John Calipari spoke with reporters following Friday night's exhibition against Georgetown College and recapped what he saw from his team. Overall he seemed really happy, he was in his suit again, and he went into a little more detail about his roster and having the other guys make their anticipated return at some point.
Here are the quotes from his postgame press conference along with video footage of it on our YouTube channel. Please subscribe while you're there.
Open Statement
JOHN CALIPARI: "They didn't back away. They came out and played harder than we played. They beat us to balls and rebounds and second shots. And I think out of the 34 points, 20 of them were on our turnovers, were offensive rebounds, which is effort stuff. They are going to win a whole lot of games. They may win the NAIA. They have their whole team coming back. So second half I was more pleased. I thought we became the aggressor. Antonio made open shots. Robert was good. I mean, all of the guys were good. We just need stuff like this so I can watch the tape and figure out where we have got to go with this."
Q So what do you see as the biggest challenges until some of the 7 footers actually get back in the lineup?
JOHN CALIPARI: "We are going to have to gang rebound, play with more energy from -- let me say this. Jordan Burks, can you see why everybody likes him when he plays? What did he do? He made all of those 3's. No. What did he do? He just plays hard. He is not trying to prove anything. He is just playing. And that's what he did. So we've got to get some of these bigs when we are playing bigger teams or we have got to do a better job. And one of the things we have to work on is you have to create contact before you go get balls. You can't just run from people. They did a good job in the first half. Again, I didn't see overall. I mean, the second half we did some good stuff. But, you know, 17 assists. And part of the reason we only had 17 the first half, we, including the throw ahead to Robert Dillingham, missed that layup and a couple of wide open shots. But, you know, in the end we did some good things in the second half. I didn't think we were very aggressive to start the game, either."
Q Coach, you are back in the suit again. Do you plan to do it the rest of the year? You are back in the suit again.
JOHN CALIPARI: "Yeah, I think I will. I probably won't wear a tie. Maybe I will some games. I doubt if I will wear a bowtie, but I may wear a tie."
Q Cal, Z, I know he wasn't cleared today anyway, has there been any injury or medical concern with him since he started the practice?
JOHN CALIPARI: "No. No. But, here again, what happened was we asked the question, scrimmaging and the exhibition, and there was some miscommunication. We were told yes and then two nights ago we are saying he can't play in the exhibition until he is cleared, too. So that's what the issue was. There was no -- you know, nothing crazy. And he's doing good. And if he were cleared, I am not sure how many European players have been cleared yet, not many, but if he were cleared my guess is he would probably be able to play at the next exhibition. But you have to get cleared first. I will say it again, I feel comfortable knowing what I know. I mean, I'm -- you know, he played on a development team. I went as far as to call the NBA to make sure his name was pulled on time after his pre-draft stuff. And it was. Which is -- that's the depth that I went to just make sure before we do it. But, again, you know, it's European, so there may be some things that they will do different because he's a European, not a kid from the United States."
Q John, you've emphasized in the past how important it is for guys to not be afraid to take a good shot. It looked like your guys were putting it up today. Who has the green light and what determines whether they have a green light?
JOHN CALIPARI: "Well, if you are open, you better shoot it. You know, what I don't want to see is drive through an open shot and turn it over. My biggest thing in the first half, we -- instead of just making easy plays, we were trying to make hard plays. So we, I think, had seven or eight turnovers at halftime. Literally, a pass to the wing, we are trying to do something. Well, just look at the guy and throw it to him. Why do you have to do that? Or I will look that way and drop a ball. So it is just contagious. I want them to shoot. Justin Edwards got himself going because he got to the rebound and he got to the foul line, missed some shots, but, still, we know how good of a player he is. I know how good D.J. is. I was begging him to shoot jump shots, pull up and shoot jump shots. He is so good going to the rim. He gets to where, all right, we need a basket, I will go and get one. He has done that his whole life. I'm saying, if you go on pick and rolls, shoot a 25-footer, I've seen you make them, let it go. We are learning. It is a typical young team, played a team that was physical. And Jimmy Dykes watched them practice yesterday and said, "You better be careful. They are really good." And I thought, Yeah. Okay. And then at halftime Jimmy was right, they were really good. "
Q John, what have you seen from Reed so far and what do you want to see from him?
