Kentucky Basketball Previews Thomas More, Morehead State
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PRE-THOMAS MORE, MOREHEAD STATE
OCT. 26, 2017
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
John Calipari
Opening statement …
“Welcome everybody. I appreciate y’all being here. This is an opportunity for Preston (Spradlin) and I to talk about the upcoming game for charity.
“I’ll tell you how it all started. In the NABC board meeting, I talked about we were going to do a telethon. I told the board, and the suggestion came out from this board with an NCAA member sitting in there: ‘Why don’t we leverage our programs and if we have an opportunity, play a charity game and take all the money and give it to charity.’ I’m like, wow, what a great idea that is. You saw, there have been some games. The Kansas-Missouri game was the biggest.
“In our case, we looked at it and said, one, we don’t want to pay for travel. So, when you did the game, if two teams went together to a court you had to pay for their travel, if they had to stay overnight, they could not miss class, all that kind of stuff. Well, we said, let’s do it in-state. Let’s get somebody in-state that will come to us. And then it was, if we’re going to do something in-state, we’re going to do Preston, who has been part of our staff and has done a great job at Morehead. So, we just said, let’s do that. We called them and he said, ‘We’re in. What’s the date?’ We gave him some dates and came up with a date to do this. So, that’s how we got here.”
“We’re also having, you can text if you’re not at the game, or if you’re at the game, and I believe it’s (KYCARES to 87872).
“We’re releasing more tickets today. The students are picking up tickets. We’ve purchased 2,000 (student) tickets. And again, the reason we did it is, why should the students – again, they’re students – if they’ve already given, they don’t need to give again. If they want to go to the game, that’s good for us. It adds to the game, which adds to the charity. For them to get down there and do all that – so, we’ve put tickets aside. I would tell them, they said there was a line out there to get those tickets. So, if you’re a student and you want those tickets, you know, I would get them sooner than later.
“But anybody that comes to the game, if it’s a $10 seat, a $20 seat, a $250 seat with your feet on the wood, it’s going to be important. There’s no TV. Both of us said we’re not giving the tape to any fans, so no one will see this game unless you’re in that building. So, you have to be in the building to see it.
“It’s the first Division I game we’ve played this year. We’re not ready to play. I’d imagine he’s not ready to play – your team – we’re both in the same boat. But, it’ll be a great benchmark for anybody that watches the game to say, ‘Alright, when we start playing early on, how far have they come?’ Because our nonconference schedule, Imean, we’re looking at teams that from Illinois-Chicago to Vermont, everybody doesn’t understand they’re like a top-50 RPI team. I mean, I’m not sure we can beat a top-50 RPI team right now. You have to have out-of-bounds plays, you have to have a press attack, you have to have a zone offense, you have to – what if we need a 3? We have none of that right now. We’re just trying to stay in a stance for 30 seconds.
“So, you get a chance to see us. No television and it’s for charity. A great cause.
“And when we talk about Team Rubicon, they are giving money to also California. I mean, you had thousands of people had their homes burned. You’re talking about Puerto Rico, 20 percent have electricity right now. I just talked to somebody about the Virgin Islands. They say the Virgin Islands was basically wiped out. I was talking to the (Southeast Regional Administrator) of HUD (Housing and Urban Development), who oversees this state, and the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, she told me yesterday – Denise Leggett – that the Virgin Islands was wiped out. So, because it gets farther and farther away from us, you think Houston doesn’t need help or some spots in Florida don’t need help. They still need help. And it’s going to be ongoing.
“So, for us to be able to leverage both of our programs and have our fans become a part of this, and this is on top of the million dollars we already raised for the telethon. Most of that went to Texas.”
On if he has a goal or estimate of how much money the Kentucky Cares Classic will raise …
“I’m thinking, because of how we’re doing this, it’s probably going to be about half-a-million dollars. That would be my guess. If there’s anybody, businesses that want to do matching dollars to this – they want to give to California or wherever else and they want to match some money that we’re raising here, I would encourage businesses to stand up. Or any individuals that are looking at this stuff on TV and feel bad. This is a great way to do it. Call the university and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to match money that you’re raising. I’m going to give you X amount of dollars to go as a match to what you’ve raised.’ It would be neat if we had that. But my guess is about half-a-million dollars.”
