Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari

On how much Nick Richards loomed over this game and how the team came through …
“I kissed Nick on the forehead. I said there are about three of you in this room who need to do this, but I will do it for you. But I kissed him on the forehead. We had some guys, that this game, I went at one. Like, we’re going to you offensively. Missed a shot, turn it over, give up a three. You need to know where you are right now so we can help you. I thought Immanuel, that shot in the corner — and I said ‘oh my gosh, I thought it was in.’ But I’ll tell you Nick was unbelievable. Ashton, again, who came up with the balls in the end? Now I’m looking at the other guys and I’m saying, ‘Think about if we have two or three guys like that?’ We’ve got one. Now we’ve got Nick. The ball that we fumbled, Nate, grab that thing. We had some things happen, but I’ll be honest with you, what I did when we were up 10, I went at the same guy on purpose. I said, ‘If we lose the game, we lose the game.’ I was telling him I was doing it. ‘Yeah, kid, this is the big stage. Let’s go.’  He’s a great kid. But he’s going to have to learn now. And we need him.
 
“Now we have a 7-footer. How many guys have 7-footers that can do what that kid does? Not many. We’ve got a point guard that’s a killer. We’ve got some shooters. We need that one more guy. EJ was good in the beginning. Nate showed some signs. Johnny and Keion, they’ve gotta give us more so I can leave them in. Johnny hit a big three though. But it was a great game. We had a lot of happy guys in the locker room.”
 
On being outscored in the paint and turnovers, how they still won ….
“We outrebound them by six, and we’re not the kind of team — you know what most of the turnovers were? Like six of them? Charges. They’re good at that. If you take off six it’s about what we normally get. 12, 13. But I kept telling them if you lean, they’re going to call that a charge. So, we must’ve had four, four, five, six where they just came up, stepped up, we left our feet and they take a charge. But the biggest thing, again, we had to figure out how to make baskets. The throw over the top where we went to a different set. We tried some different pick and rolls…. That’s one of the best defensive teams in the country. They take away stuff. They switch. They’ll get in front of the ball. They absolutely collapse and make you find other shooters. If you don’t find other shooters, you’re not scoring; you’re going to run somebody over or you’re going to take a tough shot. And again, they offensively did some good stuff and we rebounded. We rebounded at the end, thank goodness.”
 
On the environment …
“Oh, it was great. We drove by the tents last night. I wanted them to see that you bring out the best in people. Like, here they come. And let me say this: I’ve been in all kind of different arenas; this was a classy crowd. I’ve been to arenas where I don’t want to take my team back; it’s disgusting. Like, why should I do that and help another program when you’ve got to walk in and it’s just disgusting. Here? That was a classy crowd. And they were all over it for their team. They didn’t care about us. That’s how our crowd is. Our crowd, if someone comes in our building and scores 40, they’ll give him a standing ovation! That’s the way this should be.”
 
On Kahlil Whitney leaving and then two guys who led them today were guys who stuck around …
“Look, here’s what it is: I stay up nights trying to figure out how I get guys to play better. Not how my team plays better. How do I get guys to play better? What can we do defensively to help certain people? Is there plays that we can run to get people going? What would that be? I stay up nights. I want every kid to make it. But there are times where kids think it’s not here. We haven’t had many – four or five kids – but I get disappointed as much in myself that I wasn’t able to help him break through. But I told him, ‘I’m here. Call me if you need me. How can I help you? What do you need me to do?’ I was a little bit surprised, but again, it’s not my life. It’s their life. And they’re 18 and 19. So my feeling was for him. And let me say this, folks: He went from starting, playing 20-some minutes a game, to some guys in my opinion – I went to the three-guard lineup, which everybody thought I should do and we needed to do and I did it. Well, that cut his time and some other guys started playing better. Not once on the bench, in the locker room or in a meeting with me did he have any kind of attitude. He is a great kid. He cheered louder than everybody else. If he didn’t play in this game, he would’ve been in that locker room cheering louder than everybody else. So sometimes it just is what it is – whether it’s people convincing him around (him) or whatever it is, I just wish him well. Before he left – he had tears, I had tears and I hugged him with his family around – I just said, ‘You make it. If you’re going to do this, you make it.’ And I said I’ll do anything I can to help you.”
 
On Immanuel Quickley’s evolution as a go-to scorer …
“We have four guys here. Everybody thinks it’s a sin to stay in school when you go to Kentucky. PJ Washington, now you got Immanuel Quickley and Ashton – you got Nick that stayed three years. And what you see is that they’ve never been better in their whole life. And that’s the whole key. How do we get guys to be the best that they’ve ever been where they continue to grow. In Immanuel’s case, he had to slow his mind down. Your feet can move real fast, but your mind can’t move that fast, because you can’t see what’s happening on the court. So it took him time, to where he now visualizes, he sees it better. His mind has slowed down but his feet haven’t – and he has courage and he’s strong physically and mentally and he’s just – I’m proud of him. Look, nothing fazed him when he missed that three, no pouting, nothing. That’s one of those things that takes time. Ashton, not even the same player he was a year ago. Nick, same thing. What was his comment? This was the best three years of his life, why would I have left, I’m happy I stayed? All this stuff of “I’ve got to get out of here in a year,” I get it, I understand it, we’ve had a lot do it, but that puts so much stuff on these kids. So much. If it’s any clutter from the outside and not just them, it’s hard. And then, you’re at Kentucky, ready? Every game is someone’s Super Bowl. … You’re here and everybody’s trying to kill you and on the (inside) you’re feeling like I’ve got the weight of the world and I’ve got to do this for … I told them, ‘Man, I feel for you, I’m here for you, but it’s the life you chose. It’s the life you chose. And if you make it through here, you make it.’ But it’s hard, tough, not easy.”
 
