John Calipari
Wenyen Gabriel
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Kevin Knox
Nashville, Tennessee
Kentucky – 77, Tennessee – 72
JOHN CALIPARI: We got up 17, and then we gave up three threes to Schofield. Told them at halftime it’s good because this is what’s going to happen in the next tournament, something like this. Now let’s figure out what we’re about. And I said, and they’re not done.
So they start the second half and make another run at us, and I’ve got to call a time-out right before the 16-minute mark, and this team responded. They responded.
Every situation and experience is new to them, so you don’t really know what they’re going to do, and we need as many of these kinds of things as we can going into next weekend. So proud of them. Really proud of them.
How about Sacha? Look, P.J. and Sacha and even Quade — Quade did some good stuff today. But Sacha just had to wait his turn, and he was ready for it. Big play; that stick back was huge.
Q. For Kevin and Wenyen, just what has Shai meant to this team the last few weeks?
KEVIN KNOX: Shai has the ball in his hands a lot during the game, and he’s really grown over the year and be able to get his points and get other people involved. I think right now he’s playing his best basketball because he’s one of our leaders. He knows he’s getting better with the decision-making.
Late in the game, he made some huge plays, knocked down some free throws, and found people. He’s also doing it on the defensive end. He’s really good defensively, and he’s playing really well right now.
WENYEN GABRIEL: Shai makes a bunch of big plays for us. He controlled the offense. He has a ton of energy all over the court. Just show his leadership on the court, feeds off the rest of us, and we’re just really proud of him.
Q. Kevin, how are you all able to pull this off without your best rebounder, Jarred Vanderbilt?
KEVIN KNOX: We just know how much he really wanted to play, and he really motivated us. Cal challenged some of us to step up and rebound and play with energy. A lot of us stepped up. Sacha played really well this whole tournament. P.J. played well. Wenyen played well. Everyone stepped up and tried to do something that Jarred couldn’t. We wanted to win this for him because we know how much he really wanted to be on the court.
Q. For Wenyen and Kevin, you guys lost to Tennessee twice in the regular season. How good did it feel to win this one here against them?
WENYEN GABRIEL: Definitely felt good for us. I know that it was a big game for us. We got swept in the series this season. Obviously, that was on our mind. But we tried to play with a clear mind, play our hearts out. We were really trying to do this to get ready for the NCAA Tournament. Playing without Vanderbilt, we really had to dig in deep, and I know he was wishing he was on the court with us.
KEVIN KNOX: Tennessee is a really good team. They got us twice in the regular season. We knew this game we really wanted to get them back. We came out with energy from the start and went up with a huge lead. They made a run, and we just made some winning plays down the stretch. Next thing I know, we got the win. We really wanted this one as a team and individually because we know they got us twice during the regular season.
Q. It seems all season long people tried to make comparisons to this team, a 13, 14 team that had lost ten games in the regular season before going on to the national title game. Do you feel like that comparison is there or is it their expectations for these guys heading into the tournament?
JOHN CALIPARI: I don’t try to compare teams. You had Aaron and Andrew and Julius and James and Willie and Dakar. We had good guys. You’re talking about a bunch of guys that are playing still.
This team, when you look at it, this is the youngest team that I’ve ever coached. The things that they go through and the stuff that I’ve got to talk to them about are more than just basketball. It’s about how they think and how they respond, their self-discipline and trying to prepare them.
That team I had to, but we — you know, Alex was on that team. We had some veteran guys that could talk to them.
And Wenyen and Sacha playing the way they are now, I’m just happy for them. They’re all different. I knew this was going to be a tough deal. I knew that we really didn’t know how to work. We didn’t know how to be together. We didn’t — I had to change things on how we were playing. I guessed wrong. I wanted to do dribble drive. Nope, not with this team. This team is playing like my UMass teams. And so we had to do different things. We had injuries. We had Jarred, and now Jarred’s not here.
