South Carolina is one of the few teams in the SEC that we can kind of match up with, size-wise. With Andre starting now we have a stronger inside presence with him and Major Wingate than before. |
Sparks makes that team better because he's so versatile. He's a threat from three, he takes big shots and he does a great job of getting his teammates involved. |
That is a shot that is going to be heard around the world. I couldn't be happier. |
That was a game of two completely different halves. I was thrilled with the way we played in the first half. I was very disappointed by the second half. Give Auburn credit - they have not packed it in. They are well coached, and they will be good down the stretch. |
That's a great crowd for a Christmas break. When you're trying to build a program, you need a village. |
That's the next stage in the development of our program is to have our fans travel. When we started that run, South Carolina's crowd got quiet. We had enough people in the building that you could hear them, and I thought it energized our kids. |
That's when we can separate and get on a run. Chris Lofton is a great example. I can't believe how open he got. I can't believe he made those shots. Had I called timeout, I couldn't have given him a better look. |
The difference is that nobody else has that except us. |
The difference was Andre Patterson. He was in foul trouble early the first time we played (South Carolina) and wasn't able to be as aggressive underneath as he was this time. |
The good news is that this is a talented class, the bad news is half our team is freshmen. It's like having two first years as a head coach. |
The players have had a good fall. I say that by my standards, it's been a good fall. We're stronger and we're bigger. ...We're going in the right direction. |
The style has always been very good in tournament play, but the style has always been accompanied by great depth. In the past, I've had teams with 10 guys playing double-digit minutes. This year, for the first time in my career, we've only played seven. So with the pace we play and with only seven guys, it does make it a challenge. |
There are some similarities. Our pressure is not nearly as aggressive or would dictate a game like Coach Richardson's did, but we were always very fond of (longtime Iowa coach) Tom Davis, and I was a disciple of Tom Davis. (Richardson's teams would) trap and re-trap and trap again. We gamble a little bit when the ball's 94 feet away from our basket. |
There is very little margin for error. What has gotten us where we are is that we bring it every night, regardless of the opponent. And that's what we're going to have to do (today). |
These guys, all year long, played every game trying to prove that they were better than what they had been playing. ... And we have to recapture that now. |