The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss-LSU Postgame Quotes
2/7/2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2001
Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes:
(On the game)
"We have a very excited basketball team. We are not playing as well as I think we should be on offense, but as I have told our guys, defense wins championships."
(On Jason Holmes being suspended)
"Jason Holmes is served a one-game suspension tonight for unsportsmanlike conduct during one of our previous games. Jason understands that what he did was wrong and has apologized to his teammates, our coaching staff and will apologize to the Ole Miss fans at his first opportunity. That is all I am going to comment on this matter and our players will not be commenting on this matter."
(On the game being "ugly")
"A win is a win. Nobody is going to look at a win as ugly. I will take a win any day."
(On the physicalness of the game)
"They wore down because they do not have the depth that we do. Their starting five is just as good as ours is, but they just do not have the bench to match ours."
Ole Miss senior Rahim Lockhart:
(On wearing down LSU)
"Our defense always plays aggressive. We just had to go in there and play our defense. They just did not have enough depth to take our pressure the whole game."
Ole Miss sophomore David Sanders:
(On the Tennessee game)
"Tennessee is going to score a lot more than 33 points. We are going to have to adjust to their up-and-down play. Coach always does a good job of preparing us in practice. We will be ready."
Ole Miss freshman Aaron Harper:
(On preparing for this game)
"We came in here prepared for their level of play. Coach told us it would a slow-paced game because of their lack of depth, and that is how the game played out."
(On his performance)
"My shooting has been better. I felt more confidence shooting the ball. Coach told me he has all the confidence in me and my shooting abilities. I knew I would go through a slump at some point in the season. I am just glad I am doing better now."
LSU head coach John Brady:
(On the game)
"I thought you saw two teams tonight that played extremely well on defense and extremely hard. Ole Miss was just able to hit some shots and we were not. We did some things well. We out-rebounded them and held them to 50 points on their homecourt, but we just could not hit our shots. Ole Miss was better than we were on offense, they win, we lose."
(On Ole Miss' defense)
"One thing that Rod Barnes has done here is get his guys to play tough defense, especially here in Oxford. That is one reason why last year's game (97-53 LSU win) surprised me so much."
(On LSU's effort)
"The effort of our team, considering what has happened to us this season and where we are at, is good. I have to compliment our players on that."
LSU sophomore Ronald Dupree:
(On the game)
"Coming into the game, we knew we had to take care of the ball. We could not handle their pressure tonight. They play great defense. In the first half, we thought we could find a way to make a shot, but our shots just were not falling."
LSU junior Jason Wilson:
(On Ole Miss)
"They play good hard-nosed defense. They were on us all night. We had good looks at the basket, but the shots did not fall tonight."