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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 29, 2020

John Calipari

Lexington, Kentucky

Kentucky 73 - Auburn 66

Q. How does someone 6-3, 188 go get 12 rebounds and is that something you need if you're going to play three guards successfully all the way?
JOHN CALIPARI: I can't believe he was 1-for-5 from the three. (Laughter).

We're 2-for-13 from the three, folks, and only have seven turnovers, something we've been talking about. This team, they are getting better. They are doing it, but that was another rock fight. That was, when you went up for a rebound, you were feeling stuff. Something in your neck. Something in your back.

When you were coming off a screen, or you were driving, it wasn't like a clear lane, and we -- we proved to us that in that kind of game, where it's -- we're letting it go; that we could perform. Now, Nick struggled, but we all know, that's one of the things he's going to have to break through.

How about EJ today? Unbelievable how he played. So he's starting to make those strides. Nick's got to know, we are going to get in there in March and somebody is going to say one thing: Just go after him, physically push him, shove him, grab him out of the way and see what he does. He's going to have to perform.

Q. When Nick got in foul trouble, how big was that stretch you got from Keion and Nate?
JOHN CALIPARI: Nate making a couple shots was big, and then Keion had a quick foul, didn't come up with the ball, and the guys got on him. Like, we're in a huddle, come on, man, you got to get that ball. Then he just said, okay, and he started getting balls. He started rebounding. Made that dunk. He was good. Nate was fine. I mean, our guard play was good. Johnny held the fort down when we needed to blow.

Q. You've got three guards shooting over 80 percent from the line, and that said, do you want the ball in Immanuel's hands in crucial moments?
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah, we do. And again, I know Ashton went 2-for-13, but when he goes five assists, one turnover, three steals, and he defends like, we will win. He can go 2-for-13.

The only person it bothers? Him. And his head goes down, and "I can't believe it, I missed this dunk. Forget it." For our team, it really doesn't matter.

If you defend, you get five, six, seven assists and one turnover and you do the rebounding and all of the stuff you're doing, we're going to win. But it's hard for these kids. They are not robots. They are not machines. They have attitudes, which are, if I'm not making it, you know, I hang my head, and they are still trying to break through that.

You know, it was a good effort and again, you know, we're saying Nick wasn't great, but he gets 14 points and three rebounds, and he gets a big block, a big block late with a minute to go, 1:10.

Q. It seems to me you have a really unique situation this year. You have three point guards. They are all pretty good. You are playing them on the court a lot at the same time. How difficult has it been for you as a coach to kind of meld them into a unit, and once they start making good decisions, how unstoppable is that going to be?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, I had -- the first seven, eight games, I didn't do it, and I had friends of mine in this profession, Hall of Famers call me and say, "Why aren't you just playing those three guards?"

Because I was trying to make sure we got other guys an opportunity. And then you just narrow in at some point and say: That's our best team, those three guards and two bigs, that is our best team. So you run with it, but it takes time.

Plus, you don't want to leave anybody behind. You want to give them an opportunity to get in there and play and do stuff. But at the end of the day, if our guards rebound, they have to rebound. We are not going to be a great offensive rebounding team. Why is that? Come on, guys. Somebody got to know. One of the ladies would know first.

Playing three point guards, you're not going to be a great offensive rebounding team. So you've got two guys going against their four. Normally it's three against three, three against four, you've got a chance it will bounce. We've got three point guards.

So that means we have to shoot free throws the way we do, because we are going to have to make up for it somewhere, and that may be where there are teams out-rebounding us. Again, when you're playing three point guard, unless Immanuel and Tyrese and Ashton get in there and mix it up, which they can in most games; some games, guys are just too big.

Q. If you can just talk about your defense, especially the last eight or nine minutes of the game.
JOHN CALIPARI: Yeah, if you had watched a bunch of their games, the way they got back in games it shooting those threes. They just didn't make them today. And then we rebounded.

So some of it was, you really guarded. Yeah, they took some tough threes, but that's what they have done to win games. They have been down nine, eight, and all of a sudden they go three, three, something happens, you miss a free throw, they make free throws, it goes into over time and they win. They have had a bunch of those kind of games.

But we were -- we played the pick-and-roll a little bit different. We had to switch it at halftime because we were giving layups and lobs and dunks. We adjusted to that.

