UK Student-Athletes
#12, Keion Brooks Jr., Fr., F
On today’s game and his thoughts on his own performance…
“It was fun to finally get out and play somebody else instead of beating up on each other all the time, but I thought I played decently. Still a lot of stuff I’ve got to work on staying in front, ball handling and rebounding. I didn’t have enough rebounds as I thought I should have, so there are some things I’ve got to clean up.”
On the team’s performance…
“It was hard to gage. It was our first time playing somebody else. I mean, that’s really for the coaches to grade overall. We just try to go in and listen to them and everything they tell us.”
On how he felt to get a start, the only freshman with a start…
“Yeah, I didn’t know literally until they [the PA announcer] called my name. But it was fun to be able to go out there and start. I wasn’t really buying much into it, you know, just the first exhibition game. Whenever I came in or I started, I just wanted to go in and play hard and make the right play every time.”
On performance today …
#5, Immanuel Quickley, So., G
“I think we can get a lot better especially defensively myself. We gave up a lot of easy baskets that we normally do. We started the game pretty good but we have to make sure we finish strong. We’ve been putting in a lot of work though, before school, after practice things like that and continuing to condition is going to push us to the next level.”
On veteran status …
“It’s really good to be a veteran this year because I got to learn from guys like PJ (Washington) and Reid (Travis) last year. I’ve just been trying to pass on what I’ve learned to guys like Keion (Brooks Jr.) and our other new guys. I try to help them in any way I can and I’m still learning everyday, too. I think they played pretty well today too, I’m sure a couple of them were a little nervous with this being their quote un-quote first game, but I think they’ll be even better next game and continue to get better throughout the season.”
On importance of defense …
“Defensively, and also rebounding, that’s one of the things Cal talked about, if Nick (Richards) comes back next game or not, he told all the guards to just start rebounding more. Everybody has to step up when a man goes down and that’s just how it goes.”
#0, Ashton Hagans, So. G
On the 21-5 run in the beginning of the game…
“In practice, we’ve been getting after each other, competing very hard, so you know everybody was very excited to come out and let it off against somebody else, and you know that’s what we did in the beginning.”
On guarding Jake Ohmer…
“I guarded him a little bit. He had 18. That was out the window. He just started talking and I said, “Say no more.” and I just had to shut it down. I just try to go out there and stop him. He’s a very good player. Just try to stop him so the offense can be disrupted.”
On being comfortable with his jump shot…
“Coach has seen me in the gym, he’s letting me let it go more. I’m just trying to keep getting reps. And like he said, “Just keep shooting.” Shoot it straight and that’s what I’m trying to do. If I got it, I’m going to shoot it. I’m just trying to come in with a different mindset and just see how I can help this team.”