You just keep playing and have joy and enjoy. There are teams that have gotten knocked out. You winning this tournament, it doesn’t matter how you win. But this one, I don’t think it was - if in this tournament winning is a relief, what the heck are you doing here? This is joy. He said one time this year he just had enough, but I’ve just enjoyed the heck out of coaching him and seeing him grow as a person, seeing him grow as a basketball player. He gets held, grabbed, hold, and they call him for pushing off. I would tell you that he did something that hadn’t been done for 50 years.Īnd he is the greatest kid. You know, that’s how old - when I watched The Waltons, that’s how old that is, so it’s about that old. Like, I don’t know how many times that’s been done in the NCAA Tournament. I’m probably playing him too many minutes. I don’t know why he chooses to do that because the other guy is really good, but there are times he stops. When he stands behind the defender, he is not really that good in there. JOHN CALIPARI: Defensively when he is alert and bouncing, he is really good. What is your description of the dominance that Oscar shows inside the paint on the offensive and defensive end when it comes to the rebounds? He is a really good player, and it took five players to stop him, not just me. It took the whole team, being in gaps, being my help, and we just slowed him down. It was definitely hard to guard him because he is so physical. JACOB TOPPIN: Yeah, Bryce, I love him with all my heart. What’s so tough about guarding him, and what did you do that so effectively contained him? This one is for Jacob: I know you had Bryce as your primary defensive assignment, held him to 7 points on 2-of-9 shooting. So we came in with the mentality, and we forget the past, and we’re just fighting right now. That’s the one who is going to keep moving. Now you know this tournament is about fighting. I told all my teammates, I told them, I said this year we come in and fight. Peters, what kind of relief was this? How relieved are you to get the win? I know you guys have bigger plans for this tournament, but after last year’s loss to St. OSCAR TSHIEBWE: Say again the question, please.

But, you know, we did the little things that won us the game. Even when they made their runs, we didn’t put our heads down. I knew what this team was capable of, so we got the job done. JACOB TOPPIN: Yeah, it was a big relief, obviously. This is especially for Jacob and Oscar: I know you guys have much bigger plans in this tournament, but what kind of relief was it to get this win after last year? So our out-of-bounds stuff wasn’t the best, but we had a big enough lead that it didn’t matter. But I’ll tell you what we did, we made every free-throw down the stretch we needed to make to keep them at bay. The first game is a hard game for guys, and we missed probably seven straight shots where we could have extended the game or extended the lead, and we missed them. You know, I thought our team fought like crazy. NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: First Round – Providence vs Kentucky Friday, MaGreensboro, North Carolina, USA Greensboro Coliseum Kentucky Wildcats John Calipari Antonio Reeves Jacob Toppin Oscar Tshiebwe Media Conference

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