UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
AT NOTRE DAME
DEC. 11, 2021
PURCELL PAVILION AT THE JOYCE CENTER – NOTRE DAME, IND.
Head Coach John Calipari
On the tornadoes in Western Kentucky …
“I know it’s been all over the news, but the Commonwealth was really dealt an unbelievable blow that’s going to take decades to fix. These tornadoes came through, and the deaths, the destruction – you see the pictures. Our team, we knew about it. We were tracking it. We went to the Grotto this morning before we shot around. Talked about it after the game. I said, ‘We play basketball. This is someone losing their mother or working in the warehouse and all of a sudden this happens.’ So now all of a sudden, it’s like all hands-on deck. I believe Tuesday we’re going to do a telethon and have my team really engaged in this. If it wasn’t that far we would probably take a drive there, but it’s probably a little far for them at this point with the finals they have going on. But, prayers, thoughts. People lost houses. Like, you walk in and your house is gone. People were inside the houses huddled in a bathroom or basement or the corner of the house and the house gets blown apart and they’re just lucky enough to be living. Some didn’t obviously, but some did. It kind of puts things in (perspective). Makes you think.”
On going 2 for 19 from 3 …
“Let’s hope it’s a fluke. We lost the game because, in the last eight minutes, I just kept telling them, defensive discipline, you’ll win the game. Defensive discipline. And layup Sahvir (Wheeler), layup TyTy (Washington Jr.), layup Keion (Brooks Jr.) on a backdoor. Just turn your head and the guy shoots a layup. We have a switch in a pick-and-roll and we weren’t supposed to switch and they get a wide-open 3 when you’re the guy. That’s nine points in the last five minutes were, here, take these. And so, when you’re shooting 2 for 19, you can’t afford to do that too. And that’s what happened. There was a stretch that we were trying to go to throw that ball inside and we just didn’t do it. Like, we had taken shots. I’ve got to look at the tape. Davion (Mintz) said the shot clock was lower. I thought I saw a six up there. He’s saying it was lower, but I’ll see it on the tape. That shot could have been swung and posted and tried to get a basket or drive it. Our guard play was not good today. It just wasn’t. And you’re thinking shooting. I know we only had five turnovers. That makes me feel that we weren’t aggressive enough. The last play of the game, that’s on me. I’m still learning about this team. Normally that’s what I do: Go get a basket. Maybe not with this team. At half I screwed up a little bit. I told them at halftime. I took Oscar (Tshiebwe) out. I was going to use a timeout and I didn’t. Thank goodness they missed their last shot. But that cost us two points, and when you’re in a close game like this, those kinds of baskets and plays matter. But I’m still learning about these guys. Sahvir, we’ve got to figure out now, if this is how he gets played, what’s our answer? And we were doing some stuff that I think will work for him, but some of this is you’re responsible for you. And so, we’ll figure it out. I also think teams are going to double team and 3s will be wide open, but they were pretty wide open today too. I mean, it’s hard to win a game going 2 for 19. But here’s what I’ll say: Most of that game we fought. The two plays that Davion made Kellan (Grady) made to put us up one were amazing. But, that discipline you have to have. Here’s what I think happened: I think they played not to lose. So now you’re frozen. You’re hoping they miss vs. you make them miss because you’re playing to win. And I told them, you see a scrum on the court, the celebration, I told them that’s every (time we lose). Last year we were 6-100, and if we got beat there was a scrum on the court. That’s what it is here. You have to play to win. You cannot play to lose, because if you play not to lose you lose.”
#34 Oscar Tshiebwe, Junior, Forward
On if he thought he fouled at the end …
“I did, I did. I grabbed him. He passed it, but I did.”
On what they learned from this game …
“This one was good for us. One thing we’ve got to do is everybody’s got to be engaged. Like Coach was saying, you cannot let somebody just get easy drives and a back cut. That really killed us. It’s something we’re going to work on. Everybody’s got to be engaged. It’s not going to get easier. It’s going to get harder and harder. Obviously, we’re going to go home and we’re going to talk. I think we’re going to learn from this and we’re going to keep getting better and better each game.”
On his effectiveness in the post today …
“We spend a lot of time in the gym working on it and you see the results. It is something before practice that I have like 30, 40 minutes with Coach Orlando (Antigua) getting the hook shots. Like Coach said, we need to post the basketball. That’s why I practice a lot, focus a lot on getting those buckets.”
#12 Keion Brooks Jr., Junior, Forward
On what they feel like they can learn as a team from this game …
“We’ve just got to learn to stay disciplined down the stretch. We had a couple of mental lapses. Like Coach said, a lot of the game, a majority of the game we really fought hard, but when it’s a really close game, those three little back cuts, those mental lapses that we had, it cost us at the end. And also, we’ve got to learn, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Oscar was down there killing it. There were times when we had opportunities to post him. Even myself, drove in there when I could have just thrown him the ball and he would have scored like he was doing all night. So, I think those two things: staying disciplined and just going to whoever’s got it going. Those are the two main takeaways that I feel like we can hash out.”
On if he feels like this is still a good shooting team …
“Yeah, absolutely, because we’re in the gym in the morning, late at night and I’m seeing guys make shots every day. I would be concerned if I didn’t see our shooters not getting shots up and they got out in the game and miss, but I’m seeing them in the gym constantly. Sometimes teams go through slumps. Shooters go through slumps. But the guys we’ve got work really, really hard at what they do, so eventually the tide is going to turn the other way and we’ll make some shots.”
On Sahvir not being on the floor late when he’s been such a great leader …
“Sahvir, like you said, he is a great leader, but we have a lot of faith in TyTy running the point as well. With the team we’ve got and how deep we are, sometimes it’s game by game. Just tonight, down the stretch, we went with TyTy for him to make decisions. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Whether it’s TyTy, Sahvir or even if we had Davion, we have the most confidence in them. We really believe in what they can do.”
On the tornadoes in Western Kentucky …
“Thoughts and prayers to everybody that’s been affected by the tornadoes. I woke up and it was kind of shocking to see that, just to see the destruction that went through there and how that can really just decimate families and what they’ve built for themselves and their children. I wish we could do more to help because that’s devastating what happened to them. The best thing we can do for them is prayer and be there for them and let them know that you’re not alone and you’ve got people that care for them and want to help them. Just thoughts and prayers with them. Hopefully we can all come together and do some good to help rebuild that community.”
