University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee - Kentucky ABA Coaches' Quotes
November 09, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2001
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TENNESSEE COACH BUZZ PETERSON
"We've had good practices, but we get out there tonight, the lights go up, the crowd comes in, and we don't execute like we should. On the last play, I couldn't fault Thaydeus . We haven't ever had that five out there at the same time in practices. I'm not down on us about that, but I am about not executing as a team.
"I wanted a gut check, and I want us to fight through this. We've done a decent job listening to the coaches in practice. Now we've got to do it in the games. We've got to put our noses to the grindstone. One thing about it: We never gave up, and I'm happy about that.
"To get our team ready, we need to get Slay healthy. The game of basketball is won in the paint. This was Crump's first game. Our freshmen inside were getting bumped around.
"Stribling is a great athlete, but he didn't execute well late in the game. He's a freshman, and we'll show him the tape. I told Higgins he needs to get more aggressive on defense. I am concerned about our ball-handling. Also, Marcus Haislip has been impressive in practices, and we are eager to get him back.""
KENTUCKY ABA COACH RALPH UNDERHILL
"It was a good game, back and forth. Tennessee has some nice kids. The key tonight was doing a good job defensively. Tennessee ran its offense well, and the Vols are further into their offense than we are into ours. I thought we did a great job on the defensive glass. We've been shooting 20 more shots than our opponents, but tonight they shot eight more than we did.
"Our shooting 47 percent to their 42 was a big key. They have physical kids, good guard play and lots of leadership. They'll be fine once the season starts. I think a loss sometimes gets the coach more attention from his players.
"I'd rather lose an exhibition than a regular season game. If you don't learn from a game like this, there's no use playing it. I didn't know how well we would play. It's our third game in three days. We're on tour seeing what these kids can do. There are a couple of other guys we are looking at. Our season starts Dec. 26, and we play 42 games."
