Coach Tubby Smith
“The things we have to do are free throw shooting and defensive intensity. Those are areas we have been focusing on. Otherwise, we feel good about where we are at this point in time, but of course there are still things we have to work on. We have had guys getting extra work, especially free throw shooting and outside shooting.”
“Jacksonville had a tough game yesterday against Auburn, where they got beat, so they will probably come in here ready to play. They probably will play a similar style. They will probably play multiple defenses, much like the Auburn teams, so we can expect anything tomorrow.”
On Derek Smith joining the team:
“I can see him play, but we have never really discussed it. Coach Mumme gave his blessing. He has been pretty busy with football and he has been working hard at that sport, so that will take some time to overcome.”
“We learned a lot from New York. Keith Bogans said it well when he said that we need to play hard and play smart. All those things take time to instill in a young team. The guys think they are playing hard but they are not. The veteran players need to set an example for the underclassmen.”
On the freshmen high school All-American’s expectations:
“They are surprised. Maybe not if they went somewhere else, but here it is a little bit different. You are not going to be scrutinized every moment elsewhere, but there are a lot of different elements involved at playing at Kentucky, versus being an All-American playing at another school. There is a lot more media coverage, more expectations, all of which add a lot more pressure to a young man. And it forces him to grow up a lot sooner. It puts a different spin on it, maturity-wise. They have to learn how to handle national media scrutiny. Here, you have to play at that level, but you also have to work at that level.”
On Marquis Estill:
“Marquis will not play tomorrow. He is still on suspension. I don’t think it will affect us much. The one thing we are concerned about is size. They have a 6-10 player in Brad Harriman and two 6-8 players. But we have 6-10, 6-7, 6-9 Tayshaun [Prince], and I think with Erik Daniels playing better, that will give him some valuable minutes as well. It hurts us because it hurts our chemistry, but it hurts Marquis more than anything because he is giving up valuable playing time.”
On Keith Bogans’ weight loss:
“He is taking better shots, but he has a lot that he needs to work on. Losing weight had helped his stamina and endurance. He still needs to concentrate on staying in his stance, moving his feet quicker on defense and when he does that, he will have the total package. He is close, but it is just a matter of time before he becomes what I call a complete player.”
“We play fast when everyone else plays fast. We feel like we were putting up some pretty good numbers against teams that were willing to run and on people that we could force the tempo against. You have to be overwhelmingly better than someone to force tempo on them all the time. I am sure that if a team like Jacksonville State comes in and runs then we will put up our shots. We can take shots and get our running game going. I think 85-plus points a game will be a good target for us.”
On Jason Parker:
“Jason is improving every day. He needs to continue to get better in three-point shooting. His toughest thing is when he gets up against guys that have a height advantage on him. He needs to use his fakes and inside moves to get his shots off. But he gets if off so quick. He is the type of guy that even inside, he is so explosive that he can get the ball up and over you before you have a chance to challenge the shot. Also, if he is stronger than you are, he has the ability to get the angle to overpower you. He needs to continue to learn our plays and to improve his outside shooting and his free throw shooting.”
“Whatever we have to do to win, we will do. That may mean pressing full court, 94 feet. That may mean pressing to three-quarter court, that may mean half-court trapping, and that may mean a lot of different things. So, once those guys learn their positions, we will be a good pressing team. Once those seven guys learn our system, then they will learn to read one another. It all takes a lot of teamwork and coordination. It takes time–it could happen in five games, 10 games. Do the freshmen understand how long it takes to understand? They don’t all do everything the same speed.”
“Every game is different and brings something that we can learn from. I don’t think we have ever played a game that I didn’t learn something or that the players didn’t learn something from.”
UK Player Quotes
#3 J.P. Blevins
“This year we are looking to put some high scores and we have been unable to do that. We want to run the ball up and down the court. We want to make the other team pick up their pace. We need to keep to our game plan. We need this win tomorrow night, it will really help boost our confidence.”
“We can’t overlook Jacksonville State. Last time we went to play in Cincinnati, I think we overlooked Dayton and they ended up being a great team and making it to the tournament. We only have to look back to last year to realize we can be upset.”
“The team knows that it is time to get things started. We haven’t won a game yet and we need to break into the ‘W’ column. We are taking it one game at a time. If we take care of today, tomorrow will take care of itself.”
“We have been working hard on our free throws in practice. Coach is making us sprint after every miss. It really makes you concentrate instead of just throwing them up there and not giving it your complete effort. You have to know when you step to the line that you are going to make your foul shots. It is a confidence thing. Coach Smith just wants us to learn to concentrate.”
#11 Saul Smith
“We have to approach tomorrow night’s game the way we approach every game. We’re never the underdog in any game. It has never been that way since I have been here. It is just a matter of us sustaining our intensity. We can’t have a mental lapse at any point in the game. We can’t take any team lightly. I don’t think coach is going to allow that to happen because he has been geared up to get the season started off right tomorrow night and we’re going to be ready.”
“It is always disappointing to have something like what has happened to Marquis happen. It is a matter of us overcoming it. It’s nothing that we haven’t had to deal with before. We have to weather the storm and play the best basketball we can.”
#10 Keith Bogans
“Every time a guy gets suspended it is a disappointment, but we can’t hang our heads, we have to keep our heads up and keep playing basketball.”
“The thing about this team is that if we lose one guy, somebody else steps up their game and fills in for the missing person. Marquis is still a big loss for us, but I think we will be fine until he gets back.”
“I played against Derek Smith two or three years ago when they came up to the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. He is a great player. I haven’t seen him play since then, I know he has gotten a little bigger.”
“I think the main thing about my weight loss is that it really improved my stamina. I can get up and down the court a lot better. I feel like I am a lot quicker now and I can get past my defender. In the open court I am running the floor a lot faster now and the main thing is that I can stay out on the court a long time.”
“Right now I am to the point where I can put the ball on the floor as well as shoot the jump shot. Once my jumper is falling I think it is hard for anyone to guard me.”
“It is a noticeable difference. Last year I was a lot more tired. After the first TV timeout at 15 minutes I was sucking wind. Now I can play through that.”
#24 Marvin Stone
“Right now, Jacksonville State is the most important game of the year. We need to get started and get on a winning streak.”
“Last year the game in Cincinnati was a big shock to us. To lose the way we did last year will keep us from taking Jacksonville State for granted. We need to go out there and play 40 minutes.”
“Marquis is a great player. He plays hard and is a good rebounder and can play every phase of the game. We are going to miss him a lot.”
#21 Tayshaun Prince
“It is not that big of an adjustment because I played the ‘four’ position last year. It will give me the opportunity to play a different position. I will have to play more inside instead of focusing my game on the perimeter.”
“I would rather be playing out on the perimeter, but at the same time, playing at the four creates match-up problems for the opposing team. I can take a bigger man out on the floor and take him off the dribble.”
“It was a frustrating start, but he have to move on. We need to go up to Cincinnati and get a ‘W’ and do things the way we have been doing them in practice.”
“We had some guys knock down some big shots for us Thursday night. Once those guys started hitting, everyone got into the groove. I think it really helped us out by Keith and Saul hitting outside shots to start off the game.”
