University of Kentucky Basketball Media Conference
Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021
Lexington, Ky.
Head Coach John Calipari
Press Conference
Kentucky 83, Missouri 56
Q. When you’re looking early in this game to see whether Keion (Brooks Jr.) or Jacob (Toppin) is the hot hand that night, what exactly are you looking…
JOHN CALIPARI: It isn’t even hot hand, (Herald-Leader sports columnist John Clay). It’s what energy are they playing with? Will they go get rebounds? Will they play physical? I’m not worried about what they do offensively. All ego stuff. If they do the other stuff, guess what? They’ll score the ball. Keion was terrific. Start the second half our energy was down, he jogged a couple times, I took him out. He rebounded one and bounced it before he threw it ahead. Nope, not doing that. And so — but he played great. How about Lance (Ware) today? I mean, here is a guy, and I want you understand I stuck in Daimion (Collins) before I did Lance. Lance didn’t say, “That’s disrespectful to me.” What? I coach, you play. I put you in, go do your thing. He played. He did the same thing with North Carolina. He went in and made a big difference in the game. I asked Sahvir (Wheeler), “What did you do over Christmas, eat? Did you get in the gym at all?” He laughed and said, “I’ll be honest with you, I really didn’t, and I did eat.” But he got nine assists and one turnover, so I said, “Keep eating, kid.”
Q. Considering you’re coming off the Christmas break, you’re playing there and you start out really well, and Missouri hit with your a 14-2 punch right there. How pleased were you with the way your team responded to that instead of kind of hanging their heads or feeling sorry maybe?
JOHN CALIPARI: No, I loved it. Here is what I loved: How we started the game. The energy we started with, who we are, how we run. If you play the way we’re playing, picking them up and you’re running, at some point if a team is not used to playing that way, there is going to be a gap. You’re going to get a layup, a layup, a three. They turn it over, and now all of a sudden it’s 12-14 instead of four. And that’s why we want to keep playing fast. You know, I don’t know what we shot from the three-point line, 5-for-17. I mean, doesn’t matter if you play the way we’re playing. You got to play a certain way. What? How about you score like we are, 83 points. And I told you, we got to 80, 75, 72 to 80 points or more, we’re good, because defensively and rebounding the ball we’re pretty good.
Q. I remember maybe you and other coaches saying that Sahvir (Wheeler) would have to be careful about trying to drive all the way to the basket. He seems to have a real knack for that. How does he do it?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, you got to bring the big guy out if you’re going to give him opportunities to drive. So if you’re watching what we’re doing, either in transition, the big guy is not in the lane yet, or in half-court offense we’ve done things to bring the big away from the basket, and he takes advantage.
Q. Couple questions about Oscar (Tshiebwe): One, on a night where he cannot buy a bucket, rebounds, a lot of guys say, I don’t care about scoring, which Oscar has said before. How much does that validate that he really doesn’t? He just wants to go do the thing he knows he can help you do. And then the other part of that, we’ve seen some mid-air battles. I think he almost took Keion (Brooks Jr.)’s head off after Keion stole a couple of his rebounds. Is that good that other guys are trying to challenge him?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, they’re doing it because I’m saying, If you don’t go and attempt to rebound, I’m taking you out and playing somebody else. Get in there, mix it up. Now, I asked (Tshiebwe) after the game, I said, “We could have shot 50% if you — you were 2-for-10, my man, and they were one-footers.” “I know, it wasn’t my game.” That’s what he said. Wasn’t my game. Well, the next one better be your game. But we ran a couple plays for him that other guys shot the ball. I said after the game, if I were him, I would say, “You know what, boys, you go get 20 rebounds and I’m going go out and be cute and dribble the ball around. You go in there and mix it up like I am.” When he’s this there and it’s his play, throw him the ball. Again, we did some and he missed a bunch today. I thought (Missouri) would trap more. They only trapped once. I would think every team is going to trap him and then they don’t, I don’t understand. But you’re right. (Tshiebwe) had 20 rebounds. What in the world?
Q. You didn’t have quite as many assists tonight. What did you think of your passing overall?
JOHN CALIPARI: We held the ball again. We had guys that walked, which means you’re supposed to catch it, pass it, drive it if you have it, but you’re not messing with the ball. You’re not ripping it to your hip and looked like “I’m going to make the play.” If you heard me, if you were anywhere near the floor, I kept saying, “Swing the ball.” Everybody that caught it was trying to make a play. You’re not going to get assists when you play that way. Not going to get in the lane where they collapse, and you throw it out and a guy makes a shot. Again, when you shoot 43% and 29% from the three, those are about five or six assists that you would get, and then we would be at 18, 19 which is pretty good for us. Just didn’t make shots.
