University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-UK Postgame Quotes
January 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement???
???Every team tries to find an identity. Sometime this year we???re going to play with passion and have poise. I thought tonight Kentucky was the more passionate team. I knew coming in that they were playing with great confidence. They have played four of the top six or seven teams in the SEC. They are right there kind of holding serve. They are doing what they have to do on the road and giving themselves a chance to win on the road. Coach Gillispie has done a really good job of getting down to it now. I think he has the roles defined and I think getting (Jodie) Meeks and (Derrick) Jasper back are really, really key. It puts two more really good basketball players on the floor. They handle the ball better, they didn???t turn it over. From our standpoint it is difficult to imagine Tennessee not coming to Rupp with that passion and poise but it has been a difficult stretch for us. I think the Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday schedule showed a little bit.???
On the difference down the stretch???
???Well, they scored at the foul line. We didn???t. I thought we had it won with a 1:14 left and we were down two and then (Ramel) Bradley does a good job and the crowd does a good job down the stretch. It seemed like we came down needing a basket each time and they had already made a couple free throws.???
On Tennessee???s shooting droughts in the second half???
???We didn???t execute. I told the team some of that is my fault in the sense that we have gotten a little too much in as far as play calling is concerned. I got, at this point, probably a little too much in. I need to scale it back at some point. We are playing Vanderbilt, Ohio State and teams that are really familiar with us because we have played them so much. On a lot of our play calls we were in the wrong spots. The question I would ask is, on a team that leads the SEC by far in assists, why do we have only eight assists on 22 baskets tonight. I am going to have to look at the tape and figure it out. I thought we had some opportunities to make the extra pass, and we didn???t.???
#5 Chris Lofton
On the loss???
???We would have loved to have this win. You can???t come into Rupp Arena very often. I thought they (Kentucky) played great tonight. I give them all of the credit. They came out and played with passion. They really needed a win, and they got it.???
On what the difference was in the second half???
???They (Kentucky) shot a really good percentage in the second half. They didn???t miss. Then we put them at the free throw line, and they???re the best free throw shooting team in the SEC. They didn???t miss.???
On Tennessee???s offensive struggles in the second half???
???I think it was a lack of execution. We just didn???t execute. We tried to run some plays, and we just didn???t execute. We didn???t make shots. It (not having many assists) made a big difference. Coach (Pearl) made it a point tonight that we didn???t share the ball tonight. We didn???t make the extra pass. When we don???t do that (pass) things like this happen tonight.???
On what Kentucky did defensively to slow him up in the second half???
???In the second half, they weren???t really leaving me much. In the first half, I got a lot of penetration and pitches. In the second half, they didn???t leave me to penetrate.???
On attaining the SEC career three-point record ???
???It???s great to have that record, but a win would have been better.???
#4 Wayne Chism
On how Tennessee played in the last three minutes???
???We had a lot of shots we wanted, but we also rushed a lot of our shots. We had good plays; we just couldn???t knock them down in the end.???
On Chris Lofton shooting out of a slump???
???Chris Lofton did pretty well tonight. He???s going to come out of his slump and when he does it will be a problem for other teams. We can???t focus on Chris coming out of his slump. We just need to keep playing as a team. That???s what we???ve been doing. Kentucky came out in the second half and shot over 70 percent so we had to keep playing ball.???
On how Tennessee will recover from the loss???
???We can get over this. We have to come back and play a good game against Georgia. Once we get over there, we???ll be alright.???
On Kentucky???s improvement in the second half???
???The shots they were missing in the beginning of the game they were knocking down in the second half. Especially (Jodie) Meeks, he was getting into the lane, shooting and hitting his jumper. (Ramel) Bradley, at the free-throw line, did a really good job tonight.???
Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement???
???It was a great win for us against a great team. The way it happened was perfect because Joe (Crawford) was barely able to walk and he didn???t get off to a great start but he fought back. He fought through pain and sacrificed himself at the end by saying coach I can???t go. That is a sign of a guy that is really emerging as a leader and a great team player. He wanted his team to win. Jodie Meeks started out poorly and came back and played great. Derrick (Jasper) started out poorly also and came back and played great. That is what makes me the most proud. These guys have figured out that it is a 40-minute game. They are going to be tough as nails to play against no matter who they are playing. No matter what the situation might be they are going to battle till the end every single time. That is what makes you so proud as a coach. The other thing is we had the best sixth man in the history of college basketball on our side tonight. No question about it. I thought that the fans were great against Vanderbilt but they had a much better effort tonight. I commend them. I was going to have to get on them if they didn???t take it up to the very highest level and tonight they could not have any better job. We appreciate that and it made a major difference for our team.???
On the 14-point, seven-rebound performance of Perry Stevenson???
