Kentucky Basketball Previews Vanderbilt
UK MEDIA RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
VANDERBILT-UK PREGAME MEDIA
JAN. 29, 2018
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
John Calipari
On how to build off of Saturday’s win …
“Told them yesterday, ‘You guys, you can’t get arrogant about this.’ So, just to tell them – you know, you can’t be an arrogance here. You guys fought. You played with unbelievable spirit in the second half and you beat a really good team on the road. Now you’ve got to build on it. So you talk about it, but we don’t know until the game is – you throw the ball up and we see if they understand that’s how you have to attempt to play every game. That kind of fight.”
On if Jarred Vanderbilt’s woes offensively is shaking off rust …
“Yeah. Yeah. And him getting comfortable. You know, where he needs – you can see he’s questioning is ability to make baskets and stuff right now. But, he just hasn’t played. And he didn’t practice. It wasn’t like he was practicing. And so he only had like one or two practices and now it’s just a dog fight for him. Trying to get him – but 11 rebounds? I mean, getting every ball. Defending the way he does. We just gotta figure it out offensively. Together he and me and the staff.”
On Vanderbilt’s sweet spot offensively and if they’ll be able to find it …
“Yeah, but he’s missing baskets around the goal. We’re trying to figure it out. We don’t know.”
On PJ Washington’s injury and his status …
“Yeah, I think he’ll be fine. It was a knee or something that was slowing him down. We just couldn’t have anybody play 80 or 90 percent. You can’t. Either you’re brining it or we’ve gotta go without you. The good news now is with a full roster we can do that. It was hard when you were playing six and seven guys and two were in foul trouble and you’ve got five guys. That made it tough.”
On Kevin Knox’s aggressiveness offensively vs. West Virginia …
“Well, they opened up the court for him. It really was more of a one-on-one game than it was a crowded court and him having to drive. So, we’ve still got stuff that we’ve got to get after. But they opened up the court and it made the game – and then we put him up the court so he didn’t have to mess around and be a finisher and he did a good job.”
On Vanderbilt’s skill set that allows him to get 11 rebounds in 11 minutes …
“He’s physically tough. He’s got a quick twitch. He’s quick to balls. Mind moves great. He sees things before where the ball goes and goes and gets there. And like I said, we just gotta put him on different spots on the floor and then figure out what works for him offensively. Maybe we put him in some pick-and-rolls. We just try different things until we look and say, ‘There you go. He’s most comfortable.’ I really believe when he gets comfortable all these shots that he’s missing will go in. He’s just uncomfortable right now.”
On winning the rebounding battle in the second half vs. West Virginia …
“Wenyen (Gabriel). You have different people. We had some guys who played a lot of minutes and got one rebound and now all of a sudden, you know, what you find out is in most cases that effort is that denominator – that, you know, if you’re doing that and you’re really making the effort to attempt to get get balls. I thought Nick (Richards) played pretty good, rebounded in the second half. Kevin Knox had seven rebounds, some of them in traffic. So, that’s what we have to be as a team. You guys missed that the reason we won the game was in the second half we guarded. We held them to 30-something percent. Outrebounded them and we were able to guard them because we didn’t have unforced turnovers, which led to five for five in transition. They’re dunks and layups. So, unforced turnovers. You have a turnover that’s unforced usually you’ll have guys back. And you’re OK. Unforced, they’re breakouts. You kill yourself defensively on top of it. We started the game sloppy. Again, talked about, you want to win the game, you’ve got to be strong with it and unforced turnovers have gotta be eliminated.”
On Hamidou Diallo’s play against West Virginia …
“Hamidou was great. The biggest thing he did, he went to guard the guard – ‘I got him.’ And then he took pride in it. Now he has never done that, and I’ve watched him in high school. To get screened, you score on him, ‘That’s OK.’ No, this was you are not scoring on me. And I told him in front of the team, it was the first time I’ve seen you do it. Big step for him. That’s a big step. Why shouldn’t you be one of the best defenders? And not foul, don’t get screened, don’t come over with an excuse. The guy scored on you three straight times. In that game, no, there was no excuse. I’m guarding this guy. I was proud of him. That’s what this is all about. Everything is a learning experience, but then they’ve got to say, ‘OK, what did I just learn.’ Self-reflecting on your performance, what did I just learn? I said this to the team: ‘Wenyen (Gabriel), how did you play?’ He said, ‘Good.’ I said, ‘Stop. You played really good. You played unbelievably good. Your tip that gave Kevin Knox a chance to get fouled probably won the game and the play before you tipped in. You were unbelievable and you were one for seven and couldn’t hit the side of a barn.’ It shows you it doesn’t matter. You all worry about the wrong things. I had three calls on Wenyen Gabriel like, ‘Man, that’s the kid. He’s slender but he still fights.’ Trying to get them to think the right way and just come together and be about each other. That game they were. There was a desperation, and again, anybody that could not stay up with it we just didn’t play. For whatever reason, boom, OK now let’s go, and that was what you saw. And then we got on a run. They made three 3s now and some of them were bombs and we still won.”