But these kids have — the biggest thing I want to tell you, great kids, and their parents let me coach them. They trust me with their child. So when you have that, you’ve got a chance, and they’re good players. Obviously, we wouldn’t have won this tournament.
Q. As Wenyen said, how they feed off the leadership of Shai, do you notice that from your vantage point on the court, and what does he mean to this team?
JOHN CALIPARI: Here’s what he is. 7:00 in the morning, he’ll go in and get shots up, goes to class. Never late for a class, doesn’t miss. He then will come up and watch film with the coaches. He wants to know where his turnovers are, what he’s got to do better, what do they say, so we can see it. Never misses a tutor. In the weight room, he’s the best in the weight room. On the court, when we practice, he brings it every day. And he’s blossomed because of it. What a great lesson for the rest of my players.
Do you wonder why he’s doing what he’s doing? He didn’t come in as our best player. This is his approach. How about you? I’m tired. Excuse me? We think he’s got a different body than you have. So these guys respect what he’s doing.
Now, the other side of it is he’s not been in this position much, where you’re — we’re just putting the ball in his hands at times. He will miss guys sometimes, but he’s gotten so much better. But it’s taken film and practice and talks and one-on-ones. The kid is a great kid in trying to do the right thing. These kids know, if a guy’s — it’s hard to lead if you’re not the hardest guy working it. It’s hard to lead if you’re not the first one in there. It’s hard to lead if you’re not a guy that’s capable to go on the court and win games. I’m not following you. Who wants to follow you? I mean, you’ve got to be that guy.
And then he’s never asked to be a leader. As a matter of fact, when we got the trophy, I said, who in the heck is our captains? I don’t even know if we have captains. I think Kenny Payne is our captain. I don’t know. I mean, we didn’t — I don’t think we named captains. That’s how young we are and how we didn’t know who would be — the trophy was there, and I go, Wenyen, you, Sacha, and Hami come up and take the trophy. But I’m happy for him. I’m happy for he and his family. Mom’s a great lady. Raised her son right.
Q. John, do you feel about this team now going into the tournament in a way you wouldn’t have felt possible maybe a month ago?
JOHN CALIPARI: A month ago, I wasn’t sure we’d be in the tournament. And then I had to ask Dewayne Peevy, does everybody get to go to the SEC tournament? I wasn’t even sure we’d get here.
But I come back to this. We needed to lose those games. We needed to lose four in a row. And by the end of them, we played pretty — we had a couple of good halves, a couple of good games, and we still lost. When I got the text from one of the guys that said, Coach, we need you more than ever. When I got that text, I knew like, okay, we got this now. Now we’re going to just start building.
And I defined roles very precisely and in public for every player to know what everybody’s roles were on the team, and I said anybody got an issue? Because what we’re doing is not working. This is how it’s going to be. They were all fine with it. And we’ve all benefited.
But when we started winning and I saw how they react to winning and that they are crushed by losing, if you lose and you’re okay with it and you’re singing and dancing, I don’t want to be near you. Don’t come near me, don’t come to my program, I’m not coaching you. But I also want you to take great joy in winning even if your performance wasn’t great. And that’s what this team has become.
I mean, P.J. easily could have been All Tournament the way he played. And he didn’t say anything. He didn’t care. We’re going in. We’re doing right. Now it’s another tournament. Hopefully, I’ve tried to explain it. I’ve tried to tell him what it will be like, but they’ve never experienced it. Now all of a sudden, it’s going to be okay.
Q. John, just curious on your thoughts on where this performance puts you in terms of NCAA seeding?
JOHN CALIPARI: We’ll probably get a 12 and play the play-in in Dayton (laughter). Is there a site in Anchorage?
Q. Coach, in the SEC, the most teams to come out of the SEC is six, projected to get more. How much damage can the league do? Do you think there will be more?
JOHN CALIPARI: This league will do damage. It’s been doing damage. They just haven’t let more teams in. We have teams borderline that should have advanced that didn’t get in. Now we have eight teams in. I was saying eighth, and I was really hoping we could stick a ninth in.
