#12 Kentucky 82, #14 Auburn 80
Postgame Quotes
Auburn, Ala. – Auburn Arena
Jan. 19, 2019
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
Opening statement…
“This is so hard for these kids, and let me tell you again what I’m proud of: We’re playing a veteran team that have been through wars and have been through games like this, they made shots, were down seventeen and never stopped, but neither did we. Keldon [Johnson] makes a play, Tyler [Herro] makes a couple plays, we make free throws. Again, the issue here is they’re pressing about individual play. You can’t for a team and be in that mode – you have to just go with what the team is asking you to do, and if you can’t do what the team needs, you won’t play much. In a game like this, it’s fight. The game was physical with a lot of hand-to-hand combat. That’s how the game is played here. I’m proud of him though (Johnson), and this is coming off a game where he scored no points.”
On the biggest difference in the game…
“The defense that we played in the first half gave us a chance. Auburn started in zone to start the second half and we were waiting on it. We were just waiting on that to start the game. But when you have a team that makes 3s like Auburn does, they’re never out of the game. My thing was make them drive. We gave them too many 3s down the stretch where we had our hand down, and bang. We’re lucky to get out of here alive. We’re lucky he (Jared Harper) missed that little shot.”
On if he thought game would be close at the end once they got a 16-point lead early in the second half…
“I don’t think that way. I’m playing play to play, looking at the score and trying to get these guys to realize that we walked out of two timeouts and they did what they chose to do and didn’t listen. It led to breakouts, bumps and dribble handoffs. We said no dribble handoffs and they got dribble handoffs. They do that because they are freshmen and their whole lives they choose what to do. I thought Reid (Travis) was really good today. He gave us something around the basket and got us easy baskets when we needed it. We made six 3s, only took 15, but we made six.”
On recent growth of Tyler Herro’s game…
“Yeah, I am seeing it. He wanted the ball, wanted it to come to him. I like the fact that Keldon (Johnson) was telling me he wanted it, too.”
On production coming from several guys in large numbers…
“Two nights ago I woke up and I said, ‘For us to win, Keldon and Tyler are going to have to score baskets.’ We came up with some stuff to run specifically to Keldon, packages that we’ve been working on. The other thing we did is ask ourselves who we would go to if we need a shot late. Who we would run to, and what are we running. So, this is a work in progress, this is a new team that has never played together so it’s a disadvantage that we have, but sometimes they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know that they aren’t supposed to come in here and win, be up 17. They’re just playing. The problem is that once the game gets going they revert, and start playing like it’s a high school game. For example, that Tyler foul (on Bryce Brown) fouling him, and I asked why he’d do that when we’re ready to bury them? So that’s the kind of stuff where we just have to tighten the ship up. But look, when you win on the road in this league, this league is ridiculous. Some of you remember me saying let’s get to the point where we get eight, nine, 10 teams in, and everyone laughed at me. Now you look and say oh my god we may get 10 teams in. You know Alabama had Tennessee on the ropes, and Alabama beat us.”
On teams’ record at home vs. on the road…
“These guys don’t know the difference between home and on the road. The way we played today, it was one of our better games and it was on the road. The game at Georgia was one of our better games. We may be playing better on the road than we are at home. This is the part of our schedule that is ridiculous, even though none of it is easy. We have every good team in the league twice, so we’ll enjoy this and then figure out what we’re doing next.”
On Tyler Herro’s defense on Bryce Brown…
“It wasn’t bad. He did pretty good. He’s trying, works his butt off and tries. Immanuel [Quickley] was good. I even thought Jemarl Baker went in and played good defense on Brown.”
On explanation for PJ Washington’s late game flagrant…
“I don’t know.”
On late game adjustment discussion with assistant coach Kenny Payne…
“Kenny was telling me that we should run some back doors – which we were prepared to do. The problem was Auburn’s center was standing underneath the basket, so even if we went back door they’d be there. On lob plays they were face-guarding the down screens, so you just come up and go lob, but you have to clean out the basket first and that’s what I was telling him.”
