Opening statement
All I can say is that must have been one heck of a halftime speech. I’m going to have to ask him for a copy of that. We played pretty hard for 20 minutes, and then their talent, their strength between them I mean they’re really talented and Coach Cal’s a great coach. We were hoping to just hang and hang as long as we could. And that spurt in the first five minutes (of the second half) was just crushing, absolutely crushing. I’m proud of our kids, I didn’t think they stopped competing and they didn’t stop playing. That’s what you always teach; don’t hang your head, just keep competing, keep playing hard, keep playing through adversity and there was a ton of it out there tonight with the fans and the made 3s, and, you know, balls not going your way, bouncing the other way and missing shots. But that’s credit to Kentucky. It’s obvious in that second half they were still thinking about UConn. They came out and really stuck it to us and that’s what great teams do and that’s why they’re ranked as high as they are. I give them all the credit in the world, and this is going to be a great experience for our team. And down the road, the next time we’re in a venue like this, we’re going to learn from it and we’re going to play a little bit better and maybe steal it. Again, all the credit in the world to Kentucky. I’m proud of my guys, I thought we competed, we’re just not as talented.
On the momentum building 3-point baskets and the effect they can have for a team
It’s crushing. As soon as you see the first one go in it just starts to open up. If at first it was a golf hole, now it starts to open up to a nice big ocean. And they were finding the bottom of the net and we weren’t. That was a huge momentum change. But they took good shots, they were good, open uncontested 3s, and when you’re shooting uncontested 3s they’re going to go in. And on the other end, we’re shooting contested 3s so we have to work hard. We have a lot of work to do. We’re a work in progress and our margin for error is very small, but we’re going to get there.
On comparing Kentucky and Villanova’s basketball teams after playing each team this season
They’re very similar. The seed is there, the drivers and the shot makers are there. They shoot similar in 3s – on a good night they’re going to get 10-12, on a tough night they’ll get four or six, but they’ll get to the foul line. They’re bigs play similarly, they’re going to rebound and defend and block shots and do all the dirty work that you need so those two teams are very similar.
On John Holland for Boston cooling off after a hot start
I just think he ran out of steam. He played a lot of minutes and those guys are big and they’re strong and they wore us down. That’s what happens when you’re on our level, you can try and do all the lifting in the preseason and the offseason but it’s never going to be to this level. Hopefully we’ll get there someday.
On the play of Kentucky senior forward Josh Harrellson
I love that kid. He does everything that you want a center or a big man to do. He plays ball screens great, he rebounds the basketball, he blocks shots. He’s the mother hen out there. You hear him talking the whole time, he covers for everybody. If there’s a blow by, he’s right there making good plays, good decisions. They gave him the ball a couple times which is good for us but he made a couple hook shots and he made a layup and he did some good things. I really like him. He’s perfect for this team.
Courtesy of BU Athletics
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