Monk apologizes for smiling on bench during loss to Florida

Malik Monk apologizing for smiling during a basketball game seems like something straight out of The Onion, but it was deemed necessary after cameras showed Monk laughing on the bench while Florida's student section sang "Happy Birthday" during UK's 88-66 loss to the Gators on Saturday night.

"It caught me off guard, them doing that," Monk said. "We played bad. Winning is on my mind from the jump. If anybody took that wrong, sorry for that. But it was clever for them, the fans, to do that. It was funny to me. But I shouldn't laugh in that moment because I knew the camera is on me."

Monk, who finished the game with 11 points on 4 of 14 shooting, said he wasn't surprised how much attention he's received since Saturday night.

"I knew it was going to be something because we're at Kentucky," Monk said. "(John) Calipari told us before the camera is always on us. I knew it was going to blow up."

Earlier in the day during a conference call with the media, Calipari said it was a good lesson for Monk, who just turned 19, to learn.

"When I heard it, I got on him," Calipari said. “And that’s why he caught it. But I said to him, ‘Do you understand you’re at Kentucky? The camera is always on, the mic is always on.’"

Assistant coach Tony Barbee met with local media on Monday and said the narrative that Monk doesn't care about winning because he laughed on the bench isn't true.

"We don’t buy into that," Barbee said. "We are around Malik everyday. We know how much he cares about winning and what it means to him. He knows he didn't play his best on both ends of the floor in that game. I can see where, not to excuse any of it, but I could see on your birthday you’re on the road and the opposing student section sings you 'Happy Birthday', that could throw you off a little bit. But that didn’t take away from how the loss hurt him.”