Kentucky Basketball Previews South Carolina
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UK at. SOUTH CAROLINA PREGAME MEDIA
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
MARCH 5, 2021
HEAD COACH JOHN CALIPARI
On using the South Carolina game as a way to get on a path and getting the guys to have a mentality of winning one game at a time …
“Yeah, at this time of the year you stay in the moment. You don’t worry about what else is going on around you. All you’re trying to do is be at your best at the end of the year, which I’ve done every year that I’ve been here. I’ve pushed the same message whether it’s, ‘Look all of this is for seeding, so let’s be at our best.’ Now it’s become, ‘All right we’re going to have to go and do something unique and special, which we can, if we continue to climb.’ Now, all that means is one, 16 to 18 assists, 10 to 12 turnovers, no more; and we fight. If we do those things, you all know we’ll be right there and with our chances to win. We have to shoot the ball a little better than we have the last couple of games. Then it all becomes a mindset. In the NCAA Tournament, we’re playing weekends and you don’t even know who your second game is unless they played before you. You may think it’s this team, but they lost. It’s the same thing in Nashville. We’re going to play a game first. All we worry about is that game. The next game will probably be played after. We don’t even know who it’s going to be. So, stay in the moment. Like today’s practice is all we should be thinking about. Yesterday’s practice was pretty good. It was rough. We had a couple of busted-up lips. It was interesting. We had a little thing, a little freak thing that I don’t think will affect anything but, you know, we had a guy come down on an ankle funny. It didn’t really step on anybody; it just came down funny. Nothing crazy, but he’ll be fine, I believe. But it was a good practice. Now today’s practice the same. We moved it up a little bit so it’s earlier because the game is earlier. The great thing about these guys – and it’s been a struggle – I’d say this: There’s a lot of stuff, even my coaching, we’ve not been where we’ve been, but these kids have never stopped. They’ve never stopped fighting for our fans, for the state, for the university, for the program. They’ve never stopped fighting. We’ve just got to understand there’s only one path for us. Fight. If you get banged on the boards, you’re not winning. Two, create shots for each other with 16 to 18 assists. Three, keep those turnovers down because they lead to baskets for them. We do those things we can go on a run. But it’s all of them. And again, we were doing them for a while but then what happens–the last piece of this becomes when a team makes a run, you can bow your neck and say, ‘That’s it,’ or you can drop your head. We’ve been dropping our heads. Stop it. Bow your neck. Let’s go. Again, the spirit of the team has been good.”
On Lance Ware and Dontaie Allen getting chances …
“Well, as you guys have watched, we’ve really had inconsistency. At this point, you’re playing to win the game. Forget about next game or forget about egos. Those are out the window now. So, if we start a game and we’ve got some guys who won’t battle and fight then we know we have Lance. Lance looked good in practice yesterday. What did he do against Mississippi State last time? How did he play against North Carolina when he went in and battled? He was fine. Guys aren’t shooting the ball as well, let’s give Dontaie another shot. He’s not been shooting it particularly well in practice and stuff, but you know what? Every time he misses, we stop and everybody on the team does to him what? ‘Keep shooting.’ We’ve got to get him into a different mindset right now so he can go in the game and let loose and let shots go. But again, would I love it to be the seven-man rotation because we’re playing and performing. Yes, but the other side of it is we’re trying to win and if someone–again, I come back to this: This has been a great lesson for these guys. When you’re not at your ‘A’ game, you’re at your ‘B’ or ‘C’ game, what do you do to help us win? If you’re not doing anything to help us win, then someone else has got to play. It’s just how it is. The inconsistency has kind of let us to just like, ‘OK let’s try something different.’ I’m not just going to let a game go. It’s not how I do this.”
