UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
SEC TELECONFERENCE
MARCH 5, 2018
John Calipari
Opening statement …
“I was feeling good until we went down to Florida and got rocked. Had our chances to come back in the game and just weren’t capable of doing it. Hats off to Florida. They played an outstanding game, but we’re going into the tournament 4-1 in our last five (games). You know, I look at it and say we got work to do this week. Today is going to be an individual work day. I’m not going to have a practice that way. We’re going to meet, do a little tape work; the (assistant) coaches will do the individuals. Tomorrow and Wednesday we’re going to go after each other and see if we can get back to where we were a week and a half, two weeks ago.”
On how wide open the SEC Tournament is this season …
“I think everybody. You know, you talk – you saw Mississippi and how they played with us, and you know South Carolina – shoot, they beat us. And Vandy had a chance to beat us twice and is playing pretty good basketball. Georgia, basically Georiga had the last two games won and at the very end of the game the other team makes plays. I would say the advantage would go to both Auburn and Tennessee. They won the league. Tennessee, you gotta remember, Tennessee lost their first two games and we had them down 10 or 12 in the first half of their third game, and Rick (Barnes) got that team right. And from that point on, you know what their record is. So I think both Tennessee and Auburn will have the advantage, but the rest of us, you know, you’re just going to fight like heck and see what happens.”
On the keys to getting the team back to where it was before the Florida loss …
“I didn’t scrimmage the week before Florida. Basically, it was a quick turn. Prior to that, we were scrimmaging every chance we could, and I made a decision. Every once in a while my decisions aren’t right. Few and far between, but there are times they’re not right, and this is probably one of them. It took an edge off some guys that we needed to compete and have more of a competitive spirit. See, the thing they’ve got to learn, especially before you leave us, is that you’re not exchanging baskets. That’s high school. That’s AAU. You’re not exchanging baskets. You are competing with someone else. You’re trying to play harder. You’re trying to keep them from scoring and you’re making plays to get them to foul you or make baskets. You’re not exchanging baskets, and if you’re in that mode, normally you’re going to get beat.”
On the possibility of Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr. returning from injury for the SEC Tournament and if he’s seen a team recently that had a player come back this late in the season other than Kyrie Irving when he played at Duke …
“You know, I haven’t, but I haven’t spent any time thinking about someone joining a team late like that. Normally what happens late is you’re losing somebody, and it’s devastating in a normal case. We lost Nerlens Noel and went from a three or a four seed to an NIT team within weeks, and it’s hard that way. The other way is just trying to figure out, you know, what Cuonzo (Martin) is doing right now to get (Missouri) to defend, to get them to play together, to get them to make extra passes and all this stuff they’re doing. Right now, they’re playing well. You add Porter to that, all of the sudden they’ve become very, very dangerous. I think he has done a great job with his team, but again, I go through this league right now and the coaches and the jobs that have been done this year is phenomenal. The sad thing about our profession, you have some guys that lost close games. Look, I think the job Bryce (Drew) is doing at Vanderbilt is unbelievable. You know, I’m watching tape of his teams this late and they’ve lost – look, it’s not when you’re winning, it’s when your team loses, especially when they lose a couple games. I would not be surprised to see Georgia march through this tournament. Not at all. One, they’ve got a great coach. Two, they have an unbelievable player in (Yante) Maten and three, they’re right on the edge. I mean, they’re losing games in the last two minutes on crazy plays by the other team. It’s not that they’re giving games away or they go a little bit south scoring. That’s, again, what you see – and again Cuonzo (Martin) doing the job that he’s doing is phenomenal.”
On the SEC making quality coaching hires in the last few years enhancing the league …
“I know that coaches can make teams more organized and can do those kinds of things. What’s happened is we have gotten better and better players top to bottom. If you think it’s solely because of a coach then you don’t know this profession. This thing is about getting really good players to play together and care about winning. Bottom line. Not brain surgery. We’ve gotten coaches who are experienced at this and then we’ve gotten better players. The talent that’s been added to this league in the last couple of years has been phenomenal.”
On the tournament being in St. Louis and whether or not Kentucky fans will travel …
“Yeah, I’m fine with that. Look, we played in the NCAA Tournament (in 2014) there and it is a great place for a tournament. I’m telling you, it is a great place for a tournament. I think it’ll be fine. Our fans, I would expect them – it’s much easier, obviously, Atlanta and Nashville for our fans and maybe a lot of our league fans, but I think right now the difference is every team walking in here – even if I’m Mississippi right now, knowing how they played against us, knowing how those guards will take 30 3s – I’m thinking we’ve got a chance. If I’m Vanderbilt, if I’m Georgia, if I’m South Carolina – Mississippi State has played well all year. You’re looking up and down the line, I think all 14 teams think – and their fans – we can make a run. So, I’m going to be surprised if there are not a lot of fans from a lot of schools – not just Kentucky – at this tournament.”
