KENTUCKY HC MARK POPE Q&A:
* Colgate isn't having the season they had hoped, but they have championship pride and pedigree, and you saw it tonight. Played really hard.
* Liked how our guys finally answered the bell.
* Finally got back over 30 3s. We need to be a volume 3s team. We haven't been there lately.
* Work in progress with Travis Perry and Trent Noah. Made solid contributions tonight. Trent was out there when there was a little bit better vibe. One of the things I love about him is he's only been in the game 1 minute or so, and he's standing right in front of me as I'm saying punch it punch it into the post, and he pulls up and hits a 3. He's gonna be a player.
* We need to be masters of our own energy. It was not there tonight after the 17-0 start. Not sure why. Could be several reasons. But hopefully this will help us moving forward.
* Asked about Kerr's surgery, Pope says he's already had it done. They think somewhere around the 6-week period, I'm saying 10 days. (laughs). Thinks he'll continue to bring great energy to the team from the bench. He can be incredibly value to us right now.
* Kobe obviously shot the ball well tonight. Good to see that.
* Asked about being ranked 5th but eking out an 11-point win tonight... Glad that we're in the conversation of the best teams in the country. Right now, it's just a race to get better, and you want to win every game along the way. But those numbers matter. The metrics, the efficiencies need to be high.
* Lamont Butler update: On the court a little bit today. Every day is testing it a bit more to see how he's doing. We'll know more about how he's feeling in the morning. Would prefer to see him on the court sometime soon.
* On why the 30+ 3s is so important... It's a measure of how the whole system is working, how we're moving and screening. We don't just want to shoot casual 3s to get 30. We want to get them because we're doing things the right way on offense and have the right energy.
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COLGATE HC MATT LANGEL & PARKER JONES Q&A:
* Langel opens saying this is excited because they've been to 5 straight NCAA tourney appearances and never had this much media attention. Liked how his guys competed and played really hard tonight. Kentucky's got a group of "winners," a bunch of guys who are here for the right reasons. We just ran out of gas tonight, and Kentucky stepped up and hit some big shots when we did.
* On how his team got back into after falling behind 17-0.... not sure how that happened, but a lot of inexperienced guys who have not been in the roles they are in now. You saw some hesitancy. The environment may have gotten to us a bit. And Kentucky has really good players. Once we saw a few balls go thru the hoop, we started playing like we are capable of playing.
* Planned to play zone tonight on makes and man on misses. You have to keep mixing it up against a team this talented. Tried to keep them thinking, keep them changing what they're doing. They got some good looks. I think they'll actually shoot better than that as the season moves along.
* Colgate's Parker Jones: "This is kinda sick. I've never been in a press conference until this. This is high-level." (Laughs)
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UK PLAYERS Q&A:
