Head Coach John Calipari
 
On Ohio’s ability to shoot the 3 …
“That’s how they get on runs. They’re scoring over 80 a game. They played good teams. I mean, Belmont is a good team, great program. Robert Morris played them, but again, they went on runs. It’s the 3 they shoot from, like, every position: the five, the four, the three, the two. Their point guard is averaging 20 a game. They were in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Most of their guys back. They’re playing a little different than last year. They’re unbelievable. We need this game to just continue our path. You need to have tune-up games. You can’t just go throw kids into the fire. You need tune-up games, but you also need to get challenged. Like, they’re going to play the post different than these other teams have. They’re going to play pick-and-roll defense a little bit different. You have to play them a little bit different because of who they are. You’ve got to pick your poison a little bit. But they’re good. Their big guys are really good. Offensive players and scorers and passers. They’re averaging almost 20 assists a game. Think about that. Good team. Good team. Well coached.”
 
On what he’s seen from Sahvir Wheeler this year compared to what he saw from him last year when he was at Georgia …
“Two things: He didn’t guard. I’m not sure he even tried. The second thing was that you could go under a lot because he didn’t shoot the ball well. I told him when we talked about his interest in coming here. I said, ‘Well, first of all, I know what you’ll do for our team because you’re a point guard. I know what you’ll do for the speed of the game because of who you are. There are three things that, if you’re not willing to do, you shouldn’t come here. You have to be a disruptive defensive player or I’m not helping you. So, you’ve got to prove you can be disruptive. And that’s without fouling. The second thing is you’ve got to have a floater because you’re not big enough to just go in and try to shoot layups. The floater will get you fouled. They’re not fouling you on layups. The third thing is you can’t shoot 22% from the 3. You don’t have to shoot 50% but you can’t shoot 22%. You’ve got to get in the 30s. If we get those done for you, not only have you helped the team, we’ve helped you.’ And that was the conversation. I still don’t think he’s shooting enough floaters, but he’s getting to the left hand. But he probably leads our team in shots blocked. Probably he and Davion (Mintz) would be the other, which is why I keep saying.”
 
On Wheeler saying a few days ago that until recently, he hadn’t had a shot blocked in a few years …
“Then he didn’t play big teams like we’re playing. [Media laughs.] I don’t know what to tell you.”
 
On if Wheeler’s turnovers at Georgia bothered him …
“I knew that wouldn’t happen here because I told him: ‘Like, you’re not turning the ball over four times a game here. You know that, right?’ So, look, if it’s important to the coach, it’ll be important to the player. If it’s not important to you, it won’t be important to them. After the last game, he looks at me and he said, ‘I had one.’ The game before, I said something about – he did something crazy – and he said, ‘Coach, I had no turnovers.’ I said, ‘Let me watch the tape. You had to have one.’ He got sloppy the first game and I told him in no uncertain terms. I kept it real in front of the team. ‘You can’t do this. You can’t hurt your team this way.’ Most of it was overdribbling or making the hardest play he could make. You’ve got too many good players on the court; can’t do it.”
 
On how he compares to other point guards of the recent past …
“Probably more like Tyler Ulis than anybody that I’ve had. I did make a statement to him yesterday – again, in front of the team. See, sometimes I do things publicly and people get sad. ‘Shouldn’t have said that.’ Well, it’s not a lie. I’m just telling the truth. But with him yesterday in the locker, I just said, ‘Look, I love the fact that you’re holding people in this room accountable. I think it’s great. Now, what if someone holds you accountable? How are you going to react? What are you going to say when they say, ‘You’re holding the ball too long? ‘Please just pass it to me. You’re overdribbling.’ What are you going to say?’ And I looked at the team and I said, ‘You know what, I think he’ll be fine with it. But, the players need to know that we’re all in this together and we’re all holding each other accountable. I mean, he was great. At halftime, ‘Yo, dude, you’re not playing with any energy. Where are you? We need you.’ He didn’t say it in a mean way. And I stopped the team and said, ‘When someone says something to you, I need the rest of you to say, ‘Facts.’ That’s all I need you to say in unison: ‘Facts.’ ‘ Because I don’t want anybody sad. There are people sad because someone said something that was the truth.”
 
