Kentucky Wildcats vs Arkansas Razorbacks Postgame Notes and Quotes
By Brian True
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#5 Andrew Harrison
On how he played …
“I can shoot the ball better. Make up for the layups that I missed. Yeah, I think I played fine.”
On if a game like this is more fun because it’s up and down….
“Yeah, it was fun. High-scoring game and we didn’t even play our best, but Arkansas didn’t make some of the shots that they make either and they are a great team. But we can be better.”
On they tapped into their spirit today …
“It’s all energy really. Just as a basketball player and being competitive.”
#41 Trey Lyles
On how he played today …
“Alright. Good energy and aggressiveness.”
On if he accepts Coach Cal stating him as the X-factor …
“Definitely accept it. It’s a challenge. At the same time, I just have to go out there compete at a certain level and energy.”
On if there is pressure playing the X-factor role …
“No pressure at all. I just have to go out there and compete.”
On why his game looks different in the last week …
“I’ve just been putting extra work in the gym and being more aggressive offensively and defensively while playing with more energy.”
On how much his health has played with him playing better …
“It’s a lot. A couple games before I was trying to get my wind back, but now I’m back to 100 percent so that has helped out a lot.”
On if there was a point before the Mississippi State game where he felt 100 percent healthy …
“I could just tell that I was feeling back to normal, feeling back to how I regularly am.”
On why they were looking forward to this game …
“Just because the last couple games we have lost to them, it was a challenge for us. They came out here and played aggressively and it was a game we needed. This was a different type of ball game. They drove a lot and they challenged us to come together as a team to play with one another.“
#3, Tyler Ulis
On continuing the undefeated season …
“It’s very exciting because no one wants to lose, and of course we’re to this point now where we just want to keep it going and we’re just trying to get ready for March and play to the best of our ability.”
On changing their game plan to shut down Arkansas from the 3-point line …
“We just ran through shooters trying to pressure the ball. When Aaron and Andrew are active, it’s hard for them to score because me and Booker are active defensively, and when they’re active they’re long big hands and stuff like that and it’s just harder for teams to score on us with the bigs inside. So if we run through shooters, they have to take it in to Willie and Karl.”
On if this team is unfair…
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t say unfair. We have a lot of guys who are here and we have 10 players so if one guy’s playing bad the other one steps up and it’s good for us. It helps us out a lot that we have so many. When people are getting tired you can bring in your sub and it’s been working all year for us.”
Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“I was disappointed in the outcome, but I was not disappointed by the effort. Our guys gave a great effort and I thought we would give Kentucky a run for their money in this game. It seemed like they came out real focused, and that’s credit to John Calipari and this team. They are undefeated and they took care of their home court, especially with what is taking place, they are undefeated and they kind of punched us and put us back on our heels and before you know it they had a 16 point lead at halftime. We came out at halftime and gave a better effort, but we were always fighting up hill.”
On the biggest difference between this Kentucky team and last year’s team…
“They have some good quality depth and it was on display today. Trey Lyles played real well today, (Tyler) Ulis and the Harrisons did as well, so they had different guys stepping up for them, and when you have something like that on your team your brewing up something special.”
On if Kentucky affected Arkansas style of play…
“I just think we didn’t have that extra burst today, that energy you have to play at. They did a good job of attacking us; they really came out and put us back on our heels. In the second half they got up to over a 20 point lead and I thought we would play with that urgency we normally play at, but give them credit for coming out and attacking us and putting us on our heels.”
On what it will take to beat Kentucky…
“It’s not what we had out there today, that’s for sure. They are a good basketball team, one of the best teams in the country and rightfully so. There are a lot of great teams out there as well.”
On how difficult it is to try and stop any specific player on Kentucky…
“That’s the beauty of our basketball team normally, not being able to zero in and defend any specific player, and today it was someone else’s day for that. That’s a nice luxury to have as a coach as teams have to prepare to play you, and today was their day. They played at home, we beat them a couple times last year and I’m sure that made them pretty mad too, but they came to play. That’s a good thing for our league, having Kentucky vs. Arkansas on display. I wish we could have given a better performance, but that’s not a knock on our guys. We aren’t going to quit and we will continue to get better.”
Arkansas Student-Athletes
#10 Bobby Portis
On Kentucky’s run in the second half …
“We just tried to stop them on defense and get back in the game.”
On playing Kentucky …
“They’re a great basketball team. Our team couldn’t speed them up today, unfortunately. They took care of the ball and that’s pretty much what it was today.”
On Kentucky’s improvement from last year …
“Like I said, it’s experience. Last year they had five or six freshmen in at one time and this year that have some more experience going into the tournament. This year they are more poised, also.”
#24 Michael Quails
On why they lost to Kentucky …
“Obviously they are a great basketball team. Just take a look at their resume and record. I’ll give it to them. They were taking it to the board and taking shots. I don’t think we made a 3-point basket in the first half and that’s big because we can shoot the ball really well.”
On the difference in Kentucky from last year to this year …
“Towns and Lyles have more scoring force this year opposed to last year. Last year we had to focus on Julius Randle because he scored a lot of buckets, but this year they have a lot of options and that’s true team.”
On what their plan was for the second half …
“Everything is not going to go your way. Just try to keep your head in the game and stay poised.”