Kentucky Student-Athletes
#15, Willie Cauley-Stein, F
On how high he jumped to catch the alley-oop …
“I’ve heard that people are telling me that it was really high. I will have to watch it because I heard that it was really, really high.”
On if a night like tonight validates coming back for another year …
“For sure. You know, that is one of the biggest reasons that I came back is to just develop myself more as a basketball player. I feel like I am just starting to do that. It’s only December. I still have three months left.”
On playing in the paint against a physical team like Texas …
“It just goes back to just working on it. Keep on working on it and keep on working on it. I think I just accepted that it is my job to do that for the team.”
#22, Alex Poythress, F
On if this is the best he’s seen Willie Cauley-Stein play since the two have been at Kentucky …
“Yeah. He was everywhere blocking shots, rebounding, getting steals, getting in the passing lanes and playing good defense. Offensively he was catching the lobs.”
On physicality of Texas …
“It felt like practice with always banging. We went against someone our own size and it was a battle. It was a war out there. If you’re soft, then you can’t play this game. You just have to battle out there.”
On Texas being the early test on the schedule …
“It’s great. We showed great poise out there and down the stretch. We’re going to need that when it’s tournament time. Every game is going to be close in the tournament. There’s not going to be any blowouts. We need to show that we can win a close game.”
On the 18-2 run coming out in the second half …
“We just wanted to bring energy. It all starts with defense. We just tried to guard them the best that we could by making shots hard and switching out on people. We just tried to do everything defensively.”
On both coaches saying this was a big boys’ game …
“It was a man’s game out there. You just have to go in there and fight and battle and do whatever you can to help your team win.”
On being outrebounded, making only one 3-pointer and still winning the game …
“We let them get about 10 offensive rebound in the first 10 minutes. We weren’t really shooting well, but at the end of the day we showed that when we’re not on our ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ or ‘D’ game that we can get the little things that we need to win. Just coming up with a stop on defense and just keep on playing out there.”
#44, Dakari Johnson, C
On how loud it was out there on the court when he hit the 10-0 run in the first half …
“It was really loud and really fun. That’s what Coach Cal said: You’re in a dogfight, and if you can’t have fun with it whether you’re losing or winning you can’t be out on the floor. We just really had fun as a team.”
On if this was one of the more physical games he’s played here …
“Yeah, if not the most physical game I have ever played here. It was good going up against someone our own size.”
On what game like this this early in the season does for these guys later down the road …
“Big time. It was a close game. Everyone just fought. That was the big thing, to see if we would fight back in the second half, and we did.”
Texas Coach Rick Barnes
Opening statement …
“I don’t know if I have ever coached a game where the size and the strength – physicality was what it was. I’m sure if you ask the referees too, I don’t think they have ever officiated a game like that. That was a big boy game. I thought both teams really competed and baskets were really hard to come by. They made that 18-2 run. Our guys knew we were going to play and fight back in it. And we didn’t come out with a run to really start the second half, and that was really the difference. Defensively, again, I thought both teams really competed. And Willie Cauley-Stein was terrific. I mean, he was really the difference in the game. ”
On Texas cutting it to a two possession game with a minute left in the game …
“We’re good. I have told you all we are a good basketball team. And we are out of rhythm. I mean, I am not going to deny that. You guys have seen us. I mean, missing Isaiah made us a whole different team that is neither here nor there. We came in here with the attitude that we knew we could play and win. The guys are disappointed, and they should be because offensively we are better than what we played, but they had a lot to do with it. They did. There were some great things about our team. I thought Prince Ibeh was terrific. He went in battled and put fouls on them. Demarcus Holland had to do whatever was needed at the guards, posts positions. He’s done that. That was a hard-fought basketball game. It was physical, and when you look at it, both teams I mean they ended up shooting 37 percent but rebounding wise we did a great job on the boards. We knew they would come out in the second half and get after that. And that hurt us too in the second half, but we really did a great job on the boards. That 10-0 run was the difference in the game, and that’s when we need Javan (Felix) on the floor and he picked up that early foul. He picked up two fouls, and he can’t, being a senior, he can’t do, but he’ll learn from that.”
On what got them back into the game after UK’s 10-0 run …
“We fought and defensively the zone was good. We probably played a little more zone than we wanted but we were in some serious foul trouble. I mean, we were serious foul trouble, and you look at it, I mean, Demarcus Holland out there. I thought our pressure in the backcourt – I did really think that would be a facto. We would attack it. We knew shots would be tough in there. We didn’t get the ball movement that we wanted, but again, they had a lot to do with that. Bad decisions, bad 3s. We just started getting 3 happy. Myles (Turner) took one and Kendal (Yancy) took one and turned it over. We actually did that coming out of an out-of-bounds play where we didn’t screen him and roll with the switch. Those areas right there, again, offensive rebounds a couple times even when they were getting that run going, we gave up some rebounds that we didn’t give up in the first half.”
On Willie Cauley-Stein’s play…
“What I think about him is, I wish he was on my team, that’s what I think about him. He really is terrific and in the zone he did some things in there. I mean, we know he’s a terrific player. I thought his composure, I mean, that was a really hard physical game. … But Willie Cauley-Stein, I mean, even in the zone he was terrific. He affected the game in every way he could affect it. I mean, his steals I thought getting around him, most guys like that don’t even try to get around. They are just sit back there and let you get it, try to guard you. But he does his work early and he was very impressive.”
Texas Student-Athletes
#10, Jonathan Holmes, F
On matching UK’s size …
“We competed. We knew that people were making a big deal about their size but we knew coming into this game that we go up against that type of size in practice so it wasn’t going to be as different for us than it would for another team. I feel like our size and their size kind of equaled each other out.”
On having to fight their way back into the game …
“We knew coming into the game, especially being on the road. I mean, they’re the No. 1 team for a reason. They’re not gonna stay down after the first blow. We were expecting them to make a run. We knew coming into the game that we’d have to bounce back, and we have some mature guys, older guys that have been in games like this and we tried to come back and they did a good job not letting us.”
On why they dominated the boards …
“It’s something we emphasize in practice every day. It’s just something that’s part of our culture: crashing the boards and trying to outrebound every team we play.”
#2, Demarcus Holland, G
On what Texas proved in this game …
“We just proved that we’ll come out and compete against anybody and we’ll be a tough team. We’re never gonna give up. We proved that we’ll continue to grow and compete until the buzzer sounds.”
On fouls effecting offensive rhythm …
“You kind of gotta adjust. They were calling fouls on both ends, so we started trying to pound it inside like they were. So there’s no blame on the refs for the way the game was called. We just gotta adjust.”
On how Texas feels coming out of this game …
“We feel like it was good for us and we have to grow and come out stronger in the second half at others people’s home court. We proved that we’re tough. Now we just have to prove that we’re smart and take care of the ball more and we’ll grow from here. I mean, it’s a long season so we know it’s not over. We have a long way to go.”