JOHN CALIPARI: Guys, let me talk a little bit about Tubby Smith coming in, Coach Smith. You know, we wanted this moment for him. The job that he did, part of it is you want guys like him and Coach (Joe B.) Hall to really understand how appreciated they are by our fanbase. What they did while they were here, winning national titles, doing it with class, Tubby deserves to be in the rafters. He’s going to have a get-together with his players. I may stop in for a little bit, but I want him to be with his guys. And then next day we play a basketball game. Tonight, I think they were up one at halftime against Michigan State and ended up losing by 13. So don’t think, oh, this is just another pushover game. No, it isn’t. And you all know how good a coach he is. You know what kind of defensive coach he is. Elbows and blocks and physicalness. He’s got two really good guards. One scores 21 a game and the other shoots threes at 45% and he lets them go. So, you know, the biggest thing is I want he and his wife and the kids to understand that this place, these fans, this school, this state, absolutely appreciates what he did while he coached here.
Q. Cal, just a little more on Keion (Brooks Jr.). I wonder when a guy is a junior, like you’ve seen the ups and downs, do you have a sense what buttons to push with him and how to push them? He’s an older, mature guy you’ve had a relationship with. Can you guys have some frank conversations?
JOHN CALIPARI: Oh, we’ve had them. We’ve had them. You guys know I keep it real. What I’ve done is I’m holding him to a high standard that I think he’s capable of reaching. But you got to fight, you got to play with spirit. When the ball doesn’t go in, it can’t affect the rest of your game. If it does, you’re out and Jacob (Toppin) is in. But if (Brooks) plays, we’re pretty good. And it’s not — you guys, he had nine rebounds. That team out rebounded everybody they played, and they played a tough schedule, by five, six rebounds a game, and he went in, and they weren’t rebounds away from the goal. They were traffic rebounds, and he got them. Second thing he did is he ran the floor like the guys that are playing really well ran. Those guys run and they’re ahead of the action. They’re ready to play. He’s now running. So my hope is it’s really hard to play the way he played and it’s physical and it’s bruising. Do you say, “Let me try it that other way one more time because there has to be an easier way.” There is none. Guys got to touch the fire couple times before they say I’m not touching the fire. The good news for him is Jacob is there. I was just so happy for Lance (Ware). Such a great kid. The kid is working extra. How about making free throws, he’s in the gym extra. That’s how this works. You want to build your confidence. You want to be confident? Let me hear if you guys hear anything I’ve ever said. Is it about coaching? You want to be confident? You ready? I’ll do it one more time for you. Be competent. Be competent. Fight like heck, be competent, you’re going to be confident. If you’re not competent, it don’t matter what the coach says. “Oh, you’ll be alright. Next one will be good.” Doesn’t matter. You got to get in the gym and get better and get more consistent. And if something goes wrong you know what you say to yourself? “I’ve worked too hard. I expect to play well. I’ve spent too much time with the coaches.” So I’m happy for him because, again, I want him to do well. I can’t do it for him. I can’t fight for him. I can’t sprint for him, but I can hold him accountable to those things.
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
KENTUCKY WILDCATS VS. MISSOURI TIGERS
DEC. 29, 2021
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
UK Student-Athletes
#3, TyTy Washington Jr., Freshman, Guard
On how he could tell if Keion [Brooks] would have a good night …
“He was aggressive for us going in and getting offensive rebounds. After he got that first put-back, I knew he was going to have a big game because he’s really physical.”
On how playing physical teams will help them in the future …
“It’s definitely going to help us a lot. We knew coming in that they were going to be physical, that they would crash offensive and defensive rebounds, and push and shove us. So, this week in practice, we’ve just been doing that to each other. When it came time for the game, they were doing what we thought they would, but we were used to it. We just knew that if we were aggressive first, they’d have to step back, and we just kept the pressure on them the whole time.”
On players who determine their skill level solely based on the number of successful shots they make …
“I feel like people who think like that only think they have good games when they’re making shots. That only hinders their game, and basketball is about more than just making shots. We all know we’re not going to make every shot. Even Michael Jordan didn’t make every shot. So, we find other ways to bring stuff to the table. It’s all about playing with energy and just playing hard at the end of the day.”
On their free throw shooting and how often they practice it …
“We work on free throws quite a bit. We do it every shootaround and it’s how we end our shootarounds. Whenever we practice free throws, Coach Cal makes sure we stay engaged so that we can really focus on it and get better. So, when the time comes, we’re going to need all the free throws we can get.”
#12, Keion Brooks Jr., Junior, Forward
On how playing hard during his minutes turns into on-court success …
“That definitely helps, running the floor, when you have a great guards like Davion (Mintz), TyTy (Washington Jr.), Sahvir (Wheeler) they’re going to get you open shots, and if you run the floor, good things will happen for you. Also, with me, it’s just a matter of just continuing to play hard, not worrying about what could happen, what might happen, just play hard and just bring energy. When you have energy, you know, the ball, finds energy, so that’s really what happened.”
