The University of Mississippi Athletics
Kennedy, Henry At SEC Basketball Media Day
10/27/2011 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 27, 2011
HOOVER, Ala. - Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy and senior forward Terrance Henry met with media Thursday at the 2011 SEC Basketball Media Day, held at the Wynfrey Hotel.
Kennedy and Henry made the rounds with TV, radio, website and print media during the two-hour session. They answered questions about this year's team, the addition of junior forward Murphy Holloway, new NCAA rule changes and even had some funny moments along the way.
The Rebels open the 2011-12 season at home on Nov. 11 against Louisiana-Monroe. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. They will also play a preseason exhibition game on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. against North Alabama, which will feature free admission for all fans.
Below is a partial transcript of Kennedy and Henry's comments in Hoover.
Head Coach Andy Kennedy
On Murphy Holloway
"A lot of times when you project a new guy into your program - like we have six freshmen where we don't know what they will be like when the lights come on - with Murphy I've seen him get 20 rebounds in an SEC game. I've seen him have multiple double doubles. I know what he can do, so the transition has been seamless."
On the team's size
"I foresee that there will be moments at Ole Miss when we have five or six guys on the court that are 6'6" which will give us versatility that we never had before."
"I've never had a team like this. I'm not sure Ole Miss has either. Defensively it allows you to do a lot of things. You can be awfully big in the zone. You can play like Crum in the '80's. You can switch everything, and that makes it hard to play conventional offense."
"The thing I've challenged our team with is I think we can be a terrific rebounding team. We've got five or six bodies that should be able to get SEC rebounds."
On Terrance Henry
"I think Terrance understands and he has really approached his senior year with a sense of urgency you want to see out of your senior class. This is a guy, when we recruited him, I thought would leave as an all-league player. If he would be the all-league player I think he could be, this team can make the next step."
On Terrance's comments that this could be the year
"I like the pieces that are there."
On depth
"The one thing that we comment on daily is that fact that these kids are competing because competition drives you to compete with physical play. We've used more ice bags - I think we're over budget. We've used a lot of ice. It's the physical nature, and you walk past the training room and see a lot of guys in there. Some guys view that as a negative; I view it as our guys are being physical."
Senior F Terrance Henry
On Murphy Holloway being back:
"Words can't even describe it. He's a work horse. It's great to have him back."
"It's great I don't have to shuffle around as much"
On his role this year
"My role - it's simple. Just being the leader on the team. Be the guy everyone looks up to."
Personal adjustments for this year
"Just being more consistent and being focused."
Why being consistent has been a problem for him
"It's a mind thing for me. If I come in with the right focus and approach for every game I think my consistency will be good."
What will make this team better
"I think it's our overall focus of this team. We've brought a focus I haven't seen since I've been here. This group is focused."
