John Calipari

Tyler Herro

Reid Travis

Nashville, Tennessee

Kentucky-73, Alabama-55

THE MODERATOR: We will begin with Kentucky. We will have some opening comments about the game from Coach Calipari.

JOHN CALIPARI: It was a good win. I thought we really guarded. We rebounded. The last time we played them, they out-rebounded us by 10 rebounds. This game we out-rebounded them by 10 rebounds. I still think we missed a bunch of shots. Ashton is 1-6, Keldon is 1-7. Two good offensive players. Good to have Reid back. Just the strength in having a guy when it comes time, you have to go get the ball, he can physically get down there and go get it. It was good having him back.

Immanuel was playing well. Again, P.J. was 12-10. I told him, I know you, you’re better than you’re playing right now, let’s go.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Tyler or Reid.

Q. Tyler, talk about the offensive rhythm you were in tonight. You were struggling shooting the ball when you played them the last time.
TYLER HERRO: I think coach and my teammates just put me in the right situations. They trust me to take shots. My teammates trust me to take shots. I was taking shots that I can make.

JOHN CALIPARI: Tell them the tape that you had to watch, like every missed shot in that game. He had to watch that in front of his team.

Q. Reid, how did you feel tonight? Played 23 minutes. Did you feel like you got a good blow?
REID TRAVIS: Yeah, I feel good right now. I felt good out there. I felt like I did the necessary things the three weeks I was out to keep my body in shape, to stay engaged with the team so I could be successful when I came out here.

All in all, I thought it was pretty good for my first time out.

Q. Reid, you said you felt good out there. Were you 100% when you decided to play or is there still lingering anything?
REID TRAVIS: No, I’m 100%. I wouldn’t go out there if I didn’t feel confident and strong in my knee. Ultimately it’s just going to take some time to get my rhythm back and things like that. But my body feels great right now.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll excuse Tyler and Reid and continue with questions for Coach Calipari.

Q. You were talking about you felt like you could make more shots. From the first Alabama game, probably more breakdowns defensively. When you watch that film, you see yourself now, what do you think about how the team has come along?
JOHN CALIPARI: Here is what I would tell you: When I watched the tape, they had probably five or six breakout baskets, 10 or 12 points. Their big men outran our big men.

Mack got going because we went under screens, all the things we talked about playing him, we didn’t do. He got going went 6-6. They out-rebounded us, out-toughed us.

We missed 18 two-foot shots. Reid missed a bunch, P.J., Ashton missed a bunch. I told them when I watched the tape, I thought we did some good stuff. I didn’t think we were that bad when I watched it.

As the season goes on, the one thing that happens is our team will get better defensively because in the summer, when they come back in the fall, we do not do defense. The season is too long, playing till April. I mean, who wants to in July do step slides or deny the ball? We just don’t do it. So it takes us time.

What I like about the team I’m coaching is they’re skilled. They’re skilled with the ball, skilled shooting. They’re basketball players. They can feel the game. Now we just had to get them to catch up defensively, which they have. Then we had to play four games without Reid, which gave EJ and Nick a chance to build confidence.

It’s been a pretty good run right now.

Q. You talked about Tyler Herro struggling a little bit. What has been the key to him improving over the course of the season?
JOHN CALIPARI: Again, I’m talking as a basketball coach. It’s hard to be confident offensively if you’re getting killed on defense. In other words, everybody is driving by you, they’re dunking on you, making shots. You’re now going to go down on the other end and be confident or does it make you press even more on offense?

If you let them shoot more… No. If you start guarding, and you’re confident in yourself defensively, you have any kind of skill, you’ll be confident on offense.

If you think I’m going to give up 25 points but be so confident on offense, you’re crazy. It does not work. I’ve done this 30-some years, embarrassed to say that, but it is more than 30 years. Just how it is.

For us, the culture is if you don’t guard, you’re not going to play because you’re not going to be confident offensively, you’re not going to be able to help your team. You have to guard.

We play zone. I think 1992 maybe we played a couple kinds of zone. You have to guard. Then we have to do it together.

For him, how about rebounding the ball? I mean, all the stuff that makes you feel stronger and more confident, he and Keldon are doing. Keldon didn’t shoot the ball well, but he’s the least of our issues. He’s a terrific player, too.

Q. The production you got out of Richards, offensive efficiency.
JOHN CALIPARI: He left the rim a couple times. The Alabama players, they’re not leaving the rim. You have to score through them.

Now, P.J. and Reid, Reid got three blocks. Reid has more blocks this year than he has his whole career because he’s playing more athletic, he’s moving better, all that stuff.

Nick left the rim, and they threw behind him for layups and dunks. Just trying to get him to stay at the rim, don’t be antsy, let them come to you. If they can make a tough 2 over a 7-footer, fine. If you leave that lane, leave that paint, leave that arc, they throw behind you, they can make layups, dunks.

He did well. The jump hook, he’s worked on it.

