University of Kentucky Basketball Media Conference
Saturday, January 4, 2020
John Calipari
Men’s Media Conference
Kentucky – 71, Missouri – 59
Q. Cal, the obvious question, good win for you guys, great stuff from Nick (Richards) and Immanuel (Quickley), but everybody is wondering what’s up with Ashton (Hagans)? What’s his status?
JOHN CALIPARI: It’s an ankle. I had one fear. What do you think my fear was for him?
Q. Achilles?
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah, that was my fear. Forget about our team. For him, his game and how he plays, it’s not his Achilles. He said it’s a low ankle sprain. You know high ankle sprains take like two weeks. A low ankle sprain takes 18 hours. So, he’ll be fine. (Laughter).
Q. John, two consecutive good performances by Nick (Richards). Are you ever comfortable with saying a player has punched through and this is who they are from now on?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, here’s the problem. Why would you get in a back and forth with another player when you’re playing that well? So, he hasn’t come through all the way. Like you have to really look at it and say, why would I go on a back and forth? I’m playing out of my mind — rebounding every ball, making shots, making jump shots, making free-throws, making jump hooks, a big rebound stick back that he got. I mean, I’m proud of him, but, again, now it’s time to — he’s never been this guy.
So if I’m watching our game and I’m a coach of another team, would you stick in a bad player and say grab his shorts, push him a little bit? Wouldn’t you? You’d put in a bad player and push him and shove him, and he pushes back and double technicals, and all of a sudden, he’ll get out of the game. He doesn’t have the composure because he’s never been this guy. Now he’s this guy, you have a different responsibility. But he did great. I’m proud of him.
Q. John, I understand Johnny (Juzang) was ill today.
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah.
Q. Your rotation seems to be getting shorter as it is. What do you see as his role, and when is he going to be back?
JOHN CALIPARI: Whose?
Q. Johnny Juzang.
JOHN CALIPARI: He’s got to get healthy first. He hasn’t been in practice. We kind of separated him from the team because he had a virus. We just said, you know. So, he’s in one of the rooms in the lodge but off by himself.
Ellen (Calipari) made him vegan cookies last night, and I brought them over and slid them under the door.
Q. So, do you still anticipate him playing a significant role down the stretch here?
JOHN CALIPARI: I don’t know. We’ve got to get him healthy and get him on the court. We’re still — look, Kahlil (Whitney), Keion (Brooks), and even E.J. (Montgomery), they’ve got to play better. Part of that is just be rougher. You can’t have your offense tied or your emotions tied to your offense. You miss a shot, you miss a dunk, so what? Don’t have it affect you down the other end because then — you won’t believe this — we’re trying to win. So, if you do this and do that and do this and that, we’re trying to win. I can’t let the game change.
I love all these guys. I’m saying that Immanuel played great. I thought Tyrese (Maxey) was shaky. Again, his offense was shaky, which meant he emotionally wasn’t the same as he was the other night. All these young kids, their offense gets their emotions either up or down. You can’t be that guy because then you’re like this the whole season.
You’ve got to be, whether I make it — how about a guy passes me up, I had three shots, and I didn’t get them? So what? I’m going to go get an offensive rebound. I’m going to go block the ball. I’m going to go make a rough play and come up with — I’m going to dive. Or how about this? Crazy thought. I’m going to take a charge. I’m going to do something to help my team. We’re not there yet.
Q. Cal, there is so much about the way that happened with Ashton (Hagans) that looked like Achilles. Obviously, you were worried about it. What flashes through your mind as you’re in the uncertainty before you know?
JOHN CALIPARI: When I walked off the court, they had me on the TV, and I was trying to get off the TV because I wanted to go back and make sure, but when they told me it wasn’t that, okay, we can deal with whatever else it is. Again, maybe he’s out. Maybe he doesn’t play against Georgia. Then you’re all going to see the impact and the importance he has on this team. His will drags these guys.
Now he’s not in there. Okay. You want to say this guy’s really good or that guy’s really good? All right. He’s not in there now.
