Transcript: What UK's players said before the Elite Eight
THE MODERATOR: Head coach John Calipari sits right to my right. PJ Washington, Reid Travis, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, and Ashton Hagans represent the student body athletes. We won't have an opening comment right now. We'll go straight to questions because these 20 minutes are really for the studentathletes. Q. John, I'm curious, you know, lot of these guys were recruited by Auburn and they knew Chuma Okeke and what happened to him yesterday was difficult.
JOHN CALIPARI: Raise your hand. Who is talking?
Q. If you had any message to the guys who maybe knew him or even to the team when something like that happens.
JOHN CALIPARI: We were all like -- you shake your head as a player, you know, that's out there. You know what I'm saying? Every one of us were -- makes you physically ill. You know, this is a sport that that happens at times, and you don't want to see it happen to anybody. And the crazy thing is, you know, not only is their team playing as well as any team in the country right now, they're beating people by 25. Not only is that the case, he was playing as though he was their best player, which he probably was. So, I feel bad for him. File bad for his family and his teammates.
Q. Keldon or PJ, first of all, how is the foot feeling today? And does your presence up here indicate that you'll be starting tomorrow?
PJ WASHINGTON: I don't know if I'm going to start. I'm definitely feeling good. Got some treatment going and good night's rest. I'm feeling a lot better.
JOHN CALIPARI: I asked him at halftime, Do you want to start?" He said, "No, I'm good. Let me come off the bench." I said okay. You know, what's great about it, this group of players that are here, even Mr. Hagans down the other end, you know, they're gym rats. I mean, you know, PJ and I were talking about it. What made you do it? They love playing. I love competing. I love -- you know -- and you look at Reid in here in the gym all the time, Tyler and Keldon and they're gym rats. They love this. They love the game. They love making plays. They're a pleasure to coach. I told them they added years to my life coaching this team. Well, maybe not Keldon, but the rest of them -- I'm just teasing, Keldon.
Q. Reid, you're sitting up there on the podium and it literally and figuratively is the biggest stage in college basketball right now. How does it feel to be just one game away from being able to get home to Minneapolis license and play a Final Four in your home town? That's really like living the dream for you. Can you kind of express to us your emotions, your thoughts, the blessings you feel for being in that position?
REID TRAVIS: Yeah, like you said, just being one game away from being in the Final Four and back home. I'm really excited for it, but no more than any other game. I'm trying to just take the preparation the same way, just approach it like any other game. I feel like if you look at it too much as far as trying to go home and kind of put all that on it, that's just too much weight on it. So for me, it's just trying to approach it the same way, just enjoy it with my teammates, go out and work as hard as I can in the game.
Q. Tyler, I have a question for you. Obviously you guys played a few games without PJ who is one of your top players. Now Auburn is kind of facing the same thing with one of their top players in Okeke. How did you guys rally around that, and do you kind of expect Auburn to do the same thing in the situation they're in?
TYLER HERRO: Yeah. I think they'll still be ready. They're playing, like coach said, as hard as any team in the country. I think they'll still come out, play their game. I think they'll be ready to go. Q. PJ, if there's one person's story that is better than Reid's, it could possibly be yours, to be able to come back for a second year and then overcome the injured foot that you have and now playing for the Final Four. What are your thoughts about that, and what would you like to say to the people now that you're up there on the stage?
PJ WASHINGTON: Just a lot of hard work we all put in as a team finally paying off. We got one more game to prove how good we are. So I mean, we're just kind of trying to come out tomorrow and look out to play tough and how we've been playing the rest of the season. If we did that, we'll be fine. Our goal is to win the whole thing. That's always in the back of our minds. Q. Given that the last time you guys played Auburn, it was a huge blowout win for you, how much confidence did that give you going into the game, knowing it's more of a known entity and you've been able to beat this opponent by a sizeable margin before?
JOHN CALIPARI: Let me say something, because I watched that tape. They haven't watched the tape. I watched it twice, as a matter of fact. We made more 3s than we've made most of the season. PJ made five himself. You ready for this? Ashton had four. Hear what I just said now. And so all of a sudden, you know, we have a lot of 3s we normally didn't make, which was the difference in the game. And they missed a lot of shots. When I watched the game, it was close for awhile, and all of a sudden PJ went corner, PJ went top, PJ went wing, and all of a sudden, we're up 12. It kind the got away because they missed some shots. Reid didn't play in that game. The rim was protected by both Nick and EJ. They wanted EJ a little bit. Nick went in, they blocked shots, we made those tough, and that's what happened. They've won 11 games in a row. The game has no bearing on this game, really doesn't.