On the city hosting both the SEC Tournament and the Missouri Valley Tournament …
“St. Louis is a great city, plus they’ve got “The Hill” for us Italians. We can go up there and shop and eat and do all of that. If you’re Italian you know. You’re like hyped that we’re going. Do they have a Dunkin’ Donuts downtown by the way? Because I had to drive. The church was right there. I was fine there on Saint Louis’ campus. But, the Dunkin’ Donuts I had to drive. Do they have anything downtown? If not we need the Dunkin’ Donuts to move downtown at least for this week.”
On what Sacha Killeya-Jones needs to do to get more playing time …
“He’s doing fine. He’s doing fine. A lot of times it’s the guy in front of you. It has nothing to do with you; you just gotta be ready for an opportunity. I think he’s doing fine. He’s way better as a player. But, Jarred (Vanderbilt) and PJ (Washington), even Wenyen (Gabriel) when he’s making shots and Nick (Richards) – he’s got guys in front of him that are doing pretty good and deserve minutes too.”
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
SEC TOURNAMENT PREGAME MEDIA
MARCH 6, 2018
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Players
#22, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Fr., G
On being named second-team All-SEC …
“It’s an honor. We play in a really tough conference with a lot of great players. It feels good to be recognized amongst those players. It’s not something I cherish too much though because I’m focused on team goals right now.”
On which team will show up at the SEC Tournament …
“I think the good team will show up in St. Louis. We’ve watched a lot (of film) the last couple of days. We realized we messed up and where we went wrong. I think we’re all in the right mindset, we just have to try and fix them (the mistakes).”
On if it’s easier to fix the mistakes now that they have played well down the stretch …
“I think the streak helped a lot because we know what we did well during that streak to play as well as we did. We just have to go back to it.”
On finally being able to play in a meaningful college tournament and what his mentality is going into it …
“(The mentality) is to just go at other teams. It’s us against the world. Yeah, we’re just going to try and compete as hard as possible. I think if we compete and do what coach wants us to do, we’ll be fine.”
On if there is a different feeling going into a tournament than a regular-season game …
“Do or die. Yeah, I think that adds a little bit. Like I said, just us knowing what we need to do to get back to that mindset and that game plan where we were at when we won four in a row.”
On Coach Cal and the team are hungrier this year being a No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament …
“No, I don’t think we’re too worried about our seeding for the SEC Tournament. We’re just trying to be the best team that we can be in the postseason, and that’s one of the things he’s drilled into us during the regular season. Nothing really matters until March, to win games in March, to be able to be a really good basketball team and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
On if he thinks the tournament will be wide open …
“Yeah, I think the league is pretty good. From first until however many teams are in the league, there’s going to be competition in every game. Everyone is going to have to bring it.”
On how he would describe his game …
“Yeah, I’m kind of crafty. I don’t have all of the athleticism in the world that a lot of point guards do or all of the speed and quickness. But, I’m kind of crafty. I use my angles well. I get to where I need to get to on the floor to be successful.”
On if the team has already forgotten about the Florida loss …
“We’ve moved on from Florida. We obviously had a bad performance. We’re just trying to fix what we did bad. We watched (film) a couple of days ago. We watched and now we’ve moved on.”
On if the team has gone back to scrimmaging …
“Yeah, we’ll scrimmage today at practice.”
On playing on a neutral court …
“It’ll help I guess a little bit. No really road games or anything like that. But, Kentucky is such a big fan base we’ll have fans at every game and it’ll feel like a home game. So, I think it’ll be in our favor.”
On what the team needs to improve on after the Florida game …
“I think it starts with our defense and our intensity and our focus on the game plan. Then also us competing on both ends of the floor. The Florida game I feel like, myself included, we just didn’t value possessions like we should have both defensively and offensively. That has to change for March.”
#5, Kevin Knox, Fr., F
On his SEC honors …
“It’s a great honor. It’s been a long season, a lot of ups and downs, but I’m just honored to get that award. I really thank my teammates and everything for that. I wouldn’t have gotten it without them. Like I said, it’s a great honor. It’s a great accomplishment for me and my family.”
On what he expected going into the season …
“I knew we would have some ups and downs. All freshmen have their bumps in the road. There’s a lot of obstacles and stuff like that. We went through that and we had our bad times, we had our good times, but, like I said, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I wouldn’t trade my teammates for anything else. I’m glad I came here. I really loved the season. I think we’re in a great spot right now, but definitely we can improve and we will over the next couple weeks.”
