Q&A: Calipari, Cats talk win at South Carolina
Postgame transcripts of Kentucky basketball's Calipari, Ulis and Booker at South Carolina
Q&A: Calipari, Cats talk win at South Carolina Postgame transcripts of Kentucky basketball's Calipari, Ulis and Booker at South Carolina Check out this story on courier-journal.com: https://cjky.it/1BXRN4k
Kyle Tucker, @KyleTucker_CJ Published 3:46 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2015 | Updated 5:08 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2015
Jan 24, 2015; Columbia, SC, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Tyler Ulis (3) attempts a three pointer over South Carolina Gamecocks guard Duane Notice (10) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports(Photo: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports)
South Carolina couldn't make it three stunning upsets over a touted Kentucky team in six years Saturday at Colonial Life Arena. Freshmen Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker and a (once again) devastating defense led the way to a 58-43 Wildcats win.
Kentucky is now 19-0 overall, 6-0 in SEC play and just one more win away from being halfway to that magical 40-0 goal. That's still a long way off, but quotes from Ulis, Booker and coach John Calipari are right here. Every last word those three said after the win:
On how good the second-half defense was: "Pretty good. The first time we went zone, I just said, 'Should we do it?' And the guys normally would tell no, and they said, 'Yeah, let's do it one time.' And I thought we did fabulous, and then we kind of fouled. And then one of the coaches on the bench said, 'Let's go back to the zone.' And I don't know which one it was – I won't throw him under the bus, even though I do know which one it was – and they made a three. And I apologized to the team. We're not a team that tries to trick anybody. That's not what we do. We just play and I don't need to be, 'Oh, he's tricky.' That's not what we do here.
Game Rewind | UK hits the road, tops USC
"So other than that play, I thought we defended and we made it hard. They came in with a game plan pretty obvious: we're driving this thing and we're coming at them. And any time we got on their side, they went right to the rim. But we played pretty good. The other thing is: We knew the game would be physical, and it was, and a couple guys struggled with that. And it's a great lesson. You've gotta play people before they catch it. You gotta play before you catch the ball. You have to stay down. Either you meet them or they meet you, and for these young kids, it's a great lesson.
"The Vandy game was different. The Vandy game was discipline all the way to the end of the shot clock. This game was, 'OK, they're going to play physical and they're going to rebound.' When you look at it, they got 16 offensive rebounds – or 18, I'm sorry – and we got three. We got three offensive rebounds. Think about that. We're one of the best-rebounding teams in the country. So obviously they were driving, they were going to rebound the ball and not let us rebound, and they did it – except we guarded pretty good and kept that score, that gap in the score."
What we learned in UK's win at South Carolina
On the 11-0 surge to end the first half: "There was a surge. I mean, again, I can't remember every play – I think we made a shot – basically, we locked them down for about six straight possessions and we scored and that's how we got it. They got us on their side on the last one; we were just big enough to kind of deflect the ball so they couldn't get a layup to end the half."
On if there's something about Ulis and Booker that makes them so comfortable on the road: "I don't know, but they played good today. I thought Andrew and Aaron played good. I thought Willie played good. I thought Dakari played pretty good. Marcus didn't play bad. But, again, we end up shooting 46 percent and the greatest thing for me is we have eight turnovers. That's probably a couple less than I'd like, but that just shows you we're a team that can play – you can play us physical and we can still do the stuff we're trying to do."
On winning by 15 with those three offensive rebounds and if there was something he was conceding in that regard: "(Grinning) They were going to fight harder than we were going to fight. I kind of conceded that. The thing that young kids do is they accept being blocked out. And against a team that really is on a mission to keep you away from the goal, if you accept being blocked out, you're going to get three offensive rebounds. The only other way I'd like to get three offensive rebounds is if we miss like eight shots in the game and there was only eight to get (and) we got three of them. But this, you know, 21 shots missed and we get three rebounds …"
On moving ahead of Adolph Rupp in winning percentage at Kentucky: "He lasted 40 years in this seat. How he did that, I have no idea. And you're saying that to me – I didn't know. But I'll say this – I gotta go back (to): We've had 19 draft picks in five years. This year's team, who knows, depending on how we do. When you have that many good players, you won't believe this: You're going to win a lot of games. So … How about this? I'm really proud that 20 percent of the NBA's starting lineup in the All-Star Game played for us. May have two or three more guys in the game. May have five out of the 12 have played for us – maybe six. And really hoping Rondo gets his opportunity, because he deserves it. But when you have great players, craziness, but you win a lot of games."
