Feb. 4, 2003
Recap?|?Box Score?|?Notes?|?Photo Gallery
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement…
“This was a great college basketball game for us. Our players were very focused coming into the game and ready to play. Our energy was very high early, but I was a little worried that we were running up and down the court too much. I thought Florida dictated tempo and kept the pace of the game up. They are a very good team and were deserving of the No. 1 ranking. But our crowd and our players were so into it. I could feel the energy in the building. We’ve been having good practices, and I was pleased all-around with the way we played.”
On Kentucky’s run in the first half…
“We were really focused on both sides of the ball. I thought we were able to confuse them with our man-to-man defense and some of the switching, which forced Florida to go to their second and third options. We have the greatest fans in the world and when they get going they can really take you out of a game. We had Florida taking quick shots, which helped us get some easy baskets, and the crowd really got us energized.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“We have been playing very good defense of late. It has been a focus of ours since the holidays. We’ve just gone back to the basics, like pressuring the ball, and now that we have the full complement of players it is really coming together. Cliff (Hawkins) gives us so much quickness around the perimeter and Gerald (Fitch) and Keith (Bogans) have been playing very well. Chuck (Hayes) is just a warrior. It’s just like a snowball or a windmill or a pendulum once it gets going. The guys understand that if they play good defense we can win games.”
UK PLAYERS
1 Cliff Hawkins, guard
On the team’s statement …
“Florida’s a big game on our schedule and we got a win. We’re not worried about making statements right now. We want to make our statement [in the NCAA Tournament].
On defending their perimeter players…
“They have some great shooters. They were struggling in the first half. A couple of guys got it going in the second half. Not to take anything away from Florida, but we had their number tonight.”
44 Chuck Hayes, forward
On scoring so many points in the first half…
“We were kind of surprised, but we know our capabilities. We thought they would have some more offense, but that just shows how great our defense was.”
On Kentucky’s confidence level…
“We’re playing [with a lot of confidence] right now. We’ve looked back on the past and learned from our mistakes. We’re playing with a good rhythm right now. This was a big win for us. We’re going to enjoy it tonight, but tomorrow we’re back at it.”
4 Gerald Fitch, guard
On the early lead…
“We just wanted to keep it going. Florida is a great team and we knew the game could be switched around at any time so we were trying to keep them where we had them. Going into halftime with a 24-point lead I think they were probably a little rattled.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“We still make defensive mistakes. We didn’t play our best defense tonight, but Coach keeps working with us to make us better. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a championship team.”
On the play of Keith Bogans…
“Keith’s play didn’t surprise me. He was the most focused leading up to the game and through warm-ups so what he did out there tonight didn’t surprise me at all.”
Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan
On the game as a whole…
“All I can say is that Kentucky outplayed us the entire night, in every facet of the game.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“My personal opinion was that their pressure wasn’t as good as Kansas. But what Tubby’s teams do a good job of is playing team defense. We were losing our heads a bit and played too much one-on-one. Our mindset was too much on offense and scoring. They took us out of our game.”
On the effect being No. 1 had on his team…
“We knew we were coming into a big game. This was perfect timing for us to be No. 1 because us playing Kentucky overshadowed the ranking. It’s a big conference match up with both teams undefeated and working for first in the league. We didn’t have to answer a lot of questions about being No. 1 because we were coming to play Kentucky.”
On whether his freshmen were rattled tonight…
“I didn’t think the freshmen were rattled. I think the seniors were. They shot 5 for 21 collectively. We didn’t get a point from the front court in the first half.”
On Brett Nelson’s night…
“Brett (Nelson) is doing some other things than scoring. UK is a good team. They made adjustments and put some pressure on us.”
On what it takes to beat Kentucky…
“There are three things you have to do to beat Kentucky. First you have to make a lot of scrappy plays. Kentucky won that battle tonight. You also have to hit from the three-point line and defend. They hit seven in the first half. Kentucky won there. And you have to rebound. You just have to be competitive in all those areas to battle with Kentucky.”
FLORIDA PLAYERS
1 Anthony Roberson, Guard
On what Florida learned about Kentucky…
“They have a really good team and they definitely outplayed us tonight. They showed that they wanted to win by their attitude, and we didn’t match that attitude.”
On how Kentucky set the tone early…
“They got a big jump on us and we had to dig out of a huge hole. We made a little run in the second half, but we were in too big of a hole. We just wanted to play hard all the way to the end.”
44 Matt Walsh, Forward
On how Kentucky was able to shut down the three-point shot…
“They did a great job of guarding us. Their rotations were good and we weren’t executing offensively. In the first half we didn’t make the right cuts and screens and we were in a lull offensively.”
On how humbling this experience was…
“Tonight was humbling in the sense that we learned if we don’t play hard and play as a team that good teams will beat us like this. We are going to have to work hard on defense and rebounding if we’re going to become the team we want to become.”
