	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: WASHINGTON

March 19, 2011

Kemba Walker

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Connecticut Â– 69
Cincinnati - 58

MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Jim Calhoun and student-athletes Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb. Start with an opening statement by Coach and then open it up for questions for the student-athletes.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Well, it's a long day, a great day, great ending as a matter of act, to a great day, but it just seems so long waiting for game and the anxiety was building up, particularly because we played so well against Cincinnati last time and I didn't know if we could match our shooting. We didn't.
But conversely, I thought we played great, great defense, and I thought we started the game off and I was just trying to -- coaches assistants, turning to anybody, just get some life. We didn't seem to have life. This was -- and I don't think physically it got us but maybe psychologically. I didn't think we had a lot of life. It was our seventh game in 12 days, and a lot of hotel time. And I just didn't think we had much life.
But we got it going and we played exceptionally well. And in the second half, kind of the same thing. We just didn't have much life. And I thought that Kemba got us going, and then I thought it was -- actually I don't want to say this too loud but this is the best defense that Jeremy has played since he's had an uniform on at UConn. Once we started to lock down defensively and make some stops and really, really started running better and doing some offense better, the game was much better for us.
Because if we got involved in a game physical game and allow -- and Bishop, who is a physical, physical forward and Dixon and Yancy Gates, et cetera, we were going to be in trouble. But once you get the game speeded back up in the second half after we fell down, same thing the first half, it was our pace of game and I think we played exceptionally well.
Speaking on behalf of the program of the kids, we couldn't be happier. I'll tell you what, there's -- this has been an incredible journey with these kids and I would have said this things turned out the other way. I just would have little -- we don't want the season to stop. We can't wait out to get out to California and keep playing and keep being with this group. This is such a special team for me certainly.
MODERATOR: Open up the floor for questions for Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb.

Q. Kemba you had a rather adventurous game. I believe you hurt your wrist on that foul in the first half and you were limping for a bit in the second half. Could you tell us what happened there. It didn't seem to affect your play obviously.
KEMBA WALKER: I hurt my wrist when I went up for the layup or dunk or whatever. I fell on my wrist. And the second half Yancy kneed me in my thigh, but I didn't let it effect my. I just played through it. I just wanted to win, deal with the bruises later.
MODERATOR: Other questions for Kemba and Jeremy?

Q. Can you talk about midway through the second half, you come off the screen and hit the three. Looks like you might have traveled, obviously refs didn't call it. How big a momentum was that? And did you think you were going to get whistled when you took a couple steps? Did you feel the travel coming?
KEMBA WALKER: No, I didn't travel. And I kept playing. Jeremy found me and I was getting ready to shine. It was definitely big momentum, it was definitely a big time momentum shot.
MODERATOR: Other questions?

Q. Jeremy, you're only a freshman, but you've played in five consecutive Big East Tournament games and two NCAA Tournament games now. Do you feel like you're a veteran player now going into the rest of the NCAA Tournament?
JEREMY LAMB: I don't feel like a veteran, but I do feel more experienced now before -- after the Big East Tournament, everybody was like, we almost sophomores now, so I definitely feel more experienced but I don't feel like a veteran.
MODERATOR: Other questions for Kemba and Jeremy?

Q. Kemba, Coach Cronin was just saying the difference was the number of free throws you guys took and you went 14 for 14. Was that any sort of plan of yours to get to the line a lot?
KEMBA WALKER: Not really. It wasn't a plan. That's just what I've been doing all year. Trying to my best to force the issue to get fouled and I was able to get fouled tonight.

Q. Looking ahead to San Diego State, what do you guys know about them and what's going to be your biggest challenge against them?
KEMBA WALKER: Just from watching them play, I know that they're extremely athletic. They have a big team. I think they have a great team. But we got a great coaching staff, great coach right here. We're just going to listen to what they gotta say and go on with the game plan.
MODERATOR: All right, guys. You guys are dismissed. Thank you.
We'll take questions for Coach Calhoun.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Just one thought. If you ask a player if he travels through the ball away or committed a foul, the answer always is no. I take that from 39 years of experience.

Q. I think there is only going to be two or three Big East teams to make it to the Sweet 16?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: We're playing each other.

Q. That's I guess the good and bad of being so prolific. Can you talk about how you were able to carry the flag. Finishing ninth in the conference in the regular season and you're still one of the teams flying.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: We're playing our best basketball obviously right now. And we kept saying, George Blaney, my assistant and friend for four years, that we're just that close and just getting over the hump. When you get over the hump, you can see it in the game.
We're down eight in the second half and then we started the first half and then and they caught us in the second half and all of a sudden we just pull away because you believe you're going to win. When you've one five, six, seven games and played really good teams, that happens.
But I think all of us root for each other. Like it was really hard for me to watch the Louisville game, hoping that they would win. I watched the end of the Pitt game and have never seen anything like that in 39 years of coaching. Both plays.
But we think we're going out there to represent UConn, and obviously we are a Big East team. We think the conference just has beat itself up in many, many ways but I think that Cincinnati could go out and certainly represent very well. They're a very good basketball team.
I'm just proud of what our kids did. And, yeah, I mean, 25 years in the Big East, I don't have a tattoo or anything with Big East on it, but nevertheless, that's my neighborhood.

