KENTUCKY (4-3, 0-0 SEC)
vs. Chattanooga (4-3, 0-0 SoCON)
Tuesday, December 5 – 7:00 p.m. ET
Freedom Hall (21,750) – Louisville, KY
TV: BBSN
Kentucky will travel down I-64 for the first time this season as they travel to Louisville for their annual neutral site game in Freedom Hall taking on the Chattanooga Mocs. The Wildcats will look to keep their unblemished record against Chattanooga intact. UK owns a 10-0 mark against the Mocs, but the two haven?t met on the hardwood since 1991, an 86-70 victory by the Cats. Tuesday?s match-up will be the first time the two have met in Louisville where Kentucky possesses a 117-31 (.791) mark.
The game also marks the second time this season Kentucky has faced a member of the Southern Conference. The Wildcats hosted College of Charleston in their last outing in Rupp Arena defeating the Cougars 77-61.
The UK-Chattanooga game is the first of two games in Freedom Hall this month for the Wildcats. They will return on December 16 to take on in-state rival Louisville.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – DEC. 4
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening remarks?
?With our morning practices, we?ve been trying to get them in early to get them some shots. The major things we had to work on after the North Carolina game was ball handling and taking care of the basketball. We felt like we played a very good game against them, other than the turnovers. We just couldn?t get some of our outside shots to fall. I thought overall though, after looking at the film I thought we did do some good things. We corrected some of the problems we had earlier, as I mentioned rebounding and defense. We played excellent defense on (Tyler) Hansbrough. Randolph (Morris) had a good all-around game, on the offensive end and on the defensive end. We probably didn?t get the ball to him enough. We probably didn?t give him enough touches inside. Those are some things we can really correct, some things we really worked on Sunday and this morning to try and get ready for a good Chattanooga team. Chattanooga is a team that has some very good players. They?re very athletic. (Nicchaeus) Doaks is a kid who is a 6-7 guard who can do a lot of different things. His stats are pretty impressive. Keddric Mays is a very solid player. They have some very talented players who have played on the road. They?ve had three games on the road and they?ve won one. So, they know what it is like to play in a hostile arena. We have a lot of things we need to improve on. We know we have to play one of our better games in those areas for us to be successful. Our major concern is our mental and psychological state. There are no moral victories in losses like there are in wins. We feel like we keep making mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot. That?s a sign of a team that is really not taking care of the basketball. They?re focused, they are just not executing. We spent a lot of time this morning just working on execution. We did a lot of dummy-offensive work, offensive timing work. Hopefully that will pay off.?
On the mental state of his team?
?We?ve lost the last three out of four games, so we?re very concerned. You do get a little edgy. It?s bad enough that you lose two in a row, but now we?ve lost three out of the last four. It?s not the quality of our opponents, but it?s the way we?re losing. Twenty-two turnovers, 18 turnovers, 20 turnovers; that?s sending the message that guys are just not playing together. We?re just not executing like we should. Granted we played some good opponents in UCLA, Memphis and North Carolina, but we?ve got to win those games. We have to find a way to win those games and we have to find a way to take care of the basketball. It?s not just one guy and that?s the problem. Everybody is turning it over. So now you say, do you limit possessions? We did some of that against North Carolina. They did a good job of stopping our transition. I thought we stopped their transition for the most part too. There are so many possessions in a game, so do you speed it up saying maybe we?re taking too much time? If we speed it up I?d like to see us a least get a shot up there rather than turn it over. We?ve been trying to play up-tempo. I don?t think that?s been the issue. I think because we?re so indecisive in what we want to run that our execution has been poor.?
On improving on the offensive execution?
?There?s always a transition in an offense. From trying to run, to going into your set plays to trying to run your motion offense and then you have the shot clock, so if you don?t get anything in your primary break then maybe you?ll get something in a two-on-one, and then you have to settle in and try to run your secondary break. We?re not flowing from our secondary break into our basic motion offense very well at all. Guys are putting it on the floor, trying to do something too soon and not being patient. A lot of it stems from us not executing in our secondary because we should be able to get some easy baskets or open looks if we would just run the floor. We try to pitch it ahead, and we must have turned it over four or five times when we were trying to pitch it ahead when we had a break opportunity. Or we made a steal or somebody tried to force something, and we didn?t take advantage of it. So, that conversion from defense to offense is the part we?re having trouble with. As a staff we have to decide if we should push it up fast or if we should slow it up and just walk the ball up the court and run plays.?
On whether or not he will push the ball up the floor?
?I think we have to try and push the ball up the court, especially with our ball handlers and I think that is the indecisiveness we?re having. Plus you want Randolph (Morris) to get as many touches as he can. If he rebounds the ball and we have numbers let?s take it. Let?s make sure he?s getting some touches inside because he?s playing pretty well.?
On Ramel Bradley?