On why eight turnovers is a couple less than he'd like: "Because the reason it was eight was we backed up the game and I said, 'Because of how they're playing, we're going to grind it out.' And that's what we did. Look, there's going to be games where we play this way. We don't have to play fast. We don't have to play wide open. We can make you guard us in the half court and do things. We're getting better at it. We work at it every day. These guys, they did it. Part of the thing today again is they're getting three days off. I told them, 'You get three days off.' They get the rest of today off, they're getting Sunday off and Monday's an individual work day. Like, they're going to get individual work, but it's not going to be a practice day. And they gave great effort.
"We didn't shoot around this morning. I gave them the option: Do you want to come in and shoot around in the morning? We'd have had to get up at 7 o'clock, maybe a little earlier, and come over here and shoot. And I said, 'Take four or five minutes and decide.' They decided in, mmmmmm, 15 seconds. They didn't want to come and shoot around. 'Let's shoot our half-court shot.' So we shot that last night. But it's just – I trust them. I trust them that they understand it's not about being lazy or doing what's easy. It's what is right for them. I'm trying to give them days off because the effort they're playing with is crazy. So they need to make sure that they're getting healthy, that they're regenerating. I've got a good team with good players, and we're still not where we need to be but we're moving in the right direction."
On if holding South Carolina to four field goals in second half jumps out to him or if it was 'just one of those games': "It was that kind of game. I didn't want to get away from who we were because everybody said 'they're a good team to zone." Well that's not who we are, and I don't need to trick anybody. This is who we are. And what we did was we just made sure we told our guys, 'they're a driving team, you've got to stay between your man and the basket, do not get on his hip,' which we did 15 times. When a guy argued with me I subbed him. I told him – again you're not coaching game to game, you've coaching over the long haul and you don't want to be in a game late in the year, when it's a one-and-done game, and a guy jumped on a guy's hip three straight times and we lost the game. 'Why'd you do that?' Well we've been in these games and we understand. I don't know how I got to that right there, but any other questions?"
On if Andrew Harrison's hip is still bothering and what he says to Harrison in those moments where he drives and gets in the air without a clear idea of where he's going: "Well, he's getting better. I'm fine with him. I thought he finished the game good, made some free throws that we needed, ran the game pretty good. He and Tyler can play together. I like the fact that he missed two and then he came back and made that third one instead of the two misses absolutely caving him in. I'm just looking for guys to get better. They're not going to be perfect. I expect them to fight, I expect them to listen. I'd like them to be disciplined enough to do what the team needs them to do. I can expect that. So, like I said, I think this team – we're going on the road, playing good games, good teams and hanging on."
On Marcus Lee's four blocks and if he's gotten the message about bringing energy when he's out there: "Yeah, yeah. Made a free throw. You know he's made two of his last four free throws? You may say, 'that's nothing.' No, that's big. And they've been in guts of the game, like when it mattered. I think he's getting better and better. The thing is, who's he playing behind, so to speak? Even though we're platooning, he's playing behind Willie. Willie is like ridiculous. So you may be really good, but Willie is like, 'Oh my gosh, ridiculous.' So, and I'm proud of him too."
On getting on Andrew Harrison a lot today, and how Harrison handles that coaching: "Mainly I'm asking him to do what we do. 'Why did you make that play? You know how we play.' That's more of that. And the other thing is, 'play with more energy man, be more active.' A reporter came up to me and said – she interviewed Andrew and said, 'He is the neatest kid, most personable kid and I had an unbelievable…' Why don't people know that? My thing to him right now is, 'Be that person on the court.' Either you're taking this stuff too serious – he's a great kid, he's funny, his teammates love him, but he internalizes a lot of stuff. I'm trying to get that out of him.
"I don't want anybody to look at him and say, 'He's a bad kid.' He is the greatest kid. 'Yes sir, no sir, love you coach.' He is the greatest. Now I'm on him. I'm on everyone of these kids. I was on Karl today. Look at Karl like he's my son, but I killed him today. It was too physical for him. 'Well, you're OK Karl, you just keep getting pushed around, you're fine.' Well, I don't do it that way. They know I don't do it that way. I keep it real and sometimes I say it loud. I told them, 'If you'd like me to talk this way (in a quiet voice) I'll say it that way, but does it matter how I'm saying it?' "
On why Andrew Harrison cares too much and what he tries to do to fix that issue: "I had Derrick Rose. Derrick Rose, of all the players I coached he cared more about how he was playing that even Andrew, but he dealt with it different. I've never seen a player internalize like Derrick Rose to the point where he couldn't get by mistakes. He wouldn't back up, he'd just go crazy. He'd play harder, he'd go block a shot, he'd do something, but he was so frustrated with himself. I said, 'You're going to be playing in the NBA so many (games), you can't do this game to game. You'll never last.'
