University of Kentucky Basketball Media Conference
Saturday, December 14, 2019
John Calipari
Men’s Media Conference
Kentucky – 67, Georgia Tech – 53
Q. What’s the biggest difference between Ashton Hagans this year and Hagans last year?
COACH CALIPARI: He knows what to expect. He has no anxiety about what he’s doing. He knows coming into the game. He knows game planning. He’ll watch tape.
He’s so far advanced. And again, there may be better point guards out there. I’d have to watch closely. I mean, the way he is playing — that he’s starting to master his skills. Now, he still gets sloppy. He’ll get sloppy both on defense and offense. But it’s, sometimes I think he gets bored so then he has to try something new.
But I’m proud of him. And I like the three guards. It was nice to see Tyrese (Maxey) go 0-for-9. Or did he go 6-for-10? No, that was Brad (Calipari) that went 6-for-10 and got 20 today. I’m sorry. (Laughter.)
Q. Seems like Keion (Brooks Jr.) is finally starting to get —
COACH CALIPARI: He’s fighting. Fight.
Q. Through some energy.
COACH CALIPARI: Fight. You’re saying energy. Like fight.
Q. How does it change you when he plays?
COACH CALIPARI: He’s a skilled basketball player. I even saw him stay in front of people where we were getting beat on the dribble — No. 5 (Moses Wright) beat us on the dribble with everybody else who played him, and he didn’t get around Keion (Brooks Jr.). I was proud of him.
But, look, at the end of the day, we need to get Nate (Sestina) back. Nick (Richards) has reverted, he reverted in practice. And what he did was he got lazy with catches. Did you see him fumble passes in the post today? He got lazy with catches. He started rebounding with one. Wasn’t playing with the energy that he had been playing with. And so, this is what you get, this kind of game.
I told him it was coming. Maybe I jinxed him, but I told him, you play how you train. And so, he and EJ, we need them both. And it’s not — if they score, great. They can score. But they’ve got to fight and rebound and block shots and be active and talk.
This stuff is hard here. It’s easier to just say let me shoot more balls. Well, it’s not how this stuff works. It’s not how you elevate your game. But Keion (Brooks Jr.) did today.
Q. How do you think the team is playing defensively?
COACH CALIPARI: I’ll have to watch the tape, but in the second half I thought we did some good stuff. First half, I think at one point they were shooting 60 percent, 65, to start the game. But every team comes in here, high energy, flying around, nothing to lose. The rim’s big.
And then our job is to keep at it, keep at it, keep at it. And now all of a sudden it catches up. That’s kind of what happened — if you noticed, we changed how we warmed up at halftime.
What was happening is the start of our games and even the second quarter of our games, the start of the second half, everything was dipping. So, then it’s, like, what in the world is that about? And so, we tried a different warm-up today.
We went into — and they all knew. The players knew, we warmed up a little different. I think it helped us with our start. But it ended up being 6-6, even though we got the thing to 12. And then all of a sudden you look around and it’s 6-6.
Q. Are you seeing the strides out of this team that you want to see this time of year?
COACH CALIPARI: Yeah, I guess. It’s hard. I think Josh (Pastner), the job he’s doing, they’re playing zone. They’re mixing up their defense. It’s hard to go 40 minutes against a zone. It just is.
And especially when you’re a team that’s not going to try to shoot 35 3s. So, the teams that have hurt them shot 30, 35 3s and made 20, 15, eight. We don’t play that way. Do I want to shoot more 3s? Yeah. I thought Immanuel (Quickley) passed up a couple and drove and ended up getting in trouble when he had a better shot on the first catch.
I thought Kahlil (Whitney) had a 3 in the far corner away from our bench, too. And he drives into really nothing and he had to pass it. I’d rather him shoot the ball.
But the biggest — I’m telling you, folks, there’s two things, fight and finish. How we finish games is going to be vital because we’re going to be in a bunch of close games. We are. We’re not going to be 25 points better than people.