On Oscar Tshiebwe immediately looking to kick it out for a 3 when he gets an offensive rebound …
“We have a rule with a rebound: If you rebound it and your shoulders are facing (the basket)—you offensive rebound and you’re facing (the basket), you shoot it. If your back is to the rim, kick it out. Now, what’s happened is he’s got 19 guys blocking him out, and when he rebounds it, he ends up eight out of 10 times with his back to the basket. Now, last game he had one, he rebounded it, back to the basket, away from our bench, far court, and I think it was TyTy (Washington Jr.) was wide open, and he turned around and shot a fadeaway. No. If you catch it and your shoulders are facing, shoot it. If your shoulders are back to the rim, you’re a passer. So, it’s a simple—if you watch, if he’s facing, he’ll try to get it to the rim. If his back is to the basket, you’ll say, ‘That’s what he’s being taught.’ “
 
On if Tshiebwe went through an adjustment period during the spring semester …
“Well, the one thing I was really surprised at is how well he shot. But he’s just getting the confidence to let it go. So, I started putting in things to make him shoot jump shots. Like, I’m just saying, ‘You’re going to shoot them now.’ And now all of a sudden everybody says, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he can shoot.’ Well, if you had been in our practice, you’re like saying, ‘Why isn’t he shooting more jump shots?’ Here’s what we got to figure out: We got a couple of defenders that we need to play ‘red’ defense. Can’t stay in front of people. I had Derek Willis. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. Be so happy that I care enough about you that I’m willing to do this with our defense.’ That’s one. The second thing is, who’s going to be the rebounder when two guys are going to block him out? Or I’ve got to take them out of the game? Who’s going to be the rebounder? ‘Well, it’s rough in there, and I would rather–‘ Well, you prove that you’re that guy. You’ve got to be on the court. You’ve got to be on the court. So, there are things like this, we’re going to have to figure out as we go.”
 
On Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware …
“I don’t know. I’m not going to say. I don’t know. Hopefully they’re getting closer. Will they play tomorrow? I don’t know. They won’t play if they don’t practice, they have to practice today to be able to play that game tomorrow.”
 
On how they’re dominating the paint even without Toppin and Ware …
“What one of the things it’s doing is it’s giving Daimion (Collins) a chance to go. Come on now. So, he played 15 minutes. ‘You got one rebound, one blocked shot. Come on. In 15 minutes.’ Now, if that’s the case, in 15, how much should he have played? Now, I know somebody may be sad. Sad that he said that. That’s the truth. That’s merit based. If you want to play more, force me to play you. Force me to play you. Perform. And, again, perform on this team. Fight. Come up with balls. Block shots. ‘Yeah, but it’s easier if I just make a play and try to throw one, or if I can do.–‘ ‘Man, I’m just telling you, fight, come up with balls, block shots, be the energy guy. When everybody watches the game, they see your energy, and they say, ‘He’s got to be. Force me to play you.’ It’s not about anything – that’s what it is. Are we a better team when you’re on the court? Or aren’t we?’ I don’t know if you noticed, I took four guys out of the game and huddled them. I said, ‘Listen, guys, if this is what you are, I’m taking you all four out. You need to get on each other. If someone’s breaking down defensively because they’re not doing their job or they’re not talking, you better say something because I’ll take you all out. This is on all of you.’ This is learning. I got to hold them accountable, especially the best players, which I’ve always done. I can’t have whining when you’re telling the truth. Hey, here it is. You know, you want me to say it nicer? I’ll say it nicer. ‘You know, you got to do this nicer. Tell the truth, come on man. Let’s go.’ We’ve got a good group. We did an exercise where I had them go around the room and each guy took a guy to tell them how much they appreciated them and what they appreciate about them. We have a great–I loved hearing about them because we’ve got a group of young people that are terrific. It’s why CJ (Fredrick) said when he knew he was going to have the operation. He hugged me and told me he was sorry. I’m like, ‘You don’t tell me you’re sorry. What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Coach, I love this group and I really wanted to play with them and help them.’ We’ve got that kind of group. Now, do we have fighters? Do we have guys that will battle? Or not? And it’s, as I say this, all of our fans, the four million of them that live in this state and the 100 million of them everywhere else are watching to see who fights and who doesn’t, who guards and who doesn’t, who rebounds and who doesn’t. And it’s out there. This team, we’ve got a chance. But if we don’t get that. And this game it’s not the end-all game. ‘Got to win it. If we lose it, we’re done.’ No. This is an NCAA Tournament team, terrific for us to play. It’s what we need and we’re going to learn. These early games, that’s what you do. But let me say this again, you need tune-up games. You need tune-up games. You need games where you can work through the kinks and you can still build confidence and you can have guys understand what they can and can’t do. But these are the games that you really, ‘All right, what have we learned? Where do we have to go?’ I mean let me say this, there were–first of all it was post defense–and we didn’t spend enough time on it, and it showed. Then it was 3-point shooting, 3-point shot defense where we’ve always been pretty good. Didn’t spend any time. Then it was OK, if you want to press then you better put some time in. You can’t just say, now we’re going to press. They don’t know. If you think you know, they know, as a coach you are usually wrong. They don’t know. And you can’t–OK I’ve said this every year anybody that listens to me, most of you don’t. You can’t be good at everything. All right, what is this team going to be good at? I like that we’re fast. I like that we shoot it. I like that we can score. We’ve got to get to the line more. Why aren’t we getting to the line more? Fadeaways? I know I’ve got guys shooting floaters and they should. It’s their best way of getting baskets and it also opens up the backboard for, say it—[Reporter: Oscar.] One guy is paying attention. The other guys put their heads down and act like they’re writing. It opens the backboard for them, which is one of the reasons we’re doing it.”
 
