Keion Brooks thinks teammates like Devin Askew, above, are just pressing too hard. (CBS Sports Classic Photo)
I was not exactly sure what to ask sophomore Keion Brooks Jr. when he came out for the postgame media conference after Kentucky lost to North Carolina Saturday. I have been doing postgame press conferences for more than 45 years. I am almost positive Saturday was the first time a player who not only did not play but was not even dressed for the game because of an injury was the only Kentucky player available to talk about what happened.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said Brooks volunteered when his teammates did not want to “face the music” for their play in UK’s fifth straight loss.
Brooks said he came out to defend his teammates and let them avoid the stress and emotion of talking about another loss.
That led me to ask Brooks what message he might have for Kentucky fans who are perplexed by this team’s troubles and seem to feel disengaged from the Cats.
“Just keep believing in us, we still have a chance to do something special,” Brooks said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys. This stuff is hard, especially with what’s going on in the world, it’s tough on everybody.
“I would just say continue to stick with us. Day-by-day, we’re trying to figure it out. We’re doing everything we can to continuously get better. If you’re a real fan and a true Kentucky fan, stick with us, we will eventually turn this around.”
Brooks said winning would help the players more than anything but they cannot expect fans to heap praise on them now with a 1-5 record.
“We’re not winning, so we shouldn’t expect positive reinforcement. That’s basically what it boils down to. It’s that simple. Once we start winning, we’ll get that type of stuff,” Brooks said. “But we need to worry about continuing to get better every day. Stacking good days together in practice.
“We need to get our swagger and confidence back. That’s what I’m really worried about. Even if we do win, not everything is going to be positive.”
Now UK has to try and break a five-game losing streak when it plays at rival Louisville Saturday. A few months ago this figured to be a game UK would win. But not today with he mistakes, especially the mental errors, that UK continues to make game after game.
“I don’t really have an answer for that. It’s just lack of experience, especially when you’ve lost a couple of games in a row like we have,” Brooks said when asked about the mistakes. “You have a tendency to press a little too much instead of sticking with the game plan, sticking with each other.
“Right now, we don’t have the maturity and experience to keep a lead and believe that we’re going to pull this out and we’re going to win this game. When you press so hard, and are so focused about not messing up, you actually mess up. I just think that over time, right now coaches are still coaching us up, we’ll do all of that.”
