By: LARRY VAUGHT
Being ready to play is never a problem for Kentucky sophomore Tyler Ulis. He'll play hurt and go just as hard as when he is healthy.
Some of his Kentucky teammates don't have that same consistency when it comes to intensity and that was on display again Tuesday night when UK lost most of a 20-point lead before barely holding off Mississippi State.
"Guys came out and didn’t want to play again. We have to keep working on that. I don’t understand why guys come out like that, but we’re going to get there," Ulis said before admitting that attitude did baffle him."
He said he tries to push teammates to get a killer instinct many lack.
"Some guys have it, but some guys don’t always come out ready to play. But when we do, when everybody comes out ready and have the same intensity, we’re a good team," he said.
He said he thought "guys just stopped playing" during State's comeback in the final 10 minutes and it is frustrating to see teammates not play as hard as him.
“It’s frustrating for us as a team because we all want to come out there and win, and some guys are giving it their all and some guys just choose not to come out and play that day. It brings our entire team down," Ulis said. "It’s hard for us to get a good win. Like, they came back tonight because we didn’t have the same energy and guys didn’t come to play.”
Ulis addressed the team after its disappointing effort a week earlier in the loss at LSU. Now the coach wants him to do more.
"I told Tyler, 'You say it before the game and you say it during the game, then you're allowed to say it after the game. You don't say something to him before the game and during the game. Do not speak to him after the game. That's not fair. But if you got on them prior to, you're on them during the game, and you're telling them what they need to do and they're not responding, then you have a right to say something after,'" Calipari said.
Ulis said as the team's point guard, he needs to tell teammates when they are not doing enough.
“I don’t really get on them before games. I tell them we have to play and come out ready. But during the game if I see a guy mess up, I try to get on him, let him know what he needs to do," Ulis said.
He says there has been no finger pointing among teammates after losses or games where some players have been "no shows" to use a phrase Calipari likes.
“We’re still together, getting better every day. Especially with the break, we had a lot of time to spend together, eating together, going to see movies. Stuff like that. But we’re coming together still," Ulis said. "You just have to get on guys and try to talk them through it. I don’t know honestly, you just have to talk to them, get on them and let them know what they have to do, and guys have to step up and do their job.”
Freshman Isaiah Briscoe said Ulis is the clear team leader and teammates listen to him.
"He pays attention to things like that, and he just wants five people on the court that’s going to want to win, and that’s going to help us win," Briscoe said.
Freshman Jamal Murray said the team, "not just certain guys," has to solve the no-show problem.
"There are certain scenarios where it looks bad on one player but it really is a team effort. That causes some players to look worse than others," Murray said.
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