James Young and Aaron Harrison talks to the media Pre-Texas A&M.
Video courtesy of Kentucky.com
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#1, James Young, G/F, Fr.
On how close they are to playing hard as consistently as Calipari wants …
“We’re getting better every day. We came a long way from where we started off and we’re getting better every day in practice and I think that’s the big thing.”
On how they have made that change …
“A lot of off-the-court stuff, like going to team dinners and stuff, hanging out a lot more off the court.”
On “clutter” and whether Calipari talks about it with the team …
“Yeah. Before practice he talks about it every day and it’s just something we gotta learn to block out and just focus on basketball.”
On what Calipari means …
“Just listening to everybody and just not focusing on what we should be doing. It’s just something we gotta work on blocking out.”
On whether he has done anything different to work on his shot …
“Really just keeping my shoulders forward like I have been and I’ve been struggling a lot jumping off one foot or whatever and landing on one foot. So getting my technique right and getting everything back to form.”
On his confidence remaining unaffected …
“Not at all. He gave me the green light to shoot so whenever I’m open I’m just going to keep shooting it. I’ve just gotta knock them down.”
On Texas A&M …
“They play with a high energy, great defensive team. So we’re just going to have to pick up the energy and feed off the crowd and then we’ll get the W.”
On it being Texas A&M’s Super Bowl …
“Yeah. Every team’s going to play like that. Everywhere we go for away games it’s going to be a white out or a black out so we just gotta be ready for every game.”
On learning that all teams will approach UK that way and Tennessee starting strong …
“Yeah. They came out with a lot of energy and they were hitting a lot of tough shots. We’ve just gotta stay focused and keep going off the energy that the crowd was bringing and I think we did good.”
On needing to take open shots when he has them …
“Yeah, because we get a lot of dribble driving if the open shots are there. Once we get it into the post, they kick it out a lot and we get a lot open shots. So we definitely gotta take the shots.”
On whether he has ever worked on shooting mechanics this much …
“Not really. It’s just about getting better every day. That’s what I just came here to do.”
On whether it is hard to be thinking that much …
“Yeah, definitely. I think about it a lot recently, how I’m shooting. I’ve just gotta clear my mind a little bit and just let it go.”
On whether repetition is the solution …
“Yeah, definitely. Getting on the gun, taking extra shots and stuff like that.”
On being more aware of shooting mechanics during games …
“Yeah, definitely. Because recently I’ve just been landing on one foot or my shoulders have been back. So I have to work on that a little bit more and that means just getting extra shots up. I can feel it every once in a while when I lean back and shoot and it kind of messes up my shot.”
On when that started …
“It started when I got here. I probably think about it too much when I shoot. I think that’s really messing up my shot and I gotta start, like I said, clearing my mind and letting it go.”
On whether his mechanical struggles are a product of playing against better players …
“Yeah. They play a lot more defense than they did back in high school, so it’ll probably affect me a little bit. I’ve just gotta stay confident in my shot.”
On whether missing shots can affect the rest of his game …
“Yeah, it kind of does. I try not to think about it as much and just go on to the next shot and just feed it to the post as much so I can come back and get another open shot.”
On what he brings to the team when his shot isn’t falling …
“Definitely getting to the free-throw line, getting fouled a lot and making the free throws.”
On becoming a defensive stopper …
“Yeah. (Jordan) McRae is a great offensive scorer and I tried stopping him a lot and he hit a lot of tough shots. Cal just said, ‘Keep your hand up every time he shot and that’s what I did. He just made some tough shots.”
On what he saw watching tape of rebounding from Saturday …
“We definitely need to box out a lot more and that’s what we’ve been doing since the last game. That’ll never happen again. We just gotta keep a body on somebody and keep boxing out.”
On whether it’s a pride thing to respond …
“Yeah. It’s just something we gotta take pride of and just not let the guy outwork us, like Coach Cal said. We’ve just gotta play more tough and physical.”
#2, Aaron Harrison, G, Fr.
On being happy for how his brother, Andrew, played Saturday …
“Yeah, I’m really proud of him. He hasn’t been playing as well as he could the whole season, but this was his breakout game.”
On why Andrew has struggled …
“I’m not sure.”
On being the one guy who missed a free throw Saturday …
“It’s not really a big deal. We shot free throws really well. We’re just happy about getting better at the free-throw line.”
On not missing a free throw until he got to the line late in the game …
“I wasn’t aware at all.”
On the relief of making free throws …
“Yeah, definitely. It’s just basketball, really. Some days you have stuff. We lacked some other things that game but free throws made up for it. Just being a good team is when you’re not feeling something someday, you have something else to fall back on.”
On whether he tweaked his ankle during the game …
“Yeah, I did. It’s alright.”
On what he’s seen from Dakari Johnson …
“He definitely needs some confidence. He’s got some confidence off the last couple of games. He’s been playing very well, grabbing every rebound, just playing really hard. He’s a great player.”
On the luxury of having a 7-foot, 260-pound player coming off the bench …
“It really helps us a lot. He’s a really big body. He banged a lot with the big guys Tennessee had and it’s really helped us.”
On where they have improved the most this year …
“Just becoming a team. Just really sharing the ball and playing team defense.”
On having more fun now than they were earlier in the year …
“I guess we’re starting to have more fun and we’re just learning how playing hard together is more fun than playing well individually and not winning.”
On playing more off the ball now than he was earlier in the year …
“Yeah, when Jarrod (Polson) comes in, he pretty much takes over the point guard spot for me.”
On how aware he is of what Elston Turner did in Rupp Arena last year …
“Yeah, they talked about it a couple times and I heard about it. He’s from the same area as me. He went to a high school in my district. I didn’t watch the game though.”
On what he thinks of a 40-point game …
“He was pretty hot, I guess. Everybody has their days.”
On sensing that Andrew was getting close to having that type of game …
“Yeah, definitely. He’s definitely been getting a lot of extra work in lately, putting a lot of shots up. It was going to come sooner or later.”
On why he was struggling earlier in the season …
“Maybe thinking too much maybe. He just went out there and played really and did his thing.”
On how much he and Andrew feed off each other …
“We try not to just feed off each other; we try to feed off everyone really. We just try to make it as a team.”
On motivating each other …
“We definitely motivate each other. Just growing up and being my brother, it’s just natural.”
On being surprised with their slow start Saturday …
“It’s always a little surprising but everyone comes in and is really excited to play here and starts off really fast and hits a lot of shots, but we always get it back together.”
On how important it is for them to make 3-pointers …
“I guess it’s just extra work that we’re all putting in, just coming after practice and putting lots of shots up. If we do hit 3s, I’m pretty sure we would have much a better record actually than we do this year, but we’ll just take it as we do it.”
On the key to starting faster …
“I think it’s just coming out with more energy than the other team. Teams come into Rupp Arena really excited of course and just really ready to play. We just have to make sure we have more energy than they do.”
On how they can manufacture more energy …
“I think it’s inside of all of us. It’s not something you can just really do.”
On how much free-throw shooting is contagious both when they’re making them and when they’re not …
“We know we lost some games because of free throws. That’s a big point. We all just put a lot in work at the free-throw line before practice and after practice.”
