Nov. 12, 2012
Following a dramatic 72-69 victory over Maryland to begin the season, Kentucky will return to action with a date against No. 9 Duke in the Georgia Dome as a part of the State Farm Champions Classic. Kentucky was sparked by a career-best performance from Jarrod Polson in the win over the Terps. The junior had career highs in points (10), assists (3) and rebounds (2) in addition to sinking the game-clinching free throws. Sophomore Kyle Wiltjer led the Wildcats in scoring with 19 points, while freshman Archie Goodwin provided 16.
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| Gameday Information |
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| Champions Classic Kentucky vs. Duke Tues., Nov. 13 – 9:30 p.m. ET Atlanta, Ga. Game Notes: UK  | DU |
| Coverage |
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TV: ESPN Radio: UK IMG Live Video via WatchESPN Gametracker Live Audio Text Updates |
The meeting with the Blue Devils will mark the first matchup since the 2001-02 season. UK leads the all-time series 11-8, but Duke has won six of the last seven matchups. UK is playing a neutral site contest for the second-straight game to open the season, something the Wildcats have not done since the 2002-03 season.
Scouting Duke
Duke owns a No. 9 national ranking to begin the 2012-13 season which included a 74-55 season-opening win over Georgia State. Senior Mason Plumlee led the Blue Devis with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds in the victory.
The Blue Devils improved to 79-29 in season openers, including a 30-2 mark under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has not lost a season opener since 1999 (80-79 vs. Stanford), a streak of 13 consecutive season-opening victories.
Duke went 27-7 a season ago, but lost in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils are directed by the NCAA Division I’s all-time career leader in wins in Krzyzewski who has amassed 928 career wins, including 855 at the helm of Duke.
Media Opportunity – November 8, 2012
Head Coach John Calipari
On an update on Ryan Harrow…
“Same. He had some blood tests and some different things. We have to get him to 100 percent; he’s got to find energy. I didn’t walk out to see if he is here to practice, I would say no but I haven’t seen.”
On Julius Mays’ eye…
“It swelled up yesterday. He did not practice. He didn’t get it stitched; we should have made him get it stitched after the game. He tried to glue it, no one wants needles. He’s here today, and I don’t know if I’ll have him go through contact or just practice.”
On Jarrod Polson’s performance affecting his playing time status …
“I told you guys the day before the game, if I had to play him, I had confidence in him. He has played against good players every year and he has gotten better and better. He does all the extra work and he played well.”
On adding rebounding drills to practice …
“Just different things and I’m going to add some different things today. It’s more or less of us just being conscious about, we follow the flight of the ball. Which, I think that’s sixth grade, might be seventh grade. You don’t follow the flight of the ball, you see the flight and you go find somebody and then go get the ball. But again, if we haven’t worked on it, I can’t be upset and we hadn’t. I just thought we’re 7 foot, 6’11, 6’10, 6’9, we’ll rebound. No. When your guards are taking off and they’re wedging you under and you’re looking at the ball and you’re next to the cheerleaders, you’re probably not going to get the ball. But we worked on it; it’s going to take time. We have habits, there is only one way to break habits and that’s do it over and over but you can’t do 55 things a day over and over. So if you then switch to rebounding, something else has to give a little bit. And that’s where we are right now. I hope our offense, we didn’t do anything offensively for two days really, and that may hurt us now. We’ll go back and say, ‘uh oh, we better get back on this offense.’ Or it’s the defense, or it’s three-point ‘D’, shooting, post defense, we’ve got, there are a lot of things. When you watch Duke, they’re a veteran team, they know how they are playing, they do a great job of posting the ball, they do a great job of spacing the court, they use pick-and-rolls for threes and if you leave corners, which you guys know that’s one of my no-no’s, if you leave a corner it is automatic buried three. They put people down there to shoot them; their fours are stretched fours like Kyle Wiltjer. They play really hard, they deny, they try to steal, they switch, they switch out of bounds plays, they play pick-and-roll defense funky. Yet for two days we worked on us, I didn’t worry about Duke and then when you start zeroing in on Duke, I can’t give my guys 30 things today to think about. We’re going to do what we do, there are two or three things we’re going to do and if they expose something, what did Maryland expose? Rebounding, they exposed it so we came back and worked on it. Now we’re going to finish the Duke game and you’re going to say, ‘well they exposed this and this.’ Well, you’re right, now we’re going to get back and work on it.”
On what the Duke game means to the fans …
“Well, you’re playing a top-10 team on a neutral court. It’s going to be a hard game. I obviously don’t read or listen or hear any of that but I would imagine, people have asked me to drop Louisville and add Duke. No, they haven’t? If you’re playing Kansas, UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Indiana, those are all, they’re all hard games. This game is going to be very hard and our fans are going to be happy if we win and very sad if we lose. All I’m trying to do is, ‘alright here are the two or three things we’re going to think about against this team.’ We worked on us for two days; I don’t have time right now to work on other teams. We can’t go game-to-game; I’ve just got to figure out how I can get our team better.”
On the Maryland game …
“One thing I’ve learned, if we’re doing neutral site games, they can’t be back to back because our fans can’t, they need some time to get some money together to go to the next game. They made a choice between New York; Maryland had more fans than us, I’ve never, since I’ve been here, have seen that. I think they all went to Atlanta I would say, I’m not saying we’re going to have 30,000 there but I think a lot of our fans, instead of going to New York went to Atlanta. But it was the first game, it didn’t matter where we played, it was a team that could beat us, a team that roughed us up, a team that ran good stuff, got to the rim on us, a team at times that we could not guard and we figured out how to win. What I liked is they made their run and it was a hostile crowd and we never got rattled. We just played. That’s what it’s going to have to be like because I would tell you that we are going to be in a lot of games like that, where it’s in doubt with a minute and half to go. Two years ago that happened to us and we lost six games in our league and they were all one, two, three point games. We lost six of them. I would tell you that we’re going to be in a lot of games like that so this was a good one to try to figure things out.”