My message to this team, so young, four freshmen and a sophomore: You don’t play up to an opponent. You don’t play up to a tournament because you can’t play 40 minutes that way. You play to your training, because you can play 40 minutes to the training and the process and how we’re getting you here. You know how we want you to play. We’ve trained you, now go play 40 minutes.

To win in any kind of tournament, this tournament, the next tournament, you have to put strings of games together where you play 40 minutes. Forget about the score, worry about playing. This team has done it, but we’ve also played halves of games. We’re just trying to focus on that right now: play to the training.

Q. You said you wanted P.J. to dominate more. His jump hook doesn’t seem to be falling as much as it usually did.
JOHN CALIPARI: They were big. They were long. It’s a harder game for him.

The thing that he didn’t do, they beat him to spots, which means we couldn’t throw him the ball at times. Look, I just want him to be special. He was a double-double, and I’m not happy. We won the game. I’m not happy.

I believe he’s as good as any player in the country when he’s in a frame of mind that I’m coming after you and you’re not as good as me. I’m going. So I’m just challenging him to be that guy.

Q. You were able to hold Kira Lewis to three points. What did you do this time differently than last time?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, he didn’t have the ball as much in his hands as he did that game. I mean, that game, if I remember right, he had the ball in his hands 70%, 80% of the time. Only taking five shots, it’s hard for a young kid.

The other thing was, we were running him off the three-point line. We didn’t want Mack to shoot a three. We didn’t want Petty to shoot a three. I got upset when Keldon gave Petty a three in that corner away from our bench. We didn’t want Lewis to shoot threes. He made one because we went — they did a double drag, we went under it, which we weren’t going under it.

It shows if you didn’t play him right, he would have made 25 points.

Q. What about tomorrow against either one of these teams?
JOHN CALIPARI: It’s hard. It’s hard. I’m going back. I told the team, I don’t like watching the game because I don’t know who’s going to win, and I don’t want to watch both teams. I’m not going to waste my time. If I’m not playing a team, I’m not going to watch.

Second thing is I’ll wait till the game is over, they’ll tell me. I’ll watch our game with them. Then I’ll watch their game tonight and go to bed. Between now and then, I may watch a movie. I don’t know. My wife and daughter are here. So my daughter, neuroscience, we’ll talk. We like to talk about that. I can’t even pronounce it, how about that (laughter)?

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

JOHN CALIPARI: Thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
 

Avery Johnson

Alex Reese

Donta Hall

St. Louis, Missouri

Kentucky-73, Alabama-55

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alabama. We will start with an opening statement about the game from Coach Johnson.

AVERY JOHNSON: Congrats to Kentucky, their staff, their players. They came out and put an extreme amount of pressure on us defensively. We didn’t do a great job of getting in our offense. They turned us over. They blocked shots. I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a game where a team had nine blocked shots in the first half.

They were active. We just weren’t efficient on the offensive end. That carried over defensively. We couldn’t get our defense set. We just struggled to score.

Second half we showed some life. Alex Reese gave us some huge minutes. Donta gave us a lift in the second half. We cut the lead down a little bit, but just couldn’t get enough stops.

They have a really long team. Getting Reid Travis back obviously helped them, those eight points and seven rebounds. But our guys fought. Our guys fought. It wasn’t because of a lack of effort. They just did a great job of disrupting us offensively and setting the tone in the first half. It was uphill climbing all night long.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Donta, can you speak to the defense that Kentucky had. Seemed like they came at y’all physically in the first half. You had a rough go getting started offensively.
DONTA HALL: Yeah, like coach said, they came out with energy. They a long team. They have plenty of blocked shots in the first half. They energy on defense was pretty good. Got to give it to them.

Q. Alex, talk about your offensive game. You were able to make something happen. Talk about your night offensively.
ALEX REESE: I feel like I was able to knock down shots. My teammates were able to give me good looks. I was able to knock them down once I got into a little rhythm.

Q. Donta, you’ve been a team-first player all season long, a team leader. What do you think the biggest reason is for the team’s inconsistencies throughout the season?
DONTA HALL: I feel like probably honestly our energy coming out into games. Sometimes in the second half I feel like our energy be up and down. That’s pretty much what our inconsistency is. Probably like attitude, stuff like that, commitment.

Q. Donta, you wanted to win the game, but you scored your thousandth career point, Alabama native, how big a thrill is that for you to have that kind of career here at Alabama?
DONTA HALL: It’s amazing. I love it here at Alabama. The four years have been great. The people around me, coaching staff, teammates, managers, you name it, it’s been amazing.

It’s a family, and I love these guys to the heart.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Donta and Alex. We will continue with questions for Coach Johnson.

Q. If by chance Sunday you do not hear your name called on the NCAA show, is this team prepared to accept an NIT bid?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yes, uh-huh, we are. We need as many games as we can get. We have a young guard. You saw Alex Reese have one of his best games in a while. He’s been in and out of the rotation. We still got quite a few guys returning. We can use the practice.

