Jan. 9, 2002
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Head Coach Tubby Smith
On the loss…
“I thought we fought hard tonight but Georgia had too many three-pointers. Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams were outstanding. This is the third game now that we lost when people are putting big numbers on us and tonight we had two put big numbers on us. We’re not playing well defensively and we’re not making plays, we lack the toughness to make the clutch plays down the stretch.”
On decision making…
“We had poor decision making with the ball and poor decisions in that we threw the ball back in under their basket in a tie game, doing things that didn’t make any sense at all. We really have to do a much better job of teaching our guys how to score in tight situations.”
On Cliff Hawkins…
“Cliff was struggling, his hand was bothering him. He was struggling with his shots, we talked about penetrating and passing the ball but I guess that he wasn’t able to find anybody open.”
On Tayshaun Prince late in the game…
“They were doubling him up every time. He threw the ball out of double teams about two or three times. People are taking him away from us with double teams as soon as he touches the ball.”
On UGA players…
“They are very talented, Jarvis (Hayes) and Ezra (Williams) are both outstanding players. We just didn’t do a good job of making them put the ball the ball on the floor. Our goal was to try to limit their touches and we did a very poor job. Chris Daniels and Steve Thomas just controlled the boards for them. They had two guys in double figures in rebounding and we had nobody. They played very physically and we did not respond to their toughness.”
On Keith Bogans’ slump…
“I hope he gets over it quickly. He didn’t shoot the ball well and he made some tough decisions with the ball, trying to penetrate when he’s not making shots. He wants to force the ball to the basket and he turned it over a couple of times doing that.”
On UGA win at Rupp Arena…
“It’s a tremendous win. Coach (Jim) Harrick has done an outstanding job there, recruiting some outstanding players to his program. Georgia is a program that always has had a lot of potential.”
On play of UK…
We didn’t play that poorly, it’s just that they played very well and we didn’t execute in clutch situations. We’ve got to find a way to win close games – we’ve lost two overtime games and now we lost this one. It’s not a good sign. I’d like to see us be a little more patient in getting better shots.”
UK PLAYERS
Tayshaun Prince, F
On the mental state of the team…
“Of course we are broken down a little. We just didn’t get it done tonight. We are facing two tough losses. Now we just have to figure out where to start again to get off on a good foot.”
“We have to watch film and see where we need to improve. We especially have to work on the last two minutes of the game.”
“We are not having team success right now. Until we get back on track, things are not going to fall in place.”
Rashaad Carruth, G
“We have to come together and bond. It’s a tough time we are going through right now. We have to come out and play a lot tougher.”
“We have plenty of options, plenty of weapons and plenty of people who can score. We just have to find a way to make plays at the end of the game.”
Gerald Fitch, G
On the play of Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams…
“Coach said they were going to take tough shots. They both stepped up big tonight.”
“When someone hits a big shot and the crowd gets into it that’s when we’re supposed to come up and just bury it. We just didn’t do that.”
Jules Camara, F/C
“We just didn’t execute down the stretch. We didn’t finish our plays.”
“We have to start playing tough. If we’re going to win on the road and in the SEC we’ve got to be mentally ready to play for 40 minutes.”
Georgia Head Coach Jim Harrick
On the differences in the two halves…
“Certainly this was a great game to watch. The first half was a track-meet shoot-out. From our standpoint, I thought we turned the ball over and they got in the passing lanes and shot a lot of lay-ups. We were reaching and gambling and they were going inside of us. They shot 62 percent. We had to hopefully stop that. I thought we stopped turning the ball over and didn’t give them a break-away lay-up. Then we got back in there and tried to contain the inside and guard the basket. You have to guard the basket, I learned that in third grade at the YMCA.”
On the UGA second-half defense…
“From our standpoint I thought that Steve Thomas was strong on (Tayshaun) Prince in the second half. I think Rashad (Wright) kept Cliff Hawkins out of the key and that’s a huge play because he’s a terrific player. Every game I watched he just got in there and killed them. We kind of contained him tonight.”
On what helped UGA secure the win…
“We got a strong performance from Jonas Hayes, Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams tonight. We played solid, fundamental basketball in the second half and I thought our defense was outstanding in the second half.”
On what the basis of the UGA offense is…
“We try to score, get fouled or get a great look at the basket every time down the court. If you make the extra pass, sometimes that will happen for you.”
On how the UGA offense overcame the UK defense…
“We are trying to execute and make the extra pass. They do a lot of switching and two or three times we caught them on a switch. It’s hard to switch (Cliff) Hawkins on Jarvis (Hayes) and (Ezra) Williams because he has size on them. I don’t know if we did anything in particular to them, we just executed our offense. We just tried to get a good look. They are a fine defensive team and they are very aggressive.”
On what this win means to UGA…
“I am not sure. We haven’t won many times up here. You have to fight for respect when you are Georgia and you want your program to do well.”
On the balance in the SEC…
“I think there is a lot of parity in the conference. I said early on that Kentucky and Florida were head and shoulders above everyone else. There is about nine of us clumped together. Who is going to come out of that nine I don’t know.”
GEORGIA PLAYER QUOTES
#24 Jarvis Hayes G/F
On Georgia’s confidence…
“We knew coming in it was going to be tough. We knew with the crowd on their side that we would have to come in and make a statement. I think we did.”
On preparing for the game…
“During the past couple practices I have been working really hard and taking extra shots to prepare for the game. I think tonight I was ready to step in and help the team a little more.”
On the team’s attitude in the closing minutes…
“There was no doubt in our minds in those last minutes. We knew we were going to win. We just had to finish it. I think this win tonight was hard earned and well deserved for our team.”
#50 Chris Daniels F
On tonight’s game…
“We came and played hard and our main focus was to stop Prince and Hawkins. Coach told us before the game that they were key playmakers. Since we controlled them the first and second half we were able to pull the game out.”
On winning in Rupp Arena…
“It’s always a thrill to win here especially because of Kentucky’s tradition. It was a big confidence thing since it was our first time winning here in a long time. We just have to enjoy it and come out and work hard tomorrow.”
On the conference win…
“It does a lot for us even if it was just our second SEC game. It puts us in good standing because they were probably picked to win the SEC East and this gives us a little bit of respect.”
