Q&A: Calipari reviews Ole Miss, previews A&M

John Calipari has reviewed the tape of No. 1 Kentucky's narrow escape of Ole Miss and he's looking ahead to Saturday's game at Texas A&M, the Wildcats' SEC road opener. Here's everything he had to say, including some thoughts on sticking with the hot platoon longer and the play of his point guard:

JOHN CALIPARI

On if upon review, Ole Miss' performance Tuesday was a matter of making difficult shots or if Kentucky's defense wasn't as good as it has been: "Well, I think the one thing we've been really good at is taking away the three-point line. So what I did was, I focused on some of those threes. Some of them, we were all over them and they made it. But there were five or six that our hands were down. So we're gonna zero in on that. Threes and free throws. If that beats us, we're not doing what we're supposed to do. And it can beat you, because you can't guard a free throw, and if a team's a great three-point shooting team, you got to make them drive. And we didn't. But you got to give them credit. Every team we play is gonna play like that. And we still won. So at my house last night, we showed the will to win and the fight they had. The only shot I showed that was a make was Andrew's. The rest were misses that we grabbed and made another play from."

On why he showed the Andrew Harrison shot: "Because it was a breaker for us. It got us to where we wanted to go. But we missed free throws. I didn't really show those. We had a chance to be up eight or 10 and we just didn't. We missed free throws. But the other stuff was effort and energy, and that's what I wanted them to see."

On if the start of the game makes him reevaluate platoons at all: "No, but what it makes me evaluate is, should I have left (the starters) in longer, and I told my team that. But let's talk about that, because we got some Basketball Bennies here that really know this game. If I play that first group six or seven minutes and I go to sub, what's your issue? I got to sub all five. I can't sub four. So now Derek or Dom have to be in that rotation. I told them that yesterday. If I leave these guys in because of that run – what, am I gonna leave a guy in for 10 straight minutes? The way we're playing? You can't be in there that long. So that's the issue we have, and that's why I was trying to go four. But you know what? Should have left those guys in longer."

On saying he'd give Willis and Hawkins a chance to prove they belonged in the rotations: "And I said to my team, 'Which of you want to give up some of your minutes?' and none of them raised their hand. Which means that they have to take minutes. Which means that they have to perform at a higher level that earns them minutes versus another guy, because no one wants to give up minutes. And I asked twice. Come on, now, let me ask this again: 'Does anybody want to give up their minutes?' And no one raised their hand. And how can you ask a guy that's playing 22, 21, 19 minutes to go give up three or four more so we can get another guy minutes? This is not communism. That's not what this is. You got to earn it. The guys that earn the most minutes are gonna play the most."

On Trey Lyles' development: "Didn't play as well last game."

On Lyles' perimeter defense: "Better, but he still did not play as well last game. The things that he has done well for us – he wasn't ready to play offensively when he got the ball. He was more standing there. He took some shots that he didn't need to take, and then later in the game he played well. The other guy that I was really happy with late was Devin Booker. Because early in the game, he was like he was hurt in practice. You know, squinting and jogging and shot blocked and what are you doing? Then, late in the game, he played. He played, he made shots. He got that rebound -- a huge rebound – he got an offensive rebound, laid it in. Defended well.

"I told Trey, 'Trey, we went to you late with 15 seconds to go, on purpose, for you to shoot those free throws.' Now I told him this story. I did that with Tony Barbee as a freshman, playing Penn State in the conference tournament. We had never advanced to the finals in the history of the world. Threw the ball to Tony Barbee, in the same play we just ran. He caught it, they fouled him. Tony went bam, bam, game over. He went cling, clang, game on. So now you're like, 'Hey, man, am I going to go to you late in a game?' That's what is great about all these experiences for these kids, because he'll say, 'I'll never miss it again.' Yeah, I may never give you another chance."

On when Dakari Johnson took a 15-footer early: "I saw it. I kind of scrunched, like, 'Phew, not now.' But we've been working on that. That's one of the things he's added to his game. So I can't now work on it with him and then tell him not to do it. I wish there was a different score and time, but I let it go. But I did the same thing: 'Oh, please.' When he shot it, I said, 'Oh, my gosh, he's shooting it.' But the crazy thing is Andrew told him to shoot it. I think it was Andrew or Tyler, said, 'Shoot it.' Because they're for each other. They know he's been working on that."

On if he likes that he had the confidence to take it: "Gotta run harder. Same thing with Karl. Karl's start to the game was unbelievable. He sprinted 10 times in that game. Eight of them were in that first four minutes. How'd he play? Two of them were in the rest of the game. Didn't play, started fading, didn't play as aggressive, didn't run as hard. It's all effort and energy, but these guys are young. What we're asking them to do is really hard. They'd rather not do it. They'd rather do their way: Let me jog and stand straight up and shoot a fadeaway. You just can't win playing that way."