Q. In that way, whether it’s short or long term, how important is it for a guy like Immanuel (Quickley) to do what he’s done the last two games? Regardless, but especially in case Ashton (Hagans) misses time.
JOHN CALIPARI: He’s guarding better. He’s rebounding better. He hurt his hand, he said. So, he had to have an X-Ray on his hand, I think.
Q. What does Kahlil (Whitney) need to show you in practice to earn more minutes?
JOHN CALIPARI: Just defense and rebounding, and I keep coming back to the same thing. If you’re defending and rebounding, we can leave you in the game. He’s just got to get a better feel for it. It’s all new to him. Keion’s (Brooks) the same way. I mean, at one point, the shot went up. Kid muscled him, grabbed it, stuck it back in, and he said he pushed me. Wrong answer. Out. I can’t leave him in. He pushed you? Push him back. You’ve got to fight.
Look, again, when you’re in high school, you’re going to get 25 shots. So, you go and miss your first 12. Then you make five in a row, make a couple, and you go 7 for 25, and you’re fine. You go home. Everybody’s happy. That’s not how it is now. We don’t have anybody getting more than 14, 15 shots. So, when you have opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage of them.
And that’s like even today. The most anybody shot was Nick Richards at 13 and probably should have shot a few more, would you say? Then everybody else shot 10, 9 — that’s it — 5, 4. That’s who we are here. That’s why, if you defend and rebound, make easy plays — like he and Keion (Brooks) are finishers. They’re not place starters. The place starters are Tyrese (Maxey), Ashton (Hagans), and Immanuel (Quickley). Those two finish, make baskets. We’ll throw to you, make a basket. One dribble pull-up. You don’t have a basket, pitch, cut, bang, we’ll come back to you, make shots, make baskets.
But they’re learning. This is a process. He had a great workout in the gym today, this morning. It was a voluntary workout today, so they could come in from 9:00 to 9:30 on their own. So, Kahlil (Whitney) came in, and Nate (Sestina) came in. The other guys came at 9:30, and we walked through. The game was too early, 2:00 game. And he had a great workout.
Let me just say this. You do that every day, it may not change things for a week or two weeks or three weeks or a month. It may take two months. It may take three months. But you can’t get away from what it takes to master my craft. What do I want to do in the game? Then you’ve got to be able to master that. So that when I do it in the game, I can do it. I’m not turning it over. I’m not — I know it.
The point of being able to stay in the game — and I’m telling all of them. Last game we played Louisville, what did I tell my team? Whoever could guard who? Which guy?
Q. (Jordan) Nwora.
JOHN CALIPARI: Whoever could guard (Jordan) Nwora was staying in the game. Those two had their chances. The guy that went in and guarded him the best, Immanuel Quickley, so I left him in. You won’t believe this — we’re trying to win.
Q. Coach, do you have any early takes on Georgia? Have you watched any film on them?
JOHN CALIPARI: I haven’t watched them at all. I know they beat Memphis today in Memphis, which is a great win, and knowing Tommy (Crean), they’re going to play fast. They’re going to run a bunch of stuff. They’ve got good players. It’s going to be sold out.
We’ve got a two-day flip. We don’t know if Ashton (Hagans) plays. We don’t know — it doesn’t look like Johnny will make the trip. So now we’re — you know, trying to get Brad (Calipari) back. Can’t get him back (laughter). I wonder, if he came back, would he have to sit out? He’s my son, right?
Q. John, where you described with the young guys learning to handle their emotions and not let them dictate, are you surprised E.J. (Montgomery) seems to be struggling with that given his relative amount of experience here?
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah, but, you know, this is all new, and he’s going to be fine. I try to tell him be what Anthony Davis was in the National Championship Game. At halftime, he walked in, I can’t make a shot. I’m going to block shots and rebound every ball I can get, and I’m going to fly up and down this court and help all of you on defense, but I can’t make a shot. He ended up going 1 for 10 in the game, never changed his emotion, and he was the outstanding player of the game going 1 for 10. Be that guy.
