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SEC Sports
Kentucky eager to silence trash-talking Crimson Tide
Finding motivation to beat a team that embarrassed you on your home floor shouldnât be difficult, and judging by the comments coming out of Kentuckyâs camp, the Cats are more than ready for tomorrow nightâs rematch with No. 9 Alabama. This morning, senior forward Olivier Sarr recalled some trash...
Finding motivation to beat a team that embarrassed you on your home floor shouldnât be difficult, and judging by the comments coming out of Kentuckyâs camp, the Cats are more than ready for tomorrow nightâs rematch with No. 9 Alabama. This morning, senior forward Olivier Sarr recalled some trash talk by the Crimson Tide during the 85-65 blowout in Rupp Arena on Jan. 12, which he and his teammates are eager to avenge.
âGood for them,â Sarr said of the Crimson Tide being in first place in the SEC. âItâs helping bring the best out of us. Itâs a good challenge. Weâre going to war over there and I know the guys are ready. Itâs a great challenge for us. They talked a lot during the game so weâve got good motivation.â
When asked, Sarr did not disclose what Alabamaâs players said.
âI mean, you know whatâs happening on a basketball court. A lot of guys talk whether itâs trash or whether itâs just to get you out of your game. Iâm not going to pinpoint exactly everything they said. We donât need to do that. But all we know is that they talked a lot. Itâs not part of our game. Weâre just trying to focus on what we do and weâll try to do that at the best of our abilities, and thatâs what weâre going to try and do on Tuesday.â
John Calipari remembers exactly what one player said, bringing it up during his press conference following Kentuckyâs 82-69 win over LSU Saturday night. âOne of the players was asking me the score,â Cal said.âHe couldnât see it. You know, theyâre good. Theyâre a top-10 team. They deserve to be. You know what? For us, I told them about this game. These are the games you want to play to where you know youâre not supposed to win the game. Now you go and it gets you going, you play. Instead of playing not to lose you play to win. You donât look at the scoreboard. âBJ Boston, coming off back-to-back 18-point games, echoed Calipariâs remarks.
âYou know just go out there with the same mindset we did today, just go there to win, not playing to lose. Just play as a team and play defense, just go out there and play ball.â
âEverybody is hunting them right now,â Bruiser Flint said of the Crimson Tide. âTheyâre in first place. Theyâre undefeated in the conference. Weâve just got to play better than we did the last time. Weâve got to do some things differently. But theyâre the hot team in the league right now, so weâve got to give them our best.â
You can see Sarrâs comments about Bamaâs trash talk below.