Kentucky Quotes
Head Coach John Calipari
On coaching against Buzz Williams…
“This kind of game, which you almost have to play random because of how they play.
Buzz has done a great job. He looks at the game and says, ‘We’re going to make it hard for the other team and if we’re making shots, we’re going to beat people.’ That’s how they won three in a row. I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding them, but in the second half they were making layups. We kept scoring to keep it at bay, but the big guys hurt us inside. But our guard play was fairly good. We’ll go from there.”
On how this A&M team compares to others he’s faced…
“He’s creating a culture is what he’s doing. I’ve seen games and tapes where he pulled guys out of the game like, ‘No, you’re not doing that here. That’s not happening here.’ And so now he’s trying to create a culture about what this is when he goes out and recruits and does what he does. That’s what Buzz does – he builds it. He creates some excitement. He gets kids that will compete and battle. They played. They did not give up.”
On if that was the kind of game he expected …
“Oh yeah. I was scared to death of this game. This was a trap game. I knew it. We had a couple trap games the week before that I knew would be hard, but they’re all—listen, every game we play in this league has been five or six or seven points. Every game. I mean, from top to bottom, I don’t care what your record is, we’re all within five or six points of each other. I mean, Vandy had us down at half twice and they’re down low. Georgia had us twice. Missouri had us. The one thing we have is when you have three point guards on the floor at one time, you’ve got a chance if your big guys will go. And EJ (Montgomery) was outstanding today. That’s as good as I’ve seen EJ play in a while. Really played good.”
On if he thought this could be a big game for Immanuel Quickley with the open corner because of the way Texas A&M plays defense …
“Yeah, we worked on it. I saw the Florida tape and I saw another game where that shot was there. They fully rotate. They’ve bought in to how they play. Now, late they rushed us and we had shot-clock (violations) or turnovers where you think it’s there but that guy is flying, so you better get it off. If you slowly try to shoot it, you’re not getting it off.”
On Quickley’s being on a roll and how helpful that is to have a guy like him …
“I said this – I haven’t said it down here in Texas: Every year I coach, one, you’re trying to go on a run of games so you can win X amount in a row. And the reason is, to win a national title, you’ve gotta know you can win six in a row. If you don’t win six in a row during your season, how in the world are you ever going to win six in a row in that tournament? The second thing is I try to get five or six guys who can score 25 in a game. So, we’ve had, EJ had 25, Ashton’s (Hagans) had 25, Tyrese (Maxey) has had 25, Nick (Richards) has had 25 and now Immanuel has had 25 back-to-back games. The reason is you’re going to get in the tournament and if someone gets hot for your team and they know they can do it because they’ve done it one time – or twice or three times – that guy may help you win and advance a game that you weren’t going to win. So, we’re just trying to bring a team together. We’re trying to be better defensively. We still turned it over too much, but that’s what this team does to you.”
On if there was talk in the huddle about getting Quickley the ball more because he was on fire …
“No. As a matter of fact, at halftime I wanted to choke him because we set up a play for – who was it in the corner? – Nate (Sestina) to shoot a 3 and he was wide open and he shot a ball. I went crazy. ‘Are you kidding me? Nate, did you say something?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, you must note have said it very loud because he just drove in and threw it at the rim.’ I said, ‘He was wide open.’ I want guys to play and I want them to feel the ability to go. We’re not a good team that, if there’s, like, their five gets caught on our two. ‘Well, let’s go at their five.’ We can’t play that way. Or their two gets caught on our four in the post. ‘Throw it in there!’ What’s our four do? Offensive foul. We can’t play that way. You know what you tell the four? ‘I’m shooting it, go rebound it. You’ve got a 6-2 guy on you.’ It’s much easier. Or, you’ve got that big guy, stay way wide because now we’re going to drive it and he can’t block it because he’s 30 feet out. How about that thought? That’s who we are as a team. When we get a chance to really bust this open, there were two plays back-to-back that that’s what we did and we turned it over both times. So, it’s a good lesson for these guys”
On how he thinks Tyrese Maxey played …
“He’s just playing OK. This was a hard game because he had to think on the run. You’re not just running plays; now you’ve got to make decisions. See, if the ball comes from that side of the court [looking to his left] – for all you Basketball Bennies – and it comes this way [to the right]. So it goes from that side of the court [left side] to this side [right side], you don’t drive back this way [right side] because the guy that passed it to you, his man is standing there. So where’s your man? Your main ain’t out here [to the right]. Your man is in there [to the left]. So when you catch it, you drive that way [to the right]. He drove middle eight times today on that play and I only said it after all seven, ‘You have to go the other way.’ Again, he’s all learning. He’s learning. He made a couple bit shots when we needed them. So, great win and great win for these kids.”
On downplaying Quickley’s big night …
“No, I’m not. He had 30 (points). It’s big. I love it. I mean, I don’t know what you want me to say. He made shots. He passed up Nate at halftime, but other than that.”
On not having a lot of players score 30 points in a game …
“Yeah, because I’ve had a lot of really good players, and one guy, it’s hard to have one guy shoot all the balls. How many did he (Quickley) shoot today? Nineteen ain’t too bad. You shoot 19 and get 30. Woo-hoo. Not bad. How about you take 42 shots and get 30? So here’s what happens for us: We have a lot of guys on the team that are making shots, but you know what? Here’s what’s great about this team: When he walked in that locker room, they went nuts because he was doing TV after. They went (nuts). That’s the thing about this group. When Nick has come up big, they go crazy. When EJ has come up big, they go crazy. There’s no on here—they’re cheering each other’s successes, and that’s a good sign. And I told them that. I said, ‘Look, you’re not going to get on many teams where everybody is happy with those other guys.’ It just doesn’t happen, man. Guys are all worried about themselves and their own futures and all that. It’s not happening with this group. They’re there for each other. And they’re even coaching each other. When I get on them, they get out there and say, ‘Just calm down.’ Like, they’re talking to each other, which is meaning they’re being empowered. They’re changing plays. Like I’m in a huddle, they say, ‘Why don’t you do this, Coach?’ And I go, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ So, they’re becoming empowered. But, like I said, long way to go. We’ve got three hard games.”