On how often he reminds his players of Anthony Davis’ stat line in the 2012 national championship game …
“I’ve done it already to them but they weren’t ready to listen to it. They were not. Look, I’m going to tell you again and again, all the years I’ve done this, young kids are trying to define who they are as a player. Their thoughts are not on what this team needs and talking. They are trying to establish themselves as a player. When they get by that and stop worrying about establishing yourself, play the way you have to play for us to win, you’re going to help yourself and help your team. It starts coming together. Some teams it takes longer. Sometimes, I think it was the ’14 team where I had to get a couple of guys to play totally different, and they listened because we were dying and then they brought everyone else in check and we became that team everybody expected us to be. This one is kind of the same. You got all new guys trying to figure out who they are individually, and it’s natural. I’m not being mean and I’m not negative; it’s natural. And then there comes a point where they say, ‘I gotta stop worrying about this because I’m doing fine and let’s worry about each other.’ And then they find out wow the game is easier when I don’t worry about myself and it’s easier for me and everybody else. We are all having a ball but that sometimes you got to get hit in the mouth a couple times, sometimes you got to be right up against it. That is kind of where we are.”
On players enjoying games now …
“Well, when you step in the ring, you’re confident and smiling, and that dude hits you four straight times, your smile goes (makes face). It’s hard to smile when the other team’s the aggressor and you’re not getting after it. Smiling is, ‘Let’s go, I got this.’ Not like, ‘I’m cool,’ and then you step in the ring, you get bested three times. They want to have fun, you do it together, do it for each other and you play your heart out. You will have a ball. You ready? That’s really hard though. ‘Can I just shoot some balls and shoot a hook? Can you just let me do my And-1 tape and the rest of the guys watch me? Because I have fun when I do that.’ This is a learning experience for these guys, so having fun, you can’t say it that way because they think, ‘If he just lets me shoot every ball, I’m going to have a ball.’ They don’t – you know, you have to explain it, and then they have to feel like they did last game. The tape I showed them yesterday was the bench. From the seven-minute mark to the rest of the game, all we kept showing was the bench. On baskets made, on defensive stops, on running off the floor. ‘Look at you guys, you get it. You’re happy.’ Kevin Knox, when he walked in the locker room after the game, the whole team mobbed him. You ready for this? They mobbed Nick (Richards). And I said, ‘Nick, now you know. They all are happy for you. They all want you to do well.’ This is the greatest thing, and I talked to him. I’m not subbing you anymore. There’s a rotation. So when anybody calls you – ‘Every time you make a mistake it’s miss a shot, he takes you out.’ ‘It’s not him, I’m in a rotation and he’s not doing it.’ ‘Alright I’ve got to go, bye.’ Taking that off the table. This is your responsibility to play with spirit, play with passion. If you’re not going to do that you’re out. It’s your responsibility together collectively to make this game easy for each other. We’re not doing anything that’s crazy hard. I like how we defended. We didn’t play zone. One out-of-bounds play we played zone, the kid got 3 in the corner. We played man-to-man and guarded, and we guarded an efficient team. A really good team.”
On how Vanderbilt has changed since UK played there earlier this month …
“I’m just telling you, I watched tape and they’re playing good. Now, they weren’t starting him (Matthew Fisher-Davis) until our game, so I don’t know why that was. But I just watched Tennessee, they were down 20 and should’ve won the game. Like, I had to watch it twice, like, ‘How did they do this?’ They were down 20, and I’m talking like in 20 minutes, they got it to a two-point-game. And then they had the ball. And then the TCU game from tip to the finish they just, TCU couldn’t guard them. And TCU, ready for this, shot 60 percent, outrebounded them by 10 and lost the game. They made 11 3s. Listen, this league – nine, I’m gonna even throw out maybe 10 teams, should be in. Here’s an issue, when we beat each other, or we get beat, it’s like ugh, they (lost)? In other leagues, not as good as our league, a team will lose two or three games and they’re fine. I mean, we’ve got to get by this. We should have 10 teams in.”