Q. Coach, even with the win, do you think your players had any fatigue playing at 10:00 o'clock at night?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: I'm fatigued. It's past my bedtime. No. But I mean, in all candor, there's something about playing, especially when you're successful. If you're going through a losing streak or something, you're winning, and every time in seven straight for us against good teams on big stages, that's adrenaline. That feeds you.
So I don't think we're going to be tired next week. If we get beat by San Diego State, it won't be because of fatigue. And if we beat them, it won't be because of all of a sudden we rejuvenated. I think a couple days off will help us, help us with, without question. I really do. But we've got a lot of work to do anyways.
By the way, just one thing on the foul shots. I thought Nick made a great decision because in the second half of extending that zone wait out to us, an the reason we got to the foul line so much -- had we to take two timeouts to finally get it done with substitutions to get that ball swung so that Kemba could get on his one-on-one on the sideline because there was nobody in the middle. So once he beat his man on the wing, he got to the foul line because it was 6-1 at one point, Cincinnati.
So my point was once that zone gets extended, we didn't do enough good work at the high post. We in turn tried to drive it from the wings, and that's what we tried to do almost man to man-ish because we thought the middle was open.

Q. Coach, beginning of the game, the beginning of the second half, you probably didn't play with the energy that you would have liked. And Jamal and Shabazz were saying the way that everyone got it back going in the right directions was simple it was Kemba. Is there as simple as Kemba turning it putting it into another gear and igniting everyone else?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Well, and I become more convinced of this every day, having so many great players who have done so many things for us that I said Kemba is an elite class. Years down the road when you say Ray Allen, Rip, Emeka, Ben, certainly Kemba's name will be there.
But he's even now starting to edge up on what his impact is on his teammates. Because we even look over at some of the things he does and he's like -- during the timeout when they finally caught us and went ahead, he's really going after the young kids and that's just what -- no coach -- I'd be a fool not to allow the guy they respect so much to really get on them about winning this basketball game.

Q. Coach, you said you watched the end of the Pitt game. You've in any seen anything like that 39 years. Can you elaborate on that? Do you mean the involvement of the officials there?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: I think both calls were legit. I just haven't seen good players -- situations develop at half court where you're naked to the world. There clearly was a bump and then there was clearly an over-the-back play.
So I don't know -- the kid makes a great play except he looked like he got three points because he actually did shoot the ball. I just have never seen anything like that. That happened within, what, two seconds, two plays? It's phenomenal.
But it tells you more and more about what this game is about as you watch March Madness. That's why people love the game.

Q. I was wondering if you can elaborate how much you seem to be enjoying coaching this group and kind of going with the journey with them. I remember back in the Pittsburgh game when Kemba hit the shot, you were kind of jumping up and down like 1998 when Richard Hamilton hit the fade away against Washington. How much are you enjoying this? Is it different than years past when you guys have made a run like this?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Two years ago, we were in the Final Four. And that's been tough thing to tell people because no one believes us. It's just been not going on well. We didn't have a particularly good season last year. And I think when you're on a particular level, we necessarily didn't get a pass. We didn't get a pass. And that happens. But I don't think we ever got concerned about that.
From the time Kemba Walker -- Donnell Beverly started calling some of our freshman, we want everybody up here this summer -- this is last June -- I've never had a group work as hard as they did. They're young. They make mistakes, but their resiliency and enthusiasm for the game and their ability to listen to things, it invigorates anybody.
I love coaching. If I don't love it -- first the time I find myself not liking coaching, I'll leave. But I love coaching, and when you have a receptive group and great leader like Kemba, I mean, that's a nice package for any coach to certainly have.

Q. Coach, I want to ask you the same question put to some of the players: San Diego State playing relatively close to home, gaudy record, your historic success coming out the west regional notwithstanding, what are your first impressions of this team?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: You're right, it has nothing to do with the issue. We got to play San Diego State. We didn't play San Diego State. I think we beat Gonzaga out there. But bottom line is that they're as athletic as any Big East type team without question. They're skilled and they're a team that clearly has high quality athletes and has won. The gaudy records playing the kind of teams they play, which are in today's college basketball, we happen to have a super player. One of the best, in my opinion, the best player in America. But you and I probably all admit in a San Diego State, Big East teams, there isn't much difference and hopefully maybe Kemba will make that difference in that game.
But we'll have problems scoring around the basket because they block shots exceptionally well. Their pace is different than ours. But they're a heck of a match-up and I just happened to be watching them. They'll really good. They're the real deal.

Q. What have you learned about this team that maybe you didn't know before going to the Big East Tournament?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Probably listening. I listen to them more and listen to Kemba as much as I have any player since Caron probably. In the sense of getting a pulse of teams, Caron led that team. And I think that the thing I've learned about them, is what I thought was silliness is actually not silliness, it's an infectious attitude about the game of basketball. When we hear that Jeremy Lamb goes in every night and shoots for two hours every night and when we come back from the Big East on Sunday, while everybody's talking about us being fatigued, Selection Show, that night he was in for two shooting the basketball. He's not the only one that does that, by the way.
So it's such an unusual group of kids who just want to be good and just want to play. And I guess that more and more they're watching a great role model in Kemba but they're picking up on awful lot of what Kemba does, and I think that's an incredible thing that he's allowed us to do certainly.
MODERATOR: Okay, Coach Calhoun, thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297