January 19, 1999
#34 Scott PadgettSenior/Forward
“I don’t know anything about Jamaal (Magloire) being suspended. I got a fewlast year and I know you don’t want to get too many technicals. We had toplay games early in the season without him, so it’s something that we feellike we can do. Of course, we’d rather have him, but if he’s out, we haveto deal with that.”
“Our goal is to win the SEC Championship. Obviously, if we want to do that,we need to win all of our SEC games. Auburn, being undefeated, is going tobe a challenge.”
“Porter is a legitimate basketball player. He can shoot the ball and he’sone of the best rebounders in the game. He plays extremely hard and he’sathletic. Any time you get matched up against somebody like that, it’sexciting.”
“On a given night, we can put up 100 points. We need to get back intransition. We haven’t been playing ‘Kentucky basketball’ yet this season.”
#11 Saul SmithSophomore/Guard
(On Auburn)
“Auburn is a very talented team. They’re undefeated, I think that speaksfor itself. We have to put a lot of pride in our rebounding. We didn’t getout-rebounded very much last year. I feel like rebounding is going to be abig factor tomorrow night.”
“Coach Smith told us we needed to have more enthusiasm and want to win.Every game, I’m trying to give my team a boost. I got some good looksagainst Ole Miss.”
“There’s no difference between being aggressive and physical. I thinkthere’s a difference between playing physical and trying to hurt somebody.There were situations in our last game where I felt somebody was going tobe hurt.”
(On Auburn being favored in the game)
“Being the underdog in our own gym is strange. Rupp Arena is our gym. Thatgives us some adrenaline for the game. Of course, we want to prove ourcritics wrong.”
#14 Heshimu EvansJunior/Forward
“We have a great team in Auburn coming into Rupp Arena tomorrow night. Itshould be a great game and a great atmosphere. Auburn has some greatathletes and we have to come ready to play tomorrow night. We want to playagainst the greatest teams and atheletes in the country. That’s why we cometo Kentucky. I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow night.”
“The slump was a little frustrating. I’m back and I’m feeling confidentagain. I love to play basketball and I’ve always had fun out there.Everything happens for a reason and I am going to take this as a learningexperience.”
#33 Michael BradleySophomore/Center
(On the physical play in recent games)
“One thing you have to expect in the SEC: teams play their best and theyplay their hardest, against Kentucky especially. It’s the middle of theseason and the teams are getting rough.
(On playing without Jamaal)
“We will try to go out and play the way we did in the beginning. I don’tknow anything (about Jamaal’s suspension), but we have a lot of line-upsand have been moving people around in practice. We will just put our besteffort against a tough Auburn team.”
“We are going to watch the tape, and get a good scouting report. They havebig guys that like to crash the boards and big guys that like to take thethrees. Whether we run with them or slow them down, we’ll do what it takes.”
#5 Wayne TurnerSenior/Guard
“Winning the SEC championship is one of our goals. Auburn is on the righttrack to do it. In order for us to do it, we have to beat them. This isan important game for us. We realize that. We need to focus on the playsand come out and win.”
(On the importance of the seniors)
“We really have to make the rest of the guys realize one of our goals (isto win the SEC Championship). To achieve it, we have to beat this team.It is important for Scott (Padgett), (Heshimu Evans) and me to play a goodgame.”
“We have to play as well (as the Maryland game) and better if we reallywant to win the game. Maybe not in scoring, but (the seniors) each have todominate one part of the game.”
