The University of Mississippi Athletics
Postgame Quotes: South Dakota State
11/28/2017 | Men's Basketball
Head coach Andy Kennedy
Opening statement…
"I told our guys that Christmas came early going into overtime. They were a little down thinking they could steal it back at the end of regulation. South Dakota State put on a show in the first half, credit to them. One of the things that we have talked about, the first thing I say every time when we review tape, is the sense of urgency. Our awareness, the urgency of now, I just don't feel it. I tried to warn them and said South Dakota State was good. If you turn that ball over and let them make shots, and wow did they make shots. They really were going. I knew that if we would get downhill and try to make it a game and put some pressure on them, maybe we could get back in and we got back in it really quickly. It was obviously problematic not to have Terence Davis in it at the end. He is a pretty unusual player. He runs down and guards the wrong man and then grabs the ball and dunks it on the other end. I like to have him in because he makes plays. Then, Marcanvis Hymon was really the only guy on our team guarding that flat ball screen. Ball screen defense is really only about one thing, winning the point of attack. Offensively when you come off and you are trying to win a ball screen, you are trying to engage the guy that is guarding the screen into the play; it causes rotations. We knew they were spreading out with four shooters. We knew we had to be right where we needed to be on point of attack defense and KG (Hymon) was the only one with a shot of it. When he was out of the game and TD was out of the game we had some huge missed possessions. Hopefully we will learn and grow. It's imperative because the games keep coming, and we play again on Saturday."
On the lack of offense in the first half…
"Sense of urgency, when you are down 20 and embarrassed, that is the way we have to play. I know there is a lot of talk about this being the greatest team we have ever had, but we are predicted to finish 10th in the league. There is no one in the world who thinks we are relevant. We have to play with an edge. It has to come with an edge. Until we get that, we are going to be in games like this where we put ourselves behind the eight ball because we are so lax and loose. For us it really wasn't about turning it over, we just did not get enough stops when it counted. Credit to them. They made big shots."
