Kentucky’s Calipari addresses team chemistry, coronavirus, fan’s racial slur.
Takeaways from interviews previewing Kentucky’s game at Florida on Saturday:
▪ Coach John Calipari described Kentucky as a “game-to-game team.” That means each game is its own adventure with consistency at a premium, he said. With such a team, you ride the hot hand, he said.
▪ Calipari downplayed the concern of traveling during a time when the coronavirus was in headlines. “There is concern,” he said. He added that he advises players to hydrate and wash their hands.
▪ Keion Brooks and EJ Montgomery applauded the NBA advising players not to exchange high fives with fans. Brooks said a player does not know what might be on those hands.
▪ Calipari said he had not seen the video showing a UK fan directing a racial slur at a Tennessee fan after Tuesday’s game. When asked if such a video creates a problem in terms of marketing the program, he said there would be concern if the slur came from the program. But, that was not the case, he said.
▪ Calipari downplayed how well UK contained Florida’s guards in the first game. He also called Florida “big” Kerry Blackshear “one of the best big players in our league.”
Click here to watch Friday’s full press conference.
Saturday
No. 6 Kentucky at Florida
When: 1 p.m.
TV: CBS-27
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 24-6 (14-3 SEC), Florida 19-11 (11-6)
Series: Kentucky leads 103-40.
Last meeting: Kentucky won 65-59 on Feb. 22, 2020, in Rupp Arena.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 11:58 AM.