On not calling timeout when Auburn cut the lead to three late…
“Maybe I’m not a very good coach. No look, you guys that have known me over the years know that I like the players to play through stuff so they can learn to play by themselves. If you notice, I took two timeouts before free throws to set up the defense. I normally don’t do that. That’s how worried I was about them shooting 3s, and pick and rolls, and how we were going to play. You got to understand we were saying the same things in every huddle, and if I would have had three more timeouts I would have called them and said the same exact things. Offensively, if they made that last basket, we probably wouldn’t have called timeout. We were already set up for what we call ‘celebration,’ where they celebrate and we go right down your neck. We did the same thing at Alabama and Seton Hall and had our chances. That’s just the way I’ll do it normally.”
On strategy of not calling timeouts…
“I learned that from Larry Brown. Why call timeout and let the other coach work with their team? You work with your team and already know what you’re going to do, so what are you going to do besides tell them again. The issue becomes when you have young teams like this, that haven’t been together 3-4 years, there are times I’ll do it because I see panic and need to calm them down.”
Tyler Herro, G, Fr.
On what Coach Calipari said in timeouts in the last few minutes of the game…
“Coach was just telling us to keep fighting. Getting down the stretch (he said) that they were going to make some plays, hit some shots. Just staying together, working as a team, and locking in defensively and getting some stops.”
On how good it feels to come into a super loud Auburn Arena and come out with the win…
“It feels good. That was a great atmosphere out there. Just sticking together, which we did, that was good to see. I think we’ve come a long way from where we were at the beginning of the season. We got leaders out there. PJ (Washington) and Reid (Travis) did a great job leading us and sticking together.”
On guarding Bryce Brown in the first half compared to the second half…
“Yeah, he’s great player. I felt like I did a good job on him. He hit some tough shots, so I mean credit to him. You know he’s a great player like I said. But in the first half, he was kind of fading away and not really in the offense. And then in the second half you could tell they were running a lot more sets for him. But I mean, he did a great job in the second half hitting tough shots.”
Keldon Johnson, G, Fr.
On scoring 20 points after going scoreless against Georgia in Kentucky’s last game…
“It felt good. But I just give it off to my teammates. They just keep trusting me. If I go scoreless or if I have a breakout game, they still just believe in me. And it’s just the best feeling.”
On how good forwards PJ Washington and Reid Travis were inside in the paint…
“They were great. I think they did a great job. They did what they’re supposed to do. I couldn’t be any prouder for them. They just led us down the stretch. They kept us together. Even when things got a little shaky, they just bring us in and settle us down. They just kept us together the whole time.”
On what Ashton Hagans said to him in the first half and if that motivated him…
“He just told me to ‘wake up, man.’ Like ‘it’s not acceptable.’ If we want to be the team we want to be, I got to wake up. [He said] ‘we need you to play.’ I did it for my teammates. They have my back and I have there’s. And I just went out and played. And I know he wants what’s best for me, and we might argue sometimes on the court, but I know about my teammates and that they want what is best for me.”
Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement…
“We’re disappointed in the outcome. It was a great environment tonight and I really appreciate the energy Auburn Arena had tonight. It had a lot to do with us staying engaged. I thought the kids didn’t panic when we got down in the second half. Kentucky is bigger at every position and more physical at every position. The way they could beat us was the way they did beat us, coming off physical pin downs, posting us up on the inside. They fouled out both Horace Spencer and Anfernee McLemore. We fouled too much and sent them to the foul line way too much. This is the fourth-straight SEC game where we’ve had a deficit at the foul line. We have to finish more physically through contact and get to the foul line ourselves. We’re very disappointed, I thought that Keldon Johnson and (Tyler) Herro for Kentucky had big nights. I think they shot over the top of our guards. We weren’t able to put enough pressure and extend them enough. Kentucky played well. They’re good. They’re better than last year and I think they are going to have a really good year.”
On a lack of turnovers defensively…
“They took care of the ball and only turned it over 13 times. Ashton Hagans is a terrific point guard. He’s doing what he does for his team. Bryce is a terrific on-ball defender and Hagans only turned it over three times. We typically turn guards over more than that. So, I thought Hagans did a great job of keeping them calm.”