On if this was a confidence-building game for him…
“My confidence can wane from time to time, and that’s not a good thing. What really helped me was going home, spending time with my family a little bit, especially when my little brothers, you go home and you see these 17 and 16 year old and see how much they look up to you. It really helped me kind of like back in on what I really need to do to play well. I think that’s what really helped me a lot.”
On having someone like Jacob Toppin behind him, pushing him …
“I don’t really think we’re really battling for minutes. There’s the game going on. We’ve talked about it, one of these games both of us are going to play very well at the same time. With Jacob, we literally do everything together. We lift together, work out together, we’re hanging out a lot. Just the natural competitive fire that we have in each other, it pushes us every day. He’s helped me get a lot better and hopefully I’m doing the same for him.”
On if he said anything to the team to lock in during the game when Missouri made runs…
“Missouri, they’re a good team, and it’s a game of runs. They went on a run, we start off the game on a run, then they went on a run, and I just explained to the guys, you’ve just got to keep playing and playing hard. They made their run, now it’s time for us to make another one. Now if we did that, you know kind of start to open the game up a little bit. But we got to give credit to them, they weren’t going to go away. They’re good, well-coached team, really physical, so we just knew we had to keep playing.”
On where his personal swagger comes from…
“My swagger has to come through my energy, using my my size, my length, my athleticism to make plays, running the floor. When I do things like that, good things happen, not just for me but for the team. I think that’s what builds my swagger and what allows me to have fun playing the game, when I’m flying around and just making effort plays.”
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS MEN’S BASKETBALL
KENTUCKY V. MISSOURI
DEC. 29, 2021
JOE CRAFT CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
Cornell Mann, Missouri Acting Head Coach
Opening Statement …
“I think our guys came out to perform, especially early in the first half. Then in the second half, we obviously lost momentum. I thought we had some silly fouls that take a little bit of air off the ball for us, and it doesn’t allow you to be as confident and play with as much confidence as you would normally play. So, we just have to do a better job keeping ourselves out of foul trouble and continue to fight. I thought we had a couple of guys play well and I thought we were better in spots. We just have to be able to sustain it in 40 minutes.”
On offensive performance …
“I thought we did a decent job, again, in the first half of getting in there. I thought maybe there were times when we could have been a little bit stronger with the ball in terms of finishing. Maybe we got a few bumps here and there as we tried to finish, but all in all, the game plan was to get to the paint. We did that early, but we just didn’t finish in the second half. We didn’t do a good job finishing inside.”
On the learning process throughout big losses …
“I think they are learning to fight. I think we are learning to fight. And I challenge you guys – maybe you’ll call me later and tell me – but in terms of anybody having the toughest month of basketball, it’s probably Mizzou. I think our schedule is tough. That’s the way we want it because that will build character with the young guys, and I think it is building character on the four floors.”
On the difficulty to stop Oscar Tshiebwe …
“Well, he did not get his point average. He came close to it, but he did not get his point average. He did a good job there. I thought there were times that he was a little bit over-physical, both on the glass and offensively. But, hey, that’s the game, especially on the road. But I thought we did a decent job with him. I thought Kobe [Brown] did a really good job with him in the first half. Obviously, he got a couple fouls, but that’s been a story in terms of defending a post. But I thought we did a pretty good job with him. He had 20 rebounds, and he had 28 in the last game. I am not sure he should have finished with 20, but I thought some of them were bangers and over the backs. But again, that’s the game, and that’s the game on the road.”
Missouri Student-Athletes
#1, Amari Davis, Junior, Guard
On the game …
“I’ll say basketball is a game of runs. That team is capable of making a run of their own, so when they started a run, I think it kind of startled us a little bit. We could have been more aware on defense and on the offensive end, and I think we just didn’t do that.”
On coach Cuonzo Martin‘s absence …
“I feel like not having Coach Martin here and a couple of other guys on the staff, I wouldn’t say it played a part in this game. We were thinking about them the whole trip, about how they’re not there with us. I am really excited to get Coach Martin back. We played well partially for this game, and I’d say when Coach Martin gets back, I’m really happy about what we can do in the SEC.”
#5, Jarron Coleman, R-Junior, Guard
On what their coach told them to be prepped for the game …
“Just play comfortable, and just play my game. All he wanted from me was to play hard, lead a team, and try to lead on the defensive side, too. But all he really wanted was leadership from me and control of the game.”
On not having Coach Martin at the game …
“We have a great staff. We felt a difference that he wasn’t there, but it also wasn’t a difference at the same time. Practice was executed the same way. Every detail. You just miss Coach’s intensity. All coaches have it, but you lose one coach with it, it’s going to go down, but we can’t wait to get him back.”
On losing the last few games and the frustration of it …
“I feel the L, but I try to look at the positives as well because we are a young team and I feel like every game we are growing. We’re trying to get guys in a flow and everybody’s trying to get used to playing with each other. I feel like it will all turn around once it all clicks, but we just have to stay the course and get focused.”