But here’s the problem. That’s really hard. It’s easier, just give me some jump shots. Well, that is — that fight — and I keep telling them, just be that guy. The offense will come because he’s working on it, he’s getting better, he’s conditioning better. It just doesn’t happen when your timetable says.
The question will be, when you’re working, can you keep working until it hits? And that’s hard because these kids hear stuff. They’ve got all the clutter telling them how to play. They go to get a haircut, the guy tells them, you should just shoot every ball. I don’t know why you listen to everybody. You should just shoot, and they’ve got to deal with all that. It’s part of it.
But we’ve got great kids. I said this after last game, the guy that cheered hardest for our win was Kahlil (Whitney). And I looked over because I wanted to see the bench, and he went nuts. He was so happy, and he only played two minutes. It shows what kind of kid he is. Now we’ve got to get him to break through with us still winning. But he’s getting closer.
Q. John, you’ve been talking for weeks about fight and finish. Is there anything tangible to be learned by your guys? Have you talked to your guys about what the football team just accomplished?
JOHN CALIPARI: We didn’t, but they know how I feel because I’ve talked to them before. Lynn (Bowden Jr.) has a will to win, and he dragged everybody. Now, everybody did their job, the staff. Mark (Stoops) and I talked back and forth, I told him amazing job he’s done with this program. Think about what he’s done here. It’s amazing. But he had Lynn Bowden Jr, who willed them — who thought they were going to throw that ball? And if you thought it, you should have been drug tested, okay?
(Laughter).
And that kid threw that. He wanted to throw it. He’s like, I want to be that guy. How about this one, guys? He even played in the game. Why would he have played in the game? Because he cares about the university, he cares about the program, he cared about his teammates, and they all followed him.
And that will to win, just think when you have a bunch of guys, that’s when you win national titles. Michael Kidd-(Gilchrist) — you know what I’m saying — Darius Miller, a bunch of guys, Terrence (Jones), Doron (Lamb), 22 in the National Championship Game, Marquis Teague — all the guys, that’s when — but when you have one, it’s harder to kind of break through because you’re going to lose some games where he can’t do it himself.
For us, we learned from Ohio State. It’s a two-point game and anybody’s ball game with four minutes to go. We turn it over three times, take two bad shots, and they take great shots. They were a veteran team. They did it, we didn’t, you get beat.
I thought we did good against Louisville, the execution of what we were trying to do. The last play that got to Nick (Richards), the cross screen, boom, back to the basket, that’s execution, and that’s finishing the game.
I thought we did some good stuff today. The end of the half bothered me, three turnovers, come on now. Three turnovers. If you finish plays, then we’re up 12 1/2. It’s a different ball game. So, we’re still learning. We’re still in the process.
And like I said, going to Georgia, our hands are full. I haven’t seen much, but I know their coach. I know how good he is. I know how hard their team will play. They’ll be prepared. The good news is they only have a day and a half too, like us. I can’t imagine they’ll do much tomorrow, neither will we.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Kentucky vs. Missouri
Jan. 4, 2020
Rupp Arena – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Student-Athlete Quotes
#4 Nick Richards, Jr, Forward
On back-to-back dominant games …
“I felt pretty confident out there. My teammates put me in the right spots to be successful on the court. All praise goes to them, they are the ones that are trying to help me play confident.”
On how vital it was to come back and have a good performance after the Louisville game …
“I think it was vital for us just to come back and get a win. Just to show the country that we are not just going to come out and play against Louisville just because we need to. We are trying to come out and get better and try to get wins.”
On talking back and forth with opponent players …
“There are sometimes that you shouldn’t even worry about going back and forth with players, you should just be worried about what’s going on with the scoreboard. We were up most of the time and whatever happened, happened.”
#1 Nate Sestina, Gr., Forward
On his thoughts about Nick Richards performance tonight …
“Nick (Richards) played really well, his first half was incredible; he squared up in the post, shot jump shots, rebounded the ball very well, ran up and down the court. He did a lot of stuff people really don’t pay a lot of attention to, when he ran the floor, he opened it up for our guards to drive off of him and his offense was going. So that was something we were able to go to, especially early in the game and his was big for us today.”
