[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Kentucky Men’s Basketball[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]UK vs. Chattanooga [/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Postgame Quotes[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]Dec. 17, 2011[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]Kentucky Players[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#25, Marquis Teague, G[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how he thought he played … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I think I played pretty well and under control. I ran the offense and tried to get everyone involved.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what the difference is now in his play since the start of the season … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Just slowing down. I have more experience with it now, and I feel more comfortable.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what John Calipari told the players after the game … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He just told us that we have some people not playing hard and not going after loose balls. We were playing sloppy a bit and giving up some shots. For the most part I thought we played pretty hard and pretty well.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#14, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, G[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Terrence Jones … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He’s going to be fine. He is our leader on the court. He is going to be fine.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what this team needs to get better at … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It was just the whole team in general. We are a young group and we are still learning. I think we are going to get better and better.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what makes him happy … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I am always happy on the court. I just want to win a basketball game. That’s it.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#33, Kyle Wiltjer, G[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On if this week seemed extra long coming off the loss to Indiana … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It’s always tough coming off a loss. We just wanted to get in the gym and work hard. This week helped us to prepare and for the games coming up.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On what John Calipari meant when he said he wants to see more hustle … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Just coming up with loose balls on defense and getting rebounds. Also being tough down low on defense.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On if ‘hustle plays’ can be worked on in practice … [/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Yeah, it’s just having that defensive mentality. I mean, a lot of my career I have had the defensive mentality, so I just have to focus on defense and hone down on what coach wants to see, which is guys in the right spot at the right time.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#23, Anthony Davis, Forward[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Terrance Jones’ performance…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He’ll be fine. Terrance (Jones) worked really hard in practice to prepare for this game and to prove people wrong but early in the game he had a problem with his finger so that kind of slowed him down. It kept hurting and bothering him the whole game.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On how prepared the he felt the team was for this game…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We were really ready. Coach Cal really got us prepared in practice. We really came out strong. We wanted to come out and just play.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Coach Cal’s comments that the team needs to play rougher…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We do have to play rougher. Loose balls, guys on the floor, and taking charges, it’s all about toughness. We need to become even tougher.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]Chattanooga Head Coach John Shulman[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the game plan going in to the game…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We knew they were going to come out ready, we needed to have some toughness and be ready early. They lost their No. 1 ranking; it’s time to panic up here. We understood that they would come out like this we just didn’t handle it very well. It’s an awful lot to ask. We had a great first possession but they’d throw it up to 12 feet and (Anthony) Davis would dunk it, that’s hard to guard. I thought we didn’t panic; we methodically got back in it. We didn’t shoot the ball very well, we got decent enough looks. When your smallest wing is 6-foot-8 out there, we understand they are very good.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Kentucky’s depth…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“He really doesn’t have a bench. What a special environment and a special place to play. They beat Penn State by 40 something; they’ve beaten people to death. I just never got the feeling that we were beaten to death. We made them make shots and they made shots, if Kentucky has got to make three’s to beat us and they did that. If (Doron) Lamb goes 5-for-10 I can deal with that, I just wasn’t ready for (Michael Kidd-) Gilchrist to go 2-for-3. Davis is the projected No. 1 pick in the draft.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the lack of weaknesses of Kentucky…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“Indiana made unbelievable shots to beat them. They beat Indiana nine out of ten and they beat North Carolina in here. This is probably the best team in America. We got down 18-2 to the best team in America and battled back and kind of got back in to it. I thought we had opportunities in the first half to cut it to 12 or 14. I’m tired of right hooks being thrown at us, we haven’t had a whole lot of good stuff happen to us and we still battled. We came in to this environment and battled, that’s not easy, it wasn’t easy with the right hook that was thrown at us yesterday afternoon but we came in here and battled. We are going to get better and we are going to stay the course and there is a reason why in seven years we have won four regular season titles. We are going to stay the course, do what we are supposed to do and we are going to get better. There are a lot of times you come in this environment and don’t leave with any positives; I think we are leaving with positives.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[CENTER][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B][U]Chattanooga Players[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#3, Keegan Bell, G[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the start to the game…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“We came out a bit lethargic and they are a good team. We knew that they were going to come out and try to rough us up a little from the beginning and we did not respond very well. Once we made it past the four-minute mark I feel that we came back and did some solid things.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On Kentucky’s play…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]“[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]They are a very good basketball team. Coach (John) Calipari has done a very good job with this team. We can look at this on the positive side because we feel that we played a Final Four caliber team. It was tough playing against a team of that length, but I’m still proud of our guys for staying calm no matter what was happening and trying to do what we were supposed to do.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][B]#20, Drazen Zlovaric, F[/B][/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On the early deficit …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“If you go down 18 to 2 to a team of this caliber, it’s very hard to comeback. They have about five guys on their team that can be first round draft picks or even lottery picks. So that just shows the talent level of their basketball team.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On playing against the length of Kentucky …[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“It’s very difficult to play against a team so long because they can block so many shots. We were just going to stick to our game plan and keep attempting to take it to them. They are a very good team.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow][I]On using this game as a learning tool…[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial Narrow]“I can’t say that I am satisfied. We made some mental mistakes and turnovers that we shouldn’t have made. Our execution wasn’t the best. We did some positive things that we can take away from this game, but we definitely could have played better.”[/FONT][/COLOR]
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