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00:00 >> Kenny said after the game the other night,
00:02 you don't want your players playing in fear of losing.
00:05 So is that a concern going into this game,
00:09 since you're gonna be such an underdog or what?
00:13 >> It's a concern every game.
00:16 Sometimes you wanna win so much that you take the emphasis off not losing and
00:24 you play tentative.
00:26 So I want these guys to play free.
00:28 I know that you make mistakes.
00:30 You can't play this game for us without making mistakes.
00:33 So I need them to go out there and play free, play hard, play together,
00:38 knowing that it's okay if you make mistakes.
00:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:45 >> Hey Kenny, with the injuries to Denison, JJ,
00:50 do you have any idea on the chances that they might play tomorrow?
00:58 >> I need them to play tomorrow.
01:00 They gotta get healthy.
01:03 We'll see what happens.
01:04 I know every day is day to day with them.
01:07 I know they're working really hard to get back and we miss them.
01:12 >> Yeah, just to kind of follow up on that, Sky and
01:17 people have talked just about just how important they are to play every game.
01:21 But just as you spoke about, what about this game makes them so
01:25 important to have in the game, just to add that post presence in depth?
01:28 >> I just think we need bodies.
01:30 We need good players that know what it is.
01:33 JJ, for example, has a lot of experience.
01:36 He's from Kentucky.
01:38 This is a rivalry game.
01:40 It's a big game.
01:41 We need him out there.
01:42 Dennis, he's a shot blocker.
01:45 He's a long kid that you have to deal with around the basket.
01:49 We need him on the floor.
01:54 >> Yeah, as you look at Kentucky and how you are going to defend them,
01:57 what are the one or two priorities to being successful, slow them down?
02:03 >> Great question.
02:04 I look at this, I see nine guys in double figures, or six or seven double figures.
02:10 High percentage of threes.
02:13 Get to the line.
02:16 They're very, very good basketball players.
02:19 They're complete.
02:21 When your question basically, I would answer it this way.
02:24 We have to get back in transition.
02:27 We gotta play very good one on one defense and be ready to help each other.
02:31 And then we have to rebound the ball.
02:33 They're good.
02:35 It's the reason why they're in the top ten in the country.
02:40 They're young.
02:41 But they also, if we do what we're supposed to do,
02:44 I think we got a fighting chance.
02:48 >> Kenny, this is obviously a little bit different for you since you coached at
02:51 Kentucky, played here, and also coached here.
02:53 But I guess what does this rivalry mean to you, if anything?
02:57 >> It means a lot.
02:59 I know what it means to this community.
03:01 I know what it means to this state.
03:03 I participated, I coached against it, I coached for it.
03:10 Been on all sides of it.
03:13 Trying to get these guys to understand just how much is invested into this game
03:19 emotionally and help them understand really
03:25 this requires you to be 1,000% focused on the task at hand.
03:29 At the end of the day, the stats won't matter.
03:31 What we shoot, how we play, meaning up until this point,
03:37 the only thing that matters is that you go out there and fight.
03:40 And at the end of it, if you fight 40 minutes harder than they fight,
03:44 you got a chance to win this game.
03:45 >> You sort of answered that.
03:49 I was gonna ask about, you said you had a fighting chance.
03:52 And what leads you to believe that?
03:55 Why do you say that?
03:57 >> One, I've seen us play the style of basketball that is conducive to winning.
04:03 Two is, this isn't,
04:09 their team isn't, they have older guys, but they also have young guys.
04:14 So a lot of those guys are similar to us, and
04:17 they don't have an experience in this rivalry.
04:19 Emotions will play a part in it.
04:22 And if we do the things that we're capable of doing, obviously,
04:28 for us, we gotta play really, really good.
04:31 They're a top ten team.
04:33 But nobody knows until we throw the ball in the air and fight.
04:38 And at the end of the fight, see where we are, what's gonna happen.
04:42 >> Kenny, the attendance at the past couple of games has been notably low.
04:47 Now having Kentucky coming up, are you guys concerned at all about seeing
04:51 a lot of other Kentucky fans out there?
04:52 Is that something that's maybe being discussed?
04:54 >> Hadn't been discussed, but at the end of the day, look, we gotta go fight.
05:02 We gotta go out and fight to get a win.
05:06 We gotta go out and play our brand of basketball.
05:09 And I know from the outside looking in, it looks like we don't have a chance.
05:16 Well, we got a chance, and we're gonna go out and
05:19 fight to get that and prove people wrong and see what happens.
05:23 If we believe, it doesn't matter what nobody else does.
05:26 >> You talked on your radio show last night just about how you can't take this as
05:31 just any other game where you have to prepare differently.
05:36 In what ways have you and your guys taken to that preparation differently for
05:41 this game this week?
05:42 >> Well, just being locked in, being the mindset as coaches is,
05:49 we can't allow these kids to relax for a second.
05:53 We have to have them understand just how important this game and this robbery and
05:58 what it means to a bunch of people and
06:02 what it means to the pride of the state of Kentucky.
06:05 I told a story last night about my first day on this campus as a player.
06:13 Some adults were there and the first thing they said to us was,
06:20 you can lose every game, win this one, win this one.
06:23 That's how important this is to people.
06:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
06:29 >> Kenny, when you look at the comparisons of two teams,
06:33 two things stood out to me with three point difference between your team and
06:40 Kentucky and the other is fast break points.