Q. Avery, you talked about their defense early. How much did their aggressiveness inside, around the basket, shock y’all a little bit?
AVERY JOHNSON: How was it going to shock us if we’ve already played them this year? Nothing that they did really shocked us. They outscored us in the paint. I think in our first game, they had seven offensive rebounds. Tonight they had 12. I don’t think it was a shock. It’s not like we played a team tonight that we hadn’t played against before.

A lot of these kids have been competing against each other in high school, AAU level. I think Galin Smith and P.J. Washington even played on the same team. Nothing they did really shocked us. We just didn’t have that extra burst that we needed to be successful.

I think it was more about our decision making on drives, pick’n roll coverages that really hurt us tonight.

Q. Nobody knows what will happen on Sunday, but if you’re sitting there first four teams out, second four teams out, somewhere in that range, Donta said a problem in a lot of the games was energy and attitude, how disappointing is that, whoever is responsible for it?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, the main thing is I think our kids are great kids. I just think it’s more about the attitude towards the smaller, finer details of basketball. Diving for a loose ball, spacing on the floor, just understanding that you have to have the right mindset. When we run a play, all five guys got to be on the same page.

I think that’s more what he’s alluding to. I thought sometimes in the second half our energy levels weren’t as good as it should have been. That’s something that we had to take a look at. Yesterday I thought we were good in the second half. I thought we had a good burst at South Carolina. Some of our last games to finish at home, we just didn’t have that extra gear. Seems like some of the other teams got a little bit stronger and faster. We were still in the first-half mode.

Q. You mentioned with Kira being a young point guard, you need to get him more games. You being a former point guard, how do you keep his psyche into the game throughout?
AVERY JOHNSON: He’s a pretty levelheaded kid. That’s why we loved him even in the recruiting process. We thought he could go through some adversity and still handle it. We just didn’t know we were going to get him a year early.

He’s a great kid. Good family. Mom’s a really smart lady. Both of them are hard-working people, both mom and dad. He’s pretty resilient.

I just think we’ll get him a couple days’ rest. Wherever we end up, he’ll come back out and try to play much better. We’ll do whatever we can to help him continue to grow and develop into the type of guard that he needs to be to be successful.

Q. When you talk about attention to small details that can make a difference, do you see going forward those improvements can be made?
AVERY JOHNSON: Absolutely. Obviously I expected a little bit more in year four. You guys who are on the beat with me every single day, I haven’t backed off from it.

When you’re out of position, you lose some close games. I don’t know how many teams have lost as many buzzer beaters as we’ve lost this year, close games, games in the last four minutes. Just being able to close out games and learn from those situations, there’s still some growth there.

But we’re not as far off as a lot of other teams around the country. I think we’re close. We just got to get over the hump.

Q. There’s one more opportunity this year. Are you looking forward to next year?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Especially with Kira. Alex Reese, a lot of these guys coming back, Galin Smith, I don’t think Herb Jones played his best basketball at the end of the year. Petty, Dazon. A lot of these guys, obviously got some talented kids coming in. I think we’re in a good spot.

Alabama basketball, the following we have from our fans, the passion that our fans display, whether we win or lose, you got to take it both ways. They really care about Alabama basketball. A lot of it’s because we’ve gotten them hyped up over the last three years to expect more. I’m really excited about moving forward.

Q. From a big picture perspective, how would you assess your first four years at Alabama?
AVERY JOHNSON: Wow, I don’t want to necessarily give it a grade. I think it’s to be continued. People talk about, Well, Collin Sexton hit a shot to help us get in the tournament. You want to have good players to help you get in the tournament. We advanced for the first time in a long time. We were expecting a little bit more to do it by committee this year since we didn’t have that first team all SEC guy outside of Kira making the all-freshman team.

I think it’s to be continued. I think we have to get in the post-season wherever we land, then I’ll have a little bit more of a concrete answer for you when our season, at whatever point it’s officially over. I think we still have some room to grow wherever we land in the post-season. I hope that’s the NCAA tournament.

Q. Back on January 5th when you did beat Kentucky, where did you think the trajectory of the team was at that point?
AVERY JOHNSON: The way we beat them, obviously if Herro would have thrown in that last-second shot when we were out of position, we would have been deflated. I was still kind of in the middle.

The SEC, we knew it was tough. I wasn’t expecting Texas A&M to throw a buzzer-beater on us. A lot of unexpected things happened that’s not reality.

We came into this tournament trying to control our own destiny, playing against a team that was well-rested, waiting for us, trying to even the series up. They were ready to go. We just didn’t have that extra burst tonight. But our guys played hard.

Q. The scheduling analytics, the effort you put forth towards that, how much do you think that’s going to factor in come Sunday?
AVERY JOHNSON: I think it’s going to be factored in at a high level. Northeastern is going to the tournament, right? Liberty is going to the tournament. I keep going on and on.

Look at how tough the SEC is. Outside of obviously the glaring losses, Ole Miss twice, once when they were ranked, a lot of quadrant one wins. Hopefully we’ll be able to sneak in.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports