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00:00 First of all, I thought defensively we were pretty good.
00:04 We held them to their season lows, 35 from the field and 24 from three.
00:11 A good sign of what we are capable of being defensively.
00:15 As you can see and as you can tell, we played 10 by 20 and didn't play well.
00:22 They played great.
00:25 That shows me that we have a lot of room to grow and get better.
00:30 We just gotta every single day and it starts with our confidence,
00:34 it starts with our work ethic, it starts with our energy.
00:38 But we are a capable team of beating people, but we have to understand
00:43 the responsibility and the obligation that each person has to make sure
00:47 that we're a good team.
00:48 Questions?
00:49 >> Coach, it seemed like the team early in the game, first half,
00:56 were hunting a lot of three point shots, seemingly passing up even some layups
01:03 on the text of the basket to shoot the ball.
01:05 Do you think that that was something that you wanted to really work on?
01:07 Cuz I see only six three pointers in the second half.
01:09 >> To be honest with you, I'm trying to give up freedom.
01:14 As long as the ball moves and we get lane touches and we kick it out,
01:19 I'm good with the threes.
01:21 I need them to make some of them so that they feel good about it.
01:24 Guys, if I could have all of you come to practice and
01:27 watch us shoot the ball, you'd be shocked.
01:30 Like how well we shoot the ball in practice.
01:34 And then I gotta get them over the way they're shooting it in the game.
01:38 I need them to believe that they're gonna make shots.
01:41 I need them to execute their shot, make shots.
01:44 We are way better team than what we're shooting right now and
01:47 a better scoring team.
01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:53 >> Yeah, can you just wondering why Keron Davis wasn't at tonight's game?
01:58 >> Great question.
01:59 Keron Davis was my decision not to have him come today.
02:02 He's not in any trouble.
02:03 I will not address it right now because this is about the guys that just played.
02:10 But he's not in any trouble.
02:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:17 >> Seemed like you also tightened the rotation, played seven guys.
02:20 Was that an intentional or just the way the game unfolded?
02:23 >> Sort of the way the game unfolded.
02:26 I love the energy that D-Lo gave us in the first half.
02:29 I thought he played hard.
02:30 I thought he was aggressive.
02:32 Defensively, he was really sound, really good, and he was fighting.
02:39 I gotta play guys that have a sense for what the game is.
02:43 So for example, they're small and they don't have a center.
02:48 And it's hard for Dennis to play in those games,
02:50 even though I know I gotta get Dennis on the floor more.
02:54 That's a hard game to play him in when they play so
02:58 much on the perimeter and just drive the ball.
03:00 But Trey White, for example, 12 rebounds for him.
03:06 That's what he is.
03:07 I just need him to make a couple more shots.
03:09 And to do it within the flow of the offense.
03:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]
03:19 >> Kenny, how much do you think, looking at Sunday and
03:22 Monday's game, a little bit of uptick in competition?
03:26 How much do you see that as maybe a barometer of where you guys are?
03:29 >> I'm looking at it like we gotta go out and fight.
03:35 They're gonna see this team us.
03:38 We're gonna see exactly how hard you gotta play possession by possession.
03:43 You can't, we were up 20 and it should have been 28.
03:50 We were up 15 and it should have been 27.
03:52 You know what I mean?
03:53 We got casual at times.
03:56 Well, against those kind of teams, when you're up four,
03:59 you better try to get it to eight.
04:01 When you're up six, you better try to get it to ten.
04:04 Because if not, they're gonna take advantage of you.
04:08 And they are gonna take the lead.
04:11 They're a big time program, Texas is, big time athletes.
04:16 This is gonna be a great test for us to see exactly where we are.
04:21 >> Coach, Tyler and Sky combined for two assists, six turnovers today.
04:26 Not great in the six turnover ratio.
04:28 What do they need to do to be more effective and make plays for others?
04:31 >> I need them to be a little, to see the play before it happens, more decisive.
04:37 I think a lot of their turnovers come off of being indecisive.
04:41 So for example, the ball's not in their hands and when it hits their hands,
04:46 they're like setting it up and then trying to go instead of hit the hole,
04:50 hit a gap, drive the ball as soon as it hits your hand and you see it before you
04:54 catch the ball and then make quick decisions and make sound decisions.
04:58 Don't try to invent.
04:59 >> Kenny, when you look at this team, throughout the game,
05:04 you were immediately yelling go when they were rebounding the ball.
05:07 How much is this team playing at the pace that you want them to?
05:10 I guess how far away are they being at the level that you'd like to see?
05:14 >> Listen, I like this team.
05:15 I like us in transition.
05:17 I like our versatility.
05:19 We're gonna be, and I hate to say it like this and put this on them, but
05:25 it is what it is, when JJ brings his energy, when Brandon brings his,
05:31 his physicality and energy and fight, we're gonna be a really good team.
05:36 When Trey White and Sky and Mike James play basketball with confidence and
05:43 instinctively and just reacting to what goes on on the court, they're young.
05:48 Really you could say it's sort of like freshman, sophomore mix.
05:55 They're not really true sophomores, some of them.
05:58 But when they get all of this down, and it's gonna be all year,
06:04 but at some point they're gonna get it down and
06:06 when they do we're gonna be a pretty good team.