And as a matter of fact, we’re going to play some people coming up who may be 20 points better than us. Then it’s, like, okay, do we have any fight in us to even this stuff out, because that’s what it’s going to be. And then we’ve got to be a better team to make sure we can survive.
Q. (Tyrese) Maxey didn’t make a shot, yet he had rebounds, he had assists. What do you think about just the way he stayed competitive and in the game despite not making —
COACH CALIPARI: Again, he’s just learning and, again, I keep telling him, you cannot avoid contact and try to flip balls. You’re not playing St. Aloysius anymore. These dudes, when you go like that, they block it. And if you go like that, the official’s not going to call a foul. He’s not.
If you go into him like he did the two times he went into them, they will call that a foul. He’s never played that way. Everything is a throw and a flip. They give him no call. So, we’ve been all over it, and he’s responded.
He’ll text me, keep coaching me, man. Keep coaching me. And believe me, I’m, like, people that have watched us in practice know I’m just holding him to a high standard and holding him accountable.
Q. When you were talking about Nick (Richards), when you look at his line today — 12 points, four rebounds, four blocks, 5-for-6 — in the first two years you probably would have been in here jumping up and down if he gave you that kind of line. What is he not doing exactly that you think he’ll do better and you just raised the bar than much for him?
COACH CALIPARI: I want him to be the best big man in the country. You know why? Because I truly believe he’s capable of it. Who’s his size with his athleticism? But if you don’t fight — if there’s talent but you don’t fight and the other team is a better team, they play together better, you’re losing. I don’t care how talented you are.
If you’ll fight and play on a team that plays together, he could be the best big man in the country. I’ve had people say why didn’t he get more rebounds? Why doesn’t he get more? Well, again, shot goes up, he runs versus I create contact. Shot goes up, I reach with one, I never bring him in, versus I’m going after every ball with two.
Holding him accountable, he reverted last week. I love him. He’s going to be fine.
But, look, the only way these kids get better, they have to fail. They have to have adversity thrown at them. It’s the only way you grow.
Now, then you evaluate yourself, self-evaluation, and you’re honest or, folks, you’re delusional. The delusional guy says if you let me shoot more, I’ll be better, I’ll be fine. You’re being delusional. This has nothing to do with your shots. As a matter of fact, most of these guys I’m telling them to shoot more.
Q. I know you talked about what you saw from Hagans, but with Immanuel Quickley, how impressed were you to see him have another career high in scoring?
COACH CALIPARI: No, how did you guys — did you know I started three guards? Did you guys even notice that? Eric (Lindsey) told you? (Laughter.)
So, I went with that lineup. Now, the problem is it may push Johnny (Juzang) and Kahlil (Whitney) a little bit back and I don’t want to do that, which is why I wasn’t starting him early. But if those three deserve to play together, it is what it is. What, am I going to cheat one of those guys because I’m trying to get — no, like, Coach (John) Wooden called me in 2010. He was talking about my team. I called him. And I said, Coach, are you watching my team? And he said, yeah. Tell me what you think. We’re not an execution team. This is my 2010 team.
He said, you’re not an execution team because you try to play nine guys. I played six. And you either earn the right to play in practice or you didn’t play. And the other guy did. That was from Coach (John) Wooden. That’s what he said to me. You’re playing nine. You’re never really going to be a great team.
And he said, but times have changed, and I understand why you’re doing it. You’re trying to bring everybody along. Kids transfer. They didn’t with us. They were there. I had guys had to sit three years, in their fourth year become an NBA player. It’s changed. And he’s right.
The best teams I’ve coached I’ve played five and six guys. This team I’m hoping I can play nine.
Q. Would you talk about the fight, the fight these guys had to have. Georgia Tech put up a pretty good fight also, especially the first half. What were the adjustments —
COACH CALIPARI: Is the ambassador from London here? Where? I need to see the queen, please. We’re coming over next year. Do you know we’re coming over? Can you please let her know that I am the biggest fan? I read everything. I watch everything I can. Amazing, amazing woman.
