The University of Mississippi Athletics
Postgame Quotes
2/27/2008 | Men's Basketball
On the slow start ...
"It was unbelievable. We are a team that has been struggling a lot defensively at times. We had a really difficult time manufacturing points tonight. We realized before we came in here that Kentucky does a tremendous job of not allowing players to get open. So we talked the past couple days about working off the ball. Basic cuts and screening were things that we knew were going to be necessary, if we were going to get some offense. We struggled tonight at times until the guys realized that the coach was telling the truth. We started to get some dribble penetration and got some looks at the basket, but we continued to struggle to score. As a result we still didn't manufacture enough points to get the win."
On Trevor Gaskins' three-point shot at the end of the game ...
"From my vantage point it looked pretty good. If we could get that trip down the court again for the game then I would take it again. It was a pretty good look. We were able to stay in the game because of second chance points and the guys were doing a great job of keeping the ball alive. Dwayne Curtis kept his poise and pitched the ball to the outside to a shooter who took a shot. Unfortunately for us we were shooting par for the course after shooting such low percentages for the game. It is difficult to win on the road with the kind of numbers that we had."
On the scoring runs in the game ...
"I thought our guys were very resilient tonight. We did a decent job in the second half and we coached better. We started to gain some points and we were trying to confuse them a little bit. We were really trying to limit Patrick Patterson's touches quite a bit. He is such a force at the rim. We knew that if we did that, then it would come down to our ability to guard Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford and I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half."
Ole Miss Players
#23, Trevor Gaskins
On the difference in the second half ...
"We just came out and played hard. We played harder in the second half then we did in the first half. We had better execution, stops and rebounds (in the second half). We executed plays and made shots. That's how we came back in the second half."
On the importance of bouncing back for the next game ...
"You have to come out every day and practice hard. We have to focus and prepare for the next game."
On playing in Rupp Arena ...
"It was my first time playing in Rupp. It was a lot like Tennessee but Kentucky fans were a lot louder. I like it. It's a really nice environment."
#12, Chris Warren
On Ole Miss' slow start in the first half ...
"I would say we didn't come out mentally prepared. We didn't come out ready to play and they exposed that on the offensive and defensive end."
On the second half comeback ...
"We didn't want the game to be over at halftime and end up losing by 20. We came out in the second half with a sense of pride. This was my first time playing here, and we wanted to come out in the second half and put on a show. We are on the verge of where we need to start winning some games on the road and at home. At halftime it just hit us that in order to start winning we need to start playing harder throughout the game."
On his individual performance ...
"They had the same defensive scheme on me in the second half as they did in the fist half. I just got into a better rhythm than what I had in the first half. I got us back into the game with some of my baskets, and we made some tough shots. But it wasn't enough to win the game."
Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening statement ...
"It was a real good win for us. We were lucky to escape. We're excited about escaping. We played great at the start, not very good at the end. But, very lucky to get a win out of tonight."
On Ole Miss' rebounding ...
"Well they beat us 20-to-two, so I think that's pretty effective. They averaged 16 or 17. They're really good at it. We had a great day on Saturday in that regard against a very athletic team and not a very good day today. Regardless we were able to win and that's the most important thing. I'm very proud of our efforts, and we held them to 54 points which is way below their norm. We just couldn't make anything in the second half. We're also lucky to get out of here with a win. We're very proud of it."
On losing the big lead ...
"They made some shots, we made some mistakes, and you know that teams in this conference aren't going to let you continue to get out on them. We started missing shots, started turning the ball over after we got off to a good lead, and didn't carry out some defensive assignments. But it's a 40 minute game every time we play. We played as fantastic as we possibly could play for a long time in the first half, but we just didn't make any shots and just turned it over too much after that. Believe me I'm really happy about this win, and excited about the win and where it puts us. I'm glad we're to the point now where we're not earning style points for winning, we'll take any of them any way we can get them. We just didn't make any shots, and they forced us to take some shots, we didn't do as well as we needed to. I have to give Ole Miss credit, they played extremely hard and made it very difficult for us to get it inside and we have to make some shots and stretch the defense. When people play like that and we didn't the game got tighter. When we did get it inside we didn't finish."
Kentucky Players
#3, Ramel Bradley
On tonight's game ...
"It was a tough game that went down to the wire. We let them (Ole Miss) back into the game, and they took advantage by fighting their way back. They were good on the glass and put themselves in position to win. We were disappointed that we weren't able to be better on the glass because we knew it would be key." On Trevor Gaskins missed three-point shot with 11 seconds left ...
"I was praying for a missed shot. It looked good when he shot the ball. It was definitely not my favorite play of the game."
On UK winning close games in during SEC play ...
"We play really good in spurts and need to put a whole game together. When we put together a whole 40 minutes we're going to look pretty good."
#21 Perry Stevenson
On Kentucky's play in the first half ...
"Everything was going right for us (in the first half). We were making shots and defending well."
On Ole Miss coming back from 20-plus points down in the first half ...
"They are great team. I don't want to say we let up, but things just weren't going right for us. We all contributed to Ole Miss' comeback and we just have to come back to practice tomorrow and work harder."
On his play in the first half ...
"I was happy with the performance. I'd be happier if I put up a good second half. I'm just happy we were able to come away with the win."
#32, Joe Crawford
On Ole Miss' comeback in the second half ...
"They went on a shooting spree and didn't want to lay down. They really fought back."
On what Gillispie said to the players after the game ...
"He was a bit disappointed in us, but we can't get too down on ourselves. We have to regroup because we have to play the best team in the SEC on Sunday. It would have been better for us to have finished this game stronger, but a win is a win."
#54, Patrick Patterson
On his matchup against Dwayne Curtis ...
"He is such a big body, but we were able to contain him in the first half. He really played well in the second half. I think he had one series where he grabbed three offensive rebounds in a row. He just rebounded the ball really well tonight."
On what Gillispie told the team ...
"He was disappointed in everyone because we didn't rebound the ball well or control the tempo. We needed to keep up the same intensity we had in the first half and keep control of the lead."
