[B][/B]
[B]#23, Anthony Davis, F, Fr.[/B]
On blocking shots …
“It came pretty naturally. When I was short, I always wanted to go block shots. I’ve seen other guys blocking and watched their form. I always tried but I was too short when I was little. It just came naturally as I grew and I loved it. It’s all about timing and knowing when they’re going to shoot. Wait for them to shoot or else you can’t block the shot. You rely on timing. You keep working on something and it’s going to come. You really can’t work on blocking players’ shots. It’s like a natural ability to me, but you still have to work on it. I always tried to do it when I was young and I was shorter. That’s why it came naturally.”
On improving his offensive game outside the paint …
“I think I still have a long way to go. Offense is really not designed for the bigs to get the ball on the perimeter. So coach (John Calipari) incorporates that into the offense now. He’s put bigs in the middle or at the perimeter to rotate the ball and to take a hand off the dribble. So (coach Calipari) is giving us a chance to showcase all our skills.”
[B]#33, Kyle Wiltjer, F, Fr. [/B]
On coach Calipari’s thoughts on his toughness …
“He just wants me to get tougher every day in practice. He said I am going against Terrence (Jones) every day. If I can defend him and rebound against him then I can do it against anybody. He just really emphasizes working on getting tougher. Getting tougher means getting a lot of rebounds and loose balls in your area.”
On Anthony (Davis) going out with five fouls in the Old Dominion game …
“You have to always be ready to play. With players in foul trouble you especially have to be ready. I’m just always going to be ready for when coach Calipari wants to put me in.”
On learning more from the Old Dominion game …
“Most definitely, watching film from that game we definitely saw the things we need to work on. They showed a lot of zone so I’m guessing coach is going to work on zone offense a lot now. The thing we did better in the second half of that game was attacking the gaps in the zone and not settling for jump shots. It definitely shows us what to work on and it was a good game for us to play because it shows we have a will to win, even though it was close we still pulled out the win.”
On teams attempting to slow them down …
“We have to be ready for all sorts of things. When people don’t think they can match up against us we will see all sorts of defenses. So we’ll just work every day in practice to be prepared for that.”
On dealing with his minutes fluctuating early in the season …
“I was fine with it, I just try to stay positive and work hard every day in practice. I don’t worry about my minutes I just worry about the team winning and we got the wins so I was happy.”
Source: UK Press Release