She’s going to say who is this guy? (Laughter) She’ll say, where is he from, Italy? What’s his name?
Q. The adjustments at half that you made —
COACH CALIPARI: Brad (Calipari) had 20 tonight. He was 6-for-10 from the 3-point line, by the way.
Q. How did Brad do on defense? The first half —
COACH CALIPARI: I’m a father. I wasn’t watching him play on defense. All I said every time he gets the ball, shoot. If they don’t throw him the ball, pass it to him. If they sub him out of the game? [Off mic].
No, I go get something to eat. I’m not watching the game. He’s not in. But anyway —
Q. About the fight.
COACH CALIPARI: They stayed in the game. They didn’t go away until there was one stretch where we pushed it out. But let me say this, they missed three open 3s, wide open, that they don’t normally miss. Those three, if they make those three, they may have beat us.
You’re sitting there with where we are right now, at times you’re just trying to get out of the gym. Let’s just get out of here. But look, we’re a work in progress. Every year we go through the same thing. I forget how hard it is. I forget what did it look like in March, yeah, if you remember Tyler Herro couldn’t make a shot in November, do you remember that, and he’s scoring 30 in the NBA against NBA teams.
He couldn’t make a shot in November. And then all of a sudden it just changes. And the light will go off on these guys. I just gotta be there in form and get them to understand that I can’t do it for you. I don’t have a magic wand. You’re going to have to fight.
If you think it’s something else, you’re probably going to stay in the same position you’re in. If you learn to fight in battle, you’ll see stuff change.
The hardest thing is the skill stuff. The easiest thing is playing hard. Fighting. Great energy. Effort. No. Truly that’s the hardest part of this. We had Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He was drafted number two because of all that stuff. Because no one wants to be that. They want to be the guy that throws, passes and shoots balls and jogs around, thumbs up, makes a 3 and goes like that.
They don’t want to be the guy diving on the floor, taking charges, fighting for rebounds with guys that are bigger and getting hit in the face with an elbow. I don’t want that. Just let me have more shots.
We’re going through a little bit of that. And I’ve got a great group of guys, if you watched us practice you walk out and say he’s got great guys that want to be coached.
Q. John, this is your 10th year-
COACH CALIPARI: 11th year. And it’s dog years here. So, it’s not normal years. So, I’m at 77.
Q. I don’t think I’ve heard you talk about fight so much with your other teams. Is this a reflection of this team’s personality?
COACH CALIPARI: Yeah, because those teams fought. Do you think Ashton (Hagans) fights?
Q. Absolutely.
COACH CALIPARI: So, what if I had a team full of guys that played with his kind of fight? How does Ashton (Hagans) shoot the ball? But he fights. He’s getting better, though, isn’t he? Making free throws, making some shots. All that, if you fight, the teams we have coming up, I’m telling you, the best teams in college basketball are the teams that fight. They’re not the skilled — they’ve got talent. They wouldn’t be, one, two, three, four, five in the country if they didn’t.
If this team — I said it how long ago? — if we fight, we’ll be fine. I’m trying to go fight and finish. How do we finish off games? Fight and finish. It’s all I’m talking about. That’s all I’m addressing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Men’s Basketball
Kentucky vs. Georgia Tech
December. 14, 2019
Rupp Arena – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#5 Immanuel Quickley, G, So.
On what he thought of the team’s performance today and if the right strides are being made …
“Yeah definitely. We’re definitely not where we want to be thought. I think toward February and March we’ll see even more strides than now so we’re just trying to get toward March and hopefully make a big tournament run.”
On if he liked the three guards starting …
“Loved it. I think we’re really versatile when we play three guards. Me, Ashton (Hagans), and Tyrese (Maxey) are really good offensively and defensively so you don’t really lose anything when you go three guards.”
On Keion (Brooks Jr.) getting better …
“Keion (Brooks Jr.) has been hooping. He’s really tough and more athletic than anybody who steps on the floor, so he definitely gives you something that a lot of guys and teams don’t have.”
