Entries from December 2011 ↓

Referees called 29 fouls on Louisville. That resulted in Kentucky making 32 of 43 free throws.
“I thought we could have had more,” Calipari said in a wry reference to U of L Coach Rick Pitino’s famously harassing full-court pressure.

Kentucky made only 29.8 percent of its shots, the lowest percentage in John Calipari’s three seasons as coach.
But because UK found a way to win, Calipari was happy.
“I love this,” he said. ‘You shoot 29 percent from the floor and you win. … That’s a good day.
“(It means) you rebounded and defended pretty good.”
It showed that UK does not have to shoot well to win, he said.

Although Darius Miller’s numbers were not great, Kentucky Coach John Calipari offered no serious complaint about the senior’s play.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I thought Darius was OK,” Calipari said. “He lost three or four balls because they kind of got after him. But he does that every game.
“What I thought he did was physically he wasn’t afraid to go in there and bump….
“But you know, he’s the kid in a game like this that is going to have eight turnovers. They’re going to come up in him. That’s going to happen.”

Senior Darius Miller did not sound pleased with his play in Kentucky’s 69-62 victory over Louisville on Saturday.
“I played decent,” he said. “I really didn’t play as good as I should have. You have days like that, I guess.”
Miller made two of eight shots and committed a career-high eight turnovers.
Miller cited foul trouble as a factor. He had four fouls, making him one of four UK players with three or more.
“A few of us stopped being aggressive as we were at first when we got in foul trouble,” Miller said.

Although John Calipari has said that only a crisis brings about change, the Kentucky coach could not bring himself to say his team’s one-sided victory margins make it difficult to learn lessons.
“No, I’d rather win like this than lose and learn that way,” Calipari said after an 86-64 victory over Lamar. “Maybe we can learn from this. But at some point, you’ve got to get stepped on, and be stepped on good, so that you understand what we are trying to say.”

Displeased by his players’ performance against Lamar, Kentucky Coach John Calipari suggested that poor play cannot go unnoticed at UK.
“You can’t hide here,” he said. “This is Kentucky. There isn’t a rock big enough. . . . You’re out there.
“And either you’re going to perform or you’re not, and there is no excuses why you’re not.”

It’s difficult, if not impossible, for a coach to prevent his players from looking ahead to a big game, Lamar Coach Pat Knight said.
“If you could just shut them off, lock them in a room and take away their cell phones and computer, it would be great,” he said before adding, “but you get fired for that stuff, nowadays.”

When told that Kentucky’s performance displeased John Calipari, Lamar Coach Pat Knight suggested the Cats were looking ahead to playing Louisville on Saturday.
“I don’t care what you tell the kids, they are looking forward to that game,” Knight said. “Especially with the Internet, it is so easy. You can’t shut the kids off.
“We were hoping that would play to our favor. It’s natural for kids to kind of overlook (an opponent), but that’s just part of dealing with kids and coaching. But believe me, these kids will be ready to play Saturday.”

UK Coach John Calipari expressed surprise that Louisville lost to Georgetown Wednesday night.
“Who did they play?” he asked.
When told Georgetown, Calipari asked, “At home?”
When that was confirmed, the UK coach said, “Surprises me. So Georgetown is good? Isn’t Georgetown a top 15 team?”
This week’s top 25 poll by The Associated Press ranked Georgetown No. 12.

UK Coach John Calipari never mentioned Louisville or its coach, Rick Pitino.
But in assessing how well Kentucky can handle pressure defense, Calipari’s comments might have brought Pitino to mind.
“We’re pretty good against the press,” Calipari said after UK handled Loyola’s pressure Thursday. “Unless you grab and hold and trip and bite, if it’s normal basketball, I think we’ll be fine.”
Pitino has long used – shall we say — tenacious pressure as a signature strategy.