Jan. 18, 2003
Recap?|?Box Score?|?Notes?|?Photo Gallery
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening Statement…
“Tonight our defensive effort was a continuation of the defense we played against Vanderbilt. I was pleased with our effort, holding a great shooting team like Notre Dame to 34% from the field. We challenged most of their shots. Chuck (Hayes) set the tone early with his blocks right on the rim to save baskets. We did a good job of making (Notre Dame point guard) Chris Thomas work to get them into their offense. We played well all the way around and this was a good victory for us.”
On going inside to Marquis Estill…
“We felt coming into the game that Marquis would be able to do well inside offensively. We tried to isolate him on Torin Francis, the freshman, and give [Estill] an advantage. We looked for him early, got the ball to him often and he was able to make plays.”
On Kentucky’s inside presence…
“Erik Daniels is not an overpowering post player, but he’s crafty around the rim and knows how to get open inside. I thought our interior passing was outstanding. Chuck [Hayes] was in there throwing his body around both on offense and defense. I thought all our post players were effective when we got the ball to them in scoring position.”
On Kentucky’s rotation…
“Now we have a pretty good feel for who is going to give us what in certain situations. We also have balance in our scoring. We need Antwain Barbour to get better, because I think he can be a major contributor to our team. We have a very deep bench and we need the bench players to keep improving. Having the bench play well today really helped us wear down Notre Dame.”
On Kentucky’s assists…
“Everybody’s been making the extra pass and playing very unselfishly. We moved the ball very well today and our interior passing was outstanding, especially against their zone defense.”
On Kentucky’s blocks…
“Sometimes you think you have an open shot at the rim, and they did tonight when our post defense broke down. To find yourself right at the rim and then have the ball blocked, that’s the most demoralizing defensive play in the game of basketball. I do wish we’d learn to take some charges, because it seems at times everyone’s going up to get the block.”
On Cliff Hawkins…
“Cliff is very talented, athletic and impressive. If he keeps improving his decision-making, I don’t think there’s a better point guard in the country when he’s on his game.”
On Notre Dame’s Chris Thomas…
“He’s a talented player. We were trying to frustrate him, our goal was to make him work from baseline to baseline, and Gerald (Fitch) and Cliff did a good job against him.”
KENTUCKY PLAYERS
Erik Daniels, forward
On UK’s defense…
“That was an emphasis of ours. We wanted to play well and be tough on them. We wanted to make sure we took away their three-point shooting.”
On UK’s interior offense…
“We were having a great night from the outside, but the inside was open so we kept going back to it.”
On the overall play of the team…
“This is one of the best games we’ve played, but we can still improve.”
On guard Cliff Hawkins’ play…
“Cliff played a great game. He’s our best on-the-ball defender and we needed him to step up today and he did.”
Cliff Hawkins, guard
On defending Notre Dame guard Chris Thomas…
“He was trying to make plays for his team, but we just kept the heat on him and took him out of his game.”
On the team’s chemistry…
“The team chemistry is good right now. We’re playing really well together and we just need to keep it going.”
Chuck Hayes, forward
On his overall game…
“I felt really good. I came out ready to play and I had a good game.”
On his preparation for the game…
“I’ve just been focusing on being better prepare physically and mentally.”
On getting everyone involved in the game..
“We need to get everyone involved. It gets us all in the flow of the game and we just play better once we get everyone going.”
On the team’s defense…
“Defense is very important to us. That’s been a signature of our team and what we’ve been known for. We need to keep playing well on the defensive end and everything else will follow.”
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On today’s game…
“We ran into a heck of a basketball team today. I watched the second half of the Vanderbilt game after our game on Tuesday. I thought Kentucky found its identity as far as how it was going to defend this year – they certainly did that to us today.”
On UK’s defense…
“We had a hard time getting anything easy offensively. We rely on our offense to get going a lot of times and we couldn’t get open looks, we couldn’t get stuff around the bucket and nothing really in transition. I thought they played well.”
On UK’s offensive performance…
“They are very good offensively and their big guys played great around the bucket. They are a heck of a basketball team – we lost to a very good team today.”
On UK’s inside play…
“I was worried about (Marquis) Estill the most, but the entire front line made inside stuff on us. You’re always worried about playing a Kentucky team that this number of big bodies wearing us down. They got to us that way.”
On UK’s passing…
“They are a very unselfish group. They have big guys who have a great basketball feel. They hit open people. We started the game trying to help a little bit, (then) we wanted to play them one-on-one and they went to work with jump hooks and just overpowered us in there. Those kids pass the basketball very well and they are well coached. They have found their identity on both ends of the floor.”
On UK compared to Notre Dame’s previous opponents…
“That’s the best team we’ve played. That’s the best basketball team we’ve played this year and we’ve played a heck of a schedule. We’re going to jump on the bus and get ready for Providence and move on quickly.”
On UK’s talent…
“They’re very good. It’s the number of bodies they come at you with where they are different than a Texas, Maryland, Marquette or anyone else we’ve played. They have more bodies to keep coming at you with and Coach (Tubby) Smith does a great job of running them in and out.”
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS
1 Chris Thomas, Guard
On how Kentucky was able to get an early advantage…
“They got a big advantage on the inside early. They really banged us on the boards and controlled the glass. Once you get down to a good team like that it’s hard to come back.”
On the Kentucky defense…
“They played good defense. They kept a hand in my face and got good position. You just have to tip your hat to them, they played a great game.”
13 Matt Carroll, Forward
On how Kentucky controlled the game…
“Kentucky has a great team and they had a little extra energy today. The crowd really helped them and their intensity put us on our heels early on.”
On the play of Kentucky’s interior players…
“(Marquis) Estill played like an All-American today. He was hitting his jump hook and playing a great all-around game. Their big guys are great passers and did a good job finding cutters to the basket. I was very impressed with all their inside guys.”