Auburn, I looked at the guys and I laughed. Wiley played for me, Austin, in the USA stuff. Doughty, I've been seeing this guy for like eight years, and I grabbed him and he laughed and I laughed. These guys are seniors, and they are a good team and they are a dangerous team.

They beat us down there. They beat us down there, and it's -- this was a good win for our guys.

Q. I know you're chasing national championships, not conference championships, but in a season where you lose to Evansville and you have a couple losses in Las Vegas --
JOHN CALIPARI: You know what's amazing, when anybody talks about our season, you know what they say? "Evansville, Evansville, Evansville."

I'm like, are you talking about the game November 12th where EJ did not play in the game and Ashton was sick and so was Nick, and we played with two guys with the flu? That game? That's the one you're talking about? Can you say it for me again? Evansville, Evansville, Evansville.

Q. Evansville, Evansville.. when you've gone through --
JOHN CALIPARI: I mean, did we play anybody else? It like -- and hey, that's the great one that they can't be that, because they lost to -- Evansville. How can they be any good? They lost to Evansville November 12.

Q. In a season where you've had struggle and had to grind it out --
JOHN CALIPARI: Did anybody else lose bad games? I just don't know. (Laughter.)

Q. I give up.
JOHN CALIPARI: I mean, I don't know if they did.

Kyle, here is what I would say. I told them after -- look, I never stopped believing in this group. I said -- to Vegas, we'll be fine. I said it. "We'll be fine."

But I wasn't sure about this, where this is going, but I knew we'd be fine. We'd be a team that would be playing and we'd be playing in March. And the run that these guys have put together -- and I come back to the same thing, you've got to have five, six games, get 25 points in a game, and maybe multiple games.

You must do that, because they have to be able to go in that tournament and know: I can do it if I have to; Marquis Teague, Darius Miller. I can do that if I have to; Doron Lamb. I can do it.

Second thing is, you've got to go ton a run of games. Because to win that thing, you have to win six in a row all year. If you haven't won six in a row all year, why would your team believe you can do it?

So all the stuff we are going through is good. It's not so much winning our league, as you guys know, or winning our league tournament. It is what are we learning and preparing so when we walk into March we're ready, like our teams historically have been.

Evansville. Evansville. Evansville.

Q. You said after the LSU game that Juzang, Sestina and Brooks may -- how far you go may depend on those guys?
JOHN CALIPARI: And EJ.

Q. What do you feel like you got from them tonight?
JOHN CALIPARI: They are getting better. I mean, they are starting to believe.

Here is the other thing that young kids, when they are in high school, they really don't need to look at a stat sheet. Why is that? Oh, they know how many they shot, how many they made, how many fouls they made. They know. They will tell you.

Did you look at a stats sheet? No. I'm just playing for these -- when you play that way, that backs the up-and-down. You've got to play to your training. How are we training you to play, just play that way, and then we'll look at the stats sheet when the game ends.

Second thing, it's great to have big-time goals. These kids all, you know what they want to do, they want to play professional and I urge them, that's great, we work on that, but that goal is not the game-to-game stuff. It is: Play to your training. You know how we're trying to get you to play. Play that way and then you don't have to worry about the possession by possession or if I make this shot, I got 25 or if I make these free -- well, then you're not making them. If I get two more assists, great; you've got two more turnovers. You can't play that way.

So we are kind of walking through that with this group.

Q. Offensive rebounding is a challenge playing three point guards. What is the advantage and disadvantage for your opponent trying to deal with that?
JOHN CALIPARI: The advantage is that if they have a mismatch, to exploit their three. The good news for us is we can play Keion at the 3 because he's played there. I'm playing him at the 4 right now so that Johnny is that rotation there, but I could play him, and I did today, when I took Ashton out, I put him in and gave us a bigger team. We can do that.

It becomes a chess match at that point. If they go big and it's hurting us, we could change how we play.

Q. Did you think you would ever see a game where I manual got 12 rebounds?
JOHN CALIPARI: I thought the Evansville game, he'd get 12 (laughter).

I'm going to hear about that game in two years from now, and I'm like, we didn't play them this year, I don't think. They played good, too, by the way. Don't take anything away from them.

Evansville, Evansville, Evansville. Have fun. Thank you.

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