Jan. 8, 2000
Kentucky Head Coach Tubby Smith
“I thought we had an outstanding defensive effort in today’s game. Ourthree-point defense was outstanding and we did a good job of limiting DanLanghi’s touches. We’ve played good team defense all year, and when ouroffensecatches up with our defense, we’ll be just fine (laughs).”
On Jamaal Magloire
“Jamaal did a good job for us today, being a strong inside presence andclogging up the middle.”
On UK’s defensive effort
“I thought we forced a lot of turnovers, but couldn’t convert in the firsthalf. We trapped well and got Vandy to play a little faster than they mighthave wanted to. We did a nice job of forcing them to go to their second andthird options and just played solid team defense.”
On UK’s press
“We pressed man-to-man and were able to stay with our guys. We gave up sometransition threes in the first half, but we made some adjustments at the halfand were able to limit them in the second.”
On UK’s improved shooting
“We had a lot of practice time over the break and that really helped usimproveour outside shooting.”
On Tayshaun Prince
“His threes were like daggers. He’s maturing physically and getting stronger.It’s tough to defend a 6-9 set shooter.”
On UK’s effort
“We like to work hard. Our effort today won’t show up in the box score, but weplayed very hard. We’re not a pretty team. We have the athletes, but weneed tobe fundamentally sound in our play.”
On UK’s defense of Dan Langhi
“We wanted to give him different looks. You have to do that with greatscorers.Switching on him with guys like Tayshaun and Desmond (Allison) forces him toadjust and can throw off his rhythm.”
On Jules Camara
“Jules still needs to get stronger and heavier. In the second half he got arebound, but got bumped and fell down with the ball. He’s just so light in theair.”
On UK’s scouting of Vandy
“We knew how dangerous they are from beyond the arc. Coach Shawn Finney did agreat job scouting for this game.”
#42 Jamaal Magloire
“I am more happy that the team won than with my individual performance. Ithink we played a consistent 40 minutes.”
“I think our players, especially Saul and J.P., did a good job exposingVanderbilt’s weakness. They weren’t solid on the inside and we took advantageof that by going inside more.”
On his free-throw shooting
“I credit repetition, doing it over and over again. I haven’t changed myroutine, just the repetition.”
#10 Keith Bogans
On the team’s free throw shooting
“We have been shooting a lot in practice. Coach makes us focus on them.If wemiss, we run.”
“We knew we had to come into this game and contain the shooters. They gotfreea couple of times, but mostly we did a good job.”
“Vanderbilt is a great shooting team. We are a great defensive team. We knewthis was going to be a good test for us. We didn’t want to let them getshots.”
#21 Tayshaun Prince
On his play
“Today I had to use my outside shooting. I had a lot of good screens and Iwasable to get some good looks. I simply knocked down shots when I got theopportunity.”
On UK’s defense
“We had a good defensive second half. That is something that has helped usoutthe last couple of games. We have learned to really turn up the defensiveintensity coming out after halftime.”
On the play of VU’s Dan Langhi
“Langhi is a great player. Tonight we had to stay in his jersey and play gooddefense. We were able to keep him from doing a lot of the things he wanted todo.”
#3 J.P. Blevins
“They hit 15 three’s against Florida and we knew what we had to do. We cameout and played good perimeter defense tonight.”
On his play
“With more minutes comes more confidence. I’ve been fortunate to get somegameexperience and I am feeling more comfortable with my shot. I’m starting togeta rhythm for the game.”
On playing in Rupp Arena
“We feel like no one can come in and beat us in Rupp. It’s a great homecourt. Nobody intimidates us on our own floor.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
“I thought the game was dictated by them. They played harder than we did andthey played smarter than we did. It’s tough to beat them even when you have areally good day. We had bad day and a lot of that was caused by them. We didnot take care of the basketball. There was nothing about our game today thatindicated that we could have won the game. We didn’t shoot the ball well.Theirstrengths won the game for them, their ability to defend and get to the foulline. We are very disappointed in the way we played today. I thought there wasa significant amount of self-destruction going on for us.”
On Kentucky’s defense
“Tubby is what makes their defense so good because his teams work hard ondefense every year. As far as the guys they put out on the floor, they’reathletic and long. They make scoring close to the basket very difficult. It’svery difficult to get a good look at the basket at close range because oftheirrange and athleticism. That had a huge impact on the game today because weweren’t able to get anything inside.”
On Vanderbilt’s play today
“I don’t think we were inconsistent, but I was disappointed with the play ofour entire team today. I don’t want to point out the three seniors becausetheyhave been the reason we have won a lot of times. There was not one player onour team that played up to his capability. Kentucky deserves credit for that.”
On falling behind late in the first half
“I didn’t feel like we were losing the game because of fatigue. I felt like wewere losing because they were playing better and harder than us.”
Vanderbilt Players
#52 Greg LaPointe
On the game
“We didn’t come out and play like we needed to. We turned the ball over toomuch, which led to a lot of easy baskets for them. We thought if we couldcontrol the tempo and control the game, we would be alright. They were able tohit a lot of free throws, and we got into a big hole.”
On what Kentucky did that surprised them
“They came out and hit more shots than we thought they would. That opened upthe inside. Hitting the outside shot was a little different than what they hadbeen doing.”
On Kentucky compared to previous competition
“They are good, definitely a real good team, especially when they are hittingtheir shots. At home, with their crowd, they’re practically unbeatable.”
#13 James Strong
On the win over Florida compared to tonight’s
“We had a great win over Florida. We came in here tonight and tried to beat agreat Kentucky team. We just didn’t play well tonight. This team will haveups and downs throughout the year. We need to get things together and getbetter leadership from our seniors.”
On the difference between the game against Florida and the game today
“We just couldn’t get into a flow today. Kentucky is a very quick andathleticteam, but that is no excuse for our performance today. We just couldn’t getthings together and get into the flow of the game.”
On Vanderbilt’s loses in Rupp Arena
“Kentucky always has great teams. It is very tough to beat a Kentucky teamandget a win in Rupp Arena.”
