Florida A&M basketball coach Robert McCullum 'felt really good' about how team played Kentucky
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Posted By: S. Moore on December 23, 2022 No. 19 Kentucky (8-3) used a late push to pull away from Florida A&M (2-8), beating the Rattlers, 88-68, at Rupp Arena on Wednesday night. The Wildcats and Rattlers were participating in the Unity Challenge, which brought the HBCU program led by coach Robert McCullum to Lexington for a battle against the top-25 Wildcats. Kentucky benefited from the hot hand of Cason Wallace, who poured in 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting while dishing out nine assists. Although the final score was lopsided, the Rattlers challenged the Wildcats. They found themselves trailing by just seven points with 5:35 remaining but a sudden avalanche of quality basketball from Kentucky derailed any shot at an upset. The Rattlers were led in scoring by Jaylen Bates, who had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Attacking the glass is where Florida A&M struggled. Kentucky held a 37-18 advantage in rebounding, pulling down 19 offensive boards to the Rattlers' six. Below is everything McCullum said after the loss. OPENING COMMENTS... “I feel good about the way our guys played and competed, especially after that first four, five minutes of the game. We’ve had too much of a tendency to do that. But after that, I thought we settled down, and we began to execute better offensively, and in addition to getting stops. So, to just get back into the game in a situation that could’ve resulted in a blowout, to get it to 10 at the half and then eventually got it to seven a couple of times in the second half, I felt really good about the way we played." ON WHERE HIS TEAM STRUGGLED... "Defensively, there were a number of blown assignments, especially against a team that shoots the ball well. I wasn’t fooled with the fact that Kentucky didn’t shoot the ball well against UCLA. If you just look at what they’ve done to that point and the overall nine or 10 games that they played. So, we were certainly concerned about their perimeter shooting, in addition to being able to keep the big guy off the offensive board. But overall, Kentucky is bigger and a more experienced team, but I’m pleased with the way our guys fought and got back into the game.” ON WHAT HE ATTRIBUTES HIS TEAMS GOOD SHOOTING TO … “I wish I knew. This is clearly the best that we’ve shot it all year, and we thought we were capable of shooting it better than we have. We have one of our better perimeter shooters. This is only his second game tonight. I think he may have gone two or three at the half. Dimingus Stevens – he was 5 of 8 from the field, 2 for 3 in 10 minutes. He has the ability." ON DIMINGUS STEVENS "We’re just more concerned about (Stevens) more on the defensive end. He has the ability to come in, and he can give you that. He did something similar Saturday night in Louisville. He played nine minutes and put up ten shots. But again, he can do that. So, the last couple of games, he’s given us a lift off of the bench that we had not had. It is certainly going to make us a better offensive team.” ON WHAT IMPRESSES HIM ABOUT CASON WALLACE … “He’s a two-way player. To find a young player – a freshman – that plays that way on both ends is really impressive. Normally, for young players, it takes a while to get them to buy in on defense, but he plays on both ends. (Wallace) can hurt you in so many ways offensively. He can get to the basket, he can get his shot off the dribble, and he can catch and shoot. Then you look at his size. Small guards are going to have a lot of difficulty trying to guard him” ON PARTICIPATING IN THE UNITY SERIES … “Hats off to (Kentucky coach John Calipari). I don’t know how y’all look at it, but the commitment that he makes year-in and year-out to help many people who he has never met in ways that he’s not going to get anything out of is special. He and (SWAC) Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland made a five-year commitment to play teams from the SWAC in this Unity Series. On Monday, we travelled to Cincinnati to the Freedom Center — an Underground Railroad Museum. " ON IT BEING A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR BOTH TEAMS... "As y’all know, so much of the education process takes place outside the classroom. Both teams learned so much new — not only about our past — about struggles that we are dealing with, not only as a country, but as a world. So, my hat goes off to him because he didn’t have to make that commitment. Overall, I can’t say enough about the hospitality that has been extended to us. It’s a special place to play so our players will remember their experience here — not as fondly as they would like to — but they have fond memories of the overall experience playing here.” ON THE HONORING OF LEGENDARY PLAYERS FROM BOTH SCHOOLS … “Reggie Warford – I knew Reggie early in his coaching career when he was at Pitt. He was a great guy. Then, Clemon Johnson – he was a great basketball player at FAMU and was actually the head basketball coach at FAMU from 2011-2014. He won a ring in the NBA as a member of the Philadelphia 76s. To have the opportunity to honor one of our own speaks so well of Cal, as well as the administration and Mitch Barnhart.” SOURCE 24/7 Sports If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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