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You have to love the honesty. The refs told Sports Reach, a group that made their yearly stop in China, that the games had to be close, otherwise the fans would leave.

So, the officials weren't fair. And the Chinese teams were shooting many more free throws to do exactly that, keep it close.

"It was different. Some fouls weren't fouls and some, like when you breathe on someone, it was a foul. It's like they were trying to keep the game close but you still have to play," say Jon Hood.

"Like Hood said, (the opposing team) could pretty much just do whatever they wanted to," says Josh Harrellson.

"Every once in a while they would call a foul on them, maybe an intentional foul. A couple times our guys had a fast break on the dunk and they just grabbed them on their shoulders and took them down. Sometimes they wouldn't call an intentional on it. The refs had to try and keep the games close. We were more athletic than them, but they were more experienced, for sure, and a lot taller. But we pulled through, played as a team and played well."

Josh Harrellson and Jon Hood played with and became friends with players from Tennessee and Louisville.

They say Tennessee's Skyler McBee is one of the funniest guys they ever met, and he's crazy. Skyler tried a couple of delicacies that Kentucky players didn't want to touch like Duck blood and the head of a duck.

"I tried it all except the blood, but it wasn't bad," says Josh Harrellson.

"I was sitting next to someone who had the blood, and he just kind of coughed, and then grabbed another one," says Jon Hood.

Josh says he lost 4-6 pounds.

Jon who was skinny to begin with dropped 7 or 8.

Some of the gyms they played in were nothing like Rupp.

This wasn't the one where there was water coming through the floor which had players slipping.

"Inside the gym like you couldn't see the other end of the floor because of the fog that rolled in because the doors were open. You couldn't see the other end of the floor," says Josh.

The fans cheered for both the Chinese and the Americans. Just looking at the Americans was for Josh and Jon, different.

"Everybody would just stop and stare like they have never seen white people before. But it was just funny. They would stop and stare. When we would go to the gyms they would go crazy when we walked in. They would start cheering and clapping."

While both Kentucky players were ready to stop and cheer the cook who made their first big fat cheeseburger when the trip was over.

And as far as basketball, both UK players said it helped their confidence as they have an uphill battle to get what they want, a starting spot next season.