On taking a few days off…
“I think every team that I’ve had it’s been a good time to get away. You know you go hard for a couple
of months and you just get a couple of days away from each other, and you come back excited
because it’s a long season. I mean, it’s a long season. We’ll practice later tonight when everybody gets
in and probably not go long – an hour and a half. Then we’ll practice tomorrow and on Christmas Day
to get ready. I think historically I’ve done this and it’s been a good thing.”
On whether or not this team needed a few days off:
“It didn’t matter. We were going to do it anyway. Whether they needed it or not, I needed it.”
On if Skal Labissiere needed a few days to regroup:
“I don’t think he’s – unless he’s reading stuff (it would mess with his psyche). Hopefully he’s not. What
you find out is this is really hard, and it’s really hard here. It’s even doubly hard. For all of these guys,
all of the freshmen – returning players now all of a sudden, ‘Wow, there’s more stuff on me.’ There’s
a little of that awakening of, ‘Wow. We’ve really got to come back and regroup and get this thing
right.’ ”
On what the players who were unable to go home did:
“I think most of them went home, most of them did. They’re on their way back. I’m trying to think if anybody didn’t go home. I mean, obviously Tai (Wynyard) and Isaac (Humphries) didn’t go home. Isaac was with the family that he stayed with (in Indiana), I believe, and Tai was here. He had just gotten in.”
On whether or not Wynyard worked out with anyone these last few days:
“Kenny (Payne) did. So, Kenny spent a day or two with him.”
On the feedback he’s received on Wynyard:
“He’s just got to get into shape. It’s just hard playing the way that we play at the level that we play.
We’ll have to see. I haven’t seen him really practice. These few days will be the first time that he’s with us practicing.”
On the intensity of the Louisville game and whether that will motivate the team:
“I don’t know if they will. I mean we have guys who probably don’t know that part of it. The Kentucky kids do. The other kids know that, hey they’re a ranked opponent, they’re playing really good and we’re going to have to play well to win. If we don’t play well it’s going to be a really, really hard game for us.”
On the team’s identity:
“We’re still working on it. We’ve got things that we’ve got to do. We’re still tweaking offensively exactly how we have to play. I saw some good stuff in the second half of that game (Ohio State). But, we’re a ways away.”
On if not having an identity at this point in the season is unusual for him:
“We’re not searching. We’re a team that applies pressure. We pressure the ball. We play fast. We have that identity. The question is exactly how are we playing. It’s not an identity thing. The second thing is we are still trying to figure out ways of getting to 50-50 balls and beating people to balls. That’s normally what our team is built on and right now we’re not winning that battle and that’s where we’ve got to get to.”
On if he believes that Tyler Ulis is completely healthy:
“I don’t believe so. I think he’s not one that’s going to worry about that. It’s like anything else: You have to adjust a little bit to how you’re playing and what you’re doing. I would tell you again, I think the guards are playing too many minutes, so we have to figure out ways of cutting their minutes down. I thought Marcus (Lee) and Alex (Poythress) played too many minutes at the end of the game.
The two or three plays that we had to make, they didn’t have the energy to make the plays. I’m probably playing them too many minutes right now. That’s the kind of stuff that we have to figure out. It’s not what we are. We’re a fast, guard-oriented and a great driving team. We put pressure on the ball as well as any other team in the country. We’re a good pressing team. It’s just, ‘Ok. What do we need to do offensively?’ Are people sagging? Are people playing zone? How are we doing this? That’s the kind of tweaking I’m talking about more than anything else.”
On the slow starts to the games:
“We are concerned about those. A friend of mine called me and said, ‘Cal, what your guys have to understand is that the other guys have the Five Hour Energy drink before the game. You have to know they’re going to come out like that.’ Every team does. We are still learning that. I want to do some stuff for the start of the game to get us in a different frame of mind. I want to do some stuff up six and down six. We’re trying this week, next week and the next two weeks to work on situations. That’s part of the issue. We just have to clean it up a little bit and get them to understand the important plays. There were eight or nine possessions each half in the Ohio State game, simple things, and then three or four plays in each half were critical. All of those breakdowns led to baskets. You try and eliminate those.”
