Kentucky-UNC Asheville Postgame Interview with John Calipari
By Jason Marcum
Q. We’ve seen a couple times this year where you guys have had numbers in transition and you’ve seen lobs go over a seven‑footer’s head. Are you too anxious right now, or what’s going on in transition?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, they were anxious today. First college game. But I’m glad they tried to throw it. The problem is if they’re three guys, it’s a scrum, you probably shouldn’t throw it. The decision to throw it was wrong, but again, I’m not ‑‑ like I was on them pretty hard. I said, I’m not feeling sorry for anybody in here, and I’m not backing up. We’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to accept what we have to do to get better. That’s the first step of this.
How about us leaving our feet and then fouling? What are you doing? Well, the reason you left your feet is you stopped playing, then you tried to recover to your man and you didn’t want him to score so you leave your feet. Or how about I grab the guy down low as he drives by me and give him two free throws? That’s all stuff because they’re stopping.
We now have a day, a game, a day, a game, so how you’re going to rework that now, other than tell them, we are who we are right now, and that’s why I keep saying I’m not going to add a whole lot of stuff. You saw how sloppy we looked. That’s who we are right now.
Q. I know you said you thought Julius should have more rebounds tonight, but that’s three straight double‑doubles for him. What’s he doing right?
COACH CALIPARI: Well, when he’s going after it and he’s getting the ball by people and getting that third and fourth play around the goal, there’s no one better. He can also score, and how is he shooting free throws? So what do you think you’ll tell him? Get fouled. Wow, you guys are basketball bennies. (Laughter.)
So you get fouled. So go to the basket and ball fake and get fouled. Don’t avoid and miss a one‑footer. Get fouled. Get to the line. We’ve told them if you don’t have a clear path, come to a one‑two stop and get the ball to the basket. Get fouled.
But again, he stopped a bunch today, and you may say, here’s a guy that had 21 and 15, and you’re like, he didn’t do enough. No, for us to be what we’re trying to be, we’ve got to be a bunch of guys out there that are playing the entire time they’re on the court, and if they can’t go, they sub themselves and we go with someone else, and that’s why I said, I thought Alex and Marcus gave us great minutes. Both of them did. And that’s what you need off our bench.