Jan. 4, 2003
Recap?|?Box Score?|?Notes?|?Photo Gallery
UK Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement…
“I’d first like to compliment Ohio. They showed their toughness in the second half, fought and clawed their way back. (Ohio Coach) Tim O’Shea has an excellent team. But I was pleased with our effort after playing four games in the last eight days. We were getting a bit fatigued in the second half and that gave us problems on defense. We were getting leg weary, but I thought we saw some good efforts. Chuck Hayes had 12 rebounds, Cliff gave us seven assists. We shot above 50 percent again.”
On Ohio’s run in the second half…
“I thought Ohio’s effort was a big part of that. But we had some mismatches when we were playing a smaller team. Brandon Hunter, and the rest of their guys, saw an opportunity to get back into it. They really got after the glass. We didn’t respond the way I thought we should have.”
On Kentucky’s pressure defense…
“I thought we did an adequate job of defending their three-point shooting in the first half. Erik (Daniels) is very good on the ball in our press. We had better traps tonight, though not so much in the second half when he had that drought and were missing shots. The press is much more effective when you make shots. But having Cliff (Hawkins) and Antwain (Barbour) in the backcourt gives us much more quickness and speed.”
On UK’s free throw shooting…
“Free throw shooting is still a big concern for us. I was disappointed that we didn’t get more free throw chances, though. Ohio got to the line more and that’s my number one concern. If we get to the line more I think we’ll be able to make more and this shouldn’t be such a psychological concern. We’ve been harping on free throw shooting, but maybe we just need to back off and let it come.”
UK PLAYERS
Keith Bogans
On having to hold off an opponent late in the game…
“We didn’t want them to get on a run like that after being up 19 points, but it was a positive for us because we were able to make big plays down the stretch.”
n using the press going into conference play…
“I’m sure (Coach Smith) will stay with it, because we’ve gotten nothing but good results from our press. Whenever you can get steals and easy baskets from the press it makes us a much better defensive team.”
On how prepared the team is for conference play…
“I think we’re ready. We’ve played a tough schedule and there’s nothing like playing on the road in the SEC. It’ll be a different look for some of the young guys, but for the older guys, we know what it’s all about.”
On playing four games in eight days…
“I’m tired, but not tired of playing basketball. Basketball is fun, it’s what I love to do.”
Marquis Estill
On the difference between the first half and second half…
“I think we let our guard down. We had a nice lead and just let up a little bit and they took advantage of it. It seemed like their whole team started crashing the boards and picking up the intensity.”
“In the first half we were playing harder than they were and we were able to out-work them, but in the second half they picked it up.”
Erik Daniels
On his performance…
“I just try to let the game come to me. For me to have a big game today, I was just happy to play hard and do whatever it took to get the win. I felt really good playing in front of my friends and family today, and it was nice to be able to get the victory and give a good performance.”
Gerald Fitch
On Ohio’s late rally…
“We had a big lead in the first half, and they came back in the second half and made it a game. We got more comfortable with the lead in the second half. I wasn’t even looking at the scoreboard in the second half, but they wanted the game to end a little differently. They fought back and made it a great game.
On Kentucky’s busy eight-day schedule…
“It has been tiring, but everybody on this team likes to play games and that’s what we’re here for. When you have a four game stretch in a week, that’s a lot of moving around for us, and that’s what the guys on this team like. Fewer practices and more games, that’s what we like.”
Ohio Head Coach Tim O’Shea
Thoughts on the game…
“I am obviously very happy with our team’s effort today. We were able to make it a three-point game late, and I was happy with our play down the stretch. We are certainly better than we were a month ago.”
On rebounding and Kentucky’s pressure…
“Kentucky is really athletic, definitely more than us. In the second half (Brandon) Hunter really stepped up and finished with 16 rebounds for the game. We turned the ball over too much under pressure. They brought more pressure than we’ve seen all year.”
On playing games against the nation’s best teams…
“We play in a good mid-major conference. These types of games make us better. We beat UNC last season and it was hard to schedule these games, but this type of game really prepares us well. I look at all these cameras and we don’t get this in Athens (Ohio). It’s incumbent on me to market the university and the program through who we play.”
On UK’s control and Ohio cutting the lead to three late in the game…
“We started to throw in some crazy shots. That can spark a team. Against a team like Kentucky you need a few shots like that to go in.”
OHIO PLAYERS
#34 Brandon Hunter, Forward
On the difference in his play from the first half to the second…
“I was a little too excited in the first half. Early in the second half I made a couple of easy shots and got myself going. The Kentucky defense got stretched in the second half because our wing players were hitting some shots, so that opened some opportunities for me on the inside.”
On why Ohio rebounded better in the second half…
“Collectively we boxed out much better in the second half than we did in the first. Rebounding is a main focus for me right now. Earlier in my career I was more concerned with scoring, but now I have more scorers around me and I’ve turned my attention to rebounding and defense. As a team we realize now how important rebounding is if we are going to win.”
#32 Sonny Johnson, Guard
On how Ohio was able to make a run at UK in the second half…
“We came together as a team late in the game. Our chemistry is improving every game. We never got down on ourselves and we believed we could win the game the whole time. No one got down on anyone else. We were all encouraging each other and just kept working hard.”
On how he got on such a roll offensively…
“I take chances on the floor – that’s just the way I play. If I start feeling it I’ll shoot it. Hopefully that sparks the team. Tonight I just felt good and got rolling with my shot.”