Sophomore Forward EJ Montgomery
On how hot Quickley was …
“Super hot. Super hot fire. You touch him and you’re going to get burned. He’s playing so well, I’m just proud of him. Thirty-ball, that’s crazy.”
On his near double-double and what got him going tonight …
“I just saw that they were trapping Nick. I know I had to step it up because he’s (Josh Nebo) a big factor on their team. Just trying to stop him, focus on him, I just thought I had to step it up.”
Sophomore Guard Immanuel Quickley
On his performance tonight…
“I was a little hot, I guess. Teammates were finding me in good spots. Credit to God. Just staying to my word and stuff like that. But teammates were finding me in a lot of open spots, so credit to them. And then the coaches put me in a good situation to have me be successful so that was good too.”
On his ability to connect on the 3s on open corners…
“We worked on it pretty our whole—after our last game, that was the first thing we worked on. We knew they left corners. We watched a lot of film on it and I put that in my workouts as well. So just being ready for that, that was a credit to the scouting report.”
On when he said, ‘If you touch me, you’ll burn’ …
“That was a while ago. Now we’ve gotta bring that up again. [Laughter.]”
On tonight’s physical game …
“EJ can probably speak to it better than I can. You can see he’s got a mark on his forehead. He just kept working hard. It was a real physical game. Nick and Nate took charge. I’m really proud of my guys. Like you said, it was a real physical game down there so we had to come and just match their energy because they bring a lot of energy.”
On making so many shots in key moments …
“It’s real big, especially when your team needs it. You always want to come up big, but it’s really a credit to all my teammates. Like I said, they put me in positions to be successful. Ashton and Tyrese driving and kicking. When they doubled EJ in the post, they were able to make the play. So, it’s a lot of credit to them, just finding me on open spots. I was just able to knock it down.”
On the chemistry they’ve formed in the backcourt …
“We’ve built our chemistry ever since the summer started. We mess with each other off the court all the time. In the locker room, if someone plays good, they’ll pour water on someone or stuff like that. Little stuff like that. Our chemistry evolves each and every day, and I’m just glad those are my brothers I get to play with.”
On if he’s ever had eight 3-pointers in any game outside of college …
“Maybe. I can’t remember off the top of my head. I think I have. I didn’t even know I had eight. I thought I had like four. I really wasn’t counting. So I didn’t even know.”
On if he really didn’t know out there how many he had …
“No. I really thought I had four and then I looked at it and I saw eight and I said, ‘I don’t remember any of those.’ “
Texas A&M Quotes
On the defensive mindset against Kentucky …
“I think our premise defensively is to do everything that we can to keep the ball out of the paint. We can’t afford to foul. We can’t afford to get in rotation. We have to work incredibly hard to not get obliterated on the glass. Relative to those characteristics, we want to force the team to shoot more threes than normal. In the first half, we got in rotation too early, and in the second half, we were able to bend it a little bit towards our pace and extend the possessions. We got close to pushing about 50 percent of their shots from three, and that’s not necessarily how they want to play.”
On Wendell Mitchell’s leadership …
“He’s one of my favorite guys ever that I’ve only coached for one year. I just love what he’s about. I think this is his fifth year of college and his fourth coaching staff. He’s been 10 toes in relative to what we’re asking of him every single day. I think that’s hard to do in 2020, and that speaks to who his parents are. He’s very lovable off the floor. He’s the least polluted student athlete I’ve been around in a long time. He’s very pure in how he thinks. He’s built 1000 percent on the right things. I’m not saying he’s holier-than-thou or that he’s perfect, but he’s not polluted, and he doesn’t have a lot of voices in his head. He does right.”
On Savion Flagg’s recent production …
“He drove in a straight line fairly aggressive tonight, a few times in the second half. That changes the complexion of our team. If he’s able to force help, he’s the best passer on our team. I think his aggressiveness very helpful. If he can make a three, or if anybody else who’s in an A&M uniform can make a three, it’s delightful. The job that he’s doing on the glass has been impeccable.”
On coaching against John Calipari …
“Anybody who is inducted into the Hall of Fame while their career is still going on, I think that’s incredibly rare. He’s the best coach, in my opinion, in this generation of college athletics to do the job he’s done at Kentucky. What he’s done there in the last 10 years, it’s remarkable. I think he’s going to do the exact same or a little better over the next 10 years. I have great respect for him. He’s always been over the top kind to me when he didn’t have to be. He’s been very respectful towards me, long before I became a head coach. Most guys as successful as he is don’t function with the humility in the coaching industry that he does.”
Junior Guard Savion Flagg
On the growth of the season leading up to tonight’s game …
“I feel like we have gotten better each month. We started off SEC play OK, but I feel like over the past two months we have played really hard. We have a little rhythm going offensively; we can’t really base ourselves off what could have happened.”
On where their head was at during the last timeout …
“At any point in the game I always feel like we can win. We can win as a team. We got it down to seven-point game and we felt like we could get one more push, three stops in a row. We could put ourselves in a position to win the game.”
Senior Guard Wendell Mitchell
On his foul trouble early on in tonight’s matchup …
“It was tough. Andre [Gordon] came in and picked up the slack pretty good. The went on a run late in the first half but we fought through it.”
On the momentum they have built the last three games …
“I feel like we fought. Immanuel (Quickley) definitely got off and was giving us some trouble. That’s tough.”