On managing the balance of adding new things and the idea of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it': "Um, that's – my thing was not 'it's not broke, don't fix it,' it was did they focus more on what we were trying to teach them individually and got away from the energy that they need to play with? I'm going to talk about it today. But I'm still – I'm telling them, 'I'm counting on you to bring energy.' I'm still working with you. I'm not backing up. Each individual by the end of this year, I want you to look at and say, 'He is a better player.' Every one of these guys you look at: 'He is a better player.' And if that happens, then our team has grown, we're doing all the kind of stuff we need to do. But I will say this: We're a defensive team. If we guard like we did last game or another team can shoot jumpers like they did, we'll be in trouble again."

On how the players are handling the 'clutter' from outside noise: "They're doing all right. It's hard, though. I mean, the clutter sometimes, it's like it's coming from all angles, coming to break us down. I'll give you an example: There were a lot of teams that had close games last night. Like, close. And in all cases – Maryland lost and the others could've lost. And they played teams that were like 5-9. And could've lost. You didn't see stories on PTI, Around the Horn, First Take, on SportsCenter after their win, like, 'What's wrong with these guys?' You saw, 'Strong survive' (flexing) and all that. That's just – we're in Kentucky. That's what it is."

On if he's watching all these shows: "That – the 'strong survives' was just something that Joey Palumbo showed me this morning at coffee. 'Look at this! Can you imagine this?' "

On why Marcus Lee only played one minute vs. Ole Miss: "Marcus Lee is an energy guy. If he starts the game and he's not clapping, bouncing, showing an effervescence that he has, I'm not playing him. I told him that. There's no reason for him not to go in clapping, bouncing, blocking, running, flying, dunking. That's who he is. If he's not into that then I'm not playing him. He's the greatest kid. It's hard. What I'm asking them to do is hard. What's easier is every fifth play I'll do something that stands out and the rest of the time I'm going to coast. You just – you don't win at the level we're trying to win playing that way. And he's a great kid."

On what Texas A&M does well: "They're great at pick-and-rolls. They've got players at ever position that can score. They're playing a pack-line defense, man-to-man. They'll also play a tandem zone like all these teams are now playing us. So, they're going to come in with one thought: let's slow these guys down. They'll run offense. They'll shoot it quick when they get into transition, but they're going to make us play in the half court. They're a good team."

On saying Texas A&M would throw a party because Kentucky almost lost to Ole Miss but A&M losing by 21 to Alabama: "Because their best player didn't play. Their best rebounder and their leading scorer. Jerry, you've got to start reading the papers. (TIPTON: I'm watching all those shows.) You're not reading the papers, I know that. I don't know what shows you're watching. (Laughter)."

On how Andrew Harrison bounced back from Louisville struggles: "He was good, but he's still – you're going to see Andrew in two months…He is a 6-6 point guard who can absolutely play – think about that – that transfers to whatever level you want to go to, that's playing OK right now. He's not playing bad. He's playing OK. I want everybody to look at him and say, 'Holy cow.' Got to play faster, got to have more energy. He's capable of all that. 'Be more aggressive, get in the lane. No one's stopping you from flying up and down and getting in that lane. Get in there.' It's really hard. 'I'm a little tired. I want to jog it and bully.' Can't play that way anymore.

"Little guy is on you, your advantage is getting in that lane. Can't guard you. You can pull-up, you can shoot runners, you throw lobs. I think he's as good a point guard as there is in the country. You know, he has up and down games like every other player. His though -- he's at Kentucky. He's at Kentucky, which means, 'He went one for eight, he stinks.' Really? 'He went eight for nine, well he may stink, let's see next game.' What? I mean, he's a point guard here. It's like being the quarterback here."

On Andrew seemingly having the personality to deal with that criticism: "He's doing great. You've got to be a strong-willed, strong soul. That ain't easy. These kids are 18 and 19 and some 20 years old. I don't deal with them like they're 25. They haven't been through this. It's OK when I get killed. I'm old. I've been killed. You shoot me it goes through a bazooka hole. I've been shot up. I can take it. These guys, it's the first time anybody's ever questioned them as a player or as a person or their character. Andrew is one of the greatest kids I've ever coached, one of the greatest kids I've ever coached. And that's why I'm always going to be with him. He's for this team, he wants to get better, this is all new to him. I'm with him. He's my point guard."

On previously saying Andrew cares too much and if this is the wrong place for that attitude: "At times he does. Well, Derek Rose cared too much. Derek Rose cared too much, the same way. He could not deal with anything that wasn't perfection. He (Harrison) missed some foul shots, he was like – 'Stop it, just play. I don't care about that. I just want to see you compete.' And he's learning that. Let me say this, he went from last year's body language (holds hand out at waist height) to by the end of the year's body language (raises hand) to how he is now (raises it again), but he's not through the roof yet. But he will be."

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