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Calipari: Players need self-empowerment

John Calipari - photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.comQ.  How did you play tonight and how is Terrence’s (Jones) finger?

 

COACH CALIPARI:  We just played okay.  I thought some of the guys played well.  I told them, what happens to me, one of my many, many flaws is that when I get mad at one or two guys, I end up getting mad at the whole team.  And it’s not fair, because we had some guys that played well today.  We did.
But the guys we needed to play and do the things we needed to do, did not, and I wasn’t real happy.  This team forced us to shoot a lot of 3s.  We are not a team that shoots 33 3s.  You have to take those.  I thought played well.
 
And Terrence (Jones) dislocated his finger; so I don’t know what that means, how long he’ll be out, but he did dislocate it.  He tried to come back and play but just couldn’t do it.

 

Q.  Talk about a little bit, what a huge game and doing little things, too.  He was all over the place in the passing lanes and stuff.

 

COACH CALIPARI:  Anthony (Davis) played well.  You know, there was a couple of plays where he didn’t hold his position, but they do a good job.  What they do, defensively, is they trap the post and then try to get you to throw crazy passes.  We had good spacing, and when we didn’t, they did steal the ball.
The second thing they do is they squeeze on pickandrolls; in other words, the man that goes to screen the ball, their man just jams you way high, and you’ve got to go low and be in a good position.
 
We worked on it for two days.  Guys walked into the game and just got pushed to the top of the key and they weren’t ready to play.  Anthony held his ground, which is why Marquis Teague got the shots he got, because he held his ground.  He wasn’t pushed.  And then he rebounded every ball.  He could have had 20 rebounds today.  I mean, if I had left him in a few more minutes, he would have had 20.

 

Q.  On what finger injured …

 

COACH CALIPARI:  I think it was his pinky finger, I think.  I didn’t ask to be honest with you.

 
Q.  On much did Terrence’s (Jones) (injury) effect his play …

 

COACH CALIPARI:  You couldn’t tell.  You couldn’t tell.  But he tried to play.  I’ve got to give him credit.  He tried to go back in and fight.

 
Q.  How important is this period, and what are you trying to get out of this?

 

COACH CALIPARI:  We’ll probably go twice tomorrow.  We’ll go once or twice Monday and we’ll play Tuesday.  We’ll go once or twice on Wednesday, and we’ll play Thursday and then they go home for three days and when we come back, we start back at it.  There is no classes.  So if we need three times in one day, we’ll go through.  It’s where we really buckle down and zero in on what we have to do.
 
What I liked was after a week of really zeroing in on Marquis Teague, I thought he played well.  I thought he had control of the game.  He missed some shots.  But the reality of it is, he probably took two shots he shouldn’t have taken.  Missed both of them, or he would have been 5for11 from the floor; now all of a sudden it’s a little different game.  But he had eight assists.  One time he controlled it, he got the ball where he wanted.  Defended pretty well.  Much better than he had been defending, which we have zeroed in on him.
We just have a long way to go.  I look at us right now and say, okay, you know, what are we going to have to do to take this to another level?  What do we have to do to get guys to understand, let’s just be a vicious team, let’s go out and fight, we are just not that right now.
 
That game got  again, and we had some guys that just ran for the hills.  You can’t.  You’ve got to want a rough game.  You’ve got to want to be rough.  I want it to be that way.  And you can’t count on Anthony Davis to get every rebound.  That’s what happened.
 
But Michael Gilchrist played pretty well.  When you talk six assists and 17 (points) and eight (rebounds), he played pretty well, without taking a whole lot of shots.

 

Q.  Is this one of those things that could possibly build on itself with Terrence (Jones); that he dislocates a finger, doesn’t have a bounce back game, and carries on?

 

COACH CALIPARI:  I hope not, because he’s one of those guys we are counting on.  So I hope not.  I think he’ll be fine.  You know, and we’ll see.  I mean, will he be able to play Tuesday  I don’t know.  I really don’t know.

 

Q.  You talk about it looked like Anthony (Davis) tried to take a couple of charges and the guys were trying in some respects.

 

COACH CALIPARI:  Those were all charges in the end, on us, those same plays.  That’s why I said I wish you guys were in Indiana.  They all would have been blocks up there instead of charges on us.  Sliding, jumping in the air, body, chest to chest.

 
Q.  You talk about the guys wanting to play rough 

 

COACH CALIPARI:  If you want to win, you have to figure it out.  We had guys in Indiana at the end of the game that had a will to win, and they were coming up with plays and playing through bumps and getting balls, and we had other guys that weren’t.  You have to have a team full of guys.  And the good news is they were not getting on each other up there, and here a little bit.
 
