Nov. 2, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
On the play of the guys in dribble drive against Campbellsville …
“You know what, if [Campbellsville] had 58 possessions, we guarded about 10 of them just like we want to do it. The problem was the other 48. They missed a lot of open shots. When we watch the tape we will see we didn’t communicate, we missed on some switches. There were other times though that I said that is exactly how I want my team to play. We’re just 12 days in and we’re just not ready. Offensively I was disappointed in some of the stuff. Until I put Mark Krebs in to start driving and play through the bumps, to create the gaps you need to be creating for other guys to start driving and get lay-ups. I was really happy with Perry Stevenson. I didn’t play him in the first half because he didn’t deserve to get in from practices and all that but instead of pouting or anything he just goes in and now he earns his space, all of a sudden he gets in that rotation. We could have just tried to post the ball every time and thrown it inside but we’re trying to get the feel for how we’re playing. We just have a long way to go. There were some signs of things, we had turnovers, some carries, we had turnovers of every kind. It’s what I told you we’d see. We just have to first get some guys that can beat somebody on the dribble. We had a lot of guys that either did not want to be the guy on the dribble or were not capable of beating the guy on the dribble. You can’t play this offense unless you do that. Someone has to take command and get us started and when that happens you will see gaps open up.”
On Eric Bledsoe …
“He played okay. I mean I probably played him too many minutes. He had four assists, four turnovers. This is all new to him too. We’re trying to get our wings for him to run wide and I can’t get them do it and then they run really tight and he can’t throw it ahead and he can’t really dribble ahead because he’s dribbling into them. When Mark Krebs went it, he went wide and we were able to throw it to him and he got a lay-up and two foul shots. I just can’t get the guys to run wide. It’s harder because you have three more steps to get out there and start running but it opens up that court. Those are the kind of things that we need to show them on tape. I was on some guys today. The reason is that I want to know how they are going to respond in a tough game when I get on them. Are they going to go deer in headlights or are they going to be able to play through it? We’re going to have people coming at us 10 different ways. Let me say this about Campbellsville and why I enjoyed playing this game. You noticed what they did was how most people will play, they’ll pass the ball for 30 seconds and try to get a shot at the shot clock. So we pressed and did a little trapping because they were going to hold the ball, we wanted them to play faster. But it was good, it made us stand in the stance for 30 seconds and it was hard for us, sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t.”
On the shooting game today …
“Could have been more than 70-percent today. Again, the offense only got to the drives probably about six times. We were running it now. We went to some post ups because we were so much bigger and we wanted to throw it inside but I didn’t want to go totally to it. When you look at this, Darnell [Dodson] took a lot of shots and he made some good plays. Patrick [Patterson] needs to take more shots, we have to get him more active and more involved. What happened to him was the small guy, when Pat got the ball, just mauled him. So now he’s bounced it off his leg. He wasn’t able to just catch it and go by. Part of that is in practice so I may just put a smaller guy on him in practice to make him better with the ball because he’s been great. He played good today, just not great I don’t think.”
On Bledsoe benefiting from playing without John Wall …
“I guess, but those two help each other. When those two are on the floor together, their numbers are better. John [Wall] has been playing with that other group and he hadn’t been playing as well. When they’re together, they both play better. I think you have now two guys that can immediately break a guy down on the dribble and put pressure on the defense and if he doesn’t get it, and we swing it the other guy can do it. It makes the game easier because you can’t say we’re all going to sag in and play Eric or all sag in and play John Wall, you can’t do it that way. I think they both can handle it, they’re both good passers. When it is all on them I think they turn it over a little bit more than they normally would but when they’re out there together they don’t seem to turn it over as much.”