On if the NCAA should allow programs to do a third exhibition for charity every year …
“I do. My thing would be, look, I think we should play exhibition games anyway. You know I’ve said that. Why aren’t we playing exhibition games? And if you play them, the university has their budgets to meet, but an extra game like this to charity, I just think it’s a good way for our programs and athletics to give back.
“It’s a great way for our kids – the telethon that we’ve done over the years, the things we do at Christmas where we bring in families, yes, we’re doing that for those families and these victims, but do you understand what it does for an 18- and 19-year-old to be able to give a family a rent check and see that mother cry in their arms? To be able to get these kids to understand, you’re going to be in a position to leverage who you are and what you’re about to help others. Do it. The telethons, the kids answering the phones, Kevin Knox got two $1,000 donations. He was so proud. I mean, that’s why we do this as much as it’s for who we’re doing it for. These kids need to feel this.
“DeMarcus Cousins got the latest (NBA) Community Assist Award. John Wall, obviously, got it (in 2016). Anthony Davis – our kids get that.”
On who determines what charities are involved in these events …
“Well, this one went beyond me because I was more worried about, let’s get the money together. The university said, ‘Let’s do this group.’ There were some other groups that I said would have been good, but if this group gives to all those – because it became we have to do something for California. I mean, Puerto Rico, why wouldn’t we stand up and do something for them? Virgin Islands? I mean, if we have a chance to spread this out. And it’s not millions and millions like we’ve done in the past, but it’s still a game. Maybe it raises more than I think it could? Maybe there’s matching funds out there that I didn’t know? Maybe the texting becomes big where people in our state say, ‘You know what, I can text X amount of dollars,’ $10, $20, and it becomes a lot of people. We will see. But the university – I believe, was it the athletic department or the university that decided? (DeWayne Peevy: Athletic department.)”
On Jarred Vanderbilt’s status …
“He was out of a boot yesterday. Not yesterday; the day before. He was out of a boot, and I was like, ‘Stop practice.’ I didn’t stop practice; I just walked off the court and went over and said, ‘What are you doing?’ And so, now it will be a process to see where exactly is he. Is he going to be able to play or are we going to have to wait? But, you know, I guess they did the MRI and all that stuff and everything looked good, so we’ll see.”
On how he goes into games approaching players’ minutes …
“Well, when you’re down to eight scholarship players, you’d probably say we’re going to play everybody. The one thing that’s come out of this for me personally that’s been great with all the injuries: Brad’s (Calipari) on the court 24/7. He’s scrimmaging every scrimmage, he’s on the court and he’s getting better. Now, is he like the guys I saw last night in Charlotte? Is he Malik Monk? Jamal (Murray)? Michael (Kidd-Gilchrist)? Trey (Lyles)? No. But, he personally is becoming his best version, and as a father, I’m ecstatic about that.
“But, we’ve only got eight guys that we’re playing. Seven of those guys may play a little bit more, maybe not. Probably six will play a little bit more than the other two. But, we’re just a ways away from being a good basketball team. We’re learning and they’re not fighting me; they just don’t know. I want to know from you in here that like me – so that’s a few of you – if you’ve watched me coach, this year, I have got to be doubly hard in practice. Like, even tougher. Not mean and nasty, cuss, but I just raised the bar and the expectation I have of what they’re able to do, and if they don’t do it we run. We’re conditioning like crazy right now. Like, it’s nuts. But when we get in these games, I’m going to have to back up a little bit because this is not the swaggy, ‘we got this’ group. They’re still trying to figure out who they are, which means I’ve gotta back up and accept some of the stuff I see – which normally I don’t accept.
