(Tennessee) played up on me and my big men kept setting screens and getting me open. |
A big key to the game was handling their pressure, especially because we weren't shooting the ball well. We were able to break their press with patience and we didn't get into the up-tempo game that they wanted. We pushed the ball, but only when we wanted to. |
Bad. We're not communicating on defense. In the film against Indiana, they shot the ball well. But that was partly our fault too because we didn't get a lot of contests on their shots and we didn't keep it out of the post. |
Coach showed he believed in me. So I had to believe in myself. |
Coach Smith has given me tough love, which I believe has made me a stronger ballplayer and a better person. |
Coach told us before the game that he was going to be a different person. He told us he was going back to his old way of coaching. |
Everybody expressed themselves. Everybody just didn't really hold anything back last night, just talked. We were more encouraging, we were kind of negative because we were losing and we needed to straighten up, and we did. |
Everybody gets down on Patrick's defense. He showed it tonight. It was all determination and desire. |
He gave me his best wishes, and we both agreed that it's the best thing for me to do. |
He played great; that's the way you want to go out. He went out swinging, gave it everything he got. |
He said I brought it over. I'd been doing it the whole game. |
He stepped up. Our other guys were in foul trouble a little bit. |
He was crowding me. I think that's the wrong way to play me. Not to be cocky. |
He was the motor to their offense. I had to stop him. My offense was not going very good. In order to stay on the court, I had to lock down their best player. |
He went and got the cleats, but coach Smith said we had to go. I don't know if I could have covered him, but he would have had to cover me, too. But he was pretty cool. We kept joking a lot. |