On the number of turnovers in the game …
“We had them of all kinds too. There was not real flow to the game until Krebs said let me show you how to turn this corner and play through a bump and make a play for somebody else. We had a lot of guys drive the balls with no intention to get to the rim. They were just driving to be a passer. Well no one gets open when you do that, you have to make plays, get in gaps, play through bumps, you have to do all those things. We still have a lot to figure out with this team and how we play to their strengths. We were trying to get Patrick the ball on a couple things and we got him in the post and the guy carried the ball or we got him in the post and threw it away. The greatest thing today is when the popcorn is popping and the lights are turned on and the people are screaming, they start playing a little different. I got to see that as a coach. When everything is rolling, who are we going to?”
Kentucky Players
#1, Darius Miller, G
On the game …
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight but we’re just looking at the best of things, we got the win. We all know we have a lot of work to do. We had a lot of break downs on defense. We all think we could have done a lot better on defense. We all agree with coach, we could have done a lot better. We all knew we weren’t where we were supposed to be at this point. I think we’re doing a good job getting everything down, but we have a long way to go. ”
On Coach Calipari’s reaction to the game …
“Coach encourages and has a positive attitude about everything, but at the same time he lets us know that we’re not what everybody thinks we are right now.”
On his play …
“I don’t think I played my best game tonight. I had a lot of breakdowns and mental lapses. I think I could have played a lot better tonight.”
#33, Daniel Orton, F
On the play of Eric Bledsoe …
“I think Eric did a great job. He knew that he was going to have a leadership role on his shoulders and I think he did a great job with it.”
On John Wall …
“He was very vocal on the sidelines. You could tell he was trying to be a leader from the sidelines. He tried to get us going when we got down on ourselves and down on each other. Before the game you could tell he was upset that he wasn’t going to play but he tried to hide it and just be there for us.”
On what the team needs to work on …
“The main thing I need to focus on is positioning on offensive rebounds because that’s where I can see most of my points coming off of. We know we didn’t play defense that well. The main thing we need to work on is talking on defense. We were all pretty silent out there. I think we will get it together.”
#54, Patrick Patterson, F
On what you think about the team …
“We obviously have a lot to work on, driving the ball to the basket, rebounding, defense was okay but there were a lot of open shots out there, luckily they didn’t fall for the opposing team. As you saw anyone can step up if anybody is having a bad game but anyone on the bench like Perry came in only for a couple minutes and had 11 points and a couple rebounds. We have a lot of production on the team this year.”
On the difficulties of the dribble drive …
“We’re still working on it and getting the feel for it but once we get it down everything will be okay.”
On how you have been working on being more vocal …
“It’s a process; it can’t happen in one day or one game but I have been working on it in practice whether it’s on defense or offense. Coach stresses it every day to be more of a leader and be more vocal with my teammates and just communicate better.”
On having a big man like DeMarcus Cousins down in the post with you …
“I love it. DeMarcus loves the post, loves scoring and loves touching the ball. We can take advantage of him every game, he’s a tremendously skilled big man so it’s for us to get the ball down to him and score.”
#3, Darnell Dodson, G
On how did it feel starting tonight …
“It felt good starting my first college game and I just wanted to go out there and perform to my highest level.”
On how do you think you played …
“I think I did okay but there is still a lot I can improve on.”
On what is the tough part about the dribble drive …
“There is just a lot of options coming off of everything. The thing you think about the most is where everyone is supposed to be and that’s the hard part.”
On does coach ask you all to be more physical …
“He wants us to take the ball to the basket more and not settle on jump shots. Just drive and make the defense come over to get someone else an open shot.”
Campbellsville Head Coach Keith Adkins
Opening statement …
“We obviously saw a difference in levels. If we had gone into this game and you told that at the end of the game we had given up 74 points, I would have said, we’ll take our chances with that. We couldn’t seem to make a shot when we got one and we turned it over at times when we needed to build on something. We were never able to get any momentum of any sort.”
