Postgame Quotes vs. Florida

OLE MISS HEAD COACH KERMIT DAVIS

Opening statement…
"Thanks to the fans, that was a huge part of our win today. You guys know as well as I do, that's as good a coached team as there is in college basketball. That's the best that we've defended for 40 minutes. I'm so proud of our team down the stretch. The game was at 10 or 12 (point difference), and we just kept getting stop after stop. (Andrew) Nembhard, he's one of the best I've seen off of ball screens. Breein (Tyree) wanted to guard him. He talked about it for two days. I thought Breein did an unbelievable job on Nembhard, because he's a handful, he gets everybody going. It was a great team effort, a lot of guys contributed today. It was a good Saturday afternoon for the Rebels."

On the Rebels' guard play…
"Those guys played like a really good college backcourt today. Breein, he had 23, but he affected the game in so many ways. Devontae (Shuler) got big steals, had hands on balls everywhere. Devontae, three rebounds, Breein got four. Devontae, three steals, Breein two. Devontae, five assists, two turnovers. They were terrific today."

On KJ Buffen's play…
"That's the best he's played. You start by looking at four assists and no turnovers. He had 14 (points) and nine (rebounds), and it was good. He had some offensive rebounds in critical times. We set things for him, and he finished around the rim. He, Khadim (Sy) and Blake (Hinson), all three of them, and even Dude (Antavion Collum), they just attacked. I was really proud of KJ today."

On Devontae Shuler's offense last couple games…
"He's just got himself in a good rhythm. Today, he was five for nine, five shots were threes. He's guarded well. He's just making some opportunities that he missed earlier, and we all knew that he was going to get back into a rhythm and play well."

On the up-and down-season, maintaining the culture of the team…
"I say it all the time, I know as the media you have to do your job, but we didn't look like and feel like a 2 and 7 team coming in, but we were one. You have to come into our gym every day, and come in our locker room every day and watch us practice and how our guys go about their business. As long as that's happening, you get a feel for our team in practice. Just a culture of practice and leadership in the locker room with Breein, Devontae, Blake and KJ. We have just totally shifted to trying to win February. Those guys bought into that, and we have a big opportunity on Tuesday against State."

On holding leads in games…
"Biggest difference is now we're guarding on the other end. Some of that, maybe offensive lapses, but we were getting stop after stop, and Breein just put us on his back. Now we're just getting multiple scorers. Today we had three in double figures, almost four. Four or five guys in the scoring column, that balance helps you get off of those three and four pieces of games where you can't score."

On balanced scoring…
"I love Breein (having big scoring nights), and as long as we win, but this is more like what you think college teams look like. Every now and then, a great player like Breein will go off for 30 something, that's just what those special guys do. But tonight, it was just so balanced. The ball moved better, 16 assists against a Florida team on 26 baskets, that's a great percentage."

On the motto of winning the month of February…
"Our guys knew we have a good team. We've talked about it, some of the leads that we've relinquished, we've had double-digit leads in three or four league games that we didn't take care of. Our team knows that we've put everything together and know who we are, but I just want to look ahead. We talked about that the schedule comes in our favor, not easy teams, but we get to play at home. We were on the road a bunch, starting with Wichita State. I just think they have a confidence about them, and they have to back that up. Now hopefully that'll take shape when we play a good Mississippi State team on Tuesday."

On the Mississippi State game Tuesday…
"Their physicality, Reggie Perry is playing as good as any forward in college basketball right now. They've got an older team. The way they rebound, they play with a lot of confidence and have gone on the road and won. They just have a really good college team, and I know our team will be excited to play on Tuesday."

On Antavion Collum's play...
"I was really proud of Dude (Antavion Collum). That was a tough matchup, to guard the four, but he went there and guarded (Kerry) Blackshear, who is as good a low post scorer as anyone in our league. I was really proud of him. His practices and attitude are so much better, he's really helping us in a lot of different ways. Made a bucket today, and I was proud of his effort."

FLORIDA HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

On Ole Miss stretching out the lead…
"A lot was happening, and not a lot of it was good for the Gators. (Breein) Tyree was fantastic. We made some poor decisions in the scouting report, particularly after five minutes in the second half, and we paid for it. But Tyree, in the late clock, stepped up and made big-time shots. KJ Buffen was terrific with decision making, his tempo, and his ability to force turnovers too."

On Breein Tyree…
"We were familiar with him. Our sophomores had played him before, and our freshman really did not have a lot of possessions on him, but we did not have a lot of success versus him. He's just really good, and his offense was better than our defense today"

On his team...
"I liked the first 25 minutes of our looks, particularly on the road against a good defense like this. But down the stretch, the crowd was a factor, their defense tightened up, we forced a couple poor shots, had some turnovers, and that was the game. Your responsibility [on defending threes] is to make him bounce the basketball, and this team is not good at that. We were better in transition defense today, but our catch-and-shoot, late clock, and three-point defenses were really poor."

On Ole Miss…
"They are a lot better than their record. They are close to having a really good home record and are really knocking on the door against all these teams. They are hard to defend, scrappy on the other end, and have great team speed overall."

On getting down early in the game…
"It is unfortunate that we are a team that puts ourselves in situations where we have to come back a lot. Ole Miss was a big part of that, but as I talked about after Georgia, great comebacks are great wins. But why are you down so much if you are a high-level team? We need to put together 40 good minutes."

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Antavion Collum

Devontae Shuler

Breein Tyree

The University of Mississippi Athletics