The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss-Mississippi State Postgame Quotes
2/14/2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2001
Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes:
(On the game)
"During the whole game, we kept thinking that things were going to work out. We just had to keep the faith."
"I have to give (Mississippi) State credit. We had to struggle all night because of their tough play. We kept trying to execute, but they just kept playing well. I thought we did a great job defending. It was defense that kept us in there."
(On the win)
"This was a great win for us. This win was personal for me as a coach. We lost the last four times we played them because they always controlled."
(On number of possessions)
"We shot 20 more times than they did, but this is a strange game. It always is when we play (Mississippi) State in any sport. Anything is possible."
(On taking the team to the next level)
"I'm emotionally drained because we struggled, but we struggled together. We've done all we can do as a team to bring it to the next level. The team has become close, so we need to hang in there and believe we can pull it through."
Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury:
(On the game)
"Had we made our free throws, we probably would have won the game. I give them credit, they converted free throws and battled back to win the ball game."
"We had some good opportunities, but we let them slip by us. We handled ourselves very well in this hostile environment."
Ole Miss senior forward Rahim Lockhart
(On the game)
"We needed to cut back on turnovers. We were trying to make use of our shots and possessions."
(On scoring his 1,000 point as an Ole Miss Rebel)
"I'm happy, but I want to win games. I'm glad that I put myself in that position, but I want to thank my coaches and my teammates."
Ole Miss freshman forward Justin Reed
(On how good Ole Miss is playing right now)
"We're doing good now because of all the work this team has done."
Ole Miss junior guard Jason Harrison
(On making big plays at the end of the game)
"I felt I owed my team for missing two free throws, so I was ready to hit the big shot."
Mississippi State sophomore Derrick Zimmerman
(On the last play)
"With five seconds left, I was supposed to come off a screen and use my quickness to get up the floor and get off a good shot. The play was taken away so we threw the ball to Tony (Jackson), and after that, it was just a bad scene. People had been slipping all night, and he happened to find one of those wet spots. It was over after that."
Mississippi State junior Tyrus Boswell
(On the game)
"It was a hard fought ball game. Whoever had the ball last was going to win. We had the ball last, but there was a mishap. Tony slipped, and it was very unfortunate. It was an ugly game, if we had made our free throws it would have been a lot different."
(On the difference between the teams' two meetings)
"We definitely shot our free throws better last time. That was the biggest difference in the two games. We had our opportunities tonight, we just couldn't get it done."
Mississippi State junior Marckell Patterson
(On the game)
"It was a really tough game. We couldn't get it going in the end. We had a lot of missed free throws, and that was the difference in the game.
(On the Ole Miss/ MSU rivalry)
"Everyone plays aggressive and sometimes that makes the game ugly, but overall it's just a game that we all want to win."