Hawkins and Johnson discuss their upcoming game against Cleveland State:
#25, Dominique Hawkins, G, Fr.
On being surprised that he’s gotten as much playing time as he has so far …
“I’m not really surprised, but I’m kind of like – I knew that I would get some playing time, but it’s like earlier. I didn’t expect to get early playing time as I do right now in the season, so I guess I’m kind of shocked that I got some playing time so early in the season.”
On how much he’s playing point guard and how much he’s playing off the ball …
“When I play the true point guard position it’s probably when the twins (Aaron and Andrew Harrison) aren’t in because us three are pretty much the point guards for the team. When they’re not in, I’m pretty much playing the true point guard position. I’m off the ball, a combo guard (when they’re in).”
On how much stronger he’s gotten since he arrived at UK …
“I feel like I’ve got a lot bigger. I feel like the weight lifting here – I played football in high school, and the weight lifting here is way harder than it was in high school. They consider lifting at least twice a week, even if we’re playing and stuff like that. I feel like I’ve put a little more muscle on.”
On what has helped him so far …
“Probably being in the gym more helped me so far. Like I said, I played football in high school so half of my year was football and then the other half of the year was basketball. This year it’s been all basketball so I’ve been able to be in the gym more and get up more shots and be able to get some training in.”
On Coach Cal always having something to teach to his point guards …
“I feel like he’s harder on (the Harrison twins) because he knows they can be really, really good. He knows that I’m just learning it still so I don’t have that much pressure on me. He still gets on me when I make mistakes at the point guard position.”
On whether he sees how much Cal is on the Harrison twins …
“Oh, I definitely I see how much he’s on them. A point guard here is definitely a hard job. Coach Cal, that’s probably the main position he’s looking at. The point guard has to be a leader and all that. He just wants every point guard that he has to be working hard and being able to do what they can do best.”
On how much time Cal is spending on defense …
“Yesterday was one of our first like all defensive practice almost. He’s spending a lot of time on defense now.”
On bringing defense to this team …
“I knew when I was on this team that I would probably get in games because of my defense. I’m trying to learn to become a better defensive player, definitely putting pressure on the ball and trying to be a defensive force for our team.”
On how far this team has to go defensively …
“As a player, I really don’t know, but as a coach, I’m pretty sure we have a long way to go because it’s still early and we’re working on progressing and getting better on defense.”
On guarding off the ball …
“I’ve definitely gotten better at that because in high school I always had to guard the point guard, and I usually didn’t have to guard the best player because my coach wanted me to get a little break and stuff like that. But now I’m guarding players off the ball and on the ball. I learned a lot of stuff from Coach Cal, what he taught how to guard off the ball.”
On this possibly being a good zone team …
“We’ve been practicing that for about a week. I’m not familiar with the zone at all to be honest. It’s something new to me. I just know that you have to cover your own areas. I feel like we could be a good (zone) team because we’re long and athletic and everybody on the team could probably cover an area pretty good because of how long and athletic we are.”
On what Cal wants to see more from them defensively …
“He wants to see me talking a lot more. I’m kind of a shy person and I don’t really talk that much, but he’s making me have to talk and yell out stuff because when I’m talking I’m usually quiet, I’m not loud enough. So he’s working on talking louder with me.”
On talking louder being a team wide thing …
“It is kind of a team thing because our communication on defense hasn’t been too good lately, but we’re working on it.”
#44, Dakari Johnson, C, Fr.
On the change with his free throws …
“Just not bringing it above my head. Just keeping it in front of me and just getting a softer touch on in it.”
On how his confidence is building …
“It’s getting better each and every day. Just stepping on the line, taking my time. Once one goes through, I just keep the same routine each and every time.”
On what Coach Cal’s biggest teaching point is through five games …
“Just to compete. He really got on us yesterday, you know, after our off day just to compete and stuff like that and play better defense. So we’ve been doing a lot of defensive drills lately and just competing throughout the whole shot clock and just getting more stops.”
On whether competing throughout a possession is tough to do …
“Yeah, it is tough to do. It’s something new you have to learn each and every day, just not to stop on defense. Even though it’s easy to step on defense, you have to play throughout the whole possession.”
On whether that’s tiring …
“Yeah, it’s real tiring.”
On whether he knows anything about Cleveland State …
“Not yet. We didn’t go over the scouting report. We’re just trying to get better on the things we need to work on that we saw in the past games. And that’s just playing defense and getting stops.”
On how much the team has improved …
“I think we’ve gotten better. I think we’re starting to get it now, that we have to just compete the whole time and not stop and we just have to just keep on playing with energy and keep on working hard every possession.”
On his biggest area of improvement …
“Just everything is fast in college. It’s real different from high school. Everything has to be quicker. You have to get your shot up quicker and stuff like that. Everything is in constant movement and I think I’m getting better each and every day at that.”
On where they need to improve defensively …
“I think what it is that most of us, we’re so used to stopping and so used to not competing every time. But we’re doing certain drills out here that are forcing us to compete the whole shot clock and stuff like that.”
On playing so many games so quickly …
“I think it’s good for us, just getting used to playing about three games a week and stuff like that is just good for us.”
On whether practices have been different with a long break before the Cleveland State game …
“Yeah. When you go back and look at the tape and look at things we need to work on, he’s going to work on that stuff more.”
On whether he looks forward to these times when things calm down …
“Oh yeah. I look forward to that a lot. When we have this stretch of no games and just practice, that’s the time we get to just work on the things we need to work on and getting stops and thing like that.”
On whether anything has surprised him about this team …
“Just, you know, the main thing is not stopping each and every possession. That’s the main thing. We’re so used to just stopping on defense and stuff like that, but each and every day we’re getting better at it.”
On whether there’s anything the team is better at than he thought …
“Probably rebounding. Playing as a group each and every day, we’re learning how to play together.”
On whether it’s hard to find a rhythm after checking out …
“Yeah. Just mainly I have to go in and just produce. That’s the main thing for me. Just go in and play the best of my abilities.”
On how much fun the team is having …
“It’s a little bit of a grind. Guys are getting tired and stuff like that but the main thing for us is just to get better as a team. That’s what we’re working on so far.”
On the three-man combination at center …
“We bring different things to the table each and every day and it complements what we need as a team and also what we do for each other.”
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