06:42 You're only getting five points a game, I think, on fast breaks.
06:45 Is that due to not having enough turnovers on defense or
06:50 what do you attribute that to?
06:52 >> Well, I think some of it is due to we gotta get stops.
06:57 If you get stops, you get yourself and it doesn't have to be turnovers.
07:02 If they missed a shot and we rebounded and we fly it up the court,
07:05 we got a chance, we'll get fast break points.
07:09 There's another thing on paper that you look at,
07:13 the number of assists that they have compared to us, that's a big one.
07:17 We wanna play where we don't have seven, eight, nine assists.
07:20 We wanna play where we got 20 assists.
07:23 And some of that for us is being able to make open shots.
07:28 When we made open shots and made good shots against Pepperdine,
07:34 we had 17 assists, build on that, build on that.
07:38 >> Kenny, is this a game where you want your guys to come in with a chip on
07:44 their shoulder, not to be chippy, but
07:46 to have a chip on their shoulder to go out there and prove people wrong?
07:49 >> It's the only way we can win.
07:50 Do I want it?
07:53 I need it.
07:54 The only way for us to win is to go out and be the aggressor.
07:59 To go out and fight for what you want.
08:01 To go out and understand you're protecting your home.
08:04 And we don't want Kentucky to come in here and
08:08 feel like everybody's with them and nobody's with us.
08:12 We need them to know we're gonna fight to protect our home.
08:15 That's our goal.
08:19 >> As you've gone back and looked at the Pepperdine film,
08:21 what did you see that you really liked?
08:25 And how has the way your team played that game sort of affected the players since
08:30 then?
08:30 >> The spacing of the floor was really good.
08:34 We did a great job of spacing.
08:38 We did a great job of sharing the ball amongst each other.
08:41 And it wasn't just the guards.
08:42 Trey White was unbelievable of seeing the next pass.
08:47 Brandon was a force around the basket.
08:50 Didn't always finish when he had opportunities to.
08:53 But he created havoc by being strong and physical and
08:57 active around the basket, posting up.
08:59 I just thought we played within the rhythm of the offense and it looked cleaner.
09:04 Defensively, we were pretty good as well.
09:09 >> And something Cal's talked about a little bit this year has just been their
09:15 kind of lack of having a true big man on their team.
09:17 They just recently got Bradshaw back.
09:19 But that being said, how important is Brandon's role going to be in this game?
09:24 Knowing with how well he's played and
09:26 how that's kind of been the biggest role that Kentucky's had so far.
09:28 >> Brandon's role is immense because Brandon brings the dynamic to us that we
09:36 need.
09:36 We need his rebounding.
09:38 He's done a great job of that.
09:39 We need his post scoring.
09:41 He's been pretty good at that.
09:43 We need him to get people to foul and go to the free throw line and finish.
09:47 He's been pretty good at that.
09:49 So we need Brandon, regardless of who we're playing,
09:52 we need Brandon Humphreys to be pretty good.
09:55 >> Anything else for coach?
09:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:00 >> Yeah, I'm gonna use the word I found last night to talk about coaching against
10:05 a cow again and also talked about just
10:11 the difficulties in facing someone that you used to work for.
10:14 And just wondering if you could just talk about that just a little more here and
10:18 just the things you're looking forward to, but also the certain challenges you have
10:22 in going up against someone that you consider a friend.
10:24 >> The challenges are he has a very, very good team.
10:30 The reality of it is they could easily be a top five team.
10:35 As the year goes on, as they play more and more games,
10:41 you can see they've gotten better.
10:43 They share, they opposed to making this Kenny Payne versus Coach Cal.
10:49 This is their players versus our players and we're fighting to earn respect.
10:55 And they are being respected and they've earned that.
11:01 So we gotta go out and earn our respect as well.
11:05 So more than anything, the players.
11:11 Going against Cal is, we probably both don't wanna be in this situation.
11:21 Because we have so many years together.
11:24 But at the end of the day, I know he wants to beat me down and
11:29 I wanna win the game if I won.
11:32 And I'm happy.
11:33 >> [LAUGH] >> Just,
11:37 you talked about the players so much.
11:40 They have some freshmen who, you've made a big point to have your freshmen.
11:44 Not play like freshmen.
11:46 Can you just talk about on the ways that you see those guys for
11:50 Kentucky taking the next step already and playing above their age?
11:54 >> I see them playing together.
11:58 I see them fighting together.
12:00 I see them playing with a spirit of toughness, a fight.
12:05 I see for a guy like Aaron Bradshaw who has never played the way he's playing now.
12:13 Where he's going up to big guys like Baycott and he's bumping them and
12:17 hitting them and doing things he's never really done before.
12:20 Which means Cal has made an imprint on him.
12:24 He's made an impression on him of what being a big guy for him and what is needed.
12:29 He needs physicality.
12:32 I'm watching how they swarm on defense and
12:38 react to each other, that's chemistry on both ends of the floor.
12:42 Obviously they play together, obviously by 19 assists, whatever it is,
12:47 they're sharing the ball.
12:48 But when I see them defensively, at times they're all on the same page.
12:54 And that's growth.
12:56 We're trying to get there as well.
12:59 At times we do it, but not clearly enough.
13:01 All right. Thank you all.