One of the things this team isn’t doing is, too much of the stuff is coming from me.  And I’m telling you, until this team gets empowered, they are not going to be as good as they need to be.  If everything has to come from the bench, if everything has to come from what I’m saying, instead of guys doing what they are supposed to.  I mean, we left the corner today five times.  Now, if you’re anywhere near my bench or if you have ever come to a practice, we do not leave the corner. From the first day of practice to every game we play that is all we talk about is we are not leaving the corner. We left the corner five times today. That stuff I have a right to be angry about.
 
Not coming off with balls where guys won’t stick their nose in there, I have a right to be angry about that. ‘Well, let him stick his nose in there, but I am not going to put my nose in there because I might get hit.’ We can’t be that way.
 
The thing that they are going to try to do beat us is that they are going to try to hit 3s, try to beat us at the foul line and they are going to try to rough us. Is that what you would say? If they can get away with fouling us a 1,000 times and the officials don’t call it or they rough and push and shove. That is how they have to play.  
Well, we have to say, ‘We want you to play that way. Play rough. Grab and rough and hold on every possession like you do because it is not affecting us.’ Right now it affects us.
 
The other thing is, maybe they do hold the ball, when then you pressure. You don’t back away from people and today we were a little bit better at that.   You make them play a little bit.
 
Like I said, it is good to get that one under the belt after that one last weekend and now it is a quick turnaround and we will play Tuesday and see what happens.
 
Q: On ‘s play and what that does to the offense?

 

COACH CALIPARI: He did some good things. And again, I told him, all I am concerned with you is defensively and rebounding the ball. You play offensively. If I give you 8-10 minutes, play offensively, take shots. If you don’t have them, pass. Like he had one and the stepped through he didn’t need to take. The guy had him. He one dribbled pulled and the guy had him and it wasn’t there. Everything else he took was wide open.
 
I would also like to get him in the post some and with the 2-point shot. You don’t have to shoot all 3s, but we were wide open.
 
If a team is going to do that to us and we shoot 33; you have to understand, we have been making five, six 3s a game.  We doubled that today because of how they played.  If you play us like this team played, we’ll shoot 3s.  Hopefully we’ll make a few more, and we are not used to shooting this many.  made them in the second half.  Darius just makes two of seven; so we have to get him on track because he’s shooting about 25 percent for the year right now from the 3.  He was a 45 percent 3point shooter, but we will see.

 

Q.  Your thoughts on how Doron (Lamb) played, the shoots he was able to make?

 

COACH CALIPARI:  He did make some 3s in the first half.  I thought he played hard.  He’s trying.  We need him to speak more.  This team doesn’t talk enough, and it starts with him.  When you don’t talk, you’re into your own self.  You must talk on offense and you must talk on defense, and that’s what we are trying to get him to do.

 
Q.  When you talk about being at the free throw line and 3point line, why is it so important?

 

COACH CALIPARI:  Because you are going to get everyone blocked around the basket; if you try to drive on us, they are going to block it.  Indiana, they know we have got to make 3s, we have got to create good shots from 3s, and we have got to get to the foul line.  Anthony Davis fouls, so we get to the line, because shooting 2s, we are holding people to about 25 percent.
 
So when you talk to my players  now think about this:  Darius (Miller) went under a pickandroll to give a guy a 3.  With this team?  The only thing (that can beat us), shooting 3s, what were you thinking? Well, it’s going to be harder.  You may get bumped.  You can’t  you can’t  no.  Pickandroll; why would you go under if the guy is going to shoot a 3?  We are going to make him dribble it in; we talk about it every day, but I’m going to tell you, a bunch of young kids, I’ll give this to you.
 
Going over the 5.6 against Indiana five times, here is what we do.  Two days ago, not just today, but yesterday, I went over it on the court.  We did it live.  We shot the free throw, we went up two; we screwed it up again.  We did.  We screwed it up again.  What it tells you is, we’ve got freshmen; what you’re saying is not necessarily what they are hearing.
 
So instead of me trying to be tricky, and think, well, if I don’t foul here, they are going to say, why didn’t he foul.  Play your man, and let’s make him not score, how about that. Instead we have got two to give when they get near halfcourt, we are going to foul  not yet.  We are not ready for that.  And there are things happening in the game because they are so young, that they are going to make mistakes, you and I will look at and say, he didn’t know  no, he didn’t.
 
But let me say this:  I like my team, we have got a good team.  We want a team with 33 percent 3s, and I’m not happy.  We had 13 turnovers and 17 assists, outrebounding them, I’m not happy.  Because, this team should be one of those teams that every night out, you’ve got to strive to be that.  Thank you.

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