On the loss to Kentucky …
“I think we made a few shots [in the second half], I don’t think we were more competitive. We kept them in the mid thirties at halftime, and I’ll take that. We won’t face talent, size or athleticism like this again this year. I was proud of our effort and I thought we really competed. That was key for us. We talked consistently all week about ignoring the score, because I didn’t think we could hold them in the mid-70s. I thought their talent would have been a deciding factor in that. John Wall out of the lineup obviously changes that. Eric Bledsoe is also awfully good. Other than in transition, I don’t think you need a true point guard in this system. Darius Miller fits in nice there. Where it hurts not having [Wall] is depth. You don’t have that second point guard pushing it up the floor and getting the transition going. That could have been a factor in the number of points they scored tonight.”
On Campbellsville’s Nestor Colmenares …
“You look at a kid like Nestor Colmenares and there is probably a lot of people who would be very unimpressed with him tonight, but he is an absolute beast at our level. He is as good as there is at the NAIA level. I really think that if we had a 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 kid to go with him, you would see a different kid. He wouldn’t try to carry so much of the load for us.”
On Eric Bledsoe …
“The extent of my knowledge about him, other than some high school all-star games, was the Blue/White scrimmage. I think he is extremely fast and physically strong. We slid under on ball screens and hand backs, and that is a big thing for the dribble drive offense, in my understanding of it. In the dribble drive, there are a lot of dribble hand backs. You drive it at someone and hand it back. When he develops the ability to get that hand back and knock down the three when people go under like we do, you’ll see a different player and that will come with age and maturity.”
Campbellsville Players
#3, Shawn Savage, G
On the experience of playing at Rupp…
“Great experience, good atmosphere, large crowd. We even had some fans of our own. It was a great experience.”
On UK’s defense…
“It’s real hard because of their size to get shots in the paint. We tried to spread it out and get shots from the outside. We didn’t shoot the ball so well in the first half, but we came out in the second half and I think we had more success spreading the ball out and playing one on one.”
On your impression of Kentucky overall…
“They are really good, really athletic. I think that they are going to be competing for a National Championship, especially with the addition of John Wall.”
On what you will take away from playing this Kentucky team at home in Rupp…
“Well, we will not play in this type of atmosphere again, so this should prepare us for anywhere we go, and any tough situation we play in. There were 20,000 fans out there, most of them in blue, and not for us. We will have road games where there is nobody for us, but I think playing in a crowd like this will help out a lot.”
#44, Nestor Colmenares, F
On playing down low against Orton and Cousins…
“Tough. Very tough. I did my best against them, but they blocked a lot of my shots. They are very good, and very big.”
On playing in Rupp Arena…
“That is my first time playing in front of a crowd like that. I did my best out there, but it was tough. They are very good.”
On UK’s preseason ranking being accurate …
“They’re (UK) very good. They have a lot of new guys but they’re very good. They can go to the Final Four.”
#22, Joe Robinson, F
On UK’s defense …
“They’re long. They’re way long. All of their players are 6-5 and over so it makes it real hard to get shots off, so we tried to run an open offense and use our quickness against them.”
On what impressed him the most…
“I’m going to have to say (Darnell) Dodson. He can shoot it and he can put it on the floor. From what I’ve seen in the Blue-White game and tonight, he’s going to be their best player from the perimeter.”
On playing at Rupp …
“The atmosphere is incredible, it’s really crazy. We came out shell-shocked. You have to get past all the people and all the noise. We came in intimidated.”
On who the toughest UK defender might be in his opinion …
“The toughest is (Patrick) Patterson by far. He’s the strongest for sure. He’s the most physical person on their team. When he posts up it’s nearly impossible to stop him. He’s very strong down low.”
On building on this experience …
“It can really benefit us. Kentucky, by far, is going to be the toughest team on our schedule. If we come out and play every game like we did in the second half intensity-wise, I feel that we’ll be good. We’ll never have a team as tough as Kentucky so if we can keep up this intensity we’ll be good.”
On the dribble drive of UK …
“As far as transition we stayed with them. But their guards are so quick in the half court it makes it a hard offense to contain.”
On his overall feeling about UK’s team …
“The main thing that surprised me is that they’re all freakish athletes. They don’t have their chemistry as far down as they need to be but they’ve only been practicing for two weeks. Overall, they seem like a really good team.”
