Nov. 15, 2001
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Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky
NABC Classic
Nov. 17, 2001
UK Coach Tubby Smith
On the game…
“I want to commend the Hilltoppers and Coach (Dennis) Felton. They outplayed us in every phase of the game. They outshot us. They outhustled us. They were more physical. I am disappointed in the way we played. We didn’t have any flow, any cohesiveness, or any leadership on the court. We have a lot of work to do. I give a lot of credit to Western. They were just a much better team tonight.”
On Western Kentucky…
“We expected them to be a good team. They’re a Top 20 team. They are very talented and very experienced.”
On his halftime talk…
“I got on them pretty good at halftime. It wasn’t that I wanted them to shoot more. We were being outplayed and weren’t hitting the shots we got.”
On the play of Cliff Hawkins…
“It’s just going to take time. He can get by guys, but sometimes he gets too deep. He needs to learn when to pass the ball. It hurt us a lot (when he picked up two quick fouls).”
On Western Kentucky being more than just Chris Marcus…
“I’ve been saying that all along. They were getting by us in penetration, and I mean everybody. They are good.”
On what the loss means…
“This is a tough loss, but we still have a lot of games to play.”
UK Players
Keith Bogans, G
“This was just a tough loss for us. It seemed like we just didn’t come to play tonight.”
“I was very surprised at the type of performance we had tonight. It is tough because we have been practicing all week and we got out there and just were not in sync at all.”
“Western Kentucky is a tough team. They hustled and shot the ball well tonight. They did not surprise us at all because we knew they were going to come in ready to play.”
“We feel like we have to come out with more enthusiasm. We just didn’t have it together in any aspect of the game, the offense or defense.”
Cliff Hawkins, G
“I think my two early fouls really hurt the team down the stretch. If I hadn’t of gotten those fouls early, I could have contributed more in the first half.”
“You don’t want to start the season off losing and you don’t want to start off being 0-1. This means you have to go out and play harder. It really puts a burden on your back.”
“We knew Western Kentucky would come in here and play us tough. Coach Smith told us all week that Marcus was not the only player on their team. Their outside shooting really hurt us tonight.”
“This was a big win for them and it was a big loss for us. They came out with the attitude to push us around and hustle and they did that.”
Tayshaun Prince, F
“I thought they just outplayed us. I don’t know if we had tired legs or what, but as the game progressed our shots just weren’t falling.”
“They hit some early threes and got their perimeter game going. Then Marcus was drawing our attention down low. We just were mixed up today.”
“The main thing is that our next game will be a fresh start. We’ve got to look forward. This loss was shocking to a lot of people, but we’ve got to focus on tomorrow night.”
Marvin Stone, C
“This loss wakes up. We just have to play harder next time.”
“Tomorrow the game is all about pride. We’ve just got to get back on track. It’s a tough loss, but they just outplayed us.”
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton
On WKU’s overall play…
“We are really pleased with our play. We knew it was going to be a big challenge to beat a great team on their home court. The game was played the way we like to play. We held them to 33 percent shooting. We didn’t rebound as well as we would like, but it was a great battle. It was a players’ game. The players made plays to win the game.”
On the program’s recognition…
“I told our players that they made themselves suspects. People across the country are suspect as to how good we are and we are out to prove to everyone we are not suspect. With as good as Kentucky is, maybe everyone will see how good Western Kentucky is.”
On the second half…
“We got together as the game went on and we grinded it out. We were able to defend them all night. Our players were really on point with the scouting report.”
On Chris Marcus…
“I don’t know that Chris Marcus was a huge factor in this game. He commands attention to keep him from scoring and rebounding and his presence adds to that, but I think it was a total team effort out there.”
On the time out after the late turnover…
“We turned it over against the pressure for the first time that directly led to a Kentucky basket. I called the timeout to let them regroup. I called it to not let it turn into UK momentum.”
On Derek Robinson’s three-point shot at the end of the game…
“Derek loves the opportunity to make shots. He took it with such great authority that I knew it was going in.”
WKU Players
Chris Marcus- C
On the Game…
” It was a very intense game, going up and down like that. We had great support from fans tonight. We knew coming into this game that we could play the kind of game we needed to win. We came here and acted on the things we have been working on in practice to get this big win.”
On the realization of winning…
“From the first jump ball in the game we knew. We didn’t come here not being confident in our team. We weren’t nervous and showed that it doesn’t matter what type of players you have or if you are ranked. We worked as a team and really showed our talents.”
Patrick Sparks – G
On the Game…
“We played with a lot of intensity and we played as a team which helped us get the victory.”
“I think our preparation was the key to winning. Our older players showed great leadership tonight.”
