KENTUCKY HC MARK POPE Q&A:
* Brown is a terrific team. They're going to be a big-time problem in the Ivy League. A lot of talent. Gave Kansas and us some problems for a half.
* Liked the way we responded today, outside of the glass at times. Season-high in deflections.
* Nowhere else in the world where you can walk in on New Year's Eve at 2 o'clock and have every seat packed to see you play.
* On the ball-screen defense improvement... A lot of the deflections came there. Spent a lot of time working on it during the last week. I think there were times, if you asked them, if our guys thought basketball had anything but ball-screen defense. That's how much we talked about it.
* All we care about right now is little moments where we can get better. That's what it's all about.
* On different lineup combos... Trying to see how some different things look, a couple of duos that make us look different. Have to keep working Travis Perry into these backup minutes at the point. Very, very serviceable as he settles into this. Thing I'm learning about Trent Noah, too, is if I ever need a 3, I just need to sub him in and let him go. (laughs)
* On having 18 assists and 5 turnovers... It means everything to us. Of everything on the stat sheet, that might be the biggest manifestation of how we're playing.
* On entering SEC play... Every game is going to feel like a toss-up. Execution will be big, resolve will be big, can you handle frustration and fight through it. You can't get too high or too low with this kind of league.
* On Acaden Lewis and Jasper Johnson visiting today and Lewis getting introduced to the crowd during a timeout... I got so excited. It was the first time I've seen them on the court together. Hard to contain my excitement for them. This is going to be so fun.
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BROWN HC MIKE MARTIN Q&A:
* Great opp to play in Phog Allen and Rupp back to back games, just wish we had performed a little better.
* They scored a lot in transition off our turnovers in the first half and in every way possible in the second half.
* Butler and Oweh are tough at the point of attack. Their pressure at the point of the defense and Williams at the back end made it tough on our offense.
* We had 14 first-half turnovers and were only down 12 at the half, so I was feeling pretty good at that point. But we didn't take care of the ball well enough, and the start of the second half kinda opened things up.
* Impressive to see how cohesive UK is with all new players and the way they share the ball. 18 assists and only 5 turnovers is really impressive.
* When you have guys at center like Williams and Garrison who can really pass the ball, you have to pick your poison defensively. We focused more on the drives than the 3s, but it's a hard team to guard.
* On comparing games with Kansas and Kentucky... Rupp is bigger than Allen Fieldhouse (laughs). It all starts with how you defend the post with Kansas; with Kentucky, how you deal with the constant movement.