On if winning the SEC-Big 12 Challenge helps the SEC’s basketball reputation …
“No. Heck no. It’s what you all say and write. Now you guys, what? I mean all I know is South Carolina, two teams we lost to, South Carolina is good. They had a chance to win their (Big 12/SEC Challenge) game. They go to Florida and win. What are you going to tell me Florida is no good? Florida just, they beat somebody by 25. I mean, we’re all pretty good teams. And if you beat each other it shouldn’t be a fluctuation like it is in this league. I mea,n it’s incredible. Other leagues you lose three and you’re fine. ‘Yeah, tough schedule, all those guys are tough. Hard road game, tough.’ “
On if that reputation is built over time …
“Well, when you look at it, strength of schedule in this league and all that stuff, the numbers prove it. That’s what they use in others, but in ours well those numbers mean nothing. I saw this one: ‘Well, they were really close games’ What are we getting beat by 50? It is what it is. I mean, at the end of the day, the good news: You got to get in the ring and play. And it aint playing, it’s a fight. You’re gonna have to get in the ring. I’m just saying for your general thoughts, maybe chew on what I’m saying a little bit and think about. Yeah, maybe some of you will come up with your numbers to prove it wrong. And you’re wrong again because people will laugh at you, so please do it. And others will look at it and say, ‘You know what, it’s right, I don’t get it.’ And you’re just holding people accountable that way where I told my team, ‘Is it their hope or their opinion?’ I don’t know. Let’s just go play another game and see how we do. Thanks.”
Kentucky Players
#32, Wenyen Gabriel, So., F
On how much confidence they built this weekend …
“It was really—it boosted our morale a lot, especially when we saw Kevin (Knox) play the way he was playing. Just seeing his confidence, the way he was playing and all of us collectively. We went on that big run defensively and we were scoring a lot in the same time. As a team, it just shows that we’re young but we can still get it done together.”
On whether there was a moment during the run when they realized they could come back …
“Yeah, definitely. Even when we were down big, it didn’t feel like we were down that much until you looked at the score. It was like, ‘Dang, I didn’t know we were down that much.’ So it was just kind like keep fighting. I don’t ever feel like we lost our spirit or anything. We never got too low and we never really got too high. We stayed the course. We just kept fighting and the course of the game started to change and started to play in our favor.”
On eliminating turnovers …
“We talked about it before the game too. Even during our last game (Florida), I feel like we lost that game because of turnovers. So we came into this game and we were trying to not turn the ball over, but we just started turning it over. When we came in at halftime, we started looking at stats, the turnovers. I was like, ‘This is the key stat of the game. We’re having a lot of turnovers. If we can limit that, we can change the course of the game there.’ “
On Calipari complimenting him on his spirit …
“I just feel like it’s preparing every game for that. That’s just one of the things I know going into every game that you can control. You can control how hard you play, how much energy you bring to the team. I just feel like since that was what the team needed, as a leader that’s what I can bring to the table every day. I just focused on that and usually the shots come with it, but they didn’t fall last game. I have confidence in myself. It’s going to come back.”
On what Nick Richards showed him …
“Nick came up real big for us (Saturday). He had a growing-up moment (Saturday) at the game and he started dunking the ball, getting rebounds. You just saw the fight. We always knew he had in him. He has the ability to do it. Just to see blossom in that type of environment was real big for us.”
On how to turn the page after a big win …
“That win’s in the past now. Today we gotta focus on ourselves and getting better. Every day we gotta approach how we’re going to get better today. We’re going in the gym and we gotta focus today. Probably got a hard practice and we have another big game against Vanderbilt. They gave us a game last time. We gotta win this game.”
On whether he noticed something different about Knox …
“I noticed something different that game in Kev when he started really attacking the basket really hard. He doesn’t usually do that every game, but I remember one play he told me, ‘Watch, I’m about to go dunk this guy right here.’ He told me that before the play. He cut down hard, he went down-court, he tried to dunk the dude. He didn’t get the dunk, but he got a foul call. How aggressive he was going to the rim, it was something really big for me to see in him, that aggressiveness. He always has the talent, the athletic ability. Just to see that right there was real big.”
On whether that surprised him …
“I was hype. I was surprised, but at the time he was already play great. Just seeing that aggressiveness from him, it was a big step for him.”