Q. Keldon, you guys have beat Auburn twice this season. How difficult is it to beat a team three times in one season and why?
THE MODERATOR: We're going to have Keldon answer this then Ashton, back to the head coach.
ASHTON HAGANS: We played them twice already. They'll come out an give us their all. We just got to go out there, play together, and stay as a team.
KELDON JOHNSON: I mean, just to piggyback what he said. Just got to come in focused and ready to play. We can't be thinking about the last two times we played them. They're hot right now and they're playing really good. So just got to come in focused and ready to go.
JOHN CALIPARI: You know, it's funny, fate has intervened for this team where we thought it was bad. Reid went down -- he and I went to church together because we were worried, believe me. It didn't turn out that way but it gave Nick and EJ a chance to play. Then they tell me he hurt his foot at the Tennessee game. I said, "When?" "Last play." What? He's not playing for awhile. What? Now all of a sudden we get to play Keldon at 4. We get to put Jamal Baker and get him minutes. All of a sudden it kind of plays out. In our conference tournament, we had our chances to beat Tennessee. And if we had beaten Tennessee, we would have played Auburn. I'm not sure anyone has ever beaten a team four times. When you ask me about three, I'm just happy it wasn't four. So we're playing them a third time. It's going to be a really hard game. They're playing out of their minds rights now. They're shooting balls, they're playing loose and aggressive. We know. Those other two games have no bearing on this game.
THE MODERATOR: We are halfway through the session.
Q. This is for Reid. I asked you this because you're the old guy up there. When you saw Tyler come in, I know that you both are here first year for both of you. When you say him come in, what did you see in him? Did you think that he would be as impactful as he's been this season, and if so, what did you see that made you think that?
REID TRAVIS: The biggest thing I saw in him early one was just his confidence. And I think a lot of guys you can see have confidence but don't necessarily put the work in. But for Tyler, that's not the case. See him in the gym every night, every morning, putting up reps and shots. So you know that he's going to shine in these moments. Especially when he gets his opportunity, it's usually in because you see him every night and morning putting in reps. So I'd say that's the biggest thing to see his progression throughout the season and just how consistent he's been with his work behind closed doors where people don't necessarily see it. So when he gets on the biggest stage, he's calm, collect, and always confident to take those shots.
Q. John, considering what Auburn was for -- Auburn basketball was for decades and decades and decades, what kind of job has Bruce done and what specifically has he done to get it to this level?
JOHN CALIPARI: Well, he's gotten a program where people are absolutely excited. And Sonny Smith back in the day had it rolling. He had that guy -- what's his name? -- Charles, what's his last name? That big guy with the big head. What's his name? Oh, Charles Barkley. I peed on a statue down there, just so you know. But, you know, when you take over, you have to change the culture, and he's done that. And, you know, they struggled some in the middle of our league. They lost a bunch of games, and it tells you something. I always say when things are going good, that's not coaching. When things are -- it's looking bleak and everybody is running, now let me see you coach. Let me see you do it when you're up against it, when people are doubting, when they're -- the outside clutter is starting to overwhelm, how do you coach now? You know, for him to do what he did in that stretch and now they're 11 in a row, I'm telling you, there's no team in the country playing better than them right now. We have total respect and really good players who compete and play really hard.
Q. John, what do you remember about Reid's recruitment when you heard he was going to be a grad transfer, and when is the last time you coached a 30-year-old like Reid?
JOHN CALIPARI: When I was with the Nets, I had a couple players that were older than I was when I was coaching. No, he and I talked politics. So what do you think of Amy? I was her neighbor. She may be a good president. We would -- we talk about Supreme Court justice stuff. Tell me what you think. But Kenny came to me, and I believe it was his brother saying, "Hey, he's thinking about doing this." And I remember when he played AAU basketball. And when Johnny got him to go to Stanford, I said what a great get for Johnny. Johnny and I have been friends for a long time, one of the great guys in our profession, so happy for the year they had. Then it became okay, can we help him as he helps us? Not here to have a guy, you know, play ten minutes a game or have a guy that we're just saying in case somebody gets hurt. That's not what this is about.