???I thought he played great. Perry has been playing very well for us ever since conference play started. He has a lot more confidence and I think he can still play a lot better. As well as he did play I still think he needs to learn how to help his teammates a little bit more defensively because he can be a shot-blocking force in the lane. He was fantastic for us tonight and made good decisions for the most part. He is a guy that can stand at the top of the circle and make that 15-foot shot except that one time tonight when the wind blew that one shot off target. I think that was the only he misses in the first half. He did a fantastic job both offensively and defensively. He is emerging into a really good player.???
On how Kentucky played defensively???
???Chris Lofton is an outstanding player; there is no question about it. He certainly made us know that in the first half and that is what great players do. Ramel (Bradley) played every second except for a couple of minutes because of some fouls. Ramel played a really smart game. I don???t know if he has ever played a better game. I know he hasn???t played a better game this year and he has been playing really well lately. He was outstanding tonight defensively, leadership wise and enthusiastic wise. I don???t know if he could have done anymore for us tonight that what he did.???
On Tennessee???s game???.
???Tennessee missed some shots tonight that I???m sure they would normally make. I thought our guys did the best job of playing to the scouting report and being in the right position when they wanted to. We had a couple of mental break downs that gave Tennessee a couple of lay-ups in the first half and the two fouls at the end of the game were bone-head errors. We can???t make those types of errors and expect to get away with it like we did tonight. I thought our defense was very good. Tennessee is very hard to guard because they have so many weapons. They have inside, outside; they can drive the ball and shoot the three. They are a very good coached team and that is why they are ranked third in the nation.???
On getting another big win???
???These guys have been going in the right direction. I don???t think it was a stumble against Florida; it was a loss against a very good Florida team on their home court in a great conference. We did not win that game, but we didn???t do any stumbling. We made some mistakes and we got beat. I???m not into prognosticating but I have been liking what I have been seeing for the last three or four weeks. I think this team is going to continue to get better.???
On keeping Tennessee 7-of-26 from the three point line???
???Tennessee is very hard to guard because they can do so many things with the ball. I don???t know if I have seen a better group of finishers in college basketball in the last couple of years. They are long, tall and very athletic. They can all finish very well around the basket. As good as we played against the guys on the perimeter, I think the story tonight was the fantastic job we did defensively in the paint. Wayne Chism is a really good, emerging player but because of foul trouble or whatever he was not to get off like he should tonight. He has been playing fantastic for Tennessee. I don???t know what his numbers ended up being but I think we played great defensively against him.???
On the end of the game???
???I am proud of these guys. I think that makes teams really fun to be around is we they get outside themselves. I think all of us as individuals like to be in our own comfort zones. We had two guys at the end of the game diving for a loose ball along the baseline and a lot of teams would have said the game is over and I???m not going to go after that ball. I was very proud of the effort because it was fantastic. We played for forty minutes tonight, we did have some mistakes and we still have a lot of improvement to make but we are heading in the right direction with all the intangibles.???
#54 Patrick Patterson
On the significance of this win???
???It was very important for our confidence to come back in a game like this and get the win. This is a huge rivalry, and we all put it on the line. We are like a family, and everyone is starting to click together.???
On the players??? reaction to the win???
???It was just an emotional game for everyone. The games are starting to wind down for Ramel (Bradley) and Joe (Crawford). Tennessee was such a highly-ranked team, and it was just emotional the whole time.???
On the play of Perry Stevenson???
???Perry ran the floor well, was there on defense and was there when we needed a rebound. When they (Tennessee) doubled down on me, he made the shots we needed.???
#5 Derrick Jasper
On how Kentucky handled the press???
???I think we handled it well for the most part. It kind of got away from us in the second half, but we did a good job of breaking it down and running the offense.???
On defending away from the ball???
???I think Ramel (Bradley) did a great job of defending away from the ball, especially when he was guarding (Chris) Lofton.???
#21 Perry Stevenson
On moving the ball inside???
???The plan is to get the ball inside, and it doesn???t matter if a pass comes from me or one of the guards. Patrick (Patterson) is a big presence inside, and he opens up so much.???
On his play this year compared to last year???
???I think I am a little more mature this year. As you get older, you grasp the concept that you need to do everything you can to help the team.???
#23 Jodie Meeks
On the game???
???We felt pretty confident and when we were taking the lead, we played really hard. I thought we did a good job the first half. The second half we stepped it up; tried to cut off Tennessee???s penetration as much as possible. We played well on defense and got the rebounds like we could. You have to take care of your home court and I thought we did that tonight.???
On the team coming together???
???At the beginning of the season we may have made excuses and didn???t have everybody. We weren???t playing all forty minutes like coach said. But now I think we see the opportunity to take possessions.???
#3 Ramel Bradley
On the difference between now and the earlier season games???
???We have to play tough and compete on every possession. We are coming together more as a team. I think that has been the biggest difference.???
On Perry Stevenson???
???I???m proud of the way he competed today. He really helped us win.???
On how the win feels???
???It always feels good to win against our big rivalries. And just to get this win against (the fifth-ranked team). I have just never heard Rupp rock like this. These last couple games our fans have been very supportive and provided a lot of energy for us.???
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