NO. 25 KENTUCKY (15-5, 4-2 SEC)
vs. Tennessee (14-6, 2-3 SEC)
Sunday, January 28 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Rupp Arena (23,000) ? Lexington, Ky
TV: CBS
|
Kentucky looks to snap a two-game losing skid when it hosts long-time SEC rival Tennessee in the 202nd meeting between the schools.
The Wildcats were riding an 11-game win streak, their longest in four seasons, before dropping their last two contests to Vanderbilt and Georgia. The 78-69 overtime loss at Athens came despite a 17-point UK lead in the first half.
Like UK, Tennessee is also struggling, having lost four of its last five games, including all three SEC road contests.
Although the Wildcats have won nine of the last 10 meetings with Tennessee, the two split last year?s series, with each school winning on the others? home floor. UT defeated the Cats 75-67 in Rupp Arena. UK returned the favor in Knoxville with an 80-78 win over the Vols.
UK?s Joe Crawford leads the SEC with a 20.3 scoring average in league play.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – JAN. 26
Kentucky Head Coach Tubby Smith
On Kentucky basketball …
?I want to thank you all for placing Kentucky basketball on a box of Wheaties. It?s really an honor. It?s a privilege, obviously, that we share with all Kentucky Wildcat fans, alumni and players, past, present day and future. It?s great that we?ve featured the school and logo on the box of Wheaties. We all know that Wheaties has a long history and tradition just like we do. We really appreciate this, your honoring Kentucky basketball in such a special way. It?s only 100 calories too. It?s something even I can eat. Some of you out there are laughing and I don?t know why.?
?When you talk about Kentucky basketball and you see a box of Wheaties, I?ve always been impressed with the Breakfast of Champions. We appreciate that trademark. We?ve been very successful here at Kentucky over the years. Hopefully, we can continue to carry on the great tradition that we?ve had in the past.?
?I?ve always been a fan of Wheaties. When you participate in sports and consider yourself an athlete, that?s one of the things that you think about (greatness) when you see individuals or teams on there (the front of the box). It?s motivating. It?s inspirational. I think most youngsters, and most people will run out and buy it. It?s a great marketing piece. It?s also very healthy for you; we?re talking about whole grain wheat. It?s just the best, and I appreciate General Mills and the folks at Wheaties for doing this.?
Opening Comments:
?We?re going to continue with the tradition of Kentucky basketball, and that brings us to our point of the last couple of games leading up to Tennessee. Before we go forward we need to go back and correct the mistakes and things that we didn?t do well. Hopefully, we can continue to do the things that we have been doing well. The first half against Georgia, I thought was one of the best halves that we?ve played this year. We had excellent ball movement. We were rebounding. I knew at halftime they (Georgia) had a number of uncontested shots that didn?t go down. We really told our guys, you have to get out and contest their shots better. Those shots will start falling. We?ve got to continue to execute, because you know Georgia is a very good defensive team. I knew they were very capable of playing the way they played (in the second half). It is just what they did. I think they had a big lift from their crowd. We just didn?t execute. We also had some combinations out on the floor that just didn?t work. Of course they were the same combinations that were on the floor in the first half when it did work out. I saw our players get very hesitant, very tentative to attack and they caused turnovers in very opportune times. It goes back to what I thought. We didn?t do a good job of executing, especially on defense in the second half and especially boxing out like we had in the first half. That?s something we?ll turn our attention to today. We were off yesterday. Today we?re going to work on finishing plays, something we have not done well. Just like on any team, everybody has a role to play and everybody has a responsibility. If one person doesn?t do the job, or if one person is out of position, one person doesn?t box out, one person doesn?t set a screen, it won?t work and you?ll get beat. That?s what has been happening. We were close to getting everybody on the same page on every play but, it?s kind of been like that in practice where you?ve had to correct someone on every possession. We?ve got to get everybody working together as a team and helping one another in those situations. Tennessee is a very talented team. They really push the ball up the court. They shoot the three extremely well. They are taking 20-plus to 25 threes a game. They?re playing a small lineup that creates problems for us lots of times. They shoot almost 30 free throws a game, so they?re really doing some good things. They rebound the ball well, and then we know about their press. They can force a lot of turnovers if you don?t take care of the ball. Even without (Chris) Lofton they?re still a very good team. We?ll continue to prepare the way we normally would. I hope we can continue to get some solid play, I thought Joe Crawford gave us a great game at Georgia. Again that?s where the breakdown is, we?re not getting everybody on the same page or playing well at the same time. Ramel (Bradley) has struggled the last couple of games. Randolph (Morris) got in foul trouble. We didn?t get the same production that we got from Bobby (Perry) and Sheray (Thomas) that we got in the game before (Vanderbilt). Although I thought guys like Derrick Jasper, Jodie Meeks, Michael Porter and Perry Stevenson really gave us good minutes off of the bench. So, we?ll try to get them in the game more in the future. I was hoping that it would be as it was in the first half. But, I thought in the second half they became very physical inside and really attacked us. We had problems stopping Georgia. That?s something we?ve really got to work on.?