On how Kellan Grady can help the team when he’s not scoring …
“You know, and I said after the game–somebody said, ‘Well you had three guys sub in for him.’ How many minutes did he play? Twenty-five minutes. He played a lot of minutes. So, then it was what did they do? He had 17, 18, 19 whatever he had in the game before, so what did the other team do? They focused like he can’t be the guy. All right, so now he’s got to figure out other ways. Secondly, maybe I’ve got to do something to free him up to give him some space. Again, I’m not watching the stat sheet. I’m just watching my team. But reality of it is he’s got to be one of those guys for us. And it’s not just shooting the ball. He’s a hell of a player. He can make basketball plays. He’ll find people, but he scores baskets. He scored 2,000 points in college in four years. Now he’s here. Like I say to him, ‘Score the ball. That’s what you know.’ “
 
On Shaedon Sharpe playing right away …
“I don’t think so. But you know, when he gets here, he may not be in any kind of shape to really do it. But, we’ll see.”
 
On fans at Rupp Arena …
“I think it’s mostly COVID. That’s what I think it is. I think, you know, one of the things a friend of mine said, ‘They only have two entrances into the building.’ We have an older crowd, if it takes 25 minutes to get into the building and do the same thing next time, ‘I might not come.’ But I think most of it is COVID driven. But you know, we sold a bunch of new season tickets. Got a bunch of new fundraising. I think the positive in this is one, we need our fans, but two, we’re still going to be one of the teams that leads the country in attendance. Attendance, this COVID knocked everyone for a loop around the country. So, you could have two guys say it’s this and two guys say it’s that. It doesn’t mean that’s what a majority of people think. I believe that if it’s – if there’s season ticket – there may be season tickets available. I’ll say this, buy them because then you may not be able to get them for the next 15, 20 years. Then the people that have purchased tickets, have given a lot of money, so the fundraising and all of the other stuff. I just see it as a COVID thing that we’re going to have to work through. But we still, we have the best fan base. If there are 500 people that say, ‘I don’t want to go, I’m too old, I’m this, I’m that, or whatever reason,’ well, 500 people bought our tickets. There are other things that you may look at, but I think we’ll be fine. Our fans, it’s just great to have them back. I’d say, like this game, we need our fans at the game. It’s going to be a really hard game, hard game.”
On what they can do to emphasize getting to the free-throw line more …
“There’s probably one or two guys that are those kind of guys that can create fouls and do things. But it’s just as we play, we have to look at it. What I’m teaching, which is instead of going all of the way to the rim, you’re shooting floaters. You’ll get that shot off every time. But you probably won’t get fouled, but you’ll get it off. And if you can make it, we’re going to end up shooting a high percentage. And if we’re not shooting a whole lot of fouls, then we’ve got to make sure we’re not fouling. Don’t foul them. The game will end with 12 free throws on each side. That’s good.”
 
On the bench only scoring 10 points against Mount St. Mary’s and if that is a concern going into Friday’s game …
“Well, their big guys are all like fours – even their sub – and they all pick-and-pop and shoot 3s. I mean, they’re fours and fives shoot 3s, deep 3s. That’s who they are. And one of the issues becomes long rebounds. The games that I’ve watched, they’ve killed the other team where they missed a shot and the ball bounced and they get it and score that. So, you’re going to have to get long rebounds, and if they’re shooting 3s, you know, they’re bouncing out there.”