“Now, the question is, can I do that? Nod your head if you think I can do that. (Reporter: You can’t.) Somebody screamed ‘no’ from over there. That’s what I have to do. In other words, other groups I was tough on, and in games when there was slippage, I didn’t let that slippage keep going. ‘No, it’s not acceptable. You’re at Kentucky. I don’t care how old you are. We’re not doing it.’ And then I got louder if I had to and then I did what I had to.
“I think right now, this group, where we are is go hard in practice, hold them accountable and then accept where they are in the games right now. This is where we are. This is what we are. Like, a press, we need to press some, but we haven’t had time. One of the players said, ‘Coach, you stop us so much in practice.’ I said, ‘I cannot let you play in a way that you’re not going to be able to play.’ I stop it. No. Instead of letting them go for five minutes and then saying, ‘OK, here are the seven things I saw.’ You can’t do that with 18- and 19-year-old kids. ‘That is unacceptable. You’re not playing that way. I will sub you the minute you do that, so don’t do it. Alright, keep going.’
“Now the problem with that is it’s hard to get them in that playing running shape, which is maybe why some of those guys cramped up in the scrimmage. But, that’s cured because now we’re conditioning at a high level like I’ve conditioned no other team I’ve coached here. And then trying to get them to play through every possession and not stop and then point it out on the tape and be very direct. I tell them. Every player I has says, ‘Coach loves to keep it real.’ Unless I keep it real with them specifically. Then they’re not so happy. So, it’s where we are in the process.
“Playing Preston’s team and what he’s been able to do, and he’s going through the same thing – his kids are going to be excited. Young kids a lot of times don’t know that they’re not supposed to and they go out and do stuff they’re not supposed to do because they don’t have any idea that they’re (not supposed to do it). That’s the greatest thing about coaching young guys is they don’t understand, and sometimes you can convince them of things that they didn’t know they could do as freshmen – like win a national title. You just can convince them that you’re supposed to. So this is going to be fun.
“My thing is, for anybody out there, let’s do what we do in Kentucky. Let’s fill this building. You’re not going to see it on TV. I probably shouldn’t even have the media come. I should shut out the media so unless you’re in the media (you can’t watch it.). How about I make the media pay? Oh my god, none of you will come. We’ll have no media. You’ve gotta pay $10 to go to the game. ‘I’m not going.’ The media wouldn’t come. You know what, we may do that. This may be a media-has-to-pay (event). Give us a dollar. Gosh, dog. There would be no media there, no TVs there. You’ve gotta be in that building to watch this game. You get to see Preston back home coaching his team. In-state Morehead, who we all have ties to. And then we’ll hopefully have fun. I’ll probably be miserable after the game and watch the tape like I did the scrimmage and just start sweating. My wife thought I was sick. ‘Are you sick? Like what’s going on with you?’ I watched the tape of the scrimmage and I started sweating. Like, oh my gosh, how much work do I have to do?”
On Jemarl Barker’s status …
“It looks like he will have another scope on Friday. That’s what appears to be the case. The operation he did back in California before he got here for some reason, it didn’t heal or whatever the way it should have. They’re gonna probably take another look in there to see what it is.”
On who on the UK staff is designated to hold him back in games …
“The good news is I have a veteran staff of guys. One of them came in probably three days ago and said, ‘We have to hold these guys accountable for all the little stuff right now because we’re trying to move ahead like they’re juniors and seniors and they’re not. Dial it back.’ And so I did. To accept where a team is, it’s one of the things that I’ve never done. That is not acceptable. I’ve done things since I’ve been here that I’ve never done in my career to adjust to the team I’ve coached. So people may watch and say, ‘He’s not even coaching this year. What is this guy? He’s like on vacation.’ It might be what these kids need. The other side of doing that is they must communicate to each other now. ‘Don’t look over at me. I’m not running this.’ The thing that happens, and Preston with his team will know this, someone says, ‘Who will lead your team?’ Early on it’s him, but eventually it’s gotta be them. I may be forcing that along quicker than it needs to be, because right now if you ask me who’s leading, we’ve just got a bunch of guys that are leading each other. There’s no one guy that’s just standing out and leading. They’re all learning. It’s hard. It’s kind of like, if you’re not great right now, and you’re trying to tell me something, stop. Worry about you. And that’s where it is when you’re this young. Now I may look at it and say that aint working. That may be four minutes into the first game we play. They may need me to be more aggressive. Sometimes me being aggressive takes it off everything, and they can worry about me vs. the anxiety of the game, or worrying about an opponent, or whether we’re gonna lose or not. Don’t worry about that – worry about me. I’m on you right now to play the way you’re supposed to play. That works sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t.”
