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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2019

Joel Justus

Lexington, Kentucky

Kentucky - 83, Kentucky State - 51

JOEL JUSTUS: Anything anytime in the season, early in the season you want to see where your team is and I think for our guys you saw a little bit better fight and we talked about that after the Georgetown game. Getting out-rebounded, this was a game that we focused all week on coming back, playing with a little bit more aggression, playing with a little bit more fight on both ends of the floor, especially once the ball was shot. Offensively and defensively play with a little bit more physicality. I think you saw that out of some guys tonight which was good.

Q. Why do you think E.J. struggled so much in these pre-season games given that he's done this before?
JOEL JUSTUS: I think E.J. is trying to figure things out, just like a lot of these guys are. Everyone has a little bit of a different role in their first season, the second season, third and fourth. I think what Cal and our staff is trying to do is put him in positions to where he feels the most comfortable, where we can put him in a place that where he is most effective. So I think that that's a process. And I think E.J.'s doing everything that he can in practice, on his own. And sometimes the ball bounces your way, especially early, you're playing with new teammates, you're playing against teams that are keying in on him. So I think this is an opportunity for him to keep getting better. Like I said earlier, we just want to see where we are today and I think he did some good things, he's gotten better, I think, and next thing is we'll see on Tuesday night.

Q. When you look at Kahlil's stat sheet there, is that kind of a fair expectation for what you would like to see from him night in, night out or are there things still missing there?
JOEL JUSTUS: Well I think that the thing that looked at, stood out the other night was his rebounds in the first game. Then tonight he comes back and has five rebounds, 15 points. He was involved in the game much more tonight. I think that's what Cal has really got after him, to be a guy that's involved on the ball, off the ball, rebounding, deflections, he's such a live body and he should be a guy that's a tremendous two-way player and then he makes shots. So that comes as a byproduct of being involved in the game, being a guy who is trying to kind of impose his will both ends of the floor. I think that you can expect that out of Kahlil. Then the jump shots, I think, are an added bonus.

Q. Coach Cal talked about assessing the level of toughness for this team and I wanted to see where you thought the team was at, specifically for tonight.
JOEL JUSTUS: I think we're better than we were against Georgetown. And I think at this time of the season, and I would assume that Cal would say the same thing, you want to get better every single day. When we're on the pursuit of individuals becoming their best version and then collectively our team becoming our best version, you've got to just take steps each and every day. I think today was a day that we got to suit up against somebody else, a team that came out and give us some different challenges than maybe we were expecting. And I think you go back, you look at the film tonight, you address it tomorrow morning, and then obviously we're getting ready for an opponent on Tuesday night.

Q. What did you think of your back court chemistry whether it was two guards or three guards tonight?
REPLACENAME: I think our back court are tremendous players, first of all. They got great feel, they got a couple guys with experience. You've got Tyrese that's an electric guy on both ends of the floor, and I think they're just going to continue to get better and better. Immanuel is just a totally different player. He plays with a different swag, he plays with a different level of confidence, a greater purpose, I think, of who he is and who he wants to become. And Ashton is Ashton. He's a guy that comes in, is a big-time dog on the ball who gets after it and he's putting pressure on the defense by getting downhill, getting paint touches. And those guys are only going to get better playing together.

Q. Last time these two teams played, Coach Cal had highlighted that KSU exposed some weaknesses in that year's UK team. Did you see anything that was exposed this time or any weaknesses that you think that you might need to shore up on before your next game?
JOEL JUSTUS: Well, I think a team shoots 30 threes in a game, that's something we're going to go out tonight and take a look at. It's a little bit of, especially in early season we have had trouble with that here. Teams making threes. Even with the line backing up, they get 29 off, they make eight, so roughly half their points come from behind the line. How many of those were not contested, how many of those did we leave -- did we not leave our feet, our hands were down. And I think even looking back at last year, especially early, our team struggled early guarding in the line.

So take a look at that tonight, address it tomorrow morning with the guys and we'll see. I think that's something that we're going to have to, obviously, defend throughout the year. It's become such a big part of basketball. So for them to come out and make eight but then really shoot, shot 29, that's something we're going to have to really take a close look at tonight.

Q. What did you think of Nate's play tonight? He almost had a double double again. And it seemed like more he was low-posting and was more effective there than just the stretch four stuff?
JOEL JUSTUS: Really, we hadn't worked against zone at all. So some that have was Cal drawing up kind what have he wanted in timeouts or at halftime. That's part of why Nate was down there. I think Nate's energy is infectious with this group. Have you a group of young people that don't really know what to do. Going back to the 3-pointers, all right, well, you play guys in high school, it's fine to just kind of be there. You're bigger faster, stronger. You're going to contest their shot just being there. Now, guys are making those threes. It's the same thing all across the board, when you get to this level, guys have to talk. Transition defense. They have to be engaged not only themself, but they have to be engaged with their teammates. And Nate is a guy that's a connector on the floor because he talks. He's a guy that is not only going to be in the right place himself but he's going to make sure, one, two, three other guys are in the right place every time down the floor. Now, what you hope is that you can find of group of guys that are connected. And if Nate's the guy that's driving that, if he's the straw that stirs the drink, you might say, hey, that's going to be a big thing for us especially in November and December.

Q. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit on what the treatment plan is for Nick and kind of the timeline on whether he'll be ready to go are not?
REPLACENAME: I know he's been working around the clock. I'm not kind of privy to exactly what he's doing. I know he's in there a ton and he's working as hard at that as he does on the floor. And Jeff does a tremendous job with our guys of getting them ready, getting them recovered. So I have no doubt that he's in a good place in terms of getting back sooner. But really day-to-day, we'll just figure that out.

Q. When you talk about Nate being a guy that could kind of stir things for you guys. But what about Ashton? How happy are you with his, his stats look real good, but what about just his on-court leadership?
JOEL JUSTUS: I think it can be better. And I'm harder on him probably than most because he's a guy that is doing everything that Cal is asking him to do. He's playing hard, he's putting pressure on the ball, he's flying the ball up the floor. Now we have got to get him to be the same as Nate in that he's grabbing people, he's pulling people and taking them with him. He should be a guy that is challenging guys to play as hard as he plays, to be in the right places, to execute. So you're happy with his individual performance, but if we're going to be who we hopefully can be, he's going to be a big reason by grabbing other people and dragging other people, and that's who he's going to be at the next level. He's going to have to be a guy that makes people uncomfortable and then they get better because of guys like him, and that's like I said, what Nate's doing.

Q. Why isn't Cal out here?
JOEL JUSTUS: I don't know.

THE MODERATOR: He's not feeling well.

Q. You were talking about physicality earlier. Are you pleased with the progress, especially going into a game like this? Do you feel like this team is being a little bit more physical inside the way that you want to see it at this point?
JOEL JUSTUS: I think it's something that Cal has touched on probably from the first time he met with you all, is saying, all right, I like our team, but are we going to be tough enough? And probably every time he does sit up here he is saying that. I worry about our toughness, I'm concerned about our toughness. So I'll just echo that as I'm here and say, you know, you're getting better and that's all that you can kind of ask for out of a young group of guys that are trying. They're listening, they're eager, they're hungry to be better. And like I said, I think tonight you out-rebound the team by 10, all right, that's better than the last game when we got out-rebounded. You go back and you watch the film and you watch technique, you watch positioning. All that is stuff that these young kids are just having to go through for the first time. So I think you're pleased, you're pleased with the effort, you're pleased with the kids that are showing up, but we got to obviously get better.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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