On how important it was for the Kentucky big men to play well today …
“We have been doing that the past couple of games, just emphasizing the post, posting up hard, keeping your feet moving. KP (Kenny Payne) talked about it earlier today before the game about that they were going to fight us in the post, and we would have to fight them in the post. If our feet were stuck in the mud, we are not going to get the ball or a good position, so we were going to keep moving, keep our feet moving. Nick (Richards) did a really good job of that early and he was able to get the ball wherever he wanted it to.”
On how big Immanuel Quickley’s three pointers were in transition ….
“He is, we do a drill at the end of practices where we shoot in transition, everybody’s legs are tired of running it up and down for hours during practice and that’s the last thing you do and he makes fifteen in a row most of the time, it’s actually pretty incredible and he’s our go to guy at the end of the games when legs are tired. We understand and trust that he is going to make those shots.”
On Immanuel Quickley’s corner three pointer that bounced around the backboard and went in …
“I was on the floor, I was trying to get the ball, but it’s another big shot, it bounces up and hits the top of the backboard and it’s another momentum changer he just hits. For us to make shots like that and get our momentum going and in the right direction is big for us.”
On his thoughts on Ashton Hagan’s injury …
“I actually didn’t know until I saw him over at the team huddle, but yeah he’s our guy, he’s our go to guy on offense and defense, he gets stuff moving, he gets us the ball on defense and I hope everything is alright with him.”
#5 Immanuel Quickley, So., Guard
On his performance in the last two games …
“Yeah. Just been spending extra time in the gym. Appreciate these guys, they’ve been giving me the confidence to play great. My teammates find me a great spot so, just a little bit of everything combined.”
On the reason for his increase in confidence in shooting coming back …
“Yeah, since we haven’t had school, I’ve been able to get into the gym a lot more. Actually, worked out once at (midnight). And I’ll still be getting a lot of sleep because we don’t practice till later in the day. So that’s been helping me. And really just working with my coaches, staying in the gym and staying hungry.”
On how nice it is to know that they have back to back high scoring games …
“It’s always great to play here at Rupp. I love the rims at Rupp. You know they’re really soft. The home crowd always helps, you know. Everybody is cheering for you. So that’s really been a help to, I just really love playing here.”
On his reaction to Ashton’s (Hagans) injury …
“I didn’t even the him play. I don’t even think he knew what happened. When he was limping though, it definitely dropped my heart. I’m sure everybody was holding their breath a little bit. Because he’s basically the heart and soul of our team. Offensively, defensively, he’s a leader. Everything he does, everything works out.”
On hat to do if Ashton (Hagans) isn’t in the game …
“Just try to pick up the little stuff that he does. He’s really active on defense, trying to get steals and stuff. He gets everybody else involved, so you know we’re gonna have be an even better passing team than we already are. He’s a leader ya know. So, we’re gonna have to talk, pick up little stuff that he does, and hopefully everybody together will make up for that.”
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL VS. Missouri
Jan. 4, 2020
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
Missouri Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
On how impactful Nick Richards was in the game …
“Very. You have two talented teams, both sides have guards that can get to the rim and make plays. I think he was a difference maker in the game. Of course, Ashton (Hagans) does a great job distributing to the team. I think he was a difference maker you see from his points his production. And that was the difference, they got more from their bigs then we did from ours. Simply that both teams fought both teams played hard. He did a great job, his numbers if you look at his stats in the season and this game. But he’s a much-improved big guy to his credit. You hate to lose games, but you love to see a young guy grow like that as a junior in college. He’s improved his game his free throw shooting, his touch around the rim and putting the ball on the floor. I’m happy for him.”
On Jeremiah Tilman’s health …
“He’s fine. He’s on the floor. He’s fine”
On how fouls affected the game …
“They did a good job of getting to the rim. They did a good job. That’s what they do, they drive the ball. They teach arm’s length defense, move your feet.”