What’s happened is our strength of schedules have helped each other, and it’s something we worked on league-wide. But you also got to win games. You’ve got to go outside and win games. We have. You also got to recruit so you got good enough players to win games, and we have.
There’s no reason this league — you know, the strength of the league, the strength of the television, financially, the universities, the academic institutions, we all represent are some of the best in the country. There’s no reason — everybody will tell me about football. I think they’re done playing when we play. And I would use it as a positive like Rick Barnes has. Rick is one of the best coaches in the country. He’s a great human being, but a great coach who’s been in — he was at Texas and did it there. Now he’s at Tennessee. He uses football to his advantage. So it’s an excuse, but if you, well, there’s football — no. That gives us an opportunity to go out and compete and get in Final Fours, which we have, and Elite Eight games and win national titles, which we have.
But I love the fact that it’s eight. I love the fact that we can go on the road and lose a game and not go to the play-in game in Dayton. I mean, now you can lose a game. We lost eight games in our league. Eight. Most of them on the road, but we still lost eight. And you know what, we’re still standing. This is how it’s supposed to be. I’ve had to be in leagues where we’ve had to win 50 straight games or we would have been a 12 seed. You knew, if you lost a game, you’re done. This is not the case now.
I’m proud of the league and the coaches that I compete with. I feel bad for Mark and Andy, who both of them will get jobs, and they’ll get — like I said to both of them, you get a better job than the one you had. You’ll be fine. You’re talking about good coaches who are good people who you’re putting your program in great hands in those guys.
But it’s a good thing, and it’s good for our league to have this kind of balance.
Rick Barnes
Grant Williams
Admiral Schofield
St. Louis, Missouri
Kentucky – 77, Tennessee – 72
RICK BARNES: We started the game and dug ourselves a hole. Obviously, they were making some shots. We weren’t playing the way we were capable of. We just weren’t locked in. We gave them too much off our scouting report, messed up a switch here or there that allowed them to get a couple good looks at the basket.
Offensively we weren’t making shots, and I thought that impacted us. One thing I knew, and I told the guys, we’re going to come back. These guys worked too hard. They had too many good habits. We got back in the game, had a chance — we took the lead. A couple of ill-advised possessions on the offensive end.
Then the free-throw blockout there late was a huge play in the game. That was a really big play in the game that we gave up. Hopefully our guys will learn this time of the year a free-throw blockout, one or two ill-advised plays offensively can cost you, and it did today.
Q. We’re just wondering what happened on the play you went down. How were you feeling when you came back into the game?
ADMIRAL SCHOFIELD: Just playing hard, trying to get a loose ball, and just ran into somebody’s butt actually and my head snapped back. I’m all right. Just my nose is stinging a little bit, but I’m okay.
Q. What’s the process like to flush this with the news coming up about the tournament selection?
ADMIRAL SCHOFIELD: We go out to win the game. It’s hard, but we got something to look forward to starting next week. But we wanted to go out and win this game for our university, our families, our coaching staff, and each other after all the hard work that we put in.
But just little possessions, one or two or three possessions that came down to the end of the game, and we didn’t execute as a team, and I take responsibility as well. Not blocking on the free-throw line and doing the things I need to do.
So just the big thing is we can get better, and that’s what you can look forward to in this game. It’s a lot of areas we can get better. I’d rather take a loss right now because it’s going to motivate us for the tournament.
GRANT WILLIAMS: Games like these, you fight. It’s hard fought, and then after that, whether you win or lose, you’ve got to understand it after and learn from it.
We have something to look forward to, like you said, Selection Sunday, and we’ll find out where we’re going. That’s a whole new deal. It’s not like that was our last game. We have another chance to play, which is an amazing opportunity.
So we’ve got to learn from this game, and then after that, just do our job.
Q. For both players, you guys were able to beat Kentucky twice during the regular season. What was different about today?
