Cauley-Stein more than just a defensive player

By LARRY VAUGHT

CLEVELAND —Tell Willie Cauley-Stein that he’s one of the nation’s best defensive players and he’ll say thanks. Tell him that he’s only a defensive player, though, and he’ll take exception to that comment.

“I’m a ball player. It’s annoying when people just say you’re a defensive player. I feel like I can do anything on the floor. You’ve just got to show it,” said Cauley-Stein, who will try to show his offensive prowess against West Virginia Thursday night in the NCAA Midwest Region. “And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. If you do show it, they’re just gonna be like, ‘You got lucky that game.’

“If you started the season like that, people aren’t gonna give you the credit for it. You’ve just got to stay within yourself and know that you can do something.”

Cauley-Stein had a chance to leave for the NBA after his sophomore season when he was injured in the NCAA and missed UK’s last four NCAA games, including the national title game loss to Connecticut.

But he says a chance to be “part of history” made coming back easily the right decision for him.

“Now it’s just time to get right, get a feel of the game, get a feel for the setting,” Cauley-Stein said. “In the beginning of the year I was scoring a lot, so that juices me on defense. The next thing you know you’re dominating the whole game. If you can do that our team looks scary.”

Cauley-Stein also said Wednesday he was “juiced” to play West Virginia after learning the Mountaineers said the Wildcats did not play hard and would be taken aback by West Virginia’s physical play.

“We know they are going to play extremely physical. We are not going to just let you bump us without bumping back. We are not just going to let you bully us. It’s not the first time teams have tried to bully us,” Cauley-Stein said. “That is all talk. You have to throw the ball up and play against us. You can ask me tomorrow if I think they play harder.  We don’t play hard?

“You are playing against teams like UCLA and Kansas and do what we do without playing hard. Imagine what we would do if we played hard. Now I am kind of juiced. This game is going to be really fun. They have made it personal. If you want to watch a good game, watch this. The fuse is lit.”

Cauley-Stein averages 9.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 26 minutes per game. He shoots 57.7 percent from the field and 62.1 percent at the foul line. He leads the team in steals with 45 and even had 35 assists.

He was named most outstanding player in the recent Southeastern Conference Tournament and says some games he just gets more touches.

“That’s kind of supposed to happen a lot. Some games I just don’t do it. I’ve had a lot of meetings with Coach (John Calipari) and that’s one of the things I’m gonna have to do if we want to make a run. That’s kind of the only thing in my head when I’m playing — if I get it, I’m gonna try to score,” Cauley-Stein said.

Cauley-Stein is UK’s veteran leader as the Cats try for their 37th straight win against West Virginia. However, he’s not an overly vocal leader on the court.

“There’s a time to get in somebody’s face, but at the end of the day if you’re not doing stuff right so you can’t get in somebody else’s face if you’re not right. It’s kind of like, everybody kind of leads each other,” Cauley-Stein said. “There’s no one or two leaders. Everybody is capable.

“On another team you’re a leader on a different team. For real, we have 15-16 leaders on the team and give or take one day somebody is going to step up and have to be a leader and somebody’s going to have to take a backseat. That’s just the role you have to play here.”

However, Cauley-Stein has enjoyed watching UK prove naysayers wrong who thought a team with McDonald’s All-Americans — Cauley-Stein is not one — could not share playing time and the spotlight. Cauley-Stein says “sacrifice” is what has got UK to this point unbeaten.

“You know ultimately through winning it is all good. It’s easy to sacrifice with winning, so let’s just win. If we lose, I am blaming you, you are blaming me or I am not getting minutes. When you are winning, it doesn’t matter and no one is to blame. It’s a lot easier when you are winning,” he said.


“You could tell from the jump what Cal had in mind. Cal is a genius. You know that he had something in his head and is planning and most of the time it works. You just have to run with it and if it doesn’t, he will be the first to tell you it doesn’t work. You just have to trust him.”

That’s why Cauley-Stein knew Calipari wouldn’t make drastic changes for the West Virginia matchup.

“Knowing how Cal is, he’s not changing anything. Whatever we have been doing, that is what we are doing. He is always telling us not to do anything tricky, so he will just keep on doing what he is doing,” Cauley-Stein said.

Cauley-Stein and Calipari have read the same books — at Calipari’s urging — and discussed them. But they share a lot of thoughs.

“It’s nothing crazy. Sitting in his office, half the time it’s not even about basketball. Talking about the team, what our chances are, where we can take this and we have more levels we can go to,” Cauley-Stein said.

When Calipari talks, Cauley-Stein listens because of what the coach has done, including making him a likely top 10 draft pick this year.

“He’s able to take young kids and bring them together to be really successful. There’s nobody that does that (like him). … He doesn’t follow people. He’s got a sense of, ‘I know what I want to do, now here’s the steps we’re going to take to get there.’ Whether it’s against the norms or it’s for the norms, he’s going to do what he wants, any way he can do it,” Cauley-Stein said.

Of course, the UK junior is a bit the same way.

“I have a fun-loving spirit, but Willies does even more than me,” sophomore Marcus Lee said. “I can’t describe Willie. I have no idea how to do that. He is a great guy. We all hang out and have fun and he’s normally the leader of that.”

“From Willie I have learned to just play with extreme energy, which is what he is best at,” freshman Trey Lyles said. “He is just a laid back guy. He doesn’t talk too much, but nothing ever really bothers him. Sometimes seeing him at practice and the stuff he does and in games we expect the same thing because he is so athletic. It’s crazy. But we all believe in him.”