Jan. 4, 2002
Coach Orlando “Tubby” Smith
On Tulane win…
“We executed well against Tulane and played well defensively. We’re on top of our game and we’re shooting the ball well. When you can make 16 three-pointers, you’re going to be hard to beat no matter whom you play.”
On practice…
“The thing we’ve been working on now is getting used to not having certain people with us and bringing other guys along. We’re getting stronger and we got a chance over the holidays to spend more time individually with players and improve certain skills. You can see that they all have improved. Our younger players are starting to understand our defensive philosophy concept and are executing on the offensive end as well.”
On going to Mississippi State…
“Mississippi State will be a real test for us going on the road into a hostile environment. They are playing with a lot of confidence with only one loss this year. In Derrick Zimmerman they have a very athletic point guard who can penetrate, shoot the three and he’s the leading shot blocker on their team – that tells you the type of ability he has as a point guard.”
On MSU’s Mario Austin…
“He was a premiere player coming out of high school. He’s 6-9, 265 and we give away a lot of bulk to him inside. Certainly Jules (Camara) will have his hands full trying to keep the ball off him. He has improved his range, he’s taking good shots and has learned to pass the ball well.”
On MSU’s strengths…
“What’s impressive about Mississippi State is that they can go deep into their bench, similar to us, and do a lot of different things. They bring in people with a lot of size like Lincoln Smith who is 6-9, 270 and Marcus Campbell who is seven feet tall and 265. We’re real concerned with their size. We have to make up for our lack of interior strength and size with other people picking up and playing better.”
On Marquis Estill’s injured eye…
“It hasn’t affected him at all. He’s played extremely well since the eye injury and he didn’t have any lingering or permanent damage to it. He’s been good in practice and has had some of his best practices the past couple days.”
On improvement of team…
“Every game and every practice we tell our players there is room for improvement and you need to get better every time you step onto the basketball court. If we do that, players respond positively. I can see the experience and the value of a mature team this year as opposed to some of our teams in the past. They trust one another and they get along well with each other.”
On arenas being more excited when Kentucky visits…
“We’re probably going to be the biggest draw attendance wise for most of the schools we’ll play on the road. But we’re usually going in a ranked team, and a team that’s picked to win the SEC – teams are going to get up and the fans are going to get up.”
On starting SEC play…
“We’ve had two good practices and we’ve had some positive momentum with the wins we’ve had. It’s Tayshaun’s (Prince) last time around and his leadership has been outstanding. He and the guys are starting to sense that it’s all starting to fall in place – all the hard work, 6 a.m. workouts, the individual workouts, working over the holidays. All those things will give us a sense of urgency and having played 11 games, we don’t have a lot more time and they’re seeing that. That comes with age and maturity.”
On Rashaad Carruth…
“He’s developed as most freshmen do, but he’s still learning a lot. Rashaad’s a pretty mature basketball player and there are areas where he needs to improve in that will be beneficial to him down the road. He has made an impact with the defensive presence that he can have, the ability to play more of an all-around game and he’s distributing the ball better. He knows he has to do those things to get playing time. He’s an excellent shooter and once he learns and improves in the other aspects of his game, he’ll be even more of a threat.”
Tayshaun Prince
On the emotion displayed against Tulane…
“I am beginning to show more emotion. Against Tulane, we were having fun and playing well. When things are going right, it shows.”
On traveling to Mississippi State…
“We have played some tough teams at some neutral sites so I think we are prepared to go on the road in the SEC. Starkville won’t be too different from some of the things we have already seen this season.”
On the Cats’ season up to this point…
“We didn’t want to have two losses at this point in the season, but we are happy with the way we are playing now. We have come through some tough games and now we are playing great basketball. We are starting to progress. We are at the point we want to be going into SEC play. We realize now that we need to bring our “A” game every night.”
Gerald Fitch
On Mississippi State’s 13-1 record…
“We’re aware of their record. We know that every team we play is a good team. We’ll treat them like any other team we normally face and come out and play hard.”
On his confidence following the Tulane game…
“I gained a lot of confidence the other night. I’ve been spending some extra time in the gym – working on my shot, trying to get my rhythm back – and it’s starting to show now and my confidence is picking up.”
On the team’s attitude…
“We aren’t overconfident, but we do have a lot of confidence. You have to be a good team to beat us.”
Jules Camara
“We’ve been raising our defensive intensity a lot in the past few weeks. When you play good defense, the offense is going to be there. We’ve been shutting people down and that’s what we need to do going into SEC play.”
On Mississippi State…
“They have a good record and we’re playing on their home court. Every road game in the SEC is tough. We have to show our toughness and go in there ready to play.”
Cliff Hawkins
On beginning conference play…
“The team is excited to finally get into the SEC schedule. We have specific goals and one of those is to win the SEC. We are ready to get started.”
On Mississippi State…
“I haven’t seen any film on Mississippi State, but the coaches have watched the film and let us know what we need to do to beat them. If we listen to the coaches and execute we can come out with a win.”
