John Clay's Sidelines

Photo by John Clay.

I’m at Memorial Coliseum for UK’s scheduled press conference concerning the Monday NIT game with Creighton.

Note: Sorry for delay. Post wasn’t publishing for some reason, probably my mistake.

As for rumored meetings with top officials, says, “We meet all the time.” Says that he meets about recruiting, etc. Says there was no meeting about his future. He says, “I would assume there has been quite a few rumors.”

Here’s the liveblog:

• Said Darius Miller is getting better, and better. “He’s a really good player and he’s going to be a great player,” said Gillispie.

• Said he doesn’t mind that if UK wins Monday, it has only a day to get ready for Wednesday game at Notre Dame.

• Asked about Patterson’s shooting percentage, said that if you look at the film there are three people in the paint on Pat every game.

• On Jodie Meeks’ shooting, says defense has done a good job. Says he may have worn down from the stress a little bit, of having to do too much. Said he thought he played great against UNLV, and will play great at Creighton.

• On hunger, “They’ve had it all year long.” Then brings up the fact that he doesn’t have any seniors on this team. Said team has listened and been coachable, “we just came up short.”

• “I’ve been worried about getting ready for Creighton, that’s what my philosphy is,” said Gillispie.

• “I think we did a lot of good things, we just had a couple of bad stretches and that’s what got us,” he said.

• Stresses again that Creighton plays a lot of people, which most teams are not doing this time of year.

• Said Creighton plays 11 guys. It’s not as easy to compare Creighton to another team as it was to compare UNLV with Auburn. Said they do a lot off the dribble, good in the post-up area. Says they are a good defensive team.

• Knows that Creighton will be excited to play Kentucky, just as all teams are excited to play Kentucky.

• Said, “We need to get back to the absolute elite level, and we’re not very far away from doing that.”

• Asked if he had any reason to think he won’t be back, he said, “I don’t worry about that.”

• Asked if he would expect a chance to give his side, “That’s not something I can control. What I can control is putting a team on the floor.” . . . “Anytime that you work for someone else, decisions are made.”

• Said, “We’ve played a really good stretch of basketball for a really long time against a good team the other night.”

• Said he loves it here. “Because of us not making the tournament, I think we’ve matured so much, dramatically,” he said of his team. Said that team was hoping it was in, and when it wasn’t it really hit hard.”

• “I never worried about anything I can’t control. All you’re doing is wasting time,” he said.

• Says he doesn’t worry about much. Says he only worries about his team practices, and he’s really excited about that.

• “You’d have to talk to someone else about that,” said Gillispie when asked if he’s been asked to change anything.

• Said all he does is work, when asked if Monday is his last game.

• Gillispie says, “We meet all the time.” Says that he meets. There was no meeting about his future. He says, “I would assume there has been quite a few rumors.”

• Billy just entered the room.

• Billy Gillispie is supposed to be here at 2:15 p.m.