06:07 >> Go ahead, Brandon.
06:09 >> Hey, KJ, a couple times you said confidence and
06:14 trying to teach guys confidence.
06:17 How do you teach a young team confidence, especially when being a lot of the noise
06:21 around is transnegative or whatever it may be?
06:25 >> Great question.
06:27 For me, when I've been around great players,
06:32 great players live with an edge.
06:34 And I hate to say it like this, there's a fear of failure.
06:39 And that fear of failure drives them,
06:43 moves them to be desperate in their work, in their process.
06:47 I can give you an example of a player that I had one time that was
06:53 losing confidence in his game.
06:56 And he says, KP, I need you to help me get through this confidence.
07:00 What do I do?
07:01 Put eight minutes on the clock.
07:02 And I said, for eight straight minutes you're going baseline to baseline.
07:06 And I want you to imagine every step you're running with your heart.
07:10 And every step you're running confidence into your body.
07:14 You run so hard that when it's over, you know now that you're a different person.
07:18 It's that kind of focus, that kind of fight for
07:23 your confidence that you gotta have.
07:25 For example, you look at the greatest shooters to ever play the game.
07:30 Let's say Stephen Clayton.
07:31 They're shooting the ball so much to where it's second nature.
07:37 They know it's going.
07:39 They're not guessing.
07:39 Then they have the ability to block out noise,
07:44 to be singularly focused on what my task is in doing that task.
07:49 I gotta get these guys to understand that I know that you're on the edge.
07:58 You're feeling the pressure of the weight of the world, which will make you do
08:01 things and play a way that is not what you really, the way you need to play.
08:07 So for example, you'll take a guy like Mike or Sky or Trey, and
08:13 they're playing to put the team on their back instead of trusting the process.
08:19 I don't need them to try to do it to put the team on their back.
08:22 I need them to get lost in the game.
08:24 And by getting lost in the game, their talent, their work, it'll all come out and
08:29 they'll be good players and our team will get better.
08:32 Instead of so concerned with what people are saying outside of our circle,
08:38 if that makes sense.
08:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]
08:41 >> You just mentioned blocking out the noise.
08:43 Do you think your team has been affected by the noise over the last week or two?
08:47 >> I think every program in the country that's like Louisville
08:52 has young people that are affected by what people are saying about it.
08:58 This generation of kids, they're into social media,
09:03 they're into looking on message boards and what people are saying.
09:07 That's in one respect, that's good.
09:10 In another respect, you better have the toughness mentally
09:14 to be able to handle what people are saying.
09:16 I've been blessed.
09:18 I grew up in an era where it meant nothing to me.
09:22 I never been on the message board.
09:24 I wouldn't know what people were saying about me.
09:26 I don't get involved in that.
09:29 I'm here for those kids.
09:32 My job is to love them, to every single day come up with a little something that
09:37 helps them play better, think better, play winning basketball,
09:41 to take this program and get better.
09:44 I think we're headed in the right direction.
09:46 I believe we're headed in the right direction.
09:48 I know we're headed in the right direction with the type of kids that
09:52 are in that locker room.
09:54 It's just the first steps.
09:56 >> Kenny, on that same topic of just the outside noise,
10:01 there were a lot of empty seats in the arena again.
10:03 Is that concerning to you that fans aren't showing up for this team?
10:07 And what is your mentality just from that,
10:10 not seeing it completely full the way it has been, obviously, in the past?
10:14 >> I have a player on this team who transferred from another school.
10:19 That player saw this arena and was taken back.
10:27 I never played in front of that many people, and there were maybe 8, 9,000.
10:33 So the people that are coming, the people that have came, understand.
10:39 That's not normal to have 8, 9,000.
10:42 That's not Louisville.
10:44 Ready?
10:44 When we win, they're gonna come.
10:47 And then they'll get to see the real Louisville.
10:50 But we gotta do our part.
10:51 I embrace that.
10:53 I know what it is.
10:54 I know what it's like to play in front of 19, 21,000 every game and
10:59 go on the road and it's full.
11:01 Everywhere you go, people are trying to beat you and
11:03 you gotta fight to get those wins.
11:05 I want them to experience that.
11:07 But there's a part of this that we have to bring to the table.
11:10 And that's the winning part.
11:11 And then people will come out and they'll support us.
11:14 >> Any more questions about New York or Texas?
11:19 Right now.
11:19 >> Yeah, Kenny, this will be your first time playing back to back games this season.
11:27 I'm just wondering, after that experience at Maui last year,
11:31 how do you get the team ready to just have back to back games?
11:34 And is this something that you're, as a coach,
11:38 I'm looking forward to just having that opportunity?
11:40 >> I'm looking forward to it.
11:42 I think we have a golden opportunity to show the world a growth in this program.
11:47 I'm excited for the young guys to be in a big time marquee environment event.
11:54 You look at Texas, you look at Indiana,
11:58 you look at Connecticut who won the championship last year.
12:01 I mean, guys, that's the elite of the elite.
12:04 And these young kids are getting an opportunity to be in that form,
12:10 in that event, with those type of teams.
12:12 It's a learning experience.
12:15 And so I'm really excited about it.
12:18 I want my players to play really well, and then we'll see what happens.
12:25 >> Anything else for coach?
12:28 All right.