What I'm proud of -- I'll tell the story. He was 260- something. I said, "You got to lose 20 pounds. You can't -- we can't get -- you're going to have to move better, have to go quicker. You're going to have to" -- So he's down to 242. He comes in and we're talking. I said, "Maybe five more pounds. What's your body fat?" He said 4 percent. I went, "4 percent? You would have to give up a kidney, are you kidding me?" (laughter.) The pleasure for me has been he's also in the gym as much as these guys. He also takes care of his body, in the training room, stretching, coming over in the mornings and night. You know, how about yesterday? He got 11 rebounds and they were tough fought. He only took two shots and never said a word. He was happy as heck. Happy as heck. That's what it means to play here. Now, my hope is he has 20 tomorrow. But if he gets 20 rebounds, I'll be just as happy. And you know what, so will he. They trapped him on every chance he had. He just played the game as it came. Every one of these kids, I tell them all the time how much I respect them and what they have to deal with, the clutter, what's at stake, how they have to deal with this. Like PJ playing, I told him, "I respect you, man." I love this coach. I love competing. So for Reid and how it ended up playing out, it's not done yet. It's not done. He's absolutely helped our team, and I believe he's helped himself that he's gotten better. He's absolutely committed. You know, going forward any team that drafts him will be calling me saying I can't believe it, cannot believe it. This is the greatest thing. We've had guys in the league like that. They'll call and say it's unbelievable. Shai Alexander, like they should be Rookie of the Year. Should be Rookie of the Year. Leading them, starting and Clippers and they're calling and -- Sam Cassell called me yesterday about him. This kid is unbelievable. It will be the same with him.
THE MODERATOR: We have four minutes to go in the session before we dismiss the student-athletes. We have a question in the back.
Q. Reid, obviously you guys have played Auburn a couple of times. You know pretty much everything about them. They know pretty much everything about you. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
REID TRAVIS: You could take it either way. For us, like you said, when you've played a team as much as we have with Auburn, it really comes down to fight and how hard we play. That's been the message all season. You can much as much film and X and O as much as we want, but if the effort is not there, the fight is not there, it all doesn't matter. It will be the same thing tomorrow. Bring fight and energy, and that should be what will help us win the game. Q. This is for any of the non-30-year-old young-ins over there. What does having an older player like Reid on the team, what has that done for you guys just to have that leadership, I guess, and what have you learned from him?
THE MODERATOR: Tyler, please.
TYLER HERRO: It's great to have a veteran like Reid on the team, someone that we can look up to. Obviously he's been through a lot. So whenever we need the advice or anything like that, we can go to him. But like coach said, he's in the gym doing all that. Something like that, we can just follow him. So I mean obviously just great to have someone like that. Q. There was a really nice feature article put out on Tyler in The Bleacher report a couple weeks ago. Tyler, I asked you if you had read it the last week, you said you hadn't. I'm wondering if anyone has read that article, including you John?
JOHN CALIPARI: What did I tell you about that when you I talked?
TYLER HERRO: Not to read it.
JOHN CALIPARI: Don't read it. It's poison. Season is over, read it then, don't read it now. Did any of you guys read it? Keldon, you read it, didn't you?
Q. Tyler, you're out there on the big stage now. What do you want to say to all your haters out there? This has got to be --
JOHN CALIPARI: Why would you say that? Who hates you?
TYLER HERRO: Nobody hates me.
JOHN CALIPARI: There you go. That's what I'm talking about.
Q. Reid, given that Kentucky is a place that's kind of known for having one-and-dones, you kind of have your own way of doing that this year when you came as a grad transfer. So what about Kentucky drew you to the program and why did you pick that school as a destination?
REID TRAVIS: You hit it right on the head with that. As far as just being able to prepare a player in one year for what they want to do, getting a collective group of guys never played with each other in one year, you got to accelerate the process to win at a high level and get in the right shape to play beyond college, I felt like it was the great opportunity for me. Obviously, I'm a different kind of one-and-done as far as I already had four years in college and coming here for my fifth year. I felt like it was the best spot for me as far as coaches and the players that were already established here. So it's a great spot, and I feel like it's done everything that I needed it to do.
THE MODERATOR: Final question for this session.
Q. For Tyler. I know y'all aren't supposed to read the clutter, but your phone had to have blown up last night, all the former players tweeting about you. What was it like after you finally got to the phone after hitting the big shot?
TYLER HERRO: I didn't read anything, really. I don't know.
THE MODERATOR: Okay. At this point we're going to excuse the student-athletes to go to their breakout sessions. We're going to sit here with Coach Calipari for 20 more minutes. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Best of luck tomorrow. 1:20 tip time with Auburn, CBS, Central Time. Go, please.
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