?Ramel has played well. He?s one of the guys that if you look at his stats he?s one of the guys who is doing some pretty good things. Obviously, the turnover to assist ratio should be a little better. He didn?t make any shots the other day like he should have. The problem was he didn?t get that many open looks. He and Joe (Crawford) both have been shooting the ball pretty well up until the other day. One of the things is the number of minutes. We?re getting back to the point where some of the guys aren?t playing as many minutes. Joe (Crawford) has just been playing too many minutes that he?s wearing down. I thought we might have a chance there in the second half when they put in their second unit. We couldn?t really close the gap. We had our starting five on the court and I think they had their second five. It was right around the 15-16 minute mark and we didn?t have the energy or the legs I guess to push through and pull even or close the gap. I thought that was a critical part of the game.?
On the play of his three and four spots?
?Sheray (Thomas), other than the turnovers he had a couple of bad turnovers the other day the shovel pass and the over the head pass, he?s not making shots that?s the other thing. There?s not a whole lot of other people making shots other than Randolph (Morris) though. That?s one of the problems we?re having. Sheray is doing the things we?ve asked him to do. He?s played tough defense inside and I think that was one of the keys we gave him. We?ve been better defensively and he?s been a large part of that. He?s been more physical. Perry (Stevenson) has been banged up. This is the grind and the adjustment to college basketball. He?s got to toughen up and be ready to play. I think he?ll be fine. With Bobby (Perry) he hasn?t been as productive at the three spot as he would be at the four spot. That may be something I?m still looking at. Hopefully he can, he did step up the last game at North Carolina and made some shots.?
On the possibility of a lineup change?
?That?s where the ball-handling problem is when you put another guy on the perimeter (talking about Bobby Perry moving to the four spot). Even though Bobby isn?t really turning the ball over, that?s still not a smooth transition like if you had a Derrick (Jasper) or a Ramel (Bradley) out there. Whoever is going to give us a smoother transition and better ball handlers needs to be out there.?
On trying to find the keys to winning close games?
?It?s just mental toughness, we try to sharpen it in practice. Those things you just have to have. Our players just haven?t made plays at the end of the game. It?s just more in their head. Other than the last couple of years, I thought we were tough in that area. But, like anything it?s a cycle. You have the right guards who will make good decisions and get the ball to the right people, or stick with the play. It takes a lot of discipline. I would think we are a pretty veteran team with who we have out on the court, but you may have two freshmen out there. Even in late game situations I think we had Derrick (Jasper) on the floor against UCLA. For the most part the games haven?t been close for us to win.?
On if the North Carolina game was a step forward for the team?
?For the most part we did stick to the game plan. I think that was a step forward, and the most positive thing we can take out of the game. If there was something good to take out of the game, it was that we did defend and rebound better. Which is what we?ve put the most emphasis on, I guess we may have put too much emphasis on it. We obviously didn?t put enough on offense. North Carolina is a very physical team who likes to overplay things and deny passing lanes, and we should have been able to get a lot more baskets. We should have a lot more cuts to the basket, and we didn?t.?
Kentucky Players
#3 Ramel Bradley, PG
On the team?s turnovers?
?I think we just have to make smarter decisions. We have to make the right plays at the right times and play smarter.?
On what he thinks of the loss to North Carolina?
?Right now, it is out of my mind. I am just focused on getting better defensively and improving offensively as well.?
On whether the team?s up-tempo pace can account for its turnovers?
?We want to play at a faster pace, but we also want to make smarter decisions. That?s not an excuse for turning the ball over. Last game, I thought I took care of the ball well. It is coming along.?
On whether the team?s three losses does anything to hurt its confidence?
?We have got to take those losses as something in the past. Those games are over. We know we could have won them if we had made the right plays and made smarter decisions.?
#13 Bobby Perry, F
On the team?s three losses?
?It is unacceptable regardless of who we have played against. We know we?re better than that. We have a tough game against Chattanooga in Louisville tomorrow, but we feel good about it.?
On whether it makes him feel better to see all the recent losses by top 25 teams?
?It makes me feel better in one way because we see that they have lost and we can see the opportunities that we have. We know when we get into conference play, we can win games. That is just the parity in college basketball right now.?
On the team?s confidence level?
?Our confidence level is very high right now. Our defense is improving. We are working on a few things. We just need to do a better job taking care of the basketball.?
On the team?s morale?
?Our hopes are still very high. This is just the beginning of the season. We can?t afford to get down. We have to come out and play hard every night.?
#10 Lukasz Obrzut, F
On whether the team feels any pressure right now?
?There is always pressure. There is pressure when you win and there is pressure when you lose. Everybody on the team is aware of that pressure. We are just looking forward to stepping up as a team.?
On the play of point guard Ramel Bradley?
?Ramel has great court vision and passing ability. He is also a tremendous shooter and scorer. That helps him in a lot of ways, but sometimes it hurts him when he is looking for shots. He does a good job of passing into the post and then relocating himself after the pass.?
On the play of freshman Derrick Jasper?
?Derrick is a hard-working young individual. He always does the right things every time he is on the court. He is 6-6 and can play any of the three guard positions. He is so lean and his arms are long, almost like a Rajon Rondo, but he is taller. The best thing that he does is he can drive to the basket and then looks for the open man. His shooting ability is getting better and better every time out.?
