Terrence Jones speaks about his early Friday morning car accident:

• “Well honestly, I take full responsibility for being out late. That really let down my team by making us have curfew.”
• Jones denied the reports that he had been drinking. “When it comes to me drinking and all that other stuff, none of that’s true. If they got cameras or pictures, or whoever says they saw it, really, if they got it, then I want to see it. Because I know for a fact I wouldn’t do that.”
• Asked about the curfew, Jones said, “I’m scared to say now people will know. It’s 11 (p.m.) on weekdays and 12 (midnight) on weekends.”
• Jones denied he left the scene because he feared an altercation with the other driver, as head coach John Calipari wrote on his website: “I didn’t even see the other driver, I was in too much pain. I was scared Coach Cal would find out and we would have curfew. That was it. I didn’t see the other driver, try to fight him. I don’t even know what he looks like now. I called one of my assistant coaches and told him what happened. I told him, please don’t tell Coach Cal, I’m going home right now.”
• Jones said he called Kenny Payne and Chris Woolard, both members of the UK staff: “They both knew where I was and where I was going. I wasn’t hiding from any police. I went straight home. They knew where I was. That’s how the police knew where I was.”
• Jones on why he was out at 2:30 a.m. “I take blame for being out that late, but — it was just something that happened to cause all that. I felt I was there (reportedly at a club) for just a little bit of time to support one of my friends who was doing a little song. I didn’t stay after that. I didn’t party, I wasn’t dancing. None of that. I was just on the side just trying to listen him and then leave. It was something I was doing just to be nice.”
• Jones said he was in the passenger seat, which was where the other car hit: “It hit my door. If you have seen the picture, I was sitting in the front seat. So I felt pain. I was just trying to make sure everybody was okay. And then I was just trying (to not) get the rest of the team in trouble or make us look bad as a team from something I didn’t have control over, really.”
• Jones said the pain was on “the whole right side of my body,” and the pain lingered throughout the game, in which he scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds. “I knew I was going to fight through the pain and give it my all. With everything that happened, I knew a lot of attention was going to be on me. I didn’t want it to seem I was trying to score a lot of points or anything but helping my team play like we should.”
• On whether other players can learn from his experience: “I feel it could be a lesson learned for every college basketball palyer. I didn’t need to be out. I had just gotten done working out at about 12:30 (a.m.) and just decided to go somewhere for a little bit. And it turned into something I didn’t expect it to.”
• On how he reacted to reports that he had been drinking: “I knew none of my coaches would think it was true. Because I was talking to them right after the accident.”
• On his initial thoughts: “I was more worried about me being the leader, letting my team down when it comes to me being the reason we have curfew. One of the older guys shouldn’t be making mistakes like that.”
• Jones was held out of the starting lineup but ended up playing 24 minutes. “I didn’t feel I deserved to start (tonight) with it being my fault. Making our whole team look bad just in a situation like this.”
• On how the accident happened: “The guy was going like 40 (miles per hour) in our lane. So he (the driver of Jones’ car) had to just go over to the left so we wouldn’t go head-to-head.”
• On the impact of the accident: “It was my first time even in a car accident. So I was real shocked and didn’t really know what to do. I listened to everyone around me, called everyone I trusted. I asked them what I should do. I didn’t want to get into anything more than it was already.”
• On how the accident affected his play: “My whole right side was hurting. When it got hit, my whole knee hit the dashboard real hard and it was bruised and bleeding. It was something I had to fight through, for real.”
• John Calipari had this to say: “He understands, and the team understands, we have a curfew now. At the beginning of every year I give them an opportunity to, you know, figure it out, police each other, do your thing, and they know the night before a game — come on. But he knows. He feels bad about what he did, so we’ll deal with it.”
• Darius Miller: “He apologized to us, you could tell he was really sincere. He did a great job of taking responsibility for his actions. We’re not really worried about it, we’re just moving on.”

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