I will tell you is I’m glad I’ve got the team I have. Win or lose I’m glad I’ve got the team I have, and this is all building toward March. This is a great game in early December for us. Hard. They could bash us. They beat us last year and they beat us bigger than the score. Score said nine or 10, whatever. It was 20. It was not even a game. We never had a chance. Never had a chance in the game. We got down. Tried to mess around. Never had a chance. And they got the same team back with Ball. We lost everybody and have a brand new team so it’ll be interesting.”

On how seriously he looks at stats like assists …

“Well, if I think guy’s being selfish, holding the ball to make sure he gets an assist, I’ll say something. But short of that, no. I want them to look for each other, but every one of these kids scored 25 a game in high school. And they’re passing to each other. It’s more about that. I wouldn’t have had to look at the stats in the Arizona State game to know we passed the ball. But it’s nice to know you had 33 assists in a game. Like what?”

On Dominque Hawkins’ season so far …

“He’s making easy plays. He’s a better basketball player. He’s got a better feel for the game. He’s more confident. He feels better about himself. There’s no anxiousness, so he just plays. He doesn’t try to do stuff he can’t do. I wish he made a couple more shots, but that’s fine. You got 22 assists and two turnovers and you defend like he does and come up with balls and dive on the floor and all that stuff. You can’t do everything, but I’d like him to make a couple more shots. He made them last game. It’s important, especially if a team like UCLA may not play a couple guys. They may sag. They may play that 3-2 zone and say we’re not shifting to him. You gotta make that shot. That’s a shot you’ve got to make. Thanks, guys.”

On how his season is going …

“I feel like it’s going really well. I’ve been doing really well because we’ve been winning and that’s all I really want to do is just win.”

On what he likes about the way he’s playing …

“I feel like I’ve been playing really well, not turning the ball over when it I get, playing great defense. I just hit my first 3 last game, so gotta be more confident when I’m shooting the ball.”

On whether he was aware he had 22 assists and two turnovers …

“No, I wasn’t aware of it at all until Coach told me about it.”

On what Coach Cal said about it …

“He said that’s unbelievable. He said continue to go out and just play and have fun.”

On how excited they get when opponents try to run with them …

“Pretty excited because we know our guard play is pretty fast and we know UCLA’s guard play is pretty fast. So it’s going to be an up-tempo game. It’s going to be fun to watch.”

On not being surprised if the teams combine to score 180 points …

“No, I won’t be surprised if it’s a high-scoring game at all.”

On what they have to do to deal with Lonzo Ball …

“We know that he’s a terrific guard. We’re going to have to play great defense against him because he can score from beyond the arc and inside the paint.”

On whether they have watched UCLA play much …

“We haven’t gotten to watch tape yet, but we watched games and highlights on ESPN, his dunks and stuff like that.”

On what he thinks after watching them …

“Crazy athletic. Really good guards. And all of them can shoot the ball really well. I remember Coach, he was breaking down their players. I think they’re all shooting over 50 percent behind the arc.”

On what he remembers about the last matchup with UCLA …

“I remember they came out with so much energy, (they) were prepared for us and they played really well against us.”

On looking forward to playing a team that likes to run …

“We’re definitely looking forward to it. We know it’s going to be an up-tempo game. They have great guards that can score in and out and so do we.”

On what he’s seen from Lonzo Ball …

“I really haven’t seen much of him, but I’ve heard how good he really is and I’ve seen some of his highlights on SportsCenter and stuff like that.”

On whether there is any revenge factor after last year’s game …

“I don’t think it’s really a revenge factor. I just think that we’re going to come out and just play our game and hopefully we can win.”

On what areas the team needs to improve …

“We definitely can get better at defense and communicating. Sometimes we lack communication and give up an easy play or something like that. And offensively, probably just attacking the basket more. Sometimes we settle for jump shots more than we need to attack.”

On how to motivate young players to improve when they are blowing opponents out …

“It’s actually hard to keep them motivated because when you look up at the scoreboard we’re up by probably 20 points, but Coach makes sure that we’re playing our game plan and continue to fight.”

On what the learned in the Bahamas …

“We learned that we can actually have fun while playing. That whole trip, we had fun and once we got on the court we continued to have fun when we were playing. There’s not many teams that I’ve been on where I can actually have fun the whole game and continue to play.”

On telling the freshmen what a big game in Rupp will be like …

“They know it’s going to be a big game. They’re going to come out and play hard. Coach tells us every game is somebody’s Super Bowl, so they should realize that every team wants to come out and beat us.”

