Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at No. 3 Kentucky
Lexington, Ky. - Rupp Arena
Dec. 17, 2011
Head Coach John Shulman
On the game plan going in to the game:
"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."
On Kentucky's depth:
"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. (Anthony) Davis is the projected No. 1 pick in the draft."
On the lack of weaknesses of Kentucky:
"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."
Senior Guard Keegan Bell
On the start to the game:
"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."
On Kentucky's play:
"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."
Junior Forward Drazen Zlovaric
On the early deficit:
"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."
On playing against the length of Kentucky:
"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."
On using this game as a learning tool:
"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."