On the team’s mentality …
“Yeah, they’ve been good, Darrell (Bird). They’ve been good. We had a team meeting and talked about this. The reason my teams historically, and I’m talking back to conference tournaments when I was in (Conference) USA, Atlantic 10 and here, and you say, ‘Why have your teams done so well in conference tournaments?’ Well, they’ve done well because the entire season, every game we played was someone’s Super Bowl. The rivalries to us weren’t as big as the rivalries they had with us. Now all of a sudden, you’ve been in a war every game. You’re battle tested for postseason. Other teams won’t be as battle tested. They haven’t been through what you’ve been through. But the other side of that is to finish off games you have to play with some reckless abandon. You have to play like you have nothing to lose, and that’s where I have to get these guys mentally. We talked about it. Talked about individuals in the room and how they’re close and talked about different teams that went on a roll at the end of the year and won four games in their tournament or five games in their tournament and ended up going to the national championship game because they got in. I mean, it’s happened. But what I said is, ‘The reason that I believe that we’re going to do this and can do it (is) because my teams have historically done it. So, I know what it feels like.’ But I’ve got to get them in the same frame of mind and that’s what I’m trying to do motivational wise. But you also are preparing for games. Like, South Carolina is going to play a 2-3 zone, a 3-2 zone, a 1-2-2, a 2-2-1. We have to prepare for what they do also, but we’ve got to understand these kids are not robots. They’re not machines. They don’t play great every time out, and we’ve got to try and figure out, ‘All right, how do we give ourselves a chance to win every game?’ I think to this point, you have to admit, you can see that’s what we’ve been doing, and I’ve been doing. How do we give ourselves a chance? And we’ve had a chance, and now we have to just push it over the edge.”
On the team not looking the same since the week between games …
“Well, again, the things that we had in those games were we fought. We battled. We outrebounded. So, you could say the time off. I don’t know if that time off led them to hearing the wrong things and reverting back to not fighting, not passing to each other. We can do this. Again, that’s what the challenge of this has been. We start going and then we revert. And then you say, ‘Why did they revert?’ Well, you’re not fighting, you’re not passing and you’ve got high turnovers because you’re trying to hit a home runs. Why are you trying to hit a home run? Because you missed four straight shots that were wide open and you looked bad. ‘I’ve got to do something.’ Now, all of a sudden you make a hero’s play that leads them to a layup. We’ve seen it over and over and that’s a maturity level. Again, the good news of what you said, we’ve seen ourselves be right there where, ‘All right, this is who we are. This is going to be some fun.’ We’ve just got to get back to that. How do you want to finish this? And that’s what I’m saying to them. You can paint the picture you want. Our season is going to be 0-0 after Saturday. What is Saturday’s game? To get us ready and in the right mindset. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the game and none of us do. But I know, let’s do our best and let the score take care of itself.”
On the irony of Mitch Barnhart being the chair this year when it’s going to take a run to get to the NCAA Tournament and any words of encouragement from him …
“Well, he’s called me after just about every game and he’s been great. He and I had talked, if we can do this, this, this and this. I said, ‘Mitch, you’re right. Let’s worry about this first. This one game.’ Because he would never be in the room if they talked about us anyway. But we knew what the numbers were saying. We knew. And we knew if we could go on a little run here, we were going to be right in the hunt and not have to win the tournament. So, we had talked. He has never talked about what goes on in the room. That’s confidential. But he’s, you know, he’s feeling bad just like I’m feeling bad. He’s encouraging. ‘Keep coaching them. Keep doing what you’re doing.’ He’s in postgame locker rooms at home when we’ve finished the game so he’s hearing what I’m saying. So, he’s been great throughout this for these kids and for me and our staff.”
On something he thought about this team preseason that once the season began it was not what he thought …
“Well, again, with Terrence (Clarke) being out, BJ (Boston) struggled early. I thought our guard play would be better. So, it changed on the run of how we were trying to play. Terrence being out all of that time and then not really being back, we started having limited–‘OK, what can we do and how do we do this?’ Playing through the post like we are, you know, it’s not something I’ve done historically. I’ve done it once or twice. But you know what? With this team it’s how we have to play. Isaiah (Jackson), even the people that recruited him have called me and said, ‘You know what? Wow has he gotten better. I never thought he’d be there this fast.’ So, he’s really developed and really put himself in a great position. Like I said, you would hope some of these close games we would win, these kids would be in a different mindset, but we didn’t and now this is what is in front of us and what we have to deal with. So, as a coach, I’m just trying to paint that picture. Let’s go. We can do this. As you all know, I haven’t been in this position like since my first year of coaching and I’m hoping in the locker rooms I’m saying the right things after these games. I haven’t had many of them that I’ve had to, you know, talk. My thing is, they’re very short because there’s no reason to pile on these kids right now and it gives me time to think about how I want to address team about what went on and how we have to deal with it. The great thing for me is this team has not quit fighting, they’ve not stopped. It doesn’t mean they’re going to play great. It doesn’t mean that an opponent isn’t going to come out of the gate and play great because everybody’s doing that. The games that we could have gotten some people, Florida we had down 10. Five straight turnovers where again, we didn’t pass the ball to each other. Stuff like that. It’s had an effect, I mean going up six on Mississippi and ready to go, a steal and a break away. ‘All right, let’s go. We’re going to be up eight or nine. Let’s go.’ And now all of a sudden, 58 seconds later it’s a tie ball game and we’ve done it over and over. We’ve just got to have somebody on the court, ‘All right, let’s stop the bleeding. You either get fouled, do not through a ball that you can’t either make or get fouled or we can’t rebound. Make the easiest play you can make. We’re not turning it over now.’ We need that. That stuff on the court, not just coming from the bench.”
