Here is a transcript of John Calipari’s postgame comments following UK’s 88-62 win over Penn:
Q. In the first half it seemed like you couldn’t buy a basket. Was that their startling defense or do you think a little of a hangover?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, you’ve got to give them credit for how they played in the first half. They controlled the whole half. We were lucky we were not down 10 at halftime.
We made a couple baskets right at the half — we were down 12 with four minutes to go in the half. They were executing, making shots and we were not being aggressive enough going after balls. They were just doing whatever they wanted and they were comfortable.
You know, that kid, Tyler (Bernardini), was unbelievable. He was making everything.
So in the second half, you know, when we got it close, we just said, hey, we got it to five we just got lazy. We stopped and I said that’s it, and then we went and got it up to 12, 14.
But they had a good game plan. They tried to force us to the baseline. Wherever we caught it, they were forcing us that way. When teams do that, you get seven-footers, you just sort of drive that way, and not many teams have played us that give us that length and that layup. But it was good, because it kind of got us a little bit. In the second half, I think we settled in a little bit and really made shots.
Q. Do you subscribe at all to the last four minutes of the first half, first four minutes of the second half?
COACH CALIPARI: Oh, yeah, it’s important. But you think about it, we had it. We were up seven ready to go; up five ready to go; and we played great defense, and one guy stops, and the ball is thrown into halfcourt and our guy walks and they give it to their guy. And you know they are getting a 3 now. Our guy could have stolen that ball and we could have been up seven.
You know, it’s just the importance of every possession, we don’t get yet. And young kids don’t. Inexperienced players don’t.
Really pleased with Josh (Harrellson) again tonight. Pleased with DeAndre (Liggins)’s effort; not shooting the ball as well as he had been. Brandon Knight running the team, and Doron (Lamb) making shots again. Doron offensively really gives us a lift; 12 turnovers and playing as fast as we are is pretty good stuff for a young team and for an inexperienced team.
Q. There was a stretch in the second half where you got three straight blocks on the basket and got three straight 3s in a row, talk about that stretch that broke the game open.
COACH CALIPARI: Again that’s all effort and hustle plays. You want us to play like that all the time. And I know I’m asking a lot. I’m asking guys to come every game ready to go and ready to battle.
But I think if you demand a lot, you get a lot. If you accept mediocrity, you’re going to get it every single time. If you accept what they want to give you, that’s what they are giving you and so my career has been about, I’m not accepting anything but your best.
I don’t care how old you are, if you’re 18 or 24, doesn’t matter to me, and so you know, we had guys, they stepped it up in the second half. They just stepped on the gas. But I’m telling you, if we played in a league game and did this, we’re down 15 at the half and it’s a struggle now. You know, the other team, you know, they are going to grind it a little bit more and make us take chances; and they keep making shots, you lose the game. I mean, that’s the lesson of this game.
Q. How much has Josh Harrellson benefitted from practicing with Enes (Kanter) every day?
COACH CALIPARI: It’s helped him but what’s helped him is he’s changed habits. He’s conditioning 40 minutes before practice. He goes out and does full-body conditioning. Goes in the locker room, lays around for about 15 minutes, tries to get his mind back, and then he goes out and practices for two hours.
And that’s what’s changed him, nothing else. His habits have changed and he’s building his own self-esteem because he’s performing in games. You can do whatever you want in practice. You walk in that game and you can’t demonstrate performance, you’re not going to build self-esteem and confidence. Walk in there and turn it over and get rebounded on or get scored on twice, I don’t care what you do in practice, you could do it against Michael Jordan, does not matter. Got to do it in the game, and he’s performing in games right now.
Q. Obviously in the first half, they made a lot of 3s, and then the second half they couldn’t even get them off. But what changed there?
COACH CALIPARI: Subbed some guys. Subbed some players. It only takes one guy breaking down. The first half, we left corners, which we never do. We just left guys in corners. We don’t leave corner shooters. We come from the weak side to block and we stun off-court. We don’t leave corners. But we gave them I think four first-half looks in the corner with no one on; we left them, and I was going bananas. Like, I cannot believe we are doing this.
And I thought the second half, they did a better job. But you’ve got to give Penn credit. I mean, they came in with a game plan and they executed. If we didn’t have that run at halftime, they may have beaten us.
[URL=”http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/010311aaf.html”]Complete Transcript[/URL]
