Postgame Quotes vs. Seattle

OLE MISS HEAD COACH KERMIT DAVIS

Opening statement…
"I thought for about 29 minutes our team tried to guard at a high level. Their shooting percentage was way low, but we're a work-in-progress offensively. I say it every time, but we still are. We're going to get hit right in the mouth by athletes that are good or better than us in the next couple weeks, so that has to improve. The last eight minutes is as embarrassed as I've ever been as the coach at Ole Miss. Some of those guys that were in the game at that time proved me right, their role is where their role is. That's ridiculous, to end the game on a 15-2 run. That's kind of where we're at with some guys on our team. A win's a win. I thought Seattle continued to play hard, hats off to them. We just had some guys in the game at the end that just lost their way, wouldn't compete, wouldn't run the offense, wouldn't guard. That's what can happen at any time. It just shows you, sometimes fans say 'why is Kermit still going crazy,' we all have these horror stories in the back of our minds that we've been on both ends of. I've been on one where we came back, and I've been on one at the other end. Well that's why. I normally don't do what I did (keep the guys in the game), but I did it anyway and I wanted to see how bad it would get, and it got as bad as I thought it would get. We won't make that mistake again for sure."

On KJ Buffen playing through foul trouble…
"I think he's come out in the last two games playing an immature game. He's not thinking about defending or rebounding, not playing smart. He's picking up cheap fouls with guys rebounding over the top. Early in the game, we were doing a lot of switching. He got switched to No. 23, he drove him to get a foul, and we had to sub him. I didn't see that in the second half. He played better, got eight rebounds which was good, but he's had some really poor starts the last two games."

On the slow starts to the game…
"It's the slow starts offensively. I told our team about a month ago, get ready to try and win some games in the 50s and 60s because we don't execute offensively. The ball sticks, we don't cut and move. No offense to the four teams we've played, but it's going to really change here in the next two weeks. It's good for us that we're guarding and doing the things like that, but we just don't trust offense. I haven't had a team do that in a long time. We're going to work on it and get better."

On how to get into a rhythm…
"Cutting and moving, the ball goes side-to-side. It just doesn't move. The ball sticks and it doesn't move. We have a lot of ball stoppers right now. I wouldn't say we have selfish guys; the ball just doesn't move through everybody's hands."

On Blake Hinson…
"He'll play against Memphis. We have to take off tomorrow because of NCAA rules, and then he'll practice Thursday and Friday and be available for the game on Saturday. He's at the best weight he's ever been at in his life. He's at 226. His body looks great. I just don't think you can tell until he goes up and down with our guys and gets hit. You can run, but when you start getting hit when you run, the fatigue really sets in a little bit. We're going to play him spotty minutes, but it will still be good to have him out there. His voice and his passion to play is really exciting for me."

On the offense…
I'll step back a little bit. We missed some wide-open shots early. Sammy Hunter, I think he is a really good shooter. He is just a freshman. I took him out and I told him 'Sammy, just shoot the ball. All of those are good shots, just shoot the ball'. That's how our offense is built, on pick-and-pop fours. That's what Blake (Hinson) is. Luis (Rodriguez) had some unbelievable looks tonight. The game was 30-17, then it was 40-17 coming out of the half. We're not shooting the ball on the perimeter with a great deal of confidence right now. We shot the ball at the line well. Some of that is we are getting some shots, but we have to trust the offense more."

On Breein Tyree…
"I thought his first half playmaking was the best it's been all year and one of his better games. He really did, he got the ball out of his hands. That was great to see, no question about that. He took two threes that were beyond the NBA three. Just shoot good threes. He's a really good shooter. Just shoot good threes, and you'll make them. You shoot the deep ball after you've made three or four, but you don't try to get going from 27 or 28 feet."

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Blake Hinson

Sammy Hunter

Breein Tyree

The University of Mississippi Athletics