John Calipari Media Opportunity Quotes - Dec. 10, 2021
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CALIPARI WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
DEC. 7, 2021
MEMORIAL COLISEUM MEDIA ROOM | LEXINGTON, KY.
Head Coach John Calipari
On playing a road game with a full arena for the first time in two seasons …
“Well, it’ll be a typical environment that we get. It’s the game that they mark on their calendar. It’s the game they’re excited to play. My guess is, if you look at every team we play on the road, their highest attended game will be our game. Like, it’s just what it is. It’s playing here; that’s what makes it unique. It’s special, and, you know, winning on the road has really significance here because you’re playing against their best, their most excited, their most engaged and their laser focus. That’s who you’re playing against. I would expect the same. The tape that I’ve watched, Notre Dame, the games they lost they just missed shots that they normally make, because they’re not going to change how they play. So, I showed the guys a bunch of shots they missed in some of these games. Like, they don’t miss those, and especially at home. At home their shooting percentage is better.”
On if he anticipates this team will be a good road team because of its experience …
“I don’t know yet. We’ll see. All of these new experiences when you’ve got new teams are learning experiences. The one thing that I’ve said to the whole group is, ‘Look, there’s no reason–I’m telling you how we need you to play. If you can’t play the way that I need you to play, the team needs you to play, come and see me and we can talk it through. But I’m giving you the answers to the test. I’m not going to yell and scream. I’m just going to sub you if you’re not doing what this team needs you to do. You just get subbed.’ That’s the great thing about having depth. We’ve got a lot of capable players. There are no excuses. I always say, you’re responsible for you. I heard the other one, ‘There’s no one that’s going to rescue you. You’ve got to do this.’ So, block all of the clutter out and rescue yourself. Go play the way you’re capable of playing. Most of it’s just you’re going to go fight. I’m going to be there before. I’m going to play with unbelievable energy and spirit. My game is going to lead other guys to play harder, or does my body language lead us not to play harder? That’s all that we’ve been talking about. I like the team. And like I said, what you try and do every year is you’ve got to hold guys accountable to what their best is, not what they choose to bring every game. Here’s your best, and we’re still not there with a bunch of the guys really. Even the guys that are playing a lot. Like I said to one of the guys, ‘You play like that, you’re not going to play as much. You’re better than that. You hold yourself to a better standard.’ “
On Keion Brooks Jr.’s consistency and if they are waiting for him to have a breakthrough …
“I don’t think as a coach you ever settle. Now, there comes a point that, if you want it more for the player than he wants it for himself – and I’m not saying that’s the case with Keion – but that’s when it’s an issue. That’s not the case here. This kid is a thoughtful, caring (person). He’s got a great heart. But you’ve got to take what someone else wants. You’ve got to take it. They’re not going to give it to you. I say this: ‘What are you doing when you’re not scoring the ball?’ ‘Well just let me score.’ I’m not talking about him; I say this to all of the players. What are you doing when you’re not scoring the basketball to help us win? What else are you going to do? That’s why you have winning teams. You have guys that have a bad night shooting, but they rebound, they block shots, they dive on the floor, they take two charges. Anthony Davis walks in at halftime of the national championship game (and says), ‘I can’t make a shot. You guys score the ball. I’m going to rebound, defend and block shots.’ And he was the Most Outstanding Player going 1 for 10. That’s hard though because what he did is harder than, ‘Just let me shoot more. Let me get more shots. I’ll show you.’ That’s the hard thing – not our guys, but all of these players to understand. The challenge of this as a coach. I grabbed the one guy and said, ‘You slipped back. We worked too hard, you worked too hard to get yourself to where people are saying, ‘Wow, he’s da-da-da-da.’ Within one game, you know what they start saying? ‘Well, is he that? Or is he this? Which one is he?’ Now you’ve got them confused.’ It’s their responsibility to come with fight and play with energy. I coach basketball. If I have to coach emotion and enthusiasm and energy, we’re not a good team. Let me throw another one on: Lance (Ware) was unbelievable yesterday in the meeting. His body language, his enthusiasm. And I stopped the team. I said, ‘You played two minutes yesterday. Were you happy?’ ‘No.’ I said, ‘You didn’t even look at me after the game. You walked through. I get it.’ But you know what? When his opportunity comes, he’s going to be ready because he’s not listening to people and trying to blame other people. And he will at some point, he’ll have a breakthrough. Because that’s how you have to be. ‘All right, it wasn’t my game, but next game will be and I’m going to practice to do this and I’m going to make him play me. I’m going to make him play me.’ It’s all that they go through. The good news with us is that we do have veterans. Now, we need a couple of the young guys. We’ve got to get Bryce (Hopkins) to be more consistent, to bring it to every practice. So, that’s who he is. Because you can’t, as a coach, (wonder) who’s he going to be today. Now, do you play that guy or do you say, ‘The game’s too close, I better wait. I can’t guess. Who is this?’ So, he’s working his way through this. Because we need Bryce to be that next-level team, because he gives us a physical presence. And I’m talking near the basket. I’m not talking–he gives us another post-up guy that can score from 14-, 15-feet. But he’s got to come every day. And that’s part of the process. I love him. I love coaching him. But your question about one player would be for me, well, do I say, ‘It’s going to happen next year.’ Or do I keep coaching him? He gets frustrated, he gets uncomfortable. Do I keep coaching? Or do I say, ‘Let’s just do this next year. You just sit here. Your time will come.’ I’ve never coached that way. I’ve never coached that way. So, you’re asking me about one player; it’s all of them. I have a vision of where I think guys can be. Most of it stops them within their own mind. A lot of that is because of what they’re hearing. They’re hearing and reading. Then all of a sudden they have an avenue to escape to. It’s everybody else. When they don’t have that avenue, they figure it out. Like, they understand. ‘I have to do this. It’s on me. It’s not on anybody else.’ That’s what you want to hear as a coach. Then you want to walk in the office and look out and there’s a guy getting extra shots up. Now you know, OK, he’s putting this on his own shoulders. He’ll break through.'”
