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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Post Game Quotes - Mississippi State
3/2/2016 | Men's Basketball
Ole Miss Head Coach Andy Kennedy
On Stefan Moody…
"It was a special night. He understood the importance of the game. He told me before the game, 'Coach, I've never lost to Mississippi State.' I didn't think about that. I guess he wanted to make sure that stayed the course. Some of the times, we got way too dependent on Moody. Because of the way people try to defend him, especially when we put him in ball screen actions, they put two guys on him. If we can get him extended, then we can play four on three on the backside. I didn't think we were very aggressive in attacking those matchups early. In the second half, we did a better job. We just couldn't put them away, and that's to Mississippi State's credit. They're very athletic on the perimeter and Gavin Ware, I told him after the game, what a career that guy's had." On Moody's turnovers… "He ended up with eight on the game because he's trying to make every play. Sometimes, just like some of his shots, some of them are head-scratchers. You've got to live with that because you put so much responsibility on him as it relates to his decisions. He did have six assists, but he just forced some action. In the first half, we got it up 10 or 12, and then we couldn't get it to the media timeout. We got a little gassed. Turnover and a layup, turnover and a layup, and then an and-one. Next thing you know, we look and it's a tie game. Some of it is mental fatigue because he's asked to do so much."
On Ole Miss' defense…
"They hit three 3s in the first half. They made a few at the end to keep this thing closer than I would have preferred. (Quinndary) Weatherspoon made a few at the end. Fred Thomas made a couple in the corner after late rotations. We did a better job. We let Malik (Newman) rhythm himself into his first. Then, we did a better job of trying to force them to do more things off the bounce. Again, we were trying to force them into some support defense. The change of defenses is something we do. When you see us play extended man, you see why. It's not to show you how creative I am. It's to try to give us a chance to win. We cannot do a steady diet. We try to keep people off balance. That's what worked for us tonight. The trap was effective. In the second half, they did a better job of making some adjustments in their personnel to the one trap so we changed our front and did more 1-3-1. That was really effective for us down the stretch. Honestly, that was the only thing where we could get a stop in the last three minutes."
