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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 14, 2014Perry EllisDevonte GrahamSviatoslav MykhailiukUC SANTA BARBARA – 59 Q. Is this what you guys expected tonight (from UCSB)? PERRY ELLIS: They have some good players, as we have seen, and it definitely was a hard fought game. Q. What do you think about DevonteÂ’ GrahamÂ’s play tonight? PERRY ELLIS: He came in and stepped up. That's what we need from our freshmen, and he did a great job. We are looking forward to him to keep doing that. Q. Why did you guys get off to a slow start? PERRY ELLIS: It happens sometimes. In games, sometimes you get slow starts, but the key, like coach is always telling us, is to play defense and I feel that we did pretty good. Q. Did you sense the offense was struggling? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Well, yeah, I had two fouls early and coach just told me you got to keep playing, be aggressive. So I just tried to do that, be aggressive. Q. Did the game get more comfortable to you as time when on? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Definitely a little stress, but getting the ball to the hoop is always a good thing. Q. How did home-court advantage effect you guys? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: The crowd is always a good thing, especially when you're at home. It's like having extra players on the court. But I think it was good that we had this kind of game, a tight game, because our next opponent is definitely not going to be a blowout. So we need to get used to playing in close games. Q. Did you have fun playing defense? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Definitely. We love playing defense. Q. Are you guys ready for Kentucky? PERRY ELLIS: There's still a lot of things we need to work on. WeÂ’re just going into practice tomorrow and seeing what coach says and just try to keep learning as a team and go from there. Q. What was Coach SelfÂ’s reaction after being called for elbowing a player? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: He wasn't close to happy. He was mad because he talked about that, when you rip through it, you always got to rip low. And I just made a mental mistake, went high, and they called an elbow. It was a technical foul and he got two shots and the ball back. So he was a little frustrated with me. Q. What did you think of Alan WilliamsÂ’ performance tonight? PERRY ELLIS: He's a great player, especially the right‑hand hook and rebounding and has a lot of energy. I thought he did real good tonight. Q. Did you think that you would be playing this much and making this much of an impact? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Well, I knew coming in that I had an opportunity to play some big minutes. Just work hard and do what I'm supposed to do and the opportunity presents itself. So I tried to take advantage of it. Q. Do you like taking the ball coast-to-coast? SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: Yeah I'm trying to do that still. Q. What did you think of Cliff AlexanderÂ’s aggressiveness tonight? PERRY ELLIS: Cliff, he's an energy guy and he definitely gives our team a lot of energy. And it's great to see that, especially giving him a lot of confidence going into the next game also. Q. What do you think about your teamÂ’s defense tonight? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Our defense? We were a little slow. We weren't really jumping passes like we usually are, but I feel like we played pretty well. We have to rebound the ball better. But overall, we played pretty good defense all game.  Q: Tell me about Alan WilliamsÂ’ performance tonight? PERRY ELLIS: Coach was telling us that he's a great player and I give him props. He came right in and competed and did really well tonight. I think he's a great player. Q. After your recruiting process, did you think you could contribute to the team right away? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Yeah, the national attention, I felt, I never really paid attention to it. But I always knew I had confidence in my support system and coaches. They always boost confidence in us and they know that we can compete, that's why they recruited us. Q. Did your time at your prep school help prepare you more for the college game? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Yeah, definitely. That really prepared me, I think, more than if I would have came straight out of Raleigh. I don't think I would have been as prepared if I didn't have that chance. Q. How was tonight different compared to the exhibition games? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: One, the game was tight and the crowd was a lot better, but ‑‑ I don't know, yeah, it was a different feel. SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: The crowd was louder and there was a lot of energy there. Q. Did you guys worry about looking ahead to Kentucky? PERRY ELLIS: No, I don't think so. I think we all just focused on just the first game. I think we're going to be a team that takes it game-by-game. Q. You guys are considered underdogs against Kentucky – do you like being an underdog? PERRY ELLIS: I feel like we just have to go out there and compete. It's something I don't think we really worry about. Just looking at that aspect of it. But I just feel like we're just two great teams going at it. We're just going to try to do the best we can. Q. Do you wish you could have played a more complete game as a team? DEVONTEÂ’ GRAHAM: Well, there are games, it's all about runs, up‑and‑down. I think coach tells us, like when we come off the bench, we got to have a lot of energy, so I think that kind of sparks some of the runs. Just him telling us, like we need to be energetic, get out there, be aggressive. SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: Like Devonte' said, the players coming in off the bench, they need to keep their heads in the game and bring more energy and be effective. That's what (Coach Self) tells us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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