Feb. 25, 2011
| Gameday Information | |
|---|---|
| Game Notes |
Kentucky Game Notes  | Florida Game Notes |
| Date & Time | Sat., Feb. 26, 4:00 p.m. ET |
| Coverage | TV: CBS Radio: BBSN GameTracker Live Video via CBS Online Audio Live Blog Text Updates |
| Location | Rupp Arena Lexington, Ky. |
Kentucky dropped a 77-76 overtime heartbreaker on Wednesday in Fayetteville, Ark. Trailing by one with 12 seconds remaining and the ball, UK had three cracks at a game-winner, but was never able to knock it down.
Brandon Knight scored a personal-best and game-high 26 points, while pulling down a career-high eight rebounds and dishing out five assists in a career-high 43 minutes of action.
Josh Harrellson tallied his fifth double-double this season and the first in his conference career with 12 points and 14 rebounds. He also added three blocked shots, all in a career-high 42 minutes.
Joining Knight and Harrellson in double-figures were DeAndre Liggins (13), Darius Miller (13) and Terrence Jones (10).
Pregame Press Conference Quotes
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
On what makes Florida forward Chandler Parsons such a good offensive rebounder …
“He’s active. He plays really hard, he’s very active. He attempts to rebound on every offensive shot. We’re doing percentages right now on rebound attempts. Last game against Arkansas our rebound attempts were about 55 percent and that’s on the defensive end. 55 percent, which is why they got 22 offensive rebounds. We had guys who didn’t even attempt to rebound, forget about getting the ball. And then offensively it was about 60 percent. The games before that they were both above 80 percent, attempts and offensive attempts. For him, his offensive attempts I’d bet you are in the high 90s. That’s why he goes and gets them – it’s just effort. It’s not that he’s more athletic, it’s not that he’s bigger, he’s just more active than anybody and that’s what he decides. `I’m going to beat this guy to that ball.’ He’s a terrific player.”
On how Florida seems to be so good in close games and if there’s some luck involved in that …
“No, I don’t want to say that because we’ve been poor in close games and I don’t think it’s been luck. I think you create opportunities and what they do is create opportunities for themselves. You watch our game down there, we were up three and all of a sudden we kick one off a guy’s foot, foul a guy and don’t defensive rebound three times and they came up after us and were the aggressive team. I think what they do is they’ve got players that expect to win and they make plays. I don’t know if there’s a whole lot of luck to it. Just about every game has been a wire-to-wire close game. A couple of them they’ve had two or three blowouts.”
On what the common thread has been in Kentucky’s close losses …
“Well, it’s been a one-point game with a minute to go in probably five of them and we’re not making the plays down the stretch. We don’t make that basket, we don’t get that one stop, we don’t come up with that one rebound. One of the things I said to them yesterday, it’s almost like each of you is expecting the other to do something. You’re all hoping someone does something just so it’s not you. You can’t play that way. I’d rather have two guys bump heads throughout the whole game. We only bumped heads one time against Arkansas and the worst time we could have done it, when DeAndre (Liggins) came flying in when Darius (Miller) had an easy tip in. And it’s the only time, and he does it on that play and tips it away from our guy. That’s it. We had no other attempts where two guys went after balls like that.”
On if their last minute struggles are a matter of nerves or simply not playing well together yet …
“I think we’re just inexperienced, trying to figure it out. We have freshmen and inexperienced other players who were never in close games, and so now they’re all in there trying to figure out who’s doing what. You would hope by this time we would have figured it out. Most of it, again, if you go back to the games it isn’t even an execution play as much as it is defensively or rebound, those kind of plays. And that’s just an effort play. You have to want it worse than that other team. Like I said, the great thing about being in this league is, you have resume building games just about every week. The bad news in this league, you’ve got resume building games every game you turn around. That’s the good and the bad of it. That’s the good stuff for us. We get an opportunity to play a great team, a highly ranked team that may be top 10. If they’re not, they probably should be the way they’re playing. They’re talented guards. They’ve got a deep team. (Billy Donovan’s) playing eight or nine guys, so he’s got some room for error for guy’s not playing well. (They) played well without (Chandler) Parsons, much better with him, obviously.”
On if he’s worried about players’ confidence in late game situations …
“Well demonstrated performance is how you build confidence and we haven’t done it. What I’m doing is just waiting for us to make that play, that shot, that tip-in. Now, Darius (Miller) made an unbelievable 3, so there are signs that we’re doing it. We’re just not all doing it, and understanding this is the point in the game if I get this ball this game’s over. We’re just not quite doing it.”
#3, Terrence Jones, F, Fr.
On if there is revenge in facing Florida …
“Of course. There always is anytime you lose, especially the way we lost in Florida and with it being so close and with us having the lead with such little time left. We were just two rebounds away from winning the game.”
On the key to a win Saturday …
“Rebounds. We let two offensive rebounds go in the earlier game with (Florida) that changed the whole game. That will be important.”
On if he is worried about the team’s confidence …
“I’m not really worried about people’s confidence at home. It seems like people … I really hope I don’t jinx us when I say this; but it seems like people really step up when we are at home.”
#12, Brandon Knight, G, Fr.
On how the team feels after the loss at Arkansas …
“I am mad as an individual and I am pretty sure everyone else is pretty mad as well. But I know how I feel. Angry. Upset. Knowing that we should have won. It’s difficult to lose to teams that we are better than. Some people ask if we feel pressure, but I don’t think we should. We just feel like we have to work harder to play better. We have to continue to work at it and eventually things will come our way.”
On what he thinks is wrong with their play after watching the film …
“When you look at the films, you can see that guys are looking to someone else to make a play. You can kind of see that we are not as aggressive and confident as we should be. That’s not the type of team we are and it’s not the way we want to play. Not sure why that is, but it is. I think we just come out and we play. We haven’t been worrying about it, so why worry about it. We just have to try something different to pull out these wins.”
On playing with confidence …
“I think we have to remember to let things go when they don’t go our way. I am not scared to miss a shot that are good looks. You are happy when you make it and you just have to do something different when you don’t. I think that’s the good thing about great players. I am not going to hold the ball or take a dribble and try to create something that’s not there. If I have an open shot, I’m going to shoot it. If it goes, it goes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. That’s why I work hard in the gym and put up a lot of shots, so that I have confidence in my shots.”
#34, DeAndre Liggins, G, Jr.
On his technical foul …
“Coach (John) Calipari told me to just leave the official alone, play ball and let him do all the talking to the officials. I just have to leave it up to the coach and let him deal with the officials.”
On the loss against Arkansas …
“That was a pretty tough loss. We are just trying to move on. We need to take care of our play and focus on the game tomorrow at home. Everybody has been positive because we all know what we have to do in order to get back on the right track. Me, personally, I am (angry). I play to win. I’m not selfish, but I play to win. I’m (angry). I just have to get it together and step my game up another notch.”
On the upcoming game against Florida …
“When (Florida) is on the road, they actually pull out a win. We don’t do that. We sometimes turn the ball over and we are not as aggressive as we should be down the stretch. But Florida, they make plays down the stretch and pull off close games back-to-back.”
