Video: UK Coach John Calipari on peaking too soon, previewing UK-Florida

UK Coach John Calipari on peaking too soon, previewing UK-Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com


UK Head Coach John Calipari

On what the team will work on in practice today …
“Just getting them ready. We’re going to meet a little and talk and show just a clip of tape and then just work at doing what we do. We want to worry about our team, zero in on a few things, but really we just have to keep getting better. Looking at areas that we need to keep improving.”

On whether he will tweak anything knowing that Florida is a strong 3-point shooting team …
“You just know that they’re going to take 30 (3s) however you guard it. My guess would be, let’s make sure they’re guarded and if they still make 20, we’ve had a heck of start, who do we play next? They’re going to take 30, what if they make 20? They may take 35, what if they make 25? We play good all year and all of the sudden they’re banking shots and they will shoot them deep without any reservation coming off the break. But they also have their inside people that are playing well and the other thing that’s spread out the court now is, (Eric) Murphy is playing well. They put him in pick and rolls and they get him in 3s. They’re good. They’re a very good team.”

On whether he did or didn’t like how the team defended the 3-pointer against South Carolina and Indiana …
“South Carolina made 45 percent of their 3s against us last time and, you know, if you guarded and they’re still making them, and your hands are up, there’s nothing you can do. You cannot stop a team from shooting 3s. You can stop them from shooting layups and doing different things if they’re trying to post you every time. But to say, ‘Alright, we’re stopping the 3-point shot,’ you’re not. They’re going to get them. You just want to make sure they’re guarded. The second point of that is, if they’re not making them, where does that ball go? Where does it miss to? It’s going to the elbows. It’s going to be out that way. So it’s over our big peoples’ heads and one of our issues has been our guard-rebounding, whether it’s Marquis Teague or Doron Lamb, we haven’t rebounded the ball well from that position. Their best rebounder, other than a big, is probably Brad Beal and he’s playing like a two or three (position). He goes after every ball.”

On whether his team is building swagger or leaning towards arrogance …
“They’re good but what you want to do is address it and we’ll talk about it today. You have to understand, what’s happened in the last two weeks? Why have we changed? Well let’s not get away from that. Then you talk about the (New York football) Giants. Mid-season, what were they talking about for the Giants? Fire the coach; fire the coordinators; fire everybody. They just won the Super Bowl, biggest game, halftime show, how did they do it? They win the game because they were the best team at this time of the year. They were the best football team. Last year I felt my team was the best basketball team. We weren’t at this time. We were talking about firing the coach here at this point last year. We lost six road games. What I’m trying to tell you is, it’s February, what’s the date, the sixth. We got three, four more weeks where we have to keep peaking now. This can’t be it because if this is it, you start going down the wrong way.”

On whether he believes a team can peak too early …
“Yeah. I’ve seen teams in November, December play so well that I’m thinking, ‘I’m glad he’s coaching that team and not me.’ Sometimes I’ll pull the reins back. I won’t give them as much stuff offensively. I just want them to get in shape and play hard. I’ve seen teams come out of the gate like, whoa. I’m like, ‘There’s no way they can sustain this.’ It’s too much road between now and the end of the season. So we didn’t exactly want to lose six road games, even though they were like one-point games and buzzer beaters. We didn’t want to, but my team was getting better each day, each week, and that’s what we’re trying to do with this team.”

On whether he’s worried his team is peaking too early now …
“What you had last game was seven guys played and that’s when you have that kind of score. But when I watched the tape, there were still breakdowns. Guys stopped playing at times and they shouldn’t have been in the game and they should have taken themselves out or I should have recognized it. But we’re passing the ball to each other. We’re being stronger. Terrence Jones is giving us a physical presence now that we didn’t have three weeks ago, four weeks ago. Our freshmen are just getting better. Doron Lamb should be, in my opinion, a lottery pick. Well, play like one, play like one. Don’t look at me or anybody else, play like one. That’s what I think he is and so last game he played like one. He can play point, he can score, he got to the rim, he got fouled. It’s what he is. You can’t jog up and down the court and act like this stuff doesn’t matter and be a lottery pick. You have to motor. You have to battle and he did that. It shows. Darius (Miller) played well. We all played well last game. Now we’re going against a team that is similar to us in that they went through that stretch where they weren’t physical enough and (Billy Donovan) had those killer practices and now all of the sudden it’s changed the dynamic of their team. They’re playing more physical. Just like we went up to Tennessee, they did exactly the same thing to us that they did to Florida. Exactly. And now, it was good for us. This game is good for our team. People ask, ‘Why do you say?’ Because every opponent we play, especially as they get better, this team will experience it for the first time. You’re starting three freshmen and two sophomores. It’s all new.”