February 23, 1999
#34 Scott Padgett Senior/Forward
(On his years at UK)
“I’ve had a lot of things happen to me during my time here. I’ve gonethrough a lot of changes and our team has had a lot of success. I thinkit’s a situation where I’m ready to go, but I don’t want to leave yet. I’vestill got a lot of games left.”
“I think being able to come back and make Academic SEC honor roll is themost impressive thing I’ve done since I’ve been here. You can always workharder and get better on things you enjoy like basketball, but it’s harderto concentrate in the classroom sometimes. I’m proud of that achievement.”
“It’s good to have a Senior Night and be recognized, but we’ve also got toconcentrate on Vanderbilt. They’re coming off a big win and it would maketheir season to beat Kentucky. We’ve got to get on a roll now. To be NCAAChampions, you have to win six games in a row. We want to get on thatwinning streak now.”
“No matter who we play in the SEC Tournament, we’re going to play harderand lay it all out on the line. I think the seniors have to play wellcollectively for us to have a chance at the championship. I still believewe can win it all.”
“The last three games, we’ve played with the effort necessary to win. Wejust made too many mistakes. We shot the ball well, so that’s a strength.We still have time to work on things. We’ve got to put it all together.When we’re all playing well, we can beat anybody.”
#14 Heshimu Evans Forward/Senior
“I think one of my favorite memories at UK was my first day of individualswith Coach Pitino. I was trying so hard to impress him and I think I wasworking a little bit too hard and I passed out. Coach told me to quittrying to impress him and just learn the system.”
“I think I probably will cry on Senior Night. I am a pretty emotionalperson, so I might cry. I don’t know if Scott will cry. I can see Waynecrying, but I can’t really see Scott.”
“I want people to remember me as a nice person. I hope they remember me asan athlete who loves to play basketball and who loves to have fun and assomeone who helped win Kentucky a national championship.”
“I’ve always wanted to be in a situation where I was a leader. It’s kindof tough and there is a lot of responsibility and pressure that come withbeing a leader. There were some times when I thought I wouldn’t be able todo what it took. I’ve learned to be able to lead the team verbally andthat was an important challenge for me.”
#5 Wayne Turner Senior/Guard
“As tomorrow grows closer, I’m kind of getting chills and butterflies. I’mexcited. Senior Day is something that I’ll always remember. I can rememberplaying in my first exhibition game in Rupp, so I’ll remember my last gamein Rupp.”
(On his favorite memories..)
“I would have to say that the highlight was probably playing in threestraight Final Fours and three straight national championship games.Another favorite memory is my first Midnight Madness. I can remember comingacross the street from the lodge and seeing the masses of people lined upand camped out with tents on the sidewalk. It was amazing. I couldn’tbelieve how many people came just to see a bunch of guys play basketball.”
“I’d love to win another national championship before I graduate. Whowouldn’t? Otherwise I feel like I’ve accomplished all that I set out to dofour years ago. I’m glad I got the opportunity to participate in so manygreat tournament runs for a great team like Kentucky.”
“A lot of my family members will be here for the ceremony tomorrow night.This will be the first time my grandmother has ever seen my play here. Ithink the emotional part of it all will hit me when they call my name torun out on that floor for the last time.”
#42 Jamaal Magloire Center/Junior
“We haven’t had much success in games where it was close toward the end. Wejust have to forget the last game and move on and learn from thosesituations as much as we can.”
“I’ve always played aggressive and strong. I’m more comfortable as aplayer and I understand and know what it takes to win. I try to help theyounger guys on the team and I work hard to contribute and help this teamwin.”
(On his prediction of a National Championship last season)
“I predict that we will go to the NCAA tournament. Right now, I think weare still trying to find ourselves. We still have a few kinks that we needto work out. I think that our defensive intensity is coming in spurts andit can’t be something that comes in a spurt. It has to last 40 minutes. If we can work on that and improve in that area, I may be able to makethat bold prediction again.”
