Notes, Quotes, and Interviews: LSU Edition

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

After last nights thrilling overtime victory against LSU, Coach John Calipari and some of the players had some great thoughts on what it meant for the season. Below are some of the interview videos, quotes, and notes from the post game festivities last night.

Johnny Jones – LSU Head Coach

"Opening statement… “I thought it was a hard-fought basketball game tonight from tip to finish. I knew that it would be that way from the game that we had earlier this year. We came out and played extremely well early. We played well in the first half and fought as well as drew fouls. Then they had to come back and you have to give credit to Kentucky at the end. It came down to a loose-ball war, and they were able to get that big loose ball at the end. They had a big tip-in to finish it. It was a really well-played game. Both teams were playing extremely well. Unfortunately, we came up a little short.”  On if the last play was hustle related… “They had to go after the ball to make it happen. They were fighting for it, were able to finish and made the play. That was a big winning play and they just made two winning plays at the end.”  On being able to get Kentucky out of sync… “We did not do a whole lot. They did a good job of establishing themselves, driving the ball and getting in the gaps. They had a drought early on of where they could not make one over top of us. I thought it was a close rebounding game. Our main concern was not to give them any driving lanes and make them play over top of us.”  On playing good defense on the road… “They have excellent shooters. You cannot let James Young get great looks at the basket. He is an excellent scorer. The same goes for the Harrison twins. They put a lot of pressure on you and try to get in the gaps and rotate to throw it over the top. They are big-time finishers. We tried to keep them out of the lane and force them to take contested shots. We maintained and did a pretty good job for most of the game.”  On what they take from this game… “It was a tremendous atmosphere, and one of the best in college basketball. Our guys played the game between the lines. Anything outside of it did not affect them. They continued to compete and I’m really proud of them.”  On Johnny O’Bryant ‘s play late in the game… “I think Johnny (O’Bryant) has been a force for us all-year long. He is a high percentage shooter and can make his free throws. We wanted to get the ball in his hands late. We had an opportunity to isolate him and he can pass it out of there. We wanted to give him an opportunity to make plays. He was able to deliver us for most of the night.”  On Anthony (Hickey) playing with three fouls… “I thought he played really well. Unfortunately, he picked up his third foul. In the second half, I thought he played really smart and well with only two fouls to give. They were aggressive trying to get in the paint and draw fouls. He did an excellent job staying in front of them and staying down. He was able to make a bunch of big plays for us.”"

Anthony Hickey – LSU Guard

"On him performing so well in his home state against Kentucky… “This is a big stage. We fought all the way to the end. You’ve got to give credit to Kentucky and Julius Randle on that last play. Big players step up at the end and that’s what he did.”  On the play of Julius Randle… “He played great the whole night. He missed a couple of bunnies, but he’s a great player. You can’t take anything away from him. He played solid the whole way. They got the win. For us, a couple of possessions on defense would have been to our benefit, but we’ve just got to keep working and execute.”  On the frustrating of not winning when it seemed that LSU was getting key stops down the stretch… “We had a couple of empty possessions on the offensive end, but that’s part of basketball. I think we played great on the defensive end. We had a couple of errors on them going inside in the middle, but it all comes down to the last play. I think we did great on the defensive end, though.”"