GRANT WILLIAMS: We just didn’t make the plays, I would say. It was a competitive game. It was hard fought. We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning. You can’t expect to come out and play like the way we did and end up just winning the game. They’re a talented team, well coached, and we blew some coverages. So just understanding those are the things that got us here, that’s what we have to keep going.
ADMIRAL SCHOFIELD: Just like Coach Barnes said, didn’t execute off the scouting report. When you do that against a talented team, you can’t leave any room for error when you have a talented team that’s long and athletic like that. You’ve got to be locked in.
The first two games, we were more locked in than we were tonight. We were tougher and more locked in in the second half, but the first half, we weren’t the team that beat them the first two times where we were locked in for 40 minutes, and that’s what cost us the game.
Q. Just wondering if there’s any lessons for both you guys, lessons you can take into that start next week?
ADMIRAL SCHOFIELD: The biggest thing is you can’t take any possession for granted, and got to get back to work.
GRANT WILLIAMS: I agree. It’s the same thing and understanding we’ve got to play a game where every possession counts, especially this time of year in March. Every game is going to be close. We can’t take anything lightly.
Q. Rick, how do you get these guys — do you flush this loss? What do you take from it knowing you’ll probably get some pretty good news for the program just here in a few hours?
RICK BARNES: What I told them was simple. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to play for a conference championship again. That’s good, and it’s great, but you want to win every time you go out. The good thing is, because of what they’ve done throughout the whole season, their body of work, they get a chance to play again. There’s a lot of teams in the country that don’t get that opportunity. Win or lose that game, it’s a different basketball tournament next week. It’s a different one.
Whether you lose it, you worry about — or the concern is will our guys get it back? And we will. If we win it, can we let it go and get on to the next one. It’s basketball. You win, lose, put it behind you and say, hey, now we’ve got to get ready for the next game, and that’s what we’ll do.
Q. Looking ahead to next week, do you think you guys have done enough to be in Nashville?
RICK BARNES: I don’t know. That would be awesome if we could. I just know that I’ve always had great confidence in the basketball tournament committee. They’ve got their procedures. They know how they do it. Whatever it is, it is, and we’ll deal with it, but it would be nice. It would be nice to have that.
I would actually like to thank the city of St. Louis today. This was a great atmosphere here today. Congratulate Kentucky for winning, but the tournament here turned out well, I thought. It would be great to be back in Nashville and give our fans a chance to be a big part of it.
Q. I know you mentioned the missed cut outs late, but do you think getting in that kind of hole cost you guys energy late because you had to extend so much to get back into it?
RICK BARNES: What it does, it stresses every possession, there’s no doubt, whether it’s offense or defense and you get down. We got down early. We had some shots that didn’t go in, then Admiral got hot and got us back in it. We did, we just had a couple of breakdowns.
And give them credit. They blocked some shots at the rim where they — shots we didn’t get up high enough on the glass. We’ve got to do that.
But like I said, we played in games — this game was no different than a lot of games we’ve been in. We’ve been down. We’ve been up. But the way we started early — again, I’m not taking anything away from them because they took advantage of it, but we did not execute early our scouting report for whatever reason.
I told our guys, I said, we’re going to get back in the game. I told them I thought we’d win the game when they were up. I said, hey, you guys have too good of habits. You’ve worked too hard, and I know we’re going to fight to get back in it. I’m proud of our team for doing that. We got back in, took the lead, and just couldn’t sustain it.
Did it have anything to do with getting down early? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know really if it did or it didn’t.
Q. Rick, you talked about the challenges of a Sunday-Thursday turnaround this time of year. What would it mean for you guys to maybe be in that Friday game right now after playing these three games in three days?
RICK BARNES: Yeah, playing on Sunday, yeah, that would be awesome to have that extra day. It would be awesome. But regardless of what it is, we played three in three days and got to turn around and play Thursday, that’s what we do. Yeah, it would be nice to have that. I haven’t looked at any of that, all those type things.
But when you play on Sunday, it’s — obviously, if you had your choice, you’d like to play on Friday.