On what he thinks is the next step for this team …
“Next step for this team is getting everybody to play well. Some guys are playing well but some guys are just trying to find their way. Some of our freshman and stuff. Once we all get playing well, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”
#12 Keion Brooks, F, Fr.
On places inside the court where he feels most comfortable …
“I know my spots where I’m most comfortable, I try to stay in those spots, and I try to stay out of spots where I’m not as comfortable as I usually am. So just I try to find an open spot where I can rely on my training and my skill to make the shot.”
On comfort level with the flow of the game now compared to high school …
“It’s night and day. First coming here, I was a little confused and lost at times but with practice, games, and constant repetition I’m really where I’m supposed to be on the floor.”
On how he feels about the upcoming games against highly ranked teams …
“I’m up for the challenge to see how good we are. Georgia Tech was another good game that could really test us to see how far we’ve come from the beginning of the season until now, so I’m up for it and excited to stack up and see how good we are.”
#2 Ashton Hagans, G, So.
On how he played today …
“I agree with you on that, too. I had a lot of forced turnovers that I should not have had, but I just tried to do what I could do to get my team a win.”
On how valid Coach Calipari’s observation is …
“I wouldn’t say I get bored. I just lose pieces of the game at moments, but I wouldn’t say bored. I just try to go out there and just keep moving, keep attacking, and try to get everybody involved.”
On where he thinks the team is at right now …
“I think we are at our midway point right now. We reaching to the point we’re trying to get right now. We just got to all stay together, but you know it’s coming along. We got one of our biggest pieces out right now, one of the main focuses on this team out, so once he’s back, we going to be all tied in and ready to fight. Overall, I think we’re getting there and got to keep fighting.”
On if he was looking to improve on his offensive game coming into the year …
“Yeah, overall. I just want to let it come to me, just keep playing on the defensive end, talk to the guys, try to be more of a leader out there. I try not to focus on the offensive end at all really too much, I just try to come as much as possible.”
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
UK vs. GEORGIA TECH
Dec. 14, 2019
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
Georgia Tech Head Coach Josh Pastner Quotes
Opening Statement …
“First of all, obviously Kentucky is a great basketball team. I think Ashton Hagans has just gotten better and better and better. He’s really good, and from where he was in a junior, senior in high school, because we recruited him, he’s just continued to get better and better. Which is a great credit to Coach Calipari and his staff on the development of Ashton Hagans. I thought he was a big difference today. The biggest part of the game was 44-41 and we left 11 points on the board. That’s just the game. Michael Devoe, who’s been great all season for us for the most part, one of the leading three-point shooters in the country, had two wide open threes and he missed both. Khalid Moore had one that went in and out. Literally went down and out. Asanti Price had a layup that we missed. That’s 11 points, and you’re playing a really good team on the road. We’re missing two of our better players with Jose Alvarado and Jordan Usher. You just don’t have any margin for error not to score in those type of situations when you get those type of looks. That was the game right there. I thought our guys executed our game plan. We put ourselves in the position to win the game defensively. We are who we are defensively. We are a very good defensive team, and we do a good job with what we do defensively. We did a good job on the glass limiting our goals to keep them under nine offensive rebounds, which we did. We missed some threes in the second half, we missed some free throws and Kentucky made their free throws. That was the difference right there.”
On Ashton Hagans …
“He was a pro tonight. He was a first-round draft pick the way he played tonight. He’s gotten better and continued to improve. He’s phenomenal young man and he’s just a good person. He’s got a good spirit about him. I’m really high on Ashton, I think he’s really, really good and he continues to get better each game. As each game has gone by, he’s shooting the ball better. So, credit to him. I told Coach Calipari when we were at Memphis, Georgia Tech shooting free throws like we did at Memphis. They’re shooting free throws like… as much as you won at Memphis, you might have won 100 percent of his games the way they’re shooting the free throws. I think they’re one of the two or three best in the country. That’s a big difference in games when it’s a possession by possession game, being able to make those free throws. That’s a big deal. But, Hagans is a stud and I think he’s a first-round draft pick.”