“I think every team that I’ve had it’s been a good time to get away. You know you go hard for a couple
of months and you just get a couple of days away from each other, and you come back excited
because it’s a long season. I mean, it’s a long season. We’ll practice later tonight when everybody gets
in and probably not go long – an hour and a half. Then we’ll practice tomorrow and on Christmas Day
to get ready. I think historically I’ve done this and it’s been a good thing.”
On whether or not this team needed a few days off:
“It didn’t matter. We were going to do it anyway. Whether they needed it or not, I needed it.”
On if Skal Labissiere needed a few days to regroup:
“I don’t think he’s – unless he’s reading stuff (it would mess with his psyche). Hopefully he’s not. What
you find out is this is really hard, and it’s really hard here. It’s even doubly hard. For all of these guys,
all of the freshmen – returning players now all of a sudden, ‘Wow, there’s more stuff on me.’ There’s
a little of that awakening of, ‘Wow. We’ve really got to come back and regroup and get this thing
right.’ ”
On what the players who were unable to go home did:
“I think most of them went home, most of them did. They’re on their way back. I’m trying to think if anybody didn’t go home. I mean, obviously Tai (Wynyard) and Isaac (Humphries) didn’t go home. Isaac was with the family that he stayed with (in Indiana), I believe, and Tai was here. He had just gotten in.”
On whether or not Wynyard worked out with anyone these last few days:
“Kenny (Payne) did. So, Kenny spent a day or two with him.”
On the feedback he’s received on Wynyard:
“He’s just got to get into shape. It’s just hard playing the way that we play at the level that we play.
We’ll have to see. I haven’t seen him really practice. These few days will be the first time that he’s with us practicing.”
On the intensity of the Louisville game and whether that will motivate the team:
“I don’t know if they will. I mean we have guys who probably don’t know that part of it. The Kentucky kids do. The other kids know that, hey they’re a ranked opponent, they’re playing really good and we’re going to have to play well to win. If we don’t play well it’s going to be a really, really hard game for us.”
On the team’s identity:
“We’re still working on it. We’ve got things that we’ve got to do. We’re still tweaking offensively exactly how we have to play. I saw some good stuff in the second half of that game (Ohio State). But, we’re a ways away.”
On if not having an identity at this point in the season is unusual for him:
“We’re not searching. We’re a team that applies pressure. We pressure the ball. We play fast. We have that identity. The question is exactly how are we playing. It’s not an identity thing. The second thing is we are still trying to figure out ways of getting to 50-50 balls and beating people to balls. That’s normally what our team is built on and right now we’re not winning that battle and that’s where we’ve got to get to.”
On if he believes that Tyler Ulis is completely healthy:
“I don’t believe so. I think he’s not one that’s going to worry about that. It’s like anything else: You have to adjust a little bit to how you’re playing and what you’re doing. I would tell you again, I think the guards are playing too many minutes, so we have to figure out ways of cutting their minutes down. I thought Marcus (Lee) and Alex (Poythress) played too many minutes at the end of the game.
The two or three plays that we had to make, they didn’t have the energy to make the plays. I’m probably playing them too many minutes right now. That’s the kind of stuff that we have to figure out. It’s not what we are. We’re a fast, guard-oriented and a great driving team. We put pressure on the ball as well as any other team in the country. We’re a good pressing team. It’s just, ‘Ok. What do we need to do offensively?’ Are people sagging? Are people playing zone? How are we doing this? That’s the kind of tweaking I’m talking about more than anything else.”
On the slow starts to the games:
“We are concerned about those. A friend of mine called me and said, ‘Cal, what your guys have to understand is that the other guys have the Five Hour Energy drink before the game. You have to know they’re going to come out like that.’ Every team does. We are still learning that. I want to do some stuff for the start of the game to get us in a different frame of mind. I want to do some stuff up six and down six. We’re trying this week, next week and the next two weeks to work on situations. That’s part of the issue. We just have to clean it up a little bit and get them to understand the important plays. There were eight or nine possessions each half in the Ohio State game, simple things, and then three or four plays in each half were critical. All of those breakdowns led to baskets. You try and eliminate those.”