On preparing as if Chris Lofton will play in the game on Sunday?
?We have to prepare the same way whether he is there or not. He certainly draws a lot more attention when he is out there, but that?s not to say they aren?t still a good team. They all have the skills and the ability. JaJuan Smith and Dane Bradshaw and all of those kids can really shoot the ball well. That?s a big part of their offense is their outside shooting whether Chris is there or not, so we have to prepare the same way.?
On attacking Tennessee?s press?
?I?m very concerned, because the pressure really hurt us at Georgia. It hurt us against Vanderbilt. Teams are really starting to get up on us and taking things away. We?re not being patient or poised enough to look for the options that are there. We?ll work on that today and tomorrow on how to attack their press. Hopefully we?ll find a way to attack it the right way. With any kind of pressure you have to be strong with the ball and come and meet the passes. We have to try and attack them up and down and not go sideways, because that?s when a press can really hurt you.?
On late game execution?
?It?s not as much as getting in the right personnel that may be a large part of it. We need to make sure we have the right people in the game. We need to get those guys in there together as well as practicing together.?
On whether or not he is considering a lineup change?
?Possibly. It?s an overtime loss, and we had chances there at the end of regulation. We had about two chances there at the end of regulation to win it and we didn?t. Again, those guys are not as productive as we expect. There is that concern. But, maybe if we make a change that will help, maybe it will give us a boost or give us a lift.?
On whether or not a team can get too comfortable during a game?
?Absolutely that can happen, and that?s what I?ve said from the beginning. I?ve said all along that we just haven?t been consistent. We?ve been very up and down in games. We have droughts on offense and on defense. A lot of times an opposing team has a lot to do with it, but a lot of it for us is just not toughening it out or being disciplined enough to finish it out. That?s the same thing that happens at practice, we?ll go about an hour or an hour and half and then everybody seems to just kind of fade out. We?ve got to get them to finish practice the right way so then we can get them to finish games and plays the right way.?
Kentucky Players
#13, Bobby Perry
On thinking about getting beat by Tennessee last year?
?We do think about it. We look forward to this game because you remember when people do bad things to you but Tennessee is a good team and they are going to be fired up, ready to take care of business. They have a great coach and he will have them ready. We cannot focus on last year because they are a whole new team so we have to prepare for this game.?
On playing Tennessee without Chris Lofton?
?They are still a very capable team, I have not looked at them a lot on film except for the games that have been shown on national television but I have not seen them play without Lofton but they will be ready to play regardless.?
On being mentally tougher late in the game?
?We have to change our mindset and think about not turning the ball over and making that good pass. We have to think about making the pass and making the good play and if we do that then we will be better down the stretch.?
#32, Joe Crawford
On leading the conference in scoring?
?I did not know that, I have been going through a hot streak right now and I have been working hard and the work is paying off.?
On whether this two-game losing streak is worse than coming back from Maui?
?It is a tough period but I don?t think that we?re down. We already have 15 wins and we still have a lot of games to go and we can?t get down and feel like we are in a bad spot. We have to stay positive because we have a lot of opportunities ahead.?
On thinking is this team is tough enough mentally and physically?
?We have tough ball players and we have shown that throughout the season. We should have won that game against Georgia but we just let down but we did a lot of great things in that game (Georgia) so we will be ready to pull it out for the rest of the season.?
On working harder in the second half?
?I think that we didn?t come out with that aggressive attitude and as far as offensively I think we weren?t looking to score like we should have. We didn?t have the attack and that is what made us lose the game.?
