[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Kentucky Men’s Basketball [/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]November 6, 2011[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Pre-Morehouse Media Opportunity[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]UK head coach John Calipari[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what he hopes to see in the second game as opposed to the first …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“A better start, when I watch that tape I want to see five guys playing, in a stance, bouncing, stunting, swarming and defensive rebound attempts. I want to see them at a high level and also want to see us get balls. I also want to see us build; there was a lot in that first game in lack of execution. We didn’t run wide, we had 30 opportunities and probably half of them we ran down the middle of the lane which gave us nothing so we worked on it and worked on our toughness so we’ll see if that gets us better.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]On Michael Kidd-Gilchrist starting …[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Yeah, he is going to start. I don’t know how else we will go. It is obvious, everybody saw it, he is starting now who are you going to bring in off the bench. There was no question from anybody in the building or the nine states that watched it. Now we have to figure out what we are going to do, I may start one team at the beginning and another at the half and we’ll be able to judge how that goes.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Stacey Poole Jr.’s status for tomorrow …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]“[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]He’s still on our roster.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On his defensive hopes for the game …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“(Morehouse) is bigger; they may be a little faster. Against Transy there were opportunities for them to beat us on the dribble, but they didn’t keep going, this team will keep going. We will see how we are on our on-ball defense. I’m just looking for us to get better. We’re going to play eight guys and the ninth man is Jarrod (Polson), that’s who will play. I want to see Kyle (Wiltjer) play better, I know how good he is and he didn’t play that well. I want to see Anthony (Davis) play tougher, he had eight blocks and eight rebounds but he has to be a stronger player.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the full-court press …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We probably spent 15 minutes on the press before we pressed in the Transy game. Then I saw where we were with it and now I have really spent time with it, shown them the rotations and where they should be so now we should be a better pressing team than we were that game. But we are playing against a team that will probably try to beat us on the dribble so whoever is on the ball better be able to contain them somewhat. We hadn’t worked on it a whole lot, we hadn’t worked on switching defense so they made four 3s because when we switched instead of coming to together and saying switch, which we hadn’t worked on, they didn’t know what to do. We worked on switching if we choose to do that, but we’ve got a lot of stuff to work on now.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what he hopes to see from Kyle Wiltjer …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I think there was some anxiety the first night, 20,000 people and knowing it is on TV and everyone is watching. I don’t think he played as well as he has been. He broke off a lot of plays which is normal, he is thinking instead of playing but I think he’ll be fine, he is really trying to do the right things.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Missouri coming to the SEC …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Both Texas A&M and Missouri are NCAA tournament basketball programs. They are great schools with great fan bases and athletic departments. I said today my wife is from Missouri and my in-laws still live there so I’m happy with it.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On his interactions with Stacey Poole, Jr. about his situation …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“My whole thing with these kids is you want them to be able to reach their dreams here. They have to believe they can do that and we are going to let him do that. I am for the kids and if he needs some time to decide if this program is best for him then I’m fine with that. It’s a big time decision, we all love the kid, and it’s been hard; he wants to play. Great kid, though.” [/FONT][/COLOR]
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[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]Players[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#5, Jarrod Polson, G, So.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what the team has been working on …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“The last couple days we’ve been working on toughness a lot; getting in the gym and doing a lot of toughness drills, rebounding against each other; banging a little bit, but toughness would be the biggest thing.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what whether it’s something Coach Calipari has emphasized …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We felt like against Transy, they out-toughed us a little bit especially in the early going, so definitely coach has been emphasizing toughness and talking to us about it.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what the team is looking for as far as getting better against Morehouse …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Pretty much a little bit of everything. In our first exhibition, against another team, we probably had a little bit of nerves, especially the freshmen; just playing together as a defense and execution on offense.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#23, Anthony Davis, F. Fr.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what the team has been working on since the Transylvania game …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]“[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]We’ve been working on defense and rebounds, those have been our two key points on defense especially with how Transy was shooting threes. We’ve been preparing for other teams that shoot threes and blocking out. We’ve been working on toughness, doing a lot of rebounding drills and boxing each other out and whoever loses has to run.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what he has been working on offensively …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I’ve been trying to work on a lot of post moves; I know I am going to have to play in the post a lot so that is what I have been trying to work on the most. I feel comfortable (in the post) I just need to learn more moves. I played a fair amount in the post in high school but not a lot.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how he thought he played against Transylvania …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Offensively, I think I settled a little bit, I was kind of nervous for my first game. Defensively, I think I played pretty well. I was kind of surprised how many times they kept trying to shoot over me. I blocked two shots and they kept trying, it just shows how tough they are and they were going to keep trying.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the team chemistry this early …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We’ve meshed pretty well, everybody hangs out together and it’s pretty cool how everyone likes each other. Nobody out here is playing for themselves just trying to get to the NBA, it’s not like that at all, everyone is just out here trying to get better and win.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#30, Eloy Vargas, F, Sr.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On whether Transylvania was more physical than UK … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We had a lot of young guys, who didn’t know how the game was in college … Playing the game against Transy was the biggest game of (Transylvania players) lives, they’re never going to play in front of 24,000 people, so they came out ready to play us and tried to be physical with us and that’s exactly what they did.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On whether Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s enthusiasm …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He has a lot of energy. Like (DeAndre) Liggins last year, they’re always hyped for the game because they have a lot of love for the game, passion.[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#3, Terrence Jones, F, So.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what he expects to get out of the blue-white scrimmage…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Really to just get more comfortable with us playing together in the dribble-drive and getting up and down. Just doing what we’ve been doing.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what practice has been like…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We’ve been running a lot, cutting to the basket like last year. We try to keep the floor spaced out for guys to cut. We’ve done a few more pick-and-rolls. We’ve got great guards that are making good decisions.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the style of this year’s team…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“You can’t say yet, especially with how Coach Cal coaches. He thinks of something different every night.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On his expectations for this season…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“To do better than last year.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On whom the back-up point guard will be…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Right now, Doron Lamb is the point guard for my team in practice. Doron and Marquis (Teague) go at it every day in practice. Doron is a much better ball handler than he was last year.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#20, Doron Lamb, G, So.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how the freshmen are doing…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“They are doing (well); they are getting better; they know the system better now. They are making the right passes, making the right plays, making shots, getting rebounds and just getting the plays right.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the blue-white scrimmage…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We want to show the fans that we’ve gotten better. We know the system better and we’re all getting better in practice.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the chemistry of the team at this point compared to last year…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It’s better now than it was at this point last year. Last year we were prepared earlier to play because we went to Canada and started practicing before everyone else. We have a good group this year; we’re playing good right now and ready to go.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On being picked to win the SEC by the media…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It’s an honor, we’ve got to live up to it and keep working hard in practice.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On playing point guard…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I play the point most of the time in practice. I like it; I’m getting better at it. I’m starting to make the right plays from the point position.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