On Calipari saying the point guards played well at WVU …
“By that he just means the point-guard position, you want them attacking the rim and looking to create for others too. Just adding that new thing to our offense to get other players on the team going as well. I think they did a good job at that, especially Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) did a good a job.”
On good rebounding in the second half …
“We always felt like we could do that. Obviously being down a lot kind of sparked that as well. We really wanted to win the game, so it brought a new type of energy in the second half. It showed on the boards.”
#1, Sacha Killeya-Jones, So., F
On if the team has come down from the high of Saturday …
“Oh yeah, definitely a big win. It was a fun weekend, fun game. It’s a big win.”
On how they stay grounded now as a team with so many people back in their corner …
“We saw that part coming. We knew everybody was talking down and it would just take a couple good wins to show what kind of team we really are. We knew from there it would shift, but that’s not something we’re concerned with. We’re concerned with the guys in our locker room and keep building and keep improving on that.”
On what halftime was like at West Virginia …
“We knew that – we had fought back, we had gotten the lead back down a little bit. I think it got close to 20 a couple times. We knew it was a game we could play in and we knew we just had to execute the game plan. We hadn’t done the things we needed to do. So, just talking and trying to figure out to get back in our mindset of doing what we need to do.”
On if they always thought they could take advantage of the boards against West Virginia or if they changed something at halftime in order to dominate the glass in the second half …
“I think a mix of both. I think it’s also just that desperation and that fight that everybody on the team played with, and we all came together and played with that fight that allowed us to take over the boards like that. That was a pivotal part of the game was taking over the rebounds in the second half.”
On Coach Cal saying the best combinations have included him and Wenyen Gabriel and why that’s worked so well …
“I think just me and Wenyen being on the court, we just kind of know what we’re doing a little bit having been here a second year and know our roles and how to help our team. Neither one of us I don’t think are concerned with the stats or anything like that. We’re just really out there trying to win games. I think that’s the best part. When we can be on the court, I’ll do anything to help my team win that I can. I’m pretty sure he feels the same way.”
On being back in the top 25 …
“It’s a number. It doesn’t mean anything to me.”
On Kevin Knox’s game at West Virginia …
“That was huge to see Kev step up like that. We all knew that that’s something he obviously has in him. He’s a great player and he’s capable of games like that. For him to play like that is huge just to boost his confidence because we already had that confidence in him. That hasn’t changed anything for us. We’re just happy to see him go out there and succeed and do it like that. Now, we know and he knows he can do that, and when we need big performances from him he knows that he can step up to the plate. I think that confidence boost for him is going to be great for our team just to have that extra scoring and all that. Just to be able to rely on him night in and night out is going to be huge for us.”
On if Knox was more aggressive than normal at WVU …
“I mean, I saw the same games and I think he was tentative at times, but I think he always knew when to get his shots. I think now, just seeing them all go in like that is huge for his confidence. I think he’s been shooting – I don’t know his exact numbers, but he’s been shooting at a crazy clip lately. I think it’s going to keep boosting his confidence and keep shooting.”
On if they have wanted Knox to be the go-to guy …
“Yeah, we all trust his abilities. When we need a bucket, we know he’s more than capable of going to get one. He’s done that for us on multiple occasions, but the great thing about this team is we have so many players that can go and do that. Even if Kevin is playing poorly, we still have four, five, six other guys that can all step up to the plate, and we can all trust in, which is the great thing about this team.”
On Vandy senior guard Riley LaChance missing three free throws late against UK on Jan. 13 …
“That was crazy. I had never seen anything like that before. When he went to the line, obviously it was a tough situation. For him, I know he was probably nervous. But I haven’t ever seen anything like that before. That also means he’s going to come in and try to make up for that.”
On what enables Jarred Vanderbilt to get 11 rebounds in 11 minutes, as he did at WVU …
“He’s a crazy athlete and he just plays hard. That’s the most important thing. If he goes out there, and he’s still trying to get in the flow of things offensively with the team and everything. He’s doing a great job with everything he’s doing. He knows, right now, the one thing he can control is how hard he plays and he’s doing a great job with that. Eleven rebounds in 11 minutes is insane. That’s one of the reasons we won the game.”
On if Vanderbilt is especially quick off the floor …
“Yeah, he’s a great athlete. He’s quick off the floor, you see how he moves. He moves great. He plays like a point guard and plays like a big at the same time, so he’s one of those versatile players that’s going to help us throughout the rest of the year.”
