Nov. 29, 1999
Coach Tubby Smith Quotes
“I?d like to compliment the Dayton squad. I though they outworked us in a lot of areas tonight and outhustled us, too. Dayton is a persistent, veteran team. I knew it would be a tough game.”
On UK?s shooting performance
“I thought we shot better (than versus Arizona), but we just couldn?t hit the big shot. We were really uptight. We had open looks, but just couldn?t knock them down. It?s plagued us for a few games now. Someone has to step up and hit shots.”
On UK?s game style
“I?ve been concerned with our lack of physical play. Dayton out-toughed us tonight. We don?t get that physical play in practice because we don?t have the physical bodies.”
On tonight?s game
“When Dayton turned up the press, we didn?t respond. Their physical play took us out of our game. We committed 20 turnovers and didn?t play smart. When people are more aggressive, you have to be more aggressive and we weren?t. I don?t care what kind of team you are, you can?t let yourself get outhustled.”
On Tayshaun Prince
“Tayshaun had a tough night. He?s going home tomorrow because he just found out his grandmother died, and that has to affect you.”
#21 Tayshaun Prince
On the game:
“There is a lot to learn from this game. We started off well and got some goodplays and our defense got some turnovers. We just need to start knocking downour shots consistently.”
#11 Saul Smith
On the final shot:
“I just saw a Kentucky player open on the wing so I passed it out there.When Isaw that it was Tayshaun, I felt confident that he would make the shot. He gotoff a good shot, but it just didn?t go in.”
“I had two guys on me and I didn?t want to force the shot. I drew the two guyson his side to me so he had an open look. That was the shot we wanted.”
On UK?s lack of physical play:
“Sometimes we get pushed around on there. We need to play stronger andtougher.”
On the Cats? offense:
“Offensively we are just not in sync. It hurts that we can?t get ouroffense ontrack. But the fact that we still had a chance to win is a real testament toour defense and character.”
On UK?s turnover differential:
“We didn?t take care of the ball well. We need to improve thattremendously. Wewon?t be a good team until we turn that around.”
#42 Jamaal Magloire
“It comes down to making shots and stepping up as a team. We had ouropportunities tonight. We didn?t convert. We have a lot of young guys and itwill take some time before we can become the team we want to be. I amconfident that we will reach our goal.
“Our game just isn?t consistent. It always seems to come in surges. We haveto learn to play for the entire 40 minutes.”
#40 Jules Camara
“They played hard for the entire game. They are a really good team. We cameout tonight and didn?t play like we are capable of playing tough.”
“We have to look back now and find out what we need to work on. To win a gamewe have to play for 40 minutes.”
“We have got to realize that when you where a Kentucky jersey everybody playsyou hard because of who you are. We have to come to play every night.”
Dayton Coach Oliver Purnell Quotes
“We felt confident going into the game that we could play with Kentucky if weput two halves together. Offensively, we still have yet to do that, butdefensively, I thought we were there all night long. I thought the defense iswhat won it for us. We were able to keep them from dominating on the offensiveglass. We got pretty good pressure, rotated over, and that?s what got it donefor us and kept us in the game. I thought (Mark) Ashman was the best big guyout there in the second half and what can you say about the play of TonyStanley. His scoring was consistent for us all night and he hit big shot afterbig shot. He hit some key shots that helped us get back from that 10-pointdeficit in the second half which was the critical point in the game for us.Their last shot to win it seemed like it stayed in the air forever. It?s justan outstanding win for our program.”
On point guard David Morris:
“I thought David didn?t have one of his better games, but he?s a tough kid. Weplayed against the best team we?ve played against so far and their pressurewasreally good in the first half. We had to get him in there because we wereturning it over. His penetration really helped us, even though he turned itover, sometimes it got us going toward the basket. It opened up some jumpshotsand we were able to get the ball low on the baseline to Ashman. He was a bigfactor in the game.”
On holding UK scoreless for an eight minute stretch in the second half:
“I didn?t realize it was that long, but I knew we shut them down for a goodperiod of time. We continued to change defenses. We would go to zone and thento man-to-man to try and keep them off balance because they can get in arhythm. We thought they had a team in there that wasn?t a great shooting team,but with their big team, we?d go zone.”
On the role UD assistant coach Ron Jirsa played:
“There weren?t any surprises. Ron had been with Tubby for a long time at Tulsaand then at Georgia so there weren?t going to be any surprises. But the samegoes for us. I?m sure they had plenty of game tapes of us. Ron just did anoutstanding job with the scouting report.”
Dayton Player Quotes
#11 Cain Doliboa
“All this week Coach Purnell has been telling us that Kentucky would come intothis game thinking they were going to be up by 20 at halftime. We just did ourbest to hold our own during the first half and then came out ready to take thegame in the second half.”
“Our win in Albuquerque last week really gave us a confidence boost going intothis contest. We wanted to let Kentucky know that we came to play. I neverthought that we were going to lose, even when we were down by 10, because thisteam is so deep.”
#34 Mark Ashman
On Kentucky?s last second effort to win the game:
“We knew that Prince was a good shooter, so it was important to pay particularattention to him in the closing seconds of the game.”
“Kentucky is pretty much like any other team in the fact that they rotate inthree different big men. I think Morris came in and did a great job and reallyhurt them. He was quick enough to get past them and made some critical stealsthat saved the game for us.”
“I think the most important thing we did tonight was get the ball inside andkick it out for several big three-pointers. Our defense is really holding usright now. Our offense is still in the building stages, but our defense wasthekey tonight. Another important thing is that everyone plays as a team andreally wants to win.”
#12 Tony Stanley
How does it feel to beat Kentucky?
“It feels great. I think this win will do us a little bit of justice and getsome recognition for our team. I think this experience will help us out a lotas a team. We definitely wanted to send a message. Those guys came out andplayed us hard. We wanted this win and I think this win definitely helped putus on the map and turned some heads.”
What do you think about this Kentucky team and their future?
“I think Kentucky will definitely be very good this season. They came out andplayed us tough as usual. I think our key was maintaining them by ourdefense. Defense won us the ballgame. They played very well and I do notwantto take anything away from Kentucky.”