On how Alex Poythress is doing …
“Better, better. Two good days, let’s see how he does today.”
On Archie Goodwin’s ability to get to the rim at will …
“That’s why I like him at point guard. That’s what we had with Tyreke (Evans) at Memphis. That’s the kind of stuff you want, because the guy with the ball can score any time he wants. I also like Jarrod (Polson) at point guard and moving him off the ball. I like Julius (Mays) there too, because he is so steady because he makes the right shots and plays and is never in a hurry.”
On whether Poythress needs the ball early in the game to keep him interested …
“I don’t think so. I think you just got to know that if I am not competing at the level I should compete at in every possession then I know I am hurting the team and not doing what I need to do. This should be an interesting practice because I have to shift it a little bit. We have to work on us and give them some stuff because there are some stuff that Duke does that they have not seen and they could go haywire. This is one of those ones where you could have 26 turnovers because they play a little different and we haven’t talked about it or gone through it. I’m going to try to show them three or four little things so that they know what to look for and don’t have their minds jumbled. It will be a great test in that kind of environment playing a veteran team that shoots the ball like they do with (Mason) Plumlee, who may be the best big guy we see all year. (Alex) Len was pretty good but Plumlee is clearly better.”
On Kyle Wiltjer being named SEC Player of the Week …
“I just heard it. I am proud of him; that is really good.”
On Maryland exposing a weakness and Duke attempting to emulate that …
“They are going to try to deny wings and take you out of your offense. They will try to jam on pick-and-rolls and try to switch out on things to try to confuse you. They will do stuff we haven’t seen and be physical.”
On the freshmen big guys not getting some of the foul calls they expected …
“They just don’t know they’re going to let some of that go because they are so big they are expected to take that. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is. My thing is, as long as they’re letting it all go, I can take it but if it is one way or another then I have a problem.”
#15, Willie Cauley-Stein, F
On shooting free throws in front of a huge crowd for the first time …
“I could feel the crowd’s vibrations and how loud it was. It was my first time in a big college game like that, with all the people, and playing as a new center. The free throws were clutch and it was one of the factors of winning the game. So you had that on your mind and you don’t want to lose it for your team. It was just really overwhelming.”
On Coach Calipari’s thoughts on the team’s rebounding …
“We just have to be more aggressive and want to get more rebounds. If we rebound, we are going to win the game. That’s just how we are going to be able to play. We just have too many weapons where we shouldn’t be outrebounded like that. He wasn’t mad. We just have to learn from it.”
On the Duke and Kentucky rivalry …
“I haven’t heard about the rivalry, but every game we play is going to be a big rivalry. Everyone wants to beat us so it doesn’t matter what game it is. We are still going to have a rivalry so whatever game it is, you have to come like it is a big rivalry.”
#10, Archie Goodwin, G
On his experience in his first collegiate game …
“It was 17,000 plus, we sold it out. A lot of the crowd looked like they were up against us which is something I wasn’t expecting. It was a great experience and it was a blessing. I would rather play in front of the crowd like that and play in front of a lot people. Jay-Z was courtside and a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to play with Jay-Z courtside.”
On if having to defer the ball to teammates instead of shooting is hard for him to do…
“It is different but it’s not something that I mind doing. I don’t mind doing it all and I am not a selfish player. Anything that I can just do for us to get a win, I will do.”
On what Coach Calipari has said about the rebounds …
“It is more of an effort thing we have been going for. It is more about giving a lot more effort and trying to get rebounds and that’s what it always comes down to.”
#5, Jarrod Polson, G
On counting up the text messages he received after the Maryland game …
“I’d say around 100 or so. I didn’t really count.”
On his favorite text message he received after the Maryland game …
“Cameron Mills texted me, which was pretty cool because I looked up to him when I was younger. That was probably my favorite. He said how he was proud of me and how he knows what I have been through, so he can relate to it.”
On when he talked to his parents following the Maryland game …
“I think I talked to them the day after the game, actually, I went to dinner with them. They said how proud they were and how excited they were, probably even more excited than I was.”
On the picture of his family laying on the floor in angst watching the game that circulated on Twitter …
“They planned on going to the game, but with the storm they didn’t end up going. They were in the living room and my little sister Elise took the picture. It was pretty funny.”
On playing point guard against Duke …
“Honestly, who knows? I just know if I get my number called again I will have to be ready. I have been working hard in practice the last couple days so hopefully I will be ready.”
On if he will still be nervous …
“Yeah, I mean I will definitely feel more comfortable if my name keeps getting called. I really like that feeling of nervous situations. I’ve always liked that feeling even though it is a little scary. I feel like I play better when I am in those types of situations. I was nervous, but I was really enjoying it out there and I was having the time of my life.”
On playing against Duke being a Kentucky kid growing up …
“It’s really exciting. Obviously, the one Duke game where we didn’t have much success is always in the back of people’s minds so we want a little bit of revenge for that. Just playing against them is really cool.”
On whether Duke and Kentucky is still a rivalry …
“I am a little young for that rivalry. I don’t remember that rivalry as much as other rivalries, but in the minds of a lot of Kentucky fans this is a rivalry. So, I think it will be fun for them to watch.”