On what he has learned about his team so far …
“Building some continuity. Building some confidence. Building some individual players up to where they understand, now you’ve got to take it up to another level. Every game has its own personality. This Notre Dame game is going to be different than the Ohio State game, which is going to be different than the Louisville game, which is going to be different than the game at Kansas, which is different than the game with Ohio, or with Duke. They’re all different. We, I think, did what we were supposed to do. I think the last game I was kind of disappointed, but they just played harder, and that’s a good lesson. It’s good a lesson that anybody can beat you if they play harder. And they did.”
On playing “tune-up” games …
“I don’t know if you see what I’m saying on all these games: You’re playing against your own best. That’s who you’re playing against. You’re not playing against the opponent. It’s easier said (than done). But here’s the thing: These kids are not robots. They are not machines. They have issues. They have girlfriends. They have class. They have stuff they have to do. They don’t sleep well. Something happens. They get sick. They got the sniffles. They’re not machines and they’re not robots. The good news is you want to learn a lesson and still (win). We played Miami of Ohio my first year. You all remember that game? We were down, what? Eighteen. Oh, I remember. We were down 18. And (former Miami head coach) Charlie Coles, who was a great friend of mine, we come back and win the game on a buzzer shot. John Wall, to that point in his life, had never made a game-winning shot. He made it in that game. We win and I was sick. Like, we’ve got to be better than this. We’ve got really good players. This is going to be a process. And Ray Oliver came up to me and looked at me and said, ‘It could have been worse; you could have lost.’ When they went up to Charlie Coles, they said, ‘You were up 18 and lost the game.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you go ask that guy? He has NBA players and he was down 18 to us.’ He was such a good friend that I took it that way. But this is building a winning mentality; that you expect to win, and everybody expects you to win. We’ve gone through these schedules before. We played Evansville two years ago. What happened to that game? We got beat. And that schedule was really similar – to this point – to this schedule. I mean, may have been weaker than this schedule. That team went on from that environment, those games, in my opinion, could have won a national title by the end of the year. COVID shut us down. Tyrese (Maxey), Immanuel (Quickley), Ashton (Hagans), Nick (Richards), EJ (Montgomery), Nate (Sestina). I mean, here you go, that team could have won a national title. We lost to Evansville. Played the same schedule that this one has played to this point. It’s the same. Utah Valley. If I remember right. [Communications director Eric Lindsey: Lamar, Fairleigh Dickinson.] Who? It’s the same schedule that we’re playing now that we played then. So, it is a process, and we go through it. I’m just trying to go step by step. I want to skip steps, but I just know I can’t. And let me say this: I have not figured this team out yet, especially offensively.”
On Kellan Grady’s difference in role at Kentucky …
“There was one point he passed up a shot (against Southern) and I called him over and said, ‘The next time you’re coming out.’ Now, let me explain to all of you. Like, you hear me say, if a guy doesn’t shoot the ball, I take him out. And you say, ‘Well, this would be the greatest guy to play for. He takes you out when you don’t shoot. Even if you shot an airball the one before, you get another shot and drive and turn it over? Shoot the ball.’ ‘But you don’t understand.’ I’m asking them to do the hardest thing in this game to do. They would rather do-do-do [mimics dribbling the ball], drive, and throw it to you and put it on you to make the shot, because this is the hardest thing to do is make baskets. And that’s why I’m on him. But my point being, as the year goes on, they’re not feeling the heat of it. They know, I’ve got to take this. They know, I’ve got to be comfortable with this. They know, fall back on your training. You’ve taken 10,000 shots. We do a five-minute drill and you’re taking 100 shots in five minutes every day, so do that over a period of time. All of a sudden you’re shooting thousands and thousands of shots.”
On how important stability is at the administrative level for a basketball coach …
“Well, everywhere I’ve been it’s been pretty consistent. Well, when I was at UMass, Michael Hooker left to take the North Carolina job. But that was late in our run. Memphis was pretty steady and here, so I wouldn’t know what it feels like to have to go through that not knowing stuff. But I’m not staying up (with that stuff). Look, I barely watch a bunch of college games. If I’m home, I’m watching The Last Alaskans. That’s back on. Life Below Zero was great last night for the first show. Building Alaska is not bad. Off-the-grid stuff, which is probably where I’ll move when I’m done coaching. I’ll be off the grid somewhere in Alaska. You won’t even know I’m still alive.”
On Kellan Grady only committing two fouls all season and how he is as a defender …
“He’s doing OK, but he’s also, his last few games averaged zero rebounds. That’s hard, because one is going to bounce to you, especially if you’re playing 28 minutes a game. It’s hard to get zero. Now, one thing he does, he blocks out. So, maybe I should say, ‘Just keep blocking out. We’re doing fine rebounding.’ Sometimes you’ve got to accept what guys are. But I love coaching him. I’m just telling you, he’s having a ball. This is hard. I hold guys accountable. Whether we’re in practice, I’m not taking less than their best. The season starts to drag, it makes it even harder. You’ve got to figure out stuff. But he’s doing great. Davion (Mintz), having him back is great. Sahvir (Wheeler) stepped back last game. Having Keion (Brooks Jr.), Jacob (Toppin), Daimion (Collins). Oscar (Tshiebwe), still having Lance ready to go, Bryce ready to go. Yesterday we had a little bit more of a competitive practice. That’s an advantage for us. But we were sick the week between us and Southern. I thought we did good conditioning, but the reality of it is we lost our competitive edge. We did.”
