Kentucky Basketball Previews West Virginia
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PRE-WEST VIRGINIA MEDIA OPPORTUNITY
JAN. 26, 2018
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
John Calipari
On if there are rules of the bench …
“The only rules I know that we have are be where you’re supposed to be on time and try to get there early. There are boundaries of what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, including individuals — how they play. Here are your boundaries, now go play within those boundaries. Guys are doing some stuff that’s not acceptable, then – you believe that’s a rule, but it’s not really a rule. The more rules you have, the more you have to enforce and more you have to respond to more.”
On how he handles disagreements between players and coaches …
“These guys, this is all new for all of them. It’s all new, and it’s hard to accept responsibility. So you know what – ‘I did, I was wrong, and I’m changing.’ The best way is to defend yourself, how you played and your actions or whatever. They’re just learning it’s OK to be wrong. It’s OK to say, ‘That’s on me.’ It’s why we did tape – ‘Stop, say it.’ (Mumbles) ‘That’s on me,’ ‘ No. Louder.’ ‘That’s on me.’ ‘One more time.’ ‘ That’s on me!’ ‘Perfect. Did that hurt? It’s not like a needle shot to your arm.’ but we’ve got a young team that’s learning. They’re trying to figure this out and figure out who they are. It’s all part of it.”
On players sometimes seeing things on the floor that coaches don’t …
“It wasn’t his (Hamidou Diallo) fault. That’s what he saw. ‘That’s not my fault. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He did see it different. Film saw it my way, but he saw it differently. [Laughter].”
On using eight or nine managers to increase the number of players against his five in practice to simulate West Virginia’s pressure …
“We don’t have that many mangers. What we’re trying to do is let them know that it’s going to be a physical game and I don’t want to hear anything about fouls. ‘I’m getting fouled.’ Like, to come over and see something on the court that I did not see. ‘You did not see him grab my arm?’ ‘I don’t care.’ You’re going to have to be physical in this game. You’re going to have to meet people before they meet you. You’re going to have to be strong with the ball. It’s all the things you have to do in a game like this. But, it’s not only against West Virginia. It’s probably just about every game we play. It’s the same thing.”
On Quade Green’s health and if he’s a critical piece to their success in this game …
“He’s getting better. He’s getting better. He’s getting better.”
On Green saying this feels like a must-win game for Kentucky …
“If that’s what they said, I’ll talk about it. You don’t – this is only a big game if we win. Then it’s a huge game. But short of that it’s the next game and it’s not even in our league. It’s going to be a hard game. But it’s not a must game. And I would say that Bob Huggins is saying the same thing. It’s going to be a hard game, but it’s not in our league. If they win it, it’s a big game for them. If we win it, it’s a big game for us.”
On West Virginia’s Sagaba Konate …
“He is a presence around the goal both offensively and defensively, and he does what we’re trying to get our bigs to do. As the shot releases, he’s figuring out where to be. He’s figuring out who to meet, and then he goes after balls with two hands. But, again, we’re playing a veteran team that all of the stuff that we’re trying to teach they’re pretty good at.”
On the one thing the team needs to improve upon the most …
“It’s not just for this game. We’ve gotta continue to try and talk more, especially on defense. It’s hard even in walk-throughs to get them to talk. Second thing, you gotta continue to create shots and opportunities for teammates. You can’t catch it and think, ‘What can I do with this for me to score and then if I can’t who do I throw it too?’ It’s gotta be the other way. I’m getting in the lane. ‘Do I have a basket or am I creating a shot?’ If I go, who am I getting a ball for? There are many times you drive and the lane is crowded even before you start. Good, now find somebody. We just gotta keep doing that.”
On if they use advanced stats for tracking things like assists …
“Well, we’re looking right now for us to pass the ball. So what we’re doing is, last game Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) had 16 (assists according to the staff’s metrics). Literally, we had some guys five, six, and we had some guys one or two. I hope when you look at it you understand that if I’m one or two, I’m not passing the ball.”
On if he sent any video from past games to the SEC office …
“No. Look, for me in all this stuff, in most cases you just shake your head, and what’s their response? What is it? For us, my concern in refereeing always has been is not, ‘Did you make that call?’ It’s if you’re going to call carries on my team, call the carry on that team. If you’re going to say your guy created the contact and leaned in a shot it and I’m not calling that when their guy creates the contact then leans in and shoots it, don’t call it on my team. If you ever listen to what I’m saying, I’m not arguing a call. Be consistent. If you’re calling a moving screen on my team, I am now watching down there. If they’re moving on screens I’m going to get on you about it. ‘You just called that on my team.’ Consistency is all I’m looking for. Sometimes it’s OK to be consistently bad. Just be consistently bad. That’s fine, too. Just whatever you’re going to be, this is how I’m calling it. If there are hand checks and you start calling them, call them on both teams. If you’re going to let all the hip checks and bumps and go, don’t call that on my team. ‘Well, it’s a different way. Your guy leaned in. His didn’t.’ Stop it, just be consistent. Call the game.”
On if Jarred Vanderbilt can be valuable breaking West Virginia’s press …
“It’s important that you’re getting open, you’re tough, you’re catching balls, you’re being strong, you’ve got great spacing. So it’s not going to be one guy. It’s our team attacking that press.”
