John Calipari, Kentucky players reflect on London trip

The Kentucky Basketball team left London not only with a win but a variety of new experiences. Now that we’ve broken down the win over Michigan in almost every way possible, let’s shift to the other big takeaway from the trip: how the Cats enjoyed their time abroad. In the postgame press conference, Oscar Tshiebwe and Cason Wallace shared their thoughts on London with an English reporter in attendance.

“We were just excited to get to see London,” Oscar said. “We’ve never been here before.”

“It was just fun getting out here, coming out of the country, and experiencing a whole new culture,” Wallace added. “Seeing the way our fans travel all the way out here is pretty exciting.”

Of course, traveling to a different country comes with its adjustments. On Saturday, CJ Fredrick talked about how difficult it was to get his body on London time. The team departed from Cincinnati on Wednesday night and arrived in England bright and early Thursday morning.

“The first couple of days were tough,” Fredrick admitted. “Leaving at 4 p.m. from Cincinnati and getting in at 7 a.m., that was really weird and that first day was really exhausting, tired. My body really wasn’t used to it and even the second day, it really wasn’t, but today I’ve been fine and I feel like I’m used to it now.”

There weren’t many six- or seven-footers around when most of the buildings in England were built (or really even now), so the players also got used to ducking their heads.

“It’s a little bit tough because those bathrooms, my head is just touching the top all the time,” Oscar said. “And the bed is always short and my feet are always out there. My favorite thing is the building I got to visit, I don’t know what it was but they told me one of the buildings is 950 years old. I said, how is that possible? I get to visit and see a lot of different things in the US and where I’m from too.”

The team traveled around London via bus, so they got to experience the notorious London traffic firsthand. According to data from INRIX, drivers spend more time stuck in traffic in London than in any city on the planet.

“It was interesting coming out here and seeing the cars drive on the left side of the road,” Wallace said. “Lot of traffic. But it was fun going to see the clock [Big Ben]. We just enjoyed ourselves out here.”

On Friday, the team toured Samford Bridge, the 145-year-old home of Chelsea F.C., one of the most famous soccer clubs in the world. When it comes to cuisine, the most adventurous most Cats got was an English staple, fish and chips.

“We went to a local place last night, I got fish and chips,” Fredrick said of what he tried. “So I guess that, but I’ve had that. I stick to what I like. I don’t like to try things I don’t like. That’s when I get in trouble.”

“Fish and chips,” Chris Livingston agreed. “That’s what they’re known for. I like the fish and the fries that they had when we went out to eat so that’s pretty good.”

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John Calipari will be Team Sleep this week

The team returned to Lexington on Monday. The Cats don’t play a game until Saturday, vs. Yale, so John Calipari is looking forward to using all his extra time to catch up on sleep.

“I haven’t slept for three days,” Calipari said Sunday night. “I’m up all night now and I’m trying to catch up on sleep, so I’m worried about guys going back but it was a great experience. A great experience. I wish we could have done more sightseeing but we were trying to get our body timing down.”

Cal said that when he saw Michigan coach Juwan Howard before the game, all he could do was laugh.

“This is hard for both teams,” Cal added later. “‘Juwan,’ I said, ‘Have you slept?’ He said, ‘No.’ He had red eyes too. I saw his red eyes and I started laughing. I said, ‘You and I are the two that are getting’ — He said, ‘I’m worried about my players.’ I said, ‘They’re 19. They’ll be fine. You and I may not recover until January.'”

Of course, playing in a venue like the O2 is pretty cool, too.

“To be the first college teams to play in O2, come on, man,” Cal said. “This is like the venue in the world. World. Like, everyone wants to play here and we’re the first college teams to do it.”

“It’s been a great experience,” he added. “I cannot wait to get on that plane to go back home.”