On whether the fact that two powerhouse programs are facing off adds motivation …

“I really didn’t think about that, but I guess fans probably see it that way. As players, we just want to come out and just win and play to the best ability that we can play.”

On why they share the ball as much as they do …

“Just us trusting each other more. We’re getting comfortable in practice with each other. We know how each other play now. So, we’re just getting more comfortable.”

On how well the freshmen knew each other prior to Kentucky …

“Everybody played with each other before, at least once. So, we knew how we played a little bit. We were comfortable with each other and we just came here to work, and it’s working for us good. We’re going to keep it rolling.”

On UCLA averaging even more assists than Kentucky …

“They share the ball good. They’re a great team, just like we are. But we’re just going to come in here, try to focus on the game plan and outwork them.”

On if he knows UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball …

“I played with him at the McDonald’s game, so yeah I know him a little bit.”

On what he thinks of Ball’s game …

“Great. He’s a great player. Every player we play is going to be great at Kentucky. So we just gotta focus on him just like we do every other player and just try to win the game.”

On how he would describe Ball’s game …

“I mean, you can’t describe it. He does everything so well. Like I said before, great player.”

On if this is the type of matchup they look forward to …

“Yeah, I mean up-and-down game. We both want to play up and down, and we both do that. I think it’s going to be a fun game.”

On if he licks his chops knowing the other team also wants to get up and down …

“I lick my chops every game because whatever any team tries to make us do we’re going to do the opposite. We’re just going to play how we play. I don’t think anybody’s been able to stop that yet.”

On Ball’s odd shooting form …

“I played against him in high school too. I saw it was weird, but I mean it goes in so it works for him.”

On if he’s pleased with how he’s shot the ball so far …

“Yeah, of course, but I think I can make more. I just gotta get in the gym more and be patient and wait for the game to come to me and I think I’ll knock down a couple more. Before that, Coach told me to work out, stay low, step into your shot like it’s your last shot every game. So that’s what I try to do.”

On how important defense will be in Saturday’s game …

“Of course. Like I just said right here, if you’re not playing defense you’re not going to play, especially with Coach Cal. But having a fast-paced team, just like us, I mean, it’s good because we know what to expect because we play fast. We’re just going to have to compete every play.”

On offense being more fun than defense …

“Not in college. Not anymore. Defense now, because defense leads to way better offense. So if you play defense first you’re going to have a great offensive game.”

On what was going through his head on the play against Arizona State where he threw the ball to Wenyen Gabriel while falling down …

“I don’t even know. Zay (Isaiah Briscoe) threw the pass and I think I tripped or something, and I saw Wenyen over there wide open so I was just trying to get him the ball and that’s what happened.”

On what it looked like when he saw it on film …

“Crazy. I was like, ‘Wow.’ But it happens. Coach Cal said I’m going to do something like that every game and nobody’s going to know it.”

On the difference between a ‘superstar play’ and an ‘effort play’ …

“A superstar play is, like you said, trying to do something fancy or something like that. Do the biggest play. An effort play is just doing anything to win.”

On where UCLA can hurt Kentucky …

“We’re aware of every team. I think every team is going to try to beat us with 3s, and they shoot the 3 great. We just have to focus – like we do with every other team – on our game plan.”

On UCLA’s guards …

“Great. They’re a great team, like I said. They’re a guard-oriented team, just like us. They’re a great group. We just have to focus on every game plan and focus on every play like it’s our last, and I think we’ll do that.”

On if Calipari does anything to try to bring out their sharing of the ball more …

“No, we share the ball naturally. I think he knows we’re going to share the ball the whole game. Like I said, we just play basketball and have fun together, and that comes with sharing the ball.”

On what he thinks when teams try to run with UK …

“We love that. Any team that tries to run with us, we love that because that’s what we play. We’re fast. We’re a fast team. If they do that, we’ll like that.”

On if any of the players talked to them about last year’s game against UCLA …

“Oh yeah, of course. Them going into UCLA and just getting beat like that. Cal brings it up every practice now since we’ve (gotten ready) to play UCLA. We’re going to have to come out here and focus on what we have to do.”

On what Coach Cal says when he reminds them of that game …

“Yeah, ‘Remember last year. Just remember the feeling you had last year.’ But we don’t know the feeling. Zay knows it. He tells us about it.”

On what Briscoe says about it …

“Doesn’t feel good to lose like that on national TV. We’re just going to have to come out there and try not to let that happen.”

On how excited he is for the big stage Saturday’s game will produce …

“Yeah, every big stage I like. I think if you come to Kentucky you’re going to have like the big stage. Every game is going to be just like this. You’re going to have to come out here ready to play.”