Kentucky Players
#3, Hamidou Diallo, Fr., G
On what he’s heard about the atmosphere at West Virginia …
“Yeah, definitely. They have great fans down there and it’s a great basketball town. It’s going to be really loud and really active and a lot of hatred towards us once we walk in the arena. So we just gotta stay together and really try to dig in and listen and be able to relay calls and be able to speak to each other on the court.”
On WVU’s physical play and whether UK is better suited to face it now …
“It’s just something to work at. It’s just something to get better at. Keep being tough in practice, keep trying to be physical with each other in practice, fouling and just being aggressive and just trying to get prepared for a war, basically.”
On his game …
“It’s just a growing process. It’s a growing process. I’m trying to do what the team needs me to do to get wins every night and that takes sacrifices on my game, but that’s what I did when I committed to come here. So I know that’s what I’m going to have to do. I’m going to have to keep digging in and keep getting better each and every day and just keep trying to play hard.”
On how hard it is not to go back and forth with coaches on the bench …
“It’s not difficult at all. It’s just emotions and mistakes and that’s just something that can’t happen. That’s something that’s been addressed. Coming from me as a leader, I just gotta do better at that and I gotta know that coming into every game I can’t be talking back to my coach on the bench.”
On what he likes about his game and what he wants to improve …
“I just feel like I gotta get better at every aspect of my game. I know what type of player I am. I’m a two-way type of player. I’m a defender, energy guy and pretty much I’m a war guy out there. I’m an alpha dog and I just gotta get a better feel for the game, work on my game. Keep on polishing my handle, keep on polishing my jump shot and just keep getter better every day, day in and day out.”
On whether the Tennessee and South Carolina games prepared them for this …
“Definitely. This is definitely going to be a crazy crowd and it’s just something that we gotta dig in. Like I said earlier, we gotta dig in, talk to each other and make sure that we’re together. It’s going to be 15, 20 of us, maybe, on the bench and on the court and we just all gotta be for each other at that moment.”
On whether this team is still learning how to sacrifice …
“Yeah, definitely. It’s something that we’re going to keep learning until probably the last game. It’s just all about sacrifice. It’s just all about doing what the team needs you to do to win. And if you have an open shot but a teammate has a better shot, you kick it up and you give it up to him. It’s just something that we’re learning and we’re just trying to get better at.”
On how much it helps to have a healthy backcourt …
“People being injured is very unfortunate. I don’t wish that upon anybody. Having everybody back now is just good for us. Everybody gets to play their role. Everybody knows their role and everybody gets to play comfortably. When we had two guards, quite at times we were a little bit uncomfortable, but now we’re back to playing our role. We’re trying to get better at that.”
On practice intensity increasing …
“Practice is getting intense because we’re getting ready for a war. West Virginia is going to be a tough game and these guys are very aggressive. They’re very physical and we gotta be ready for that. We gotta be ready to not get foul calls. We gotta be ready to play through adversity, so we’re just trying to make it happen in practice now and being able to fight through adversity while you’re tired and just try to get better at it in practice so when the game comes we’re ready for that type of atmosphere.”
On how the new rotation changes things …
“The rotation changes every day. It’s an ongoing process trying to find out what players are best with each other and who doesn’t.”
On whether it changes the way you play when you won’t play for more than a few minutes …
“Definitely. It’s a mental thing. Just trying to get us to play uncomfortable. You gotta be able to play through adversity and that’s what we’ve been doing this whole year, playing through adversity, highs, lows, losses, wins and just be able to play your best basketball when you’re tired or when you’re only in there for two minutes, three minutes and just leave it all out there on the court.”
On whether the 28 minutes Calipari says he wants players to play is what he’s comfortable with …
“I feel comfortable playing any minutes that my coach needs me to play. And if he says he wants us to play 28 minutes, then I guess we’re playing 28 minutes.”
#0, Quade Green, Fr., G
On how his back is doing …
“My back is good now. One hundred percent.”
On how he hurt his back …
“I still don’t know. I keep watching the Tennessee game. I fall and getting hit. I really don’t know what happened. I think the second time I got on the bench my back locked up.”
On if he’s felt like himself the first two games back …
“I’m feeling more like myself now. My back is 100 percent better so I’m getting back used to everything.”
On what he can give the team …
“Everything I’ve been providing for them: playing defense, energy, being that leader, really. Same thing I’ve been doing.”
On if there’s anything they’ve done in practice to mimic the West Virginia press …
“Oh yeah, he threw the whole manager team on us. It was probably like eight or 10.”
On how the freshmen prepare to take care of the basketball and not get flustered …
“Just being calm and collected, really. Don’t let the pressure get to you. They’re going to be loud, they’re going to play defense, but that’s basketball though. It’s another basketball game to us.”
On if they’ve broken out the football pads in practice …
“Oh yeah, we’ve been doing all of that, because we already know how West Virginia is. They’re physical, so we have to be physical too.”
On West Virginia senior guard Jevon Carter …
“Yeah, I think, what is he second in steals this year? Yeah, he’s pretty good defensively.”
On what they need to do against Carter …
“You gotta keep him moving. You gotta tire him. Gotta grind him out so he gets tired.”
On if he’s used to physical play being from Philly …
“Oh, I’m very used to it. That’s all we do. In Philly, the park, regular, high school games, everybody is physical, everybody wants to fight some. I’m pretty used to that.”
