The University of Mississippi Athletics
Andy Kennedy Postgame Quotes
2/28/2009 | Men's Basketball
On his team's performance
"I wish I could tell you that I saw it coming, but I didn't see it coming. We've had our issues. You saw, just as visibly as I did, at the end of the game we had David (Huertas), Terrico (White) and Zach (Graham) limping around. It is a challenge for me because we obviously have a number of areas that we need to practice on to get better. But we can't practice because guys are limping around. David's had the flu so he hasn't been around the team until shoot-around today. It just limits your ability to work on some areas that you know are there. I thought Alabama came out and shot the ball exceptionally well early in the game. They got us on our heels and then all of the sudden those limps are starting to become a little more apparent. That is what I was disappointed in. I wanted us to battle. I thought in the first half, without reviewing the tape, we were a step slow and Alabama made us pay. In the second half we tried to give it a little push and they pushed it right back at us. From that point on it seemed as if we were in cruise control. I tried to talk to these guys about how life is temporary and the situation we are involved with as it relates to our team is temporary. Very temporary if we continue to play they way we did tonight. In seven-to-ten days this thing is over. You only have so many games in your life and I was hoping our guys would understand that and respond a little bit better than we did today."
On the lack of post play
"Well we haven't thrown it in there as much, but I will be honest with you we all get a little bit gun-shy. We don't have a guy that has been as effective in his ability to score with his back to basket. As evidence by our last game against Auburn, we mishandled a lot of balls. We certainly try to attack the inside out. We typically do that more off the bounce than throwing it inside like last year when we had Dwayne (Curtis)."
On the poor defense
"We were a step slow. I thought early they made a lot of shots in a contested fashion. Anthony Brock was terrific in the first half, I think he was 4-for-5 and finished 5-for-6. He made a couple of deep shots. I get frustrated and we talk about through scouting who are the catch-and-shoot guys and who are the drivers. That is something that we've got to continue to improve on. Then in the second half we had poor communication in transition, we had two guys guarding one guy and nobody guarding the ball. Those are things you just can't accept this late in the year."
