Family providing support, sees Marcus Lee improving

By: LARRY VAUGHT

No matter how much he plays, Marcus Lee is not one to complain. If anything, the sophomore center might be the happiest Wildcat no matter whether he's cheering teammates from the bench or contributing in his own energetic way on the court.

"We get lost in our own team. I think that's what makes it really easy," said Lee after a recent game. "You'll see our players on the bench laughing, getting hyped, jumping up and down if something happens on the floor. It's just great that we're so into each other instead of ourselves."

That's why earlier this season when he lost his playing time against Texas because Willie Cauley-Stein was playing so well, he was not upset. Cauley-Stein had 21 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocks in 33 minutes against Texas. Lee played just four minutes while Cauley-Stein played 33.

"Willie was killing it. Sometimes Willies going to have a great game, and you just be like, 'OK, Willie, you're having a great game. Stay in,'" Lee said.

Lee came back the next game to get 10 points, three rebounds and a block in 13 minutes. He also made his presence felt in Saturday's win at Louisville with two points, three rebounds and three blocked shots in just 10 minutes of play.

"Marcus Lee was great today," said UK freshman Karl-Anthony Towns after Saturday's win.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said he likes the way Lee has spent extra time working out on his own.

"That's part of what he's gotta do. And he's gotta add that 13- to 14-foot game to where we can throw it to him," Calipari said. "You can't have a bunch of guys out there they're not guarding. You can't really play offense if that's the case. And then he's got to be an energy guy. When he walks in, there's gotta be a buzz in the building about his energy and his athleticism and his length and, 'Look at this guy.' He can't ever be, like, down. His skill will be that as much as anything else."

Lee's brother, Bryan, a former college basketball player himself, has got to watch his brother play both on TV and in person this season.

“It is exciting to see him play in person because we are in California and don’t get too many opportunities to get a few days in and spend time with Marcus and just support him," Bryan Lee said. "He doesn’t have a ton of family and it is great to have the team around him, but we are trying to get some family out here every few weeks to make sure we are staying on top of him.

“It can be tough out here alone. Coach Calipari does a great job of keeping them all together and going to team dinners and things, but we just like to come out and check on him.”

Here's more of what Bryan Lee had to say about his brother, who is averaging 3.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 13.7 minutes per game this season for No. 1 Kentucky:

Question: Did you ever worry how he would cope when he came from California to Kentucky to play basketball?

Lee: “We knew it would be harder than he thought. Last year we didn’t know that we probably needed to be here a little bit more, so we have just kind of made it a more frequent occurrence and make sure he knows we are supporting him.”

Question: How have you seen him change and grow up in the last year?

Lee: “He has matured a ton. It’s just part of the process of getting a little bit older. He is taken more initiative. He is staying on top of his homework. He is kind of starting to run everything on his own. He is communicating better when he has some struggles. I think that is the biggest thing is communicating when he does have trouble compared to last year when he tried to figure out how to handle them on his own. Instead, he is like, ‘I need some help through this.’ He has a great support staff with the coaches and they give him a ton of support, but sometimes you just have to remember to ask for it.”

Question: Has his progression on the court been about like you thought it would be?

Lee: “Yeah, I think he is exactly on his time frame. He is up to 220 pounds now. He is definitely getting more comfortable on the court. He is starting to understand the speed. Going from Deer Valley (High School) is a big jump. It’s not the same level as going from some prep schools or where you are getting elite training every day. I had to kind of put together a lot of the practices and help them with that. It’s a big jump and we knew that. That’s the whole point in being here. He needed a kick in the butt and the most intense competition he could get.

“Plus he was never a year-round basketball player. That’s the tough thing that even when he first got to Kentucky, he had just finished volleyball season. He went from playing volleyball from March to June and then heading to Kentucky. This year he’s just been able to play basketball all summer and get ready. It is a process but he is getting there.”

Question: Is his perspective on long-term goals as good as it seems like?

Lee: “That’s one of the things that sometimes players can get caught up how the media makes it all a one-and-done thing at Kentucky and I don’t think the players think that way. But it is nice that we keep telling him he is on his timeline and not everybody else’s timeline and Coach agrees with it. Marcus is doing things at his pace and we are pushing him and it will happen at his pace and it will be great when he gets there.”

Question: Do you see his offensive game improving?

Lee: “Definitely. It’s just consistency. He has great touch, great feel for the offensive game. It’s about his confidence getting there and spending enough time in the gym. That’s one of the transitions from being a freshman to a sophomore and understanding and basically getting through the conditioning and still making sure you are in the gym. He is doing that, so you will start to see more.”

Question: Is he too nice on the court?

Lee: “No, I think he is just a team player. He is never going to force bad shots. He’s never going to be selfish. While some people may think he is not looking at the hoop and trying to score, he is trying t move the ball a little bit and find the best shot. You will see that, especially like you did in the Bahamas, if he gets any type of positioning, he is going to try and score. It’s just finding spots for him that he is comfortable at.”

Question: How much does it help that you played college basketball and he knows when you tell him things that you have been through it?

Lee: “It is nice. I have been through a lot of the process and I try to explain that. I have not been through everything he is going through, but I have seen some of the struggles and I know what the timeline is like. I know it took me time. As a freshman, I shot 50 percent from the free-throw line. As a sophomore, I shot 60 percent. As a junior, I shot 70 percent. Senior year I shot 80 percent. So he knows it is a process and you are not just going to get better overnight. He is trying to make sure that he is making jumps. But it does help us that he can kind of hit a wall and I can tell him that is what is supposed to happen. When he loses 10 pounds and he is like why can’t he keep on weight, I can tell him that is part of the process with ups and downs and he has to roll through it. Overall, it is a great process and just enjoy it.”

Question: If he’s not playing basketball 10 years from now, what do you think he will be doing?

Lee: “He will be running camps for kids or doing something for kids. He is very into technology and also marketing, but he has a soft spot for kids and if he can doing something around that, that is probably what he will be doing.”