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
THOMAS MORE PREGAME MEDIA OPPORTUNITY
OCT. 26, 2017
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Players
#1, Sacha Killeya-Jones, Sophomore, Forward
On conditioning they have been doing …
“It’s been good for us. Like you said, it’s not the most exciting thing to do on the court but we need it. We all know we need it. For us to be a great team, we gotta be in great shape, be able to play long defensive possessions and use our legs and get out on offense in transition. It’s important for us and something we’re improving on.”
On what they can get out of exhibition games …
“I think it’s just great for us to all get in the same uniform, all get on the same side, play a new opponent, get to play guys that haven’t been in our practices watching all our plays. It’s just different getting out there against other competition. It’s going to be good for us to come together and to grow.”
On what he has been working on …
“Conditioning, like I just talked about. I’m in way better shape and that really allows me to do a lot more things. Just having that wind allows you to see a lot more things on the court and not have to worry about that.”
On Cal saying he is being more patient and that this group isn’t as “swaggy” …
“He tells us he’s being patient. He says, ‘I’m going to be patient with you guys. You’re all young.’ We are. We’re a young team. In terms of the swaggy and ‘we got this,’ I’m not sure there’s any self-doubt. I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to say. I think we had—we have a lot different personalities than last year’s team and we have different personalities here. We work well together and we’re confident and excited heading into the season.”
On what he’s trying to teach younger teammates about self-confidence …
“That it’s going to grow and that you have to use your own self-confidence to motivate yourself. You can’t look to other people for your confidence or else anything they say about you can also take you down. Your confidence is—something I talk to the young guys about is building your own confidence. With these games we’re playing out here in Rupp, playing together and everything, playing in front of all the fans and everything is going to help those guys with that.”
On whether their versatility adds to the time it takes to jell …
“Somewhat. I think the versatility and positionless basketball, we all have to learn different positions, obviously. You don’t just learn the four and you learn every play at the four. I think it’s something people have been seeing a lot not just here, but in the NBA. Seeing LeBron (James) play all five positions and talking about how he knows all the plays at all five positions. That’s something that we do here. You gotta know what everybody else is doing to play off of them and make reads. It’s something that we’re still learning, but when it comes together it’s going to be good.”
On the way Cal stops practice to teach …
“I think coming in last year, the practices here are like nowhere else in the country. I had never practiced like this until last year. In terms of stopping, he’s stopping a lot to teach small aspects and things that are really going to be important. But at the same time, we don’t stop practice to all go sit on the sidelines for 10 minutes and talk. You go up and down the court a couple times and he stops, teaches and starts playing again. It’s a different style of practice, but the tempo, the pace and everything allows us to improve and learn at the same time.”
On conditioning …
“The conditioning is definitely another level right now. It’s something we’re all buying into, we all know we need it right now just based off how we want to play defense to offense in transition, rebounding, everything. We know we’re going to need our legs and we’re going to need to be able to play those long possessions. So conditioning’s really important right now and something we’re focusing on.”
On giving back through the Kentucky Cares Classic …
“I think it’s an awesome thing that we have scheduled for next Monday. I think a lot of other schools throughout the country have done it and it’s really going to help a lot of people. We’re just blessed to be in this position to sell tickets and raise all this money for people that need it. It’s just one game on our schedule, but it’s a lot more than that. I think it’s going to really change a lot of people’s lives, which is good.”