On Calipari saying they didn’t scrimmage before the Florida game and whether that took some of their edge off …
“No, not really. Just because we didn’t scrimmage doesn’t mean necessarily that we gotta go out and play the way we played. But the scrimmaging did help us out a lot, just getting to know each other better on the court, playing with different lineups, getting a feel for each other. I think that really helped. I think we should have (gone) a little more scrimmaging, but that’s not a reason or excuse to why we played that bad.”
On what they learned from the loss …
“The rest of this season, everybody’s going to give their all. Florida definitely came out on top. They were hitting a lot of shots and we didn’t really play that well, but that’s how we’re going to get the rest of the season. We just gotta be able to come in mentally prepared and just make sure that we come in and play hard every game because now it’s win or go home. A lot of teams’ seasons are on the line so we gotta be able to come out and play hard like our season is on the line.”
On why he believes they are in a good spot …
“I think we’re in good spot just because I think we can improve as a team. On Saturday when we lost at Florida, we didn’t really give our all. Players weren’t really playing their best, but if we get everyone to play their best this team is really hard to beat. We played a lot of games this year, a few games where we just went out and just played all of our best games and everything and we haven’t lost yet. From now on, we have to play like that because it’s win or go home.”
On his defense this season …
“I don’t think this has been my best defensive season. The coaches and I have been watching a lot of film just making sure that I can get better on the defensive end. I think that’s something that I gotta work on pretty much the rest of this year and for my years to come. I just gotta make sure that I give everything I got on the defensive end and be able to do it on the offensive end. Definitely I put that all on me. I don’t think I played really good defense this year, but, like I said, the season’s not over. I could really improve it, show people that I’ve really been working on it and show it in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.”
On making All-SEC in spite of not playing his best defense …
“Yeah, but that was probably mostly because of offense, but I think defense—if I can show that I can play defense, I can take my game to another level. Because people know I can really play on the offensive end, so I gotta show them I can play on the defensive end as well.”
On why they didn’t pass against Florida …
“I don’t know, to be honest. We just came off a four-game winning streak. We were playing really well. I don’t know why we didn’t come out and pass, but it’s do or die now. You gotta be able to come out and play. We can’t play like we did on Saturday. We gotta be able to come out and play like we were on the four-game winning streak.”
On being excited to play in March Madness …
“It’s a dream come true. I watched it all the time in class. Teachers put it up on the projector and we watched the teams. Now I’m playing in the games. It’s really crazy. I’m really happy. I’m looking really forward to it. I know my parents are really looking forward to it as well. Like I said, it’s a dream come true so hopefully we can come out with a win and get far in the tournament like I wish we would.”
On whether this is as excited as he’s ever been to play …
“Oh yeah. For real. This is one of the biggest moments of my life, just playing in March Madness, especially at Kentucky. A lot of people like to watch Kentucky play on TV, so it’s like a dream come true. Just being able to play in this March Madness is amazing. It’s something I dreamed of my whole life.”
On which Kentucky team will show up in St. Louis …
“I’m pretty sure that the team that won four games in a row will show up for the rest of the year. We just gotta be able to come out, play together, play hard and play like we did when we won four in a row. If we play like that, we’ll go pretty far in the tournament.”
On the SEC Tournament being wide open …
“It’s one of the best conferences this year. It’s a lot of great teams. A lot of teams will be in the tournament. Any team can pretty much win this tournament. There’s a lot of great teams. You’ve got a lot of teams that are right there on the bubble that really need some wins in this tournament to get in the NCAA Tournament so they’re going to come out playing pretty hard. Like I said, it’s up in the air. I think anyone could really win it.”
On when they realized this season would be difficult …
“When we first started losing some of our games. I think we went like two or three in a row. Right then and there, you know that it’s not going to be an easy season. You watch it on TV, you think, ‘Oh yeah, we could beat them, we can beat them. This doesn’t look that hard.’ But in reality it’s pretty hard. Especially for us freshmen, it’s been a rough journey. The way we bounced back, the way we’ve been playing together and just getting better, improving a team has been really good.”
On how he has changed this year …
“My game, it’s been crazy to watch. I came on campus out of shape, everything. I’ve been running with KP (Kenny Payne), just getting in the gym with him. He’s helped me out a lot. I think my game just (went to) another level once I got here. In high school, it’s really different from here. All the workouts and all the shooting drills and the conditioning drills, it just kind of helped me as a player and it helped me as a person. I’m just glad that I came here. It helped my skills a lot. I’m really glad I came here.”