On hitting the glass early …
 “EJ was really, really active those first seven eight minutes, and my thing is – I told him after – I still think it’s conditioning. Because as the game wore on, he came back. Well be that guy for 30 minutes, 28 minutes. So, we’re going to continue conditioning and getting him mentally and physically tougher, because he was the difference (early). … I expected, even if we got up, I expected them to make some kind of run. … Again, folks, what a great environment. I will congratulate these fans and I’ll be rooting for Texas Tech and Chris. A couple of them I grabbed them and said, ‘I watched your tape; you’ve been playing your butt off.’ “

Nick Richards 

On his game-winning free throws …
“What am I thinking? I’m thinking we need it. We need these free throws to help us win the game. I missed three, Immanuel, Ashton, they came up to me and said I’m good. When I missed my first one I was starting to get a little, like, angry. Immanuel came over and helped me through it. He told me to take my time and just knock them down.”
 
On why he stayed at UK and how satisfying this has been …
“Everybody has their own story. Just because I go to a school that’s known for one-and-done doesn’t mean I have to be one-and-done. It took me time to develop over the past three years. I’ve had the best time of my life. Meeting incredible people, having the best coaching staff in the world training me to be the player I am right now and to be a better player for times to come.”

On how much more comfortable he feels now …
“I feel very comfortable. I know my role on the team right now. Even though I don’t take the most shots on the team, I still know my role on this team: rebound, block shots, get easy baskets when needed, set good screens. I’m very comfortable right now.”
 
On the atmosphere …
“It was one of the best atmospheres we’ve played in. I think we go to Auburn soon. That’s going to be a really good game. I know for the guys that came back, we love playing at Auburn. It’s the crowd. Just like this one, loud, everybody is rooting against you. It’s just a fun environment to play in.”
 
(On going back and forth with the students …
“Just the heat of the moment I guess. I noticed every time I came into the game they booed me, so it was just fun to have that interaction with them going back and forth.”

Immanuel Quickley 

On where UK would be without the performance from Nick Richards …
“We have no chance of winning without Nick. What he did for us, rebounding the ball, scoring in the paint when we needed it. Twenty-five and 14, four blocks. There’s not too many big men in the country that’s doing that. What Nick brought today was real big.”
 
On winning in a tough environment …
“I think it’s a credit to our coaches. Our whole week we prepared for this game. Really tough drills, we’ve got this thing called a minute 29 seconds and we’ve gotta get 15 buckets, all the way down and back. It’s a really tough drill. And we did wall sits this whole week. Just little things like that so when times get tough in a game we won’t let go of the rope. I think it’s really a credit to our coaching staff.”
 
On why it got tense …
“It’s a really tough place to play. You’ve got 16,000 people rooting against you. They call you all kinds of stuff. Sometimes that can be a little bit distracting, but it’s a credit to these guys. We’ve got a really tough team, really mentally strong. I can’t wait to play the next game with these guys because it’s been fun all year playing with them.”
 
On Ashton Hagans getting the stop at the end and their confidence in him …
“I grabbed him in the timeout and I was like, ‘Bro, you’re the defensive player of the year. You’re the best defensive player in the country.’ And after he got the steal I went up to him and grabbed him, hugged him. I said it again ‘there’s no better defensive player than you.’ We’re really confident in what Ashton does. He’s in the top 15 for best defensive player in the country. We’re not shocked at what Ashton does. We see it every day. For him to do it on the big stage, it’s really good for him.”
 
On Kahlil Whitney leaving and the reaction from the team …
“I would say everybody’s story is different. God has individual plans for each and every one of us. Everybody is not going to stay on that same path. He thought it was a better way for him to go a different route. He’s still my brother. I’ll keep in contact with him and show my support for him as well. For K-Whit, I love him.”
 
On being player driven …
“Yeah, I think if you were in our timeouts you would definitely see it’s more of a player-driven team. In timeouts, the veterans are kinda coaching. Cal just lets us talk for a little bit. We’re really starting to take ownership of this team.”
 
On his halfcourt shot …
“Every shootaround we do a halfcourt shot, so I guess that’s kind of my practice for that.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Chris Beard

Opening statement …
“They played with a lot of poise. They were the more aggressive team in overtime. … They’re definitely a Final Four-type team, national championship contender. They have pros, have a great coach, have experience. They only have one freshman in their starting lineup and he didn’t have the best of games today. It was those experienced players who’ve played with Coach Cal for a year who really stepped up when they needed to most.”
 
On Nick Richards’ improvement …
“I actually watch Kentucky more than you’d think. Sometimes you can be a really good player and not get on the floor for a team like Kentucky. I think the thing I respect the most about those sophomores is how they stayed the course. In today’s college basketball, it’s just like society, nobody wants to hang in there. Everybody wants the quick fix. Those guys obviously have stayed the course. You can tell coach’s relationship with his point guard is different than it was last year. He’s a year older. They’re connected a lot better. I have a lot of respect for all of those guys, especially players who go to a program like a Kentucky or Texas Tech and stay the course. You take that coaching and you stay the course when your time comes. Everybody’s gotta run their own race. A lot of times at Kentucky a player’s race is one-and-done but not always. I have a lot of respect for those players no doubt.”