University of Georgia Athletics
SEC Men's Hoops Teleconference Quotes
February 22, 2007 | Men's Basketball
VANDERBILT HEAD COACH KEVIN STALLINGS (On upcoming game against Kentucky) “There’s a lot at stake. We’re both tied for second in the eastern division. Kentucky had a good win over LSU on Tuesday night so they’ve had an extra day to get ready. We’ve had some extremely hard fought games with them. Tubby will have his team ready, and I hope we’ll be ready to play the kind of game we need to play to win.”
(On loss to Mississippi State) “I think that they made our defense not look good at times. I thought our problems had a lot more to do with Mississippi State than with us. I think it was their good play, not a case of us not being ready to play. They played well throughout and got off to a great start. They played an extremely good game.”
FLORIDA HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN (On ) “it started in terms of thought process after our game in Indianapolis last year. Trying to come up with ideas that....there's not one speech you give that changes the mindset. It’s a continual challenge every day. Our guys going through what we had to this year, I couldn’t imagine going through it with a better group of guys. You have to have a group of guys who understand.”
SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH DAVE ODOM (On upcoming game against Ole Miss) “We’re coming off a hard fought game in Gainesville, now we gotta turn ourselves around. We played the best team in the SEC last night, but we’ve got a good team coming to us from Oxford. They’re the surprise team in the league this year. They return experience, speed, and quickness, on the perimeter and size in the inside. Florida’s size did us in. We were able to somewhat handle the perimeter play. Ole Miss offers many of the same problems. They have tremendous players on the perimeter. Our team has been resilient. We played hard last night if not well. Hopefully on Saturday night we’ll play well enough to hopefully win.”
(On NIT) “We’re shooting for a winning season. We’re 13-13 now. Right now we’re trying to win one game, and we’ll try to build from there. We need one win. Right now a winning season would be a lot to our team, particularly our seniors.”
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY (On upcoming game against Florida) “It’ll be a challenge for us. It’s good we got Florida at home. At Kentucky our team played well. We ran our offense and defended well. We just gotta make some plays down the stretch. It’ll be a challenge, but hopefully our team will be ready to play and compete as well as they did against Kentucky the other night.”
(On the team) “They’re good guys and have a lot of pride. I’ve tried to keep them aware of the moment. You don’t sugarcoat it, you just tell them the reality of the situation. It’s unpleasant because the media reminds you of unmet expectations. The players here are my responsibility. I’m going to do everything I can to motivate them and let them know what they’re playing for. You adjust goals and priorities as you win or lose. Now it’s a pride thing and hopefully we can win a game before the SEC tournament starts.”
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH BRUCE PEARL (On upcoming game against Arkansas) “Arkansas is 12-2 at home and have played a lot of good basketball. They’re in a situation like many of us; fighting for their NCAA lives. They’re fifth in the nation in blocked shots and that changes the way the game is played in the paint. We’re going to see one of the best freshmen in the country in Beverly. Our ability to try to keep them off the boards will be a factor in the outcome.”
(On what needs to be done to win against Arkansas) “They’re good in transition. We’re one of those teams built to make Arkansas look good. We can’t let them get away from us in transition too much. We gotta keep them off the boards. Those are the two things that jump out at me.”
ARKANSAS HEAD COACH STAN HEATH (On upcoming game with Tennessee) “Tennessee’s coming off a big win. Their ability to force turnovers disrupts you. We’ve got t o do a good job rebounding the ball. We have to protect our home court.”
(On getting the team ready for Tennessee) “The biggest thing is that we have to go back to fundamentals and address post doubles. Touches and putting them in a position where they can catch and score is a big thing. Tennessee tends to play a little small. We had success last year when we went a little bigger.”
ALABAMA HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED (On upcoming game against Auburn) “Anytime Alabama and Auburn play it’s always big. Our guys are playing better. We lost a tough one last time, but anytime these two play our guys will be ready.”
(On the need to win against Auburn) “We treat each game the same. Each game is highly important in this league. Anytime you lose you can’t wait to get back on the court. We have respect for Auburn, they’re very good.”
AUBURN HEAD COACH JEFF LEBO (On upcoming game against Alabama) “It’s always difficult going into a big rival game on the road. Alabama’s played extremely well at home. We’ll have our work cut out with their size.”
(On playing on the road) “Anytime you play on the road I don’t think any coach is completely comfortable. We played decent there last year. They’re 13-1 at home this year. Hopefully our team will go in there with some confidence. We played a great game here against Alabama. We’ll see a different team I know up there.”
OLE MISS HEAD COACH ANDY KENNEDY (On upcoming game against South Carolina) “Another important contest for all parties. Each game has significance for everyone involved. We played well in defeating Georgia. We know we’ll have a tremendous challenge going into Columbia. Tr Kelly and Brandon Wallace are having tremendous seasons and will pose challenges.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH RICK STANSBURY (On upcoming game against Georgia) “Like always on the road it’s never easy. We’ll play a good Georgia team and Dennis always has them well prepared. It’s an important game for everybody and ought to be a good game on Saturday afternoon.”
(On growing pains) “When you’re as young as we are there’ll be growing pains. We were playing well but just didn’t win some close game. We lost to Clemson early in the year and we had the last shot to tie the game. I was disappointed, but our team showed maturity in that position.”
KENTUCKY ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH DAVID HOBBS (On upcoming game against Vanderbilt) “It’s one of those games that’s difficult. Playing at Vanderbilt hasn’t been a trip to the beach for anyone. Their whole team has played well at home.”
(On a game against Vanderbilt being a must win) “I don’t know that you call anything a must win. We really need to win, our players know that. Vanderbilt has been very effective at home and to get a road win in that venue will help us in a lot of ways. In order to win you’re going to have to grind it out and be consistent in effort and execution. If we can do that that will help us in a lot of ways.”