On what he got out of the Blue-White Game …
“Me personally, I really felt good about getting through the scrimmage without cramping or anything like that. Like I said, conditioning has been a big thing, not just for this team but for me personally. I feel a lot better on the court, a lot better shape, not worried about my wind and I can really play and see everything on the court and really think without being dead tired. Obviously there’s a lot of things I struggled with. My shot wasn’t falling. I was happy with the quality of the shots I was getting. I think I can do better. I think we played well together as a team within our groups and I think we need to play more consistent defensively, but I think that lack of consistency comes with a 40-minute scrimmage.”
On being curious to see how they look against an opponent …
“I think it’s somewhat of an unknown just because it’s the first time playing against a new team, but from what I’ve seen in practice and the scrimmages we’ve had so far and certain events in front of crowds I think we have a decent idea of where we are. We know we have to get better, but I think tomorrow we’ll see. Tomorrow we’ll see. I think it’s going to tell us a lot.”
#22, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Freshman, Guard
On the conditioning they’ve done in practices lately …
“It’s been a little tough, running a lot, trying to get in shape for the season. It’s going to be a long season. We’re challenging ourselves a lot. Coach is challenging us a lot. It’s looking a little rough early, but we know it’s a process. We just want to be good come March.”
On how annoyed Coach Cal was by all the cramping in the Blue-White Game …
“Yeah, we’re doing a lot of conditioning, but we know we have to do that and to get to where we want to be. We know we have to be in the best shape possible. We all understand that so it’s no problem.”
On what it looks like when he says it’s “rough early” …
“That we’re sloppy. We’re young so we don’t exactly know how everyone plays and stuff like that. We don’t pay attention to details sometimes. We’ll miss a few assignments and stuff like that, but we’re getting better each and every day and that’s what matters.”
On if it’s hard to get in a flow in practice with so many stops …
“I think it’s more of a good thing. We all need it to get to where we want to go. We all know he’s just trying to help us so we’re all open ears and ready to listen.”
On if he’s surprised how often practice is stopped …
“Yeah, at first I was. I’ve never been coached and stopped that much in practice. But we’re realizing how far behind we are and stuff like that, and how far we have to go. It’s good. I understand.”
On where they want to go …
“Ultimately, we all want to win a national championship. We know we have to put a lot of hard work in and dedication into this, and that’s what we want to do.”
On what reasons he has to believe winning a national title is possible …
“I think it’s because we’re all great guys, we’re all for each other and we’re all really competitive. That’s what you need in a championship-caliber team. You need guys that are for each other, that’ll compete and do whatever it takes to win. I think that’s what we have in our team.”
On what he took from the Blue-White Game that he needs to work on …
“Probably play hard on both ends of the floor at all times. Don’t ever stop. I had a couple times in the game I could have shot it. Look for my shot a little bit more sometimes. That’s probably the main two things.”
On having the Kentucky Cares Classic game against Morehead State …
“I think it’s a great opportunity to help raise money and give back to the cities and states that are struggling with the hurricanes and stuff like that. It’s just great knowing we have that effect on the world and that many people. It’s a great feeling.”
On looking forward to playing a different opponent …
“A lot. Coming to Kentucky we know that most of the time practice is going to be harder than the games, and we can’t wait to battle with another team and show them what we’ve been working on and what we’ve been doing this whole time.”
On if he’s gotten to play alongside point guard Quade Green much in practice …
“No, I’m usually against Quade.”
On what that will be like if they do have an opportunity to play together Friday …
“I think it’ll be fine. We both can play on and off the ball a little bit. We both know each other’s game well enough to play off each other. I think we’ll be great together.”
On what it’s like going against Green in practice …
“It’s good. He’s obviously a great talent and a great competitor. He pushes me every day to get better and that’s what I want.”
On what he’s learned from Green …
“I would say being able to protect the ball in different ways that I didn’t really have to in high school. He’s a really good on-the-ball defender, so I gotta protect the ball or he’ll take it.”
On if he’s as vocal as Green is …
“Yeah, I’m vocal, but not as vocal as Quade. That’s part of my game I’m also working on.”
