Feb. 18, 2002
Head Coach Tubby Smith
On the one-game suspensions for Fitch and Sears…
“Gerald spent some time with Ezra Williams following the death of his brother, and I’m sure it brought back a lot of memories for him about the death of his brother. Then being on the plane for so long, he’s upset because we had lost and his mind was in a different place.”
“We hate to lose any of the players for a game, but this is another distraction. It’s probably more of a distraction for me than it is for the players. Because we have had so many distractions, you start to wonder what’s going on. We didn’t play well and I was upset after the game because of that.”
“As far as Gerald and Cory, they’ve been suspended for the (Tennessee) game. We had a talk yesterday about the repercussions and other things they’re going to have to do and additional disciplinary actions as well. Gerald and Cory are mature kids and they’ll get through this.”
“They know I don’t tolerate that type of behavior. We always talk about handling your emotions. When you lose control of your emotions then things become dangerous.”
On the season…
“There are a lot of things that have changed the course of our season. Of course, we put a bullseye on our chest by being picked to win the SEC and having two All-America candidates back in Tayshaun and Keith. We were pretty much a marked team. Now I can see that the maturation level of this team really wasn’t ready to handle those expectations. That’s where a veteran team really comes into play.”
On distractions…
“They’ve seen the distractions and I told them that the next one is gone. I hate to say it publicly, but I’m not going to tolerate another disruption. They’ve seen the distractions as well as I have. We’ve explained it to the players. Enough explaining, it’s time to make some changes.”
“It think the guys enjoy playing basketball and they know that we have a lot of games left to play. We also have a lot to play for. We’ve had close calls, we’ve been fairly close to being the type of team that we want to be. When you have the setbacks and distractions that you have and you can’t make those tough, tight plays, then you start to question every little thing, from coaching to strength, everything. I still contend that we are as talented a team, but as young and as inexperienced from a maturity standpoint as any team I’ve coached.”
On whether or not the loss of Jason Parker has had a greater impact than expected…
“Missing Jason isn’t as bad as having everybody healthy and practicing at the same time. I can’t remember ever having this many people miss this much practice time ever.”
On compensating for the loss of Gerald Fitch against Tennessee…
“The minutes will probably disperse in different ways. I think we’ll probably go with Chuck Hayes because he’s been the most consistent player off the bench. J.P. Blevins was playing well in the game against Georgia and his minutes will probably pick up. You’ll see Josh Carrier in the game more because he’s been playing well and does everything we ask him to do.”
“You’re always concerned when you lose a player of Gerald’s caliber and you won’t have access to him. My biggest concern is now that Keith goes to the two-guard spot where he had been guarding the three spot before. And Chuck is at the four where he gives away some size. So, you worry about a match-up problem there because he’ll match up with Haislip and Crump and those are pretty tough match-ups as a freshman.”
On transition play…
“We haven’t delivered the ball very well in transition. We changed some things this year in trying to get the ball to our point guard as quickly as possible, whereas last year we let the person who brought down the rebound take the ball up. Maybe we’re putting too much pressure on our point guard. We haven’t been a good passing team.”
“We’ve got to neutralize Haislip, because I’d say he’s playing as well as any player in the league. And Vincent Yarbrough is playing well too. That’s what you need, two guys that make you stretch your defense the way they do.”
Keith Bogans
On losing Gerald Fitch…
“It’s a big loss to our team because he plays such a big part. We’ll just have to find a way to make up for it and move on.”
On the losses and distractions this season…
“We keep letting games slip through our hands. But we have to keep our heads up. We can’t let these distractions get us down. We have to come together like a fist and get ready for the fight.”
“Just because we’re having these little distractions, we can’t get off course. We know what our goals are and right now we still have a chance to win the SEC East. That’s what we’re focused on now.”
On Tennessee forward Marcus Haislip…
“We are going to have to contain him. We can’t let him get 24 points like he did down in Knoxville. We have to contain him, play good defense, and make plays down the stretch.”
J.P. Blevins
On the team’s chemistry…
“All of the people say that this team hasn’t gelled. But I think the players on this team genuinely care a lot about each other. We just can’t let happen what happened the other day. It has been dealt with.”
On whether the team still has time to make a run…
“The good thing is that it isn’t March yet. We still have the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. There is time for us to redeem ourselves. There are four regular-season games left, so we could have seven games to make a run to the NCAA. I think that’s plenty.”
On distractions…
“Here we are on February 18 and we are talking about team chemistry. We haven’t even discussed Tennessee yet. I would much rather be talking about them.”
Marquis Estill
On the distractions…
“We just have to look over it and get ready to prepare for Tennessee.”
On the team’s long Sunday meeting…
“Everybody was putting in their thoughts about what we have to do the rest of the year.”
On whether this has been his toughest season…
“It’s tough because everybody hates to lose.”
On Marcus Haislip…
“He’s one of the most athletic post players I’ve played against this year. Coach Smith wants us to go inside more, and when we do we shoot well.”
Chuck Hayes
About Sunday’s team meeting…
“It was a lot of confessions – laying everything on the table right then and there. We’re about to go into March and we can’t go in having these confrontations on our team. Everyone knows where each other is coming from, what we have to do, and hopefully we all know each other better.”
Cliff Hawkins
On the team meeting…
“We sat down for a long time yesterday and talked. It was a real vocal meeting. Everyone still has the same goals and aspirations. Everyone just has to do their part to make it work.”
On losing Gerald Fitch…
“We’re going to miss his energy. He brings a lot to the table. We have to find somebody to step up, bring his energy, crash the boards, and do all the little things he does.”
Josh Carrier
On the frustration of sitting on the bench…
“I just have to be patient. My time will come. I’m a freshman, I’ve paid my dues all year and I’ll continue to do so. As long as I keep my head up and make the most of every opportunity, I’ll be alright.”
On his improvement as a basketball player this year…
“Getting in the weight room, playing against guys like Tayshaun Prince, Keith Bogans, and Gerald Fitch every day – there’s not much more to do but get better. I think I’ve improved my game a lot.”
On the incident on the way home from the Georgia game…
“A lot of people think we’re not as much of a team as we really are. We’re all really close and feel comfortable with each other. It was shocking that something like that would happen between teammates.”