JOHN CALIPARI: "He is steady, steady Eddy. He is smart. Shoots it pretty good. He is playing better defense. He is -- what a teammate, gets the ball to the right guys. Again, he made a play driving it, right? He kept going and then threw a ball. What are you thinking about? I said, "just make easy plays." When he is making easy plays, he is making hard plays look easy, is what he does. But, no, we're really -- I'm excited about him."
Q How important was Adou, especially to start the second half, to calm everybody down and get him going with his experience?
JOHN CALIPARI: "As good as he was in the second half, he didn't do that in the first half. That's why I said, it is probably your choice. Because of you, you tell on yourself when you come out and play like he did in the second half. That's what he is capable of. Now, maybe not for more than four minutes at a time. Okay. You know who subbed them self today? Twice subbed himself. Who would you guess? Robert Dillingham. And I didn't start him. I told him today, "look, I am not going to start you, but you are going to be fine." And he said, "coach, I'm good. I trust you." He said the same thing that Shai said to me, the same thing that Quickley said to me. "I -- I get it. I'm fine." How did he play? And he subbed himself. And he didn't start, which means why not get some more minutes? So really proud of him. He's made unbelievable -- think about Canada. Think about Canada. He gained 24 pounds and he's doing this. He also did a pretty good job of defending today."
Q I have a question. Cal, when you say you have to try to figure some things out as you are playing without the guys, is there a risk of kind of trying to change things too much that makes it difficult when they do return or do you just kind of put in what you want to do and somebody else has to step in that hole?
JOHN CALIPARI: "Whatever we are doing, we're looking at it as though one or two of those guys are playing, sometimes putting two of them in at a time. But they are skilled. They can shoot. They are not like 7-foot-2, you know, lumbering; you know, they are athletic. They are skilled. They can pass. They can shoot. So we will play how we are playing. But now we have a 7-footer on the court. I take that back. 7'2."
Q Hey, Cal, you mentioned quite a few times how important it is for your best teams to be able to block shots. Again, we have beat that --
JOHN CALIPARI: "They did today. Georgetown did, I mean."
Q Oh. Well, I was going to say that obviously we kind of beat to death the thing about not having the three 7-footers yet. But Tre Mitchell had three blocks and Reed Sheppard had another. Do you think, you know, you will know how good --
JOHN CALIPARI: "Adou's got to do that. Justin has got to do that. We are long enough. Justin has got to get some, Adou has got to get some, Jordan has to get some. If we get four or five blocks, that's almost what my best teams did. They probably got six, maybe one more, my best teams. This team is long enough at different positions, but we have got to go get balls that way and we have to be a better rebounding team, more physical, which is on me. That means in practice, this is what we have got to do. And if you are not doing it, I have to hold them accountable. You know, I like the fact that it was a close game. And I told them at halftime, "I'm loving this, guys, because this should slap you in the mouth and wake you up and then get you to understand, you are in Kentucky now." Every team comes out and does this. I don't care who we are playing, they are playing the same way. And if you are not ready to play, the other team may make more jump shots than Georgetown did and you are down 18 at half. So we have got conscientious, we have got good kids, we really do. Like I said, we -- you know, Tre Mitchell did some good stuff today. But I told him, I want him to be better. I want you to be a professional player and that means you have got to play with more energy. And if that means you play less minutes, then play less minutes. Don't stay out there. But he was -- you know, I mean, he banged threes. When you have a 5-man that can step out and bang 3's, well, I want to tell you, so can Z, so can Aaron. Those two can play that way, too."