Nov. 18, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. –
On his thoughts on the UK-Penn game:
“We did some good things and we did some poor things. Overall, we’ve gotsome guys that played well like Marvin (Stone) and Tayshaun (Prince) eventhough he didn’t shoot the ball well, he did a good job on the boards. Weneed to work on the things we didn’t do well like better spacing on offenseand cutting back on our turnovers. Against Utah, we’ll have to play a muchbetter game, especially when it comes to boxing-out and rebounding becausethey are a very strong and aggressive on the boards. They are a veteranteam and are well coached.”
On Utah strengths:
“They are a very good outside shooting team and they have excellent size,even without (Hanno) Motolla. They have a solid front line and Tony Harveyis playing very well at point guard for them so they have a very biglineup. They are a physical team. That is a characteristic of all RickMajerus teams.”
On UK using an up-tempo style against Utah’s size:”I think we are versatile enough to play many styles and that is one thingI like about this team. We like an up-tempo game, but they like to push theball up the court, too.”
On Utah playing without Andre Miller:”I don’t think they are much different. Tony Harvey is doing a great job sofar. It is tough to replace Andre Miller and a guy with his talent.”
On playing early games versus practicing:”We are gaining some valuable experience. You evaluate the tape and cancome back and make the corrections in practice. One way or the other wehave to play, but the schedule dictates that we learn while we play.”
On Saul Smith and J.P. Blevins running the offense against Penn:”We didn’t have much fluidity to it and that was probably coaching becausewe haven’t had a whole lot of time. We have been working on our high-lowmotion. I recognize now that we need to make some adjustments in our motionoffense to maximize our players’ potential.”
On the Penn game:”We were excellent defensively. I thought that was the best part. We madesome mistakes defensively that we have to correct because if we make thesame ones against Utah, they will make us pay. Overall, our defense wasexcellent. We didn’t rebound the ball as I would like. I didn’t see thatgang rebounding that we are going to need against this Utah team.”
On the importance of keeping Jamaal Magloire out of foul trouble:”It is critical that he stays out of foul trouble. I thought he had acouple of times that he was standing behind guys. We must do a better jobof keeping the ball out of the post, because that keeps you from having todefend the guy with the ball down in the post. We need to keep Jamaal outof foul trouble and on the court as much as possible.”
On the consistency of UK freshmen Marvin Stone and Keith Bogans:”I think their play is pretty consistent for freshmen. I don’t see beingvery up-and-down in their play. They need to keep finding themselvesoffensively. I expect them to play with a lot of consistency because oftheir skill level and they both are very coachable.”
On the play of UK point guards Saul Smith and J.P. Blevins:”I think we have a real plus this year in that we have point guards thatcan shoot the jumper. I think it makes us a better team offensively.”
