Feb. 15, 2002
Head Coach Tubby Smith
“We’re getting ready for a big stretch here – these last few regular season games. So we have to really concentrate and be more consistent both offensively and defensively. We need to pick up our intensity. Our guys are really starting to focus in and understand the magnitude of where we are in relationship to what we need to do to win the SEC regular season title.”
On Georgia…
“They have a very talented team. They beat us here and they beat Florida on the road. Coach Harrick has done a terrific job all year long. I know they, like us, have had some distractions, but they seem to be coming together now.”
“We have to be able to contain Ezra Williams and Jarvis Hayes, but they have a lot of other weapons that can beat you if you’re not prepared to play defense the whole 40 minutes. You have to be aware that they have a lot of different people that can beat you in a lot of different ways.”
“We’ve been working on stopping their offense. They are one of the few teams that has shot over 50% on us so we have to be ready for that. It will be a real challenge because I’m sure Stegeman Coliseum will be rocking.”
On rising and falling to the level of the competition…
“I don’t see it like that. I just think we got beat by pretty good teams at the time. I thought in all the games we lost, we’ve been right there – we just didn’t make the one or two plays at the end. When you look back at the Georgia game, we just didn’t play very good defense. We both shot the ball extremely well and we had chances at the end to get stops. We haven’t been making those plays.”
On Tayshaun Prince…
“I think we’ve been helping him out a little by providing some balance. Gerald (Fitch) is scoring better, Keith (Bogans) is starting to pick it up, the bench is helping out, and I think that’s taking some of the pressure off of Tayshaun. Teams can’t stack their defense to stop just him.”
On team chemistry…
“We’re starting to see that guys are doing a lot of talking on the court to one another, trying to get them pumped up. Cliff (Hawkins) is starting to show the leadership we need, both on and off the court. J.P. (Blevins) is starting to get in the flow of things again and he’s filling his leadership role off the court and even on the bench. And you can see when he comes in the game he’s upbeat and energized.”
On Georgia guard/forward Jarvis Hayes…
“He’s really a great player. I think he’s as good of a shooting guard/wing player as anyone we play. He’s a special talent. He can go inside, he can go outside, he has good hands, he has speed, and he has a good feel for the game.”
Marquis Estill
On the Georgia game…
“This is a very big game for us. They got us the first time we played them and we’re looking forward to getting some revenge.”
On the Georgia loss in January…
“We didn’t play good defense and we let them control the game. We have to come out and play our game and try to take over.”
“We haven’t been playing ball like we’re capable of. Sometimes we play great the first half and let teams get back in the game in the second half. We have to stay focused and play better throughout the whole game.”
J.P. Blevins
On Georgia…
“Defending the three is a big key for us tomorrow. That was the dagger that got us here at Rupp. We have to make big shots and play with a lot of character in a rowdy environment.”
On the Georgia loss…
“They came in here and made all the right plays down the stretch. Hayes and Williams just kept knocking down threes. I think they had 50 points between them and that can’t happen again.”
On the season…
“We have more losses than we would like but there are a lot of games left, and we feel like we have a team that can rally and make a big run late. It starts at Georgia, so we’ll have to come out with everything we have tomorrow.
On the team…
“I have all the confidence in the world in my teammates and my coaching staff and we’re going to be there in the end. I know everyone on this team believes that will all their heart.”
Chuck Hayes
On Georgia…
“They are big time players, and we have to contain them. We know they will do things different (than the last time the teams met) and so will we. We have to deny them the ball. We have to get Hayes out of his comfort zone and rough him up a little bit. We have to make him work for it.”
On how many more loses UK can afford to take…
“We can’t take any. We have to get hot quick and stay hot.”
On how Tayshaun Prince leads the team…
“He helps us out a lot by his actions. If he wants to tell you something, he’ll tell you. He helps me out by telling me how I can get better, different things I can do.”
On UK’s defense the past couple of games…
“We just got in their face. Once they get past half court, we put the clamps on, and that’s what we have to keep doing.”
Jules Camara
On what the team needs to do down the stretch of the season…
“We have to be more consistent. We know we are better than some of the teams we play, but we play to their level.”
On whether there is enough time for the team to pull together for postseason…
“There’s time left, but we have to be able to play hard every time we go out. We’ve put ourselves against the wall a little, and we can’t afford to lose many more games.”