On Kentucky being a better team this year…
“I think they are playing with a purpose. They value possessions more, they get good looks and they have a good inside-outside game. I know Keldon Johnson, Ashton Hagans, and E.J. Montgomery well. They have real character. There’s a real will to win there. They would rather win and score less. Those kids are built like champions.”
On becoming more physical without Austin Wiley…
“We have to be able to handle physicality of the game and be able to use our quickness more. We only forced 13 turnovers and we weren’t able to take advantage of that.”
On not having Austin Wiley out there…
“I think Kentucky would have still went inside anyways. Reid Travis had one of his best games and was physically imposing. I thought Chuma Okeke held his own with P.J. Washington. Horace is our most physical player and he had a really solid game tonight. We lost our biggest, most physical player.”
On Bryce Brown coming out of the timeout early in the second half…
“Early in the first half, Bryce (Brown) was pounding it and wasn’t shooting it. In the second half, we said we’ll get you open and just shoot the basketball. He turned some shots down in the first half and he’s a very unselfish player. Bryce was phenomenal every timeout. He was the one in the timeouts keeping the guys positive, focused, and that we weren’t going to get it all back at once. He told our guys as I did, stay in character. I don’t think our guys got out of character too much. We had a few wasted possessions where we could have kicked the ball back outside and got better looks. We got a good look at the end. Jared made a great play all by himself. Jared took the ball, dribbled downhill and got a great look. It just didn’t go in.”
On moving forward without Austin Wiley…
“We have nine guys in the rotation. I told Danjel Purifoy he was going to get his opportunity and he did fine. He will do better the next game. So, Danjel moves into the rotation now. A year ago, we would have been eight in the rotation, seven by the end. We have nine good players. We’ll be fine.”
On the last shot…
“Jared got a great look, drove the ball downhill and the ball didn’t go in. I’d take that look anytime.”
On the pace of the game…
“Because Kentucky shot it so well and we sent them to foul line so often, we couldn’t get the game into a frenetic pace.”
Jared Harper, G, Jr.
On last shot…
“I knew when I was able to get by them that I had the angle. I feel like when I shot it, I put it in the right place on the backboard and it just didn’t go in.”
On getting back into the game…
“Bryce was playing an unbelievable game, just making shots. So I was trying to do my best trying to find him. He was hot. He was going to the basket and fading off on the mid-range. He was hitting 3s. He was doing everything. We were strictly just going off of Bryce’s energy-making shots that we were able to string a together a couple stops.”
On being without Austin Wiley…
“Just knowing that it’s the next man up. That’s what we’ve always preached when somebody goes out with an injury. It’s just the next man up. Danjel [Purifoy] was able to get some stuff in today. Hopefully, we’ll get him to pick it up and pick up where Austin left off so we can bring some of that physicality that Austin brings.”
Bryce Brown, G, Sr.
On the last play…
“I was just working on trying to get open with the screen, but they kind of read it and took it away.”
On difference in first and second half…
“The first half, they were really pressed up on me, trying to run me off the line. I knew in the second half I just had to be a little more aggressive. I started the second half off with a 2-pointer. That kind of opened me up a little bit. But just staying aggressive, I kind of knew they were going to play me like that – trying to run me off the line. I just had to stay aggressive in the second half.”
On second half comeback…
“Just staying positive every timeout. I just try to encourage my guys. Me and Jared both just try to let them know that we’re right there. It wasn’t going to happen with one possession so we just tried to chip away at the lead little by little every chance we got and we ended up doing it.”
On difference after early second half timeout…
“I’m a senior. I’m a leader for the team. I just wanted to try to lead by example, and just let everybody know – I just try to stay positive during the timeouts. Every timeout I just try to stay positive. That’s really all I could do for the team at that moment, just stay positive. I feel like coach [Pearl] always preaches to us, when you stay positive good things happen. I feel like that’s what happened.”
On changes with Austin being out…
“No, we didn’t change anything. Everything was really the same.”