On going from being Coach Cal’s assistant to being his opponent …
“The only reason I got the job at Memphis is because nobody wanted the job at Memphis because nobody wanted to follow Coach Calipari at Memphis because he had the most wins in a four-year period his last four years. He won close to 95 percent of his games. So, when he left, I just happened to be the last man standing. They had to hire somebody and eventually they just asked me if I wanted to job. But, I was all set to come to Kentucky with Coach Cal. I was very fortunate. I got really lucky a door opened up. I was at the right place at the right time. I don’t forget that. I understand an opportunity was there and allowed that need to be an opportunity to be able to coach at an incredible institution like Memphis and then an incredible institution like Georgia Tech and to be able to coach in the ACC. I’m very fortunate and thankful and extremely grateful to Coach Cal for allowing me to come to his staff which allowed me to get the job at Memphis.”
On what Keion Brooks provides…
“Yeah, Keion Brooks was solid. But my whole thing is, when we followed the game plan, there was no issue. Ashton Hagans was—the biggest difference in the game today was them making their free throws, but also the 11 points we left on the board when we were 44-41 late in the second half, or middle of the second. That’s the game. And Keion—they’ve got a bunch of good players. The eight that play are all high-level guys. They’re all going to play in the NBA. But obviously, the guy that’s a sure-fire first round pick, I assume, is Ashton Hagans. And he was really, really good today. But, we followed our game plan, we did our job and we put ourselves in a position to win; we just—there was that segment, there was 11 points left on the board and we don’t have that margin for error against a really good team like Kentucky. You’re just not in a position to do that.”
On his very first meeting with Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari…
“Yeah, I mean, I knew Coach Calipari during recruiting and all that. And, I really mean this: A couple people, Mr. (Jerry) Tipton called me and John—there you are, okay—and (Calipari will) deny it but when he retires, he will not go into TV. He will go for politics and I really believe he’s going to run—he was going to possibly run for the President of the United States. And if not that, he’s going to go for governor or senator. He’s going to come up here and deny it, but mark my words. And he just—you know, he has that charisma, he has that energy to do it, and he’s always been interested in it. And so, I’m telling you, when he does it—and he can deny it now—he will end up running for it. And I don’t know which part or anything like that, but he’s got that ability. He’s a genius marketer. He’s obviously a genius of a basketball coach—one of the greatest to ever do it. Regardless of sport, he’s one of the greatest coaches ever. It wouldn’t matter if he was running a slice-by-slice pizza place down the street. It would become a multimillion-dollar company. He just has something about that, that, you know, the ability to be very successful and he happened to choose basketball. And he would’ve been successful no matter what he does.
On the issue with translating turnovers into points…
“The whole game was that second half where we left 11 points on the board. Michael Devoe was wide open. Incredible look. If he gets a hundred of those, he’s got to shoot a hundred of them. And Khalid Moore was wide open and the ball went in the hoop and literally rolled out, and then we missed the layup. So that’s the basketball game. You know, if you make—just, and your best shooter and one of the best shooters in the country has that open of a shot, that segment was the entire basketball game. We make a shot here or there, it could be a different outcome in the end.
On whether he’d take a job offer from Kentucky after John Calipari finishes coaching…
“I just hope to beat Ball State on Wednesday. That’s my only thought process is to beat Ball State. But I will tell you—look, Coach Calipari is going to be here for a while obviously. I mean, I think if he goes for another 10, 15 years, he could end up being the winningest coach. But whoever follows him at UMass, whoever follows him at Memphis like I did, whoever follows him at Kentucky is going to have a hard job. Not only has he won games, but stuff he’s done with the community and everything else—he’s just elite to do what he’s done. I just really hope we beat Ball State on Wednesday. That’s my only focus.”