On hitting threes …
“I think it’s important. Again, you have to be able to make shots. You have to drive the ball. I thought we did a good job of getting to the rim. Nick (Richards) did a good job altering shots, if not blocking them, but I thought, especially Dru (Smith) and Javon (Pickett) did a great job attacking the rim. They have to continue doing that, will get those shots to fall. It’s part of the game. They won the ball game they had a good atmosphere, on to the next game.”
On what this game’s performance shows …
“We always need to work on something. But we lost to a good team at home. It’s not going back to the drawing board. I thought we did a good job of getting to the drawing board, we just didn’t finish. We have got to get more production from, in my opinion, Reed (Nikko), Mitch (Smith), and Jeremiah (Tilmon). We’ve gotta be productive around the rim. We felt like as a staff going into the game the difference would be who could get interior production, and they won the battle.
On using more of his bench and giving Axel Oknogo his first minutes of the season …
“Just energy, toughness, and obviously foul trouble. That’s one thing he doesn’t like is energy and toughness, but you never want to put him in that situation in this type of environment. But I just figured, why not? He puts so much work in, so he earned the right to be on the floor. So, I think hopefully moving forward he will continue to get more minutes.
On Mario McKinney, Jr. …
“I think he is working hard, again a lot of work to do. Mario (McKinney, Jr.) has the ability to get to the rim. Now, he has to continue to improve defensively. He is good on the ball, he has to improve his off the ball defensive, you know, chasing guys off screens. That’s one thing Kentucky does well, is sprinting off screens. He competes in these battles and again, he does a good job getting to the rim.
MISSOURI STUDENT-ATHLETES
#12 Dru Smith, R-Jr., G
On how well he feels Mizzou did defending in the paint early …
“Early in the game I thought we did a better job than we did there later down the stretch in the first half and then later in the second half as well. I thought early we kind of did a good job of sprinting to the ball and keeping them outside of the paint and we were holding them there for a second and then we started fouling. They started getting to the free throw line, I think they shot nine free throws in the first half and more in the second. Obviously, they’re good players- quick and it’s not an easy matchup, but we just have to make sure we’re locking into our game.”
#14 Reed Nikko, Sr., F
On playing against Nick Richards …
“We waited and didn’t do as well against him in the first half and when he’s like that and has that kind of talent you have to get with him early. You can’t let a guy take shots like he did because he’s going to get a couple in, and his confidence is going to go through the roof. That was a big issue for us.”
On what made Nick Richards as effective as he was …
“He was a physical player and he had a few jump shots he hit early that I think helped his confidence. Got to give him credit but I don’t think I played very well, and we have to do better as a team and not let him get going and have as good of a first half as he had.”
On what lessons can be taken from this game moving forward in the season …
“I think there are lessons we can take from it, but we also have to come in ready. We can’t come in looking at it as a game for the experience. We have to come in…and I think we did. We came in with energy and we were locked in there at the beginning and I think we just kind of tailed off there toward the end of the first half and I think we just have to keep our energy and keep our effort up.”
On if they game planned for Nick Richard’s scoring double figures and playing well …
“We respect him as a player. Obviously, we played him the last couple of years and he’s a very difficult player and a very good player. Our game plan was that we just had to keep him out of the paint. Obviously, he was hitting jump shots that we weren’t ready for, but we have to do a better job of keeping them off the glass, especially Nick. We game planned for this the same was we game plan for anyone else.”
On the hurdle of Jeremiah Tilmon getting in foul trouble …
“Anytime you have a player in foul trouble, it’s hard. I think we’ve done a good job of having a ‘next man up’ mentality and that is the case for anyone, not just Jeremiah. Obviously, we had guys come in- we had Parker (Braun) and we had Axel (Okongo) come in and they both did a good job coming off the bench so I think we just have to face the challenge and the next guys did a good job.”
On what is talked about in the huddle about fouls and staying out of foul trouble …
“We just have to do a better job of not letting them get in the paint in the first place with all of those fouls and they got a lot of attempts at the rim. I think we do a better job limiting them on those jumps and not letting them get to the rim in the first place to avoid a lot of those fouls.”