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS & PR
MEN’S BASKETBALL
UK at. SOUTH CAROLINA PREGAME MEDIA
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
MARCH 5, 2021
#23 Isaiah Jackson, F, Fr.
On taking rebounding personal after getting beat by 14 boards last game …
“For me, I took that personally. This upcoming game, I’m going to try to go out and get every rebound that I can. Last game I think I had like three rebounds or something like that. That’s not going to happen again. Next game I’ll be prepared to try to grab every rebound that I can.”
On who the people are that “doubted him” as he has said …
“Just everybody. People back at home. They’re just the people that are closest to you that say certain stuff like that. Like, ‘Yeah, you’re not going go nowhere.’ Just stuff like that. I like to prove people wrong, so that’s what I’m going out and doing every day. Every day I step on the court, I’m getting better in the gym, just trying to prove people wrong. That’s my motivation.”
On if he realizes how important he is to this team and how he tries to limit his foul trouble so he can stay on the floor more …
“I’m very aware of that. I’ve been watching a lot of film because, when I’m out there playing – I’m not trying to be rude or anything – I’m sort of playing like I don’t care. I’ve been watching film. When I’m in the game, I don’t really know what I’m doing fouling and stuff, but I’ve been watching a lot of film and I can see the stuff that I’ve been doing. I’m trying to fix it. Like Coach has been saying, sometimes it’s better to contest it but don’t try to go after it and just let them score because I know the team needs me and I know I need them. So, I’m going to try to be on the court as much I can and try to limit foul trouble.”
On how he balances giving maximum effort with not trying to foul ….
“I’m not really for sure, to be honest. I know that’s something I can start practicing now, trying to lower my speed and my motor and stuff like that, not trying to get in foul trouble. That’s something I’m trying to figure out and grow up on. I’m just going to keep going.”
On where they are mentally as a team …
“We’re just taking it one game at a time. We got a game this Saturday and we’re looking forward to that. I think it’s just confidence right now. Everybody has been working in the gym this last week. After a loss, everybody is down but we always find a way to pick each other up. Every day in practice we’re working, after practice, before practice, stuff like that. Everybody’s confidence is high right now and we’re looking forward to this Saturday and next week too.”
On what is one thing he knows for sure about this team …
“To be honest, that we fight. It maybe doesn’t seem like it every game because we’re not robots so we can’t just go out and play our best every game. But we’ll try. We fight. Even if we lose, the next game we’ll try to come out and fight and we’ll try to strategize on different things we can do to help us win. Stuff like that. Coach believes in us. Everybody around us believes in us. We’re just going to keep striving to be great.”
On Coach Calipari saying a recent practice was really rough and a few guys got their lips busted …
“I feel like everybody. Yesterday was a hard practice. We did a lot of one-on-one rebounding, lot of five-on-five full court, lot of rebounding and snatches, a lot of running and stuff. So, I feel like everybody got their lips busted yesterday. We needed it. Everybody, I think, took it well.”
On if the team wanted to play Gonzaga …
“Me personally, I wanted to play them. The whole team wanted to play them. When Coach said it, everybody wanted to play them. When we lost, it was just a whole bunch of stuff. But yeah, we wanted to play them though for sure. Everybody was geeked about it.”
On if he has watched other teams play this season …
“No, I haven’t been really watching it. To be honest, I have a hard time watching other teams play because the stuff they sometimes do, I think I can (do it). It’s just like a whole mental thing. If somebody misses a dunk or a rebound, I be like, ‘Ah, I could get that.’ It’s just something mental about it that it’s hard for me to watch it so I don’t try to watch it.”
