Willie thought this was a good team win, Cal thought Jerry Tipton’s question was dumb
After the game, Willie Cauley-Stein and Jarrod Polson met with the media to share their thoughts on UK’s 71-62 win over Vanderbilt. Willie said that he thought today’s win was a sign that they’re coming together as a team after a week of good practice:
“I think we played really good as a team. That’s been one of the biggest things this year, the word is we’re not good as a team and we’ve got selfish guys, but the last couple days in practice, we’ve been getting closer basketball-wise as a team and in the game, it showed that we really do got each other’s back and we really do got good guys.”
When asked for specific signs that the Cats are playing as a team, Willie mentioned “hustle points,” something Cal’s keeping track:
“We’ve got these things called hustle points, and I think they were like both the hgih 50’s, and that’s really good. When they’re like low 30’s, we’re probably down at halftime or something or it’s a one-point game. But when it’s the high 50’s, that when you really start getting after it.”
The funniest part of the presser was when Jerry Tipton asked Jarrod if he came into the game for “defensive purposes, or hustle purposes, or not three point purposes” and Calipari interrupted:
Cal: “That is a pretty dumb question, but go ahead and answer it. That may be one of those, that’s a hall of fame question.”
Jerry: “They’re all hall of famers to me.”
After the laughter died down, Jarrod said that all of the players come in to hustle and play defense.
When the presser was over, Jerry muttered, “It was a good question” as Cal left.
15 Comments for Willie thought this was a good team win, Cal thought Jerry Tipton’s question was dumb
That’s a clown question bro! Tipton is an idiot.
DITTO THAT!!!
crazy jerry.
No doubt the Toughness was there
Jerry Tipton is a douche back sports writer.. He always looking to drag the Cats down…He never ever has anything good to say..Now the facts, Vandy out played UK today in the 2nd half. They out hustled and out played UK…with just over 50 seconds to play, the score was 40-40 in the 2nd half,,,This may have been a team as Willie says, but I thought UK missed a chance to run Vandy out of the gym and did not take advantage of Vandys lack of death. Hell Vandy;s best scorer sat out 75% of the game today, yet UK struggled to pulled away to win….just shows, if a team plays with heart, plus hustle, they can compete with anyone…Its how the 92 Cats did it..because it wasn’t with talent like this UK is supposed to have. If this UK team doesn’t start showing that heart, a sweet sixteen game could be out of reach for them….Now Cal played 10 or 11 guys today…that did help Vandy some, but if UK had pushed tempo,,Vandy would have caved in and lost by 20 or more….just my view…..BTW, the Hogs lost again, now 2 in a row,I betting they beat UK Tuesday night…
yes but how could they cal kept subbing players in and out players that normally dont play much i think polson should get more time but willis what has he done to earn it or even johnson
How do you take advantage of a team’s “lack of death”? Is it with a cross to the heart like with vampires or with a blow to the brain like with zombies? And is I have no idea what a “douche back” is, none – so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tipton always tries to drag the Cats down says the guy who spent the remainder of his post ripping the Wildcats and predicting a loss to Arkansas.
Should not use the term douche bag if you don’t know what it is.
And he’s not a douche bag anyway. He’s a douche nozzle.
Willis made some great entry passes that setup Stien to score or get fouled! He will get better the more game time he gets. He moved without the ball.
Derek Willis held his own. I liked how he passed the ball and moved around for the open shot even though he didn’t make either of his two opportunities. He looked fine on defense as well even if it was Vandy. I feel like him and Randle could be a deadly combo. Hopefully Cal will give him more PT.
Yes, I was pretty happy to see how well he played. He seemed to be a bit nervous and didn’t square up as well for the threes (not characteristic of him…that’ll get better with time), though they weren’t terrible…just a little off. He made some good passes inside to Randle and Cauley-Stein to get around the defenders.
Some of these post is just silly. One week, we don’t play enough ppl. Now we played too many. We need to be deeper in our rotation. I liked Cal’s substitutes today. Willis needs more minute against teams like this. It will come in handy as the season goes on. Arkansas will be tough on the road, but if we keep growing and play smart we will be ready in March. We are becoming a complete team. GO CATS!!!!
I would have been more shocked if Jerry had actually asked a good question. You have to feel sorry for small market newspaper reporters who don’t have other skill sets and can’t afford to retire.