Cats win!!! Cats win!!! Two words common to Rupp, but not common in the SEC this season… Last night the Wildcats turned a dismal first half into a resurgent second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 46-39 to take a much needed 85-79 win.
So what did Coach Calipari have to say after the game? Here are some of his quotes.
[B]COACH CALIPARI: Questions. [/B]
[B]Q. On pressing after the slow start …[/B]
[B]COACH CALIPARI:[/B] I only did it because the beginning of the game was so ugly, so passive. That team meeting really didn’t do what it was supposed to, I guess.
I mean, we just had no fire, no fight. I said, You know what, we’re pressing man-to-man. If you choose to go back, I’m subbing you. I did it so you can sub guys out. If you don’t want to get up there and battle, then I’m taking you out. That’s what I did.
[B]Q. I think the last five games opponents are over 50% from three. Are they throwing in shots? Are you not defending?[/B]
[B]COACH CALIPARI:[/B] I don’t know. Maybe we’ll play zone, they’ll shoot 70% from the three.
We seem to be hanging on them. We’re breaking down a little bit. We’re coming out of some pick-and-rolls. We’re leaving shooters at times. We’re going under on handoffs where we needed to be over on (Ravern) Johnson.
Again, if teams are trying to beat us shooting 3s, I really believe a lot of that is fool’s gold and we’re usually a pretty good defensive team against the three.
[B]Q. What happened at the half? Was (Coach Stansbury) barking at you?[/B]
[B]COACH CALIPARI: [/B]He wasn’t saying anything to me. I want you to understand I told Brandon to shoot the ball, they’re going to foul you. I told him to shoot it. He didn’t shoot the first one. I looked at him and said, Do you understand what I’m telling you to do? They are going to foul you. Shoot the ball.
They almost didn’t call it. But I was telling him to shoot the ball. So it was a good call because they were going to foul, so just shoot it. So what if it’s at halfcourt, that means you get three shots.
He didn’t shoot the first one. I looked. We’re doing some of that. At the end of this game, we miss free throws. If we make those, it still is what it is. The air ball shot, two turnovers, what are we doing?
Let me tell you why they did it. My thing with this team, forget about the score, let’s execute. Don’t look at the score. I’ll look at the score. You just play and execute. So obviously they weren’t looking at the score. They just were shooting balls, trying to make plays. So they’re listening to me anyway.
[B]Q. This may be along those lines, but you called a timeout inside the first minute of the game.[/B]
[B]COACH CALIPARI:[/B] I could see. I mean, did anybody else see what I saw? Jogging up, walking up, getting beat the first play. Shooting all 3s. Why are we shooting 3s? They can’t guard us out of bounds. You know why? You’re going to get bumped. I’m going to shoot a three. It’s easier.
We start the game shooting threes. We’re down 5-0 within the blink of an eye. Didn’t get any better for a while, to be honest with you.
Let me say this, what I told them. I’m happy we won. You win and you march on. This league is a strong league. All this stuff about this league, that league, the other leagues. Let me explain to you, our league is as strong as any of them. Florida, Vandy, Tennessee, us. That team (Mississippi State) is a talented team. They’re going to get it together. They’re a talented team. They’re trying to figure out each other.
You talk about Georgia, okay? All of a sudden I’m telling you there are six teams that will be in the NCAA tournament. You know what, I’ll put what happens in the NCAA tournament with our league against just about anybody else’s. Some of these guys, because of the media hype, might get nine teams in. But the reality of it is this is a strong league. Every game is a war. Every game we’ll play will be a war.
[B]Q. You emphasized the closing situations. [/B]
[B]COACH CALIPARI:[/B] I liked what we did. I liked when we drew the foul. I liked what we did in the circle action where Brandon (Knight) went baseline and gets the three that basically ended the game those two plays.
Now, throwing it in and doing some of those things, again, who is it? What are we doing? How are we doing it? Messing around with the ball, all those things. But when you talk about execution, it’s defensive execution. It’s offense. It’s both.
You guys look at turnovers. They missed a free throw. No. It’s both of them. Defensively, again, we didn’t rebound. There were about three rebounds at the end of that game, if we rebound that ball, it ended up being a 15-point game, 18-point game. But we didn’t. One was a tipped dunk over our backs, no one blocked the guy out. A couple others, they took it out on the baseline.
[URL=”http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/021511aaf.html”]Read the full excerpt, including comments from Terrence Jones, Darius Miller, Josh Harrellson, Brandon Knight and MSU Head Coach Rick Stansbury.[/URL]
