The Kentucky Wildcats host the North Carolina Tarheels in Rupp Arena today and it is the game all the BBN has been looking for since the schedule has been made out.
The game is on CBS and starts at 12pm.
Your announcers will be Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg.
The officials are Tony Greene, Mike Nance, and Ron Groover.
Line: Kentucky is favored by 5.
Here are Coach Cal’s comments about today’s game:
[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]UK Head Coach John Calipari[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U][/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how much tape he’s watched since last night’s game …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I watched our tape last night. I watched two or three other tapes of North Carolina. They’re good. We’re not making the game easy for each other and that’s the biggest issue we have right now. Until you get knocked in the mouth or until you understand that you can’t play the way we’re playing, you’re not going to grow. I like my team but we’ve got a ways to go. This is a seasoned team that creates a lot of assists for each other. They’re really long and active. They’re hard to score on. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how this game will be different from the game against St. Johns …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“They’re going to take away passing lanes. They’re going to try to block shots and chase over the top of screens. They’ll do everything to disrupt you. They want turnovers or bad shots, which leads to their breaks. It’s different but it’s good for us. The last team held the ball and played zone. This team is going to spread it up the court and play man-to-man in a totally different way than we’ve seen. It’s all good experience for us.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the amount of potential NBA players playing in this game tomorrow …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It’s different than other games because Kentucky had nine pros on one team in 1996. If they played us and we had one, that would have been ten pros. What you’re looking for as a coach for an NBA team is guys that make other players better. They can play, but they can make other players better. If a guy is playing and he’s playing for himself, it just stands out in a game like this. They’ll be looking for who’s feeling the game and who’s making their teammates better. I would think both teams will play hard. This is a quick turn for us but I think the adrenaline will get us through the game. This is a challenge. This is one of those games that is a learning opportunity. It’s not a must win game. It’s one of those ones that you’d like to win but we need to learn. The only way you learn is in games like this. It’s the one thing that brings about a change and they just haven’t been changing offensively. Crisis brings about change. When I watch our team from last year from early in the season, we were similar to this. Then, when I watch our team from late in the year, we would grind it out and we would create good shots. We took care of the ball, we knew how to get open, we played fast, and we were never in a hurry. We were one of the best teams in the country a year ago at the end. Early on, we couldn’t win a road game. This team is very similar only we’re a little longer so our defense blocks some shots and we create gaps. If we didn’t do that, we’d probably be losing a bunch of these games already.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what will happen since this is the last year in the contract with UNC …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We don’t know that yet. I’m hoping our league stays at 16 games. If the league stays at 16 games, it’s an easy decision. Roy [Williams] and I have talked. Both of us still want to play the series and we know it’s important for both programs. But, there are only so many games you can play. You’ve got the conference games and then you’ve got these made for TV games and then you’ve got the Big East Challenge. We’re one of those teams that are locked into a certain number of games per year and we’re one of the very, very few that do that. We’ll see. We still may be playing it. There are other types of ways to be playing this game. We may be able to figure it out.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On match ups against UNC tomorrow …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I don’t know yet. We don’t know yet. We’re still trying to figure it out.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On why this game tomorrow is important for the program…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Well every game here is important. We have 22,000 we’re playing for so they’re all important here. But, you want games that help you learn about your team. You want your team to learn about themselves and that’s what you learn in these kinds of games. Obviously these are two teams that are going to go at each other and that have a history. We played twice last year and split. If we play twice this coming year again, I hope it’s very, very late in the season.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On whether Marquis (Teague) could make the “wow” play early in the game …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He could do it. He’s just got to learn from it. I have been dragging this team faster than they need to go. We have three freshman and two sophomores starting. Sometimes I think, ‘They should be like this.’ And then I think, ‘No they shouldn’t. It’s December 1[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]st[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow] and we’ve played seven basketball games.’ They’re probably about where they should be right now. We’re sloppy and we don’t share the ball like we should. We never give it up early and we don’t make the easy plays. We don’t execute offensively. We break off plays for our own shot. All the things you would expect of a new team, we do. That’s the advantage Carolina has since they’re a seasoned team. Again, I like my team. I’ve said that from day one. I really like my team and I wouldn’t trade my team for anybody, but its’ going to be a challenge for us.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On North Carolina’s experience in “big game atmospheres” versus UK’s …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We played Kansas in the (Madison Square) Garden. It looked like a Final Four venue. We had to wait an extra half hour to play the game. We’re as ready as we need to be for this kind of game. I’m not sweating it. We’re not changing a whole lot. I doubt that they’re changing a whole lot. We’re going to find out where their team is and where our team is. That’s what this is.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On comparing Terrence Jones’ performance versus North Carolina last year with what he expects this year …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I hope it won’t [happen again]. He’s way better. But they’re way better. You can watch them on tape. They are way better than they were last year at the beginning of the season. They’re figuring it out. They’re good. They’re good defensively. Again, this is just the next game. It’s a huge game if we win. Short of that, it’s the next game on the schedule.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how good Kendall Marshall is for North Carolina in transition …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He’s really good. He’s really good with the ball. He’s got a great eye for passing. He will throw it on the dime, three-quarters of the length of the court. You give him a little bit of a gap to throw it to somebody and he will. He’s playing to make his team better which is why he’s averaging 11 assists. He’s running the team saying, ‘I’m going to get everyone the ball. You do your thing and I’ll do mine.’”[/FONT][/COLOR]