"With Andrew, it's the same thing. He sometimes when he gets in that mode backs up instead of stepping on the gas. I'm just trying to say, 'Hey, you can be upset with yourself, but be upset, clap and go crazy, bang on the floor, go block a shot and scream but don't backup.' He's learning. These kids are so young. He's a sophomore. He's a sophomore. We all forget. Second year, he's learning. So much better than he was a year ago, not even close. He's getting better. By the end of the year I'm looking for each of these kids to be the best version of themselves, but I'm telling you honestly none of them are near that yet. But they're moving in the right direction."
On South Carolina making only three baskets in the second half: "It just goes with our team concept, shutting teams out. That's what we try to do. It's easy with bigs back there like Willie Cauley. If we get beat, he's always there to help us. Us guards, we try to get up and pressure guards so they go by us and have to go into Willie."
On how much he's expanding his offensive game: "I think me going on this little streak opened it up. Because now teams have to play closer to me, so I use that. I use a head-fake and one, two dribbles or try to get other people involved."
On if he saw Klay Thompson's game last night: "I figured it out in the morning, and it doesn't surprise me. I feel like he's the best shooting guard in the NBA. He kind of proved that last night."
On going to Missouri this week and if his dad will be there: "Yeah, I think he will be there most definitely. It's kind of like the (Missouri game) at Rupp. I'm kind of close with the coaching staff, and they recruited me since seventh, eighth grade. I still have love for Missouri because my dad went there. I've been up there plenty of times. It's another game, but obviously it's kind of a rivalry for me."
On how effective UK was with three perimeter players instead of three bigs or Lyles at the small forward: "Well, I consider Trey a perimeter player also now. He's expanded his game a lot since being here (this) year. You see him making the in-between game all the time. The 15-foot jumper, he's always making it. But with the smaller lineup, I feel like we had to go it because they were playing us rough and they were picking us up full-court, so we needed some more ball handlers out there."
On UK being 26-3 since Aaron Harrison said UK would be a great story following last year's loss at South Carolina: "I guess so. We weren't here last year, and I guess they finished it out good and now we're starting it good. We're still working, and I feel like this is just the beginning for us."
On if Aaron said anything about avenging last year's loss: "Not necessarily just him. I feel like all the returners, they came back for a reason. That was to win a national championship, and I feel like we're all trying to work towards that goal."
On how many times he did the reloading and if the coaches are OK with it: "I think I did it twice, on two threes. They haven't said anything to me about it. They joke around with me about it a little bit. I guess it's just something I do now."
On Calipari's crack about him shooting it in the ocean one day and shooting an airball the next day and if Calipari tries to keep him humble: "Oh, definitely. I feel like that's Coach's job. You can't let somebody just feel like they're gonna take over. But it wasn't an airball. I have to clear that up. It was tipped. It was tipped. Most people don't know that. But it's all good. He's behind me, so it's good."
TYLER ULIS
On the defense at the end of the first half: "Everybody just did their job staying in front of their guys. Big guys – Willie, Dakari, Karl, everybody – just did their job helping (with) backside blocks. When we're in the zone, it's hard to score on us."
On going more than nine minutes without a field goal in the second half: "Well, they were playing rough ball. Fouling a lot. We were just trying to get into the offense. It was kind of hard to get into a flow with all the fouls called. But I feel like we executed well, we just were at the line more than we usually are."
On why he and Booker haven't struggled on the road: "I feel like we're both confident in our games. We just come here and take it like another game. We love the crowd's reaction to us, the boos and stuff like that. It's really not a lot of pressure on us. We just come out and try to play."
On if he has a sixth sense for where Booker is: "We're really close, so we have great chemistry on and off the court. I just try to find him. We came to school together. He gets the job done. He can shoot the ball. So if I need an outlet, he's gonna be there."
On if they prefer playing against man or zone: "It really doesn't matter. We just come and play our game regardless. We have plays for zone, plays for man. So whatever they come out with, we just have to execute."
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