NO. 20/18 KENTUCKY (18-8, 7-5 SEC)
vs. LSU (14-12, 3-9 SEC)
Tuesday, February 20 – 9:00 p.m. ET
Rupp Arena (23,000) ? Lexington, Ky.
TV: ESPN
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The Wildcats return home and look to break their current three-game skid as they host the LSU Tigers, losers of two straight themselves.
Kentucky returns home after dropping road game at Tennessee (89-85) and Alabama (72-61).
UK?s current three-game skid is the longest of the season and the longest since enduring a three-game losing streak at the mid-point of the 2006 SEC season. Kentucky is looking to avoid its fourth-straight loss, something that hasn?t occurred since the 1990 season when the Cats dropped five in a row.
A win against the Tigers would give Kentucky its 400th win at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats own a 399-50 record in the venerable building and are 12-2 at home this season.
UK owns a 76-22 all-time mark against LSU including a 19-4 record against the Tigers in Rupp Arena. The Cats have won 10-straight over LSU at Rupp Arena. The Tigers last win over UK at Rupp was in 1989.
UK has won six of the last seven games in the series and 15 of the last 17 dating back to the 1992 season.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – FEB. 19
Head Coach Tubby Smith
?Good afternoon. After reviewing the tape from the Alabama game we found some things we really need to work on obviously, especially our defense. We?re still struggling to find ourselves defensively I thought. At the end Ronald Steele really took over the game. He?s a real clutch player. We had some situations, much like the Tennessee game, where we dig ourselves a hole and then get back into the game. We just didn?t execute down the stretch. So, it?s really going to be important that we come together. We need to have a good practice today as we get ready for a very talented LSU team. I know they?re struggling, but they?re still a very talented team. In Glenn Davis they have one of the premier players in the country, not just in this league. They can beat you in a lot of different ways. I know they?re struggling, but we?re struggling too. We are going to have to come in and find a way to really generate some energy and some enthusiasm early in the game. That?s been our problem in the three losses that we?ve had, we?ve gotten off to poor starts. I know we?re happy to get back to Rupp and get some shots up and hopefully we can get back to shooting the ball better as well. Although we shot the ball fairly well against Tennessee and Florida we just didn?t stop them. This is the time when you?ve got to continue to believe in the team, believe in the system. That?s one thing about this team; they?ve shown a lot of heart and a lot of courage and toughness, we just haven?t been able to make some of those shots down the stretch we need to make. I really think we?ve got a chance. We have four games left in the league. It all starts with tomorrow night. I think if we can play well and get a win tomorrow night it will really give us some confidence as we head to Vanderbilt.?
On what he can do differently to help his team?
?We always ask that. Am I teaching it right? Or is there another way to teach it? There?s only a few ways you learn. You learn by feel. You learn by watching it on videotape and studying it. If they?re not able to do it physically, then it becomes a mental problem, a mental block. You have to find another way for them to do things. Obviously, we haven?t gotten through to them in the method that we?ve been using. When you?re shooting the ball well it?s just the other part of the game that you have to fix. I think what has happened is that we?ve gotten to a point where we are just trying to outscore people and we?ve lost that defensive stopping ability.?
On why LSU and Kentucky are both struggling?
?They just came to rely on the scorers that they had last year. One of the things that has happened to us, is Derrick (Jasper) is giving us good minutes but, then down the stretch Ronald Steele just took over the game for Alabama. Every time the ball is in his (Steele?s) hands good things happen.?
On his guard play?
?We have to keep teaching them. People really back off of Derrick (Jasper), so he needs to look to get the ball closer to be able to run an offense now. They can?t throw the ball inside. It?s kind of jammed up the offense. I?m not worried about that, I?m more worried about the defensive end. If we instruct you to force a guy to go right, and you keep letting him go left I have a problem. Those are the concerns that I have. It?s not just the two guys that I have in that point guard spot that are having those problems.?
On Derrick Jasper?
?We?ve told him to shoot the ball. He?s just not confident in his ability to shoot the ball, so people don?t guard him. What happens when Bobby (Perry) isn?t making shots, then Sheray (Thomas) isn?t making shots, now you?ve got two more people they?re backing off of. It?s obvious when you look at the film that is what is happening. You have to make those guys screeners. They have to make up for it on the other end. Derrick is supposed to shoot every open shot that he has. He shot the three when he was wide open in the corner and he made it. He had the ball on the wing and he was wide open, but he threw the ball down to the baseline. He?s open on the right side and he drove it again. He just doesn?t feel comfortable shooting. He can shoot better, but he won?t shoot the ball in practice unless we?re doing a shooting drill. We tell him though, ?When you?re open man you have to shoot it.??
On his confidence?
?We question everything. You question whether or not you are communicating with them (the players) properly. How do we motivate them? Those games are close, and we?ve lost them the same way. But, we?ve also had some leads in games and lost. So, we just haven?t had any consistency. We don?t have the ?put them away? type of attitude. That?s something we put an emphasis on, something we talk about when we emphasize toughness and those types of things. It just takes longer to process I guess.?
On making a lineup change?
?It?s a possibility. We probably do need to make some changes in it, to see how some other people can do. We need to see if we can get more production out of some other people. I?m more concerned about where we are defensively. We have to start rebounding and defending better.?
On if the defensive struggles have resulted into offensive struggles?
?It?s (offense) been there. We?ve been scoring a lot of points, 80, 85. Our scoring average has been going up. It?s a breakdown. We have to pay attention to the minor details, being in the right spot, not taking ourselves out of the game. We?re making bad decisions as far as fouling. It?s just crazy things, fumbling the ball, turnovers. That?s what beats you. It?s not talent, it?s the turnovers, not defending, not rebounding. Those are the things that beat you on a regular basis.?
Kentucky Players
#23 Sheray Thomas
On how the team can rebound from the three straight losses?
?Wins. We just need to win a couple of games. We kind of have mixed emotions right now. We?re down, but we?re also up. We know we were in all three of the games, we just have to keep playing.?
On the three losses being close games and what the team has to do to fix the execution problems?
?It?s both (not executing and getting off to bad starts). Sometimes in games we get down and we have to claw our way back into it. Then we end up making mistakes at the end in bad situations.?
On whether or not the players have been affected by the negativity?
?I?m pretty much the same way as Coach (Smith). I?ve been so busy, that I haven?t really heard anything. I think some of our players if they hear something in a certain way it might hurt them. I?ve been here awhile, so it doesn?t really affect me. I?ve had the cheers, I?ve had the boos, I?ve had a mixture of everything. I just have to come out and play.?
#32 Joe Crawford
On facing the negativity of their three game losing streak?
?It still happens to everyone. Sometimes you just have to block it out and focus. You just need to focus on what you have to do.?
On Ramel Bradley?s mindset at the end of games?
?I think that he just wants to win really badly. Sometimes he does make bad decisions, but you can?t hate him for wanting to win. So, we know his intentions are good. We just have to find ways to execute at the end of games.?
On the pressure of winning?
?It is real tough, because you know we want to win too. When you have the outside telling us that you should win, it does put more pressure on us. We as athletes put pressure on ourselves. When we lose one game, we put ourselves in such a slump it?s only one game that we lost instead of regrouping and focusing on the next game. It?s going to bother us until we win again. We have to step it up and win.?
