Dec. 30, 2013
Ole Miss 79, WKU 74December 30, 2013
Bowling Green, Ky. (E.A. Diddle Arena)
HEAD COACH Ray Harper
On WKU's play down the stretch:
"I thought they made the plays. Marshall (Henderson) made a couple big shots, which he does. (Jarvis) Summers was very, very good for them tonight. He got us into the paint area and was physical as a point guard and he made plays."
On using this game for preparation down the road:
"I thought we played with some poise. I thought we got good looks. We competed. Just tonight, down the stretch, they made the plays. I thought we did a pretty good job on the glass. We were undermanned as far as size. Peyton (Hulsey) played again at the four a lot. George (Fant) was a man-child. He hurt us in the first half when he got in foul trouble. I thought momentum shifted a bit when he had to go out of the game. Then turnovers led to some easy baskets for them. We've got to do a better job of that."
On Marshall Henderson's play:
"I thought at times, we made him uncomfortable. Even though we talk to kids about it and show them on tape, it catches them by surprise, and I thought it caught us by surprise a couple times when he shot it from the red towel, but that's who he is. Give our guys credit. They chased him; they made him take some tough ones. That is who he is, he makes some tough ones, he takes some tough ones."
On the crowd:
"Unbelievable. That's what WKU basketball is about. If we can continue to get crowds like that, it'll make this a very difficult place to play in the future, and I think it will help us put even better players in the uniform."
On the non-conference schedule preparing the team for conference play:
"I think so. We played four teams that won 27 or more games last year. We played two teams that were in the Final Four last year. I think we played a difficult schedule. I like where we are, but at the same time, that one on Thursday night is going to be difficult. We have to put this one behind us. We have two days to try and get this one out of our system and get ready for South Alabama. In basketball, you can't get too high after a win or too low after a loss. Stay on an even keel. It's a long season. Hopefully, our veterans kind of help lead us in that direction."
JUNIOR FORWARD George Fant
On the game coming down to the final seconds and what went right for Ole Miss:
"There were a few possessions where they knocked down some shots, and we failed to capitalize. Too many missed box outs, too many missed rebounds, and also missed free throws. Like I said, they hit some really good shots, some really big shots throughout the whole game pretty much, especially in the second half. That was pretty much the game."
On Marshall Henderson's two late threes:
"They were huge. Like everyone says about him, he's going to take a lot of crazy shots, and he's going to hit a lot of them. It was a close game right there at the end, one possession game, and he hit two big shots back-to-back. That's probably the difference in the game."
On going forward into conference play:
"We're on the right track. I think you can see that. We're getting better every game right before everyone's eyes."
On flipping a switch going into conference play:
"I hope everyone's switch is already on. I hope we don't have to flip a switch. I think we're ready. That's what non-conference is for, getting ready for conference. At the end of the day, our goal is to go win a conference championship again. We have a target on our back; everyone wants to beat us. They think we got lucky two years in a row, but we're not going to stand for it. We're just going to keep playing hard and getting better, and get ready for conference."
JUNIOR GUARD T.J. Price
On a tough loss to Ole Miss:
"This one hurts. But you can't go back and change now. They're a good team, and they made plays. Right now, we just have to forget about it and we have to worry about conference now. It was a big loss, but we can't worry about it. We just have to move on. If we stay on that loss, it will just keep us back. Keep going forward and worry about conference now."
On the crowd:
"I loved the crowd. I want to thank the crowd, too. They broke a record, that's great. I hope they keep coming. We're going to keep playing hard and giving our all just for them. They were part of the reason we played well tonight. We fed off the crowd. We want to thank the crowd, not just for me but for the whole team."
On Ole Miss' zone frustrating the offense:
"Not really the 2-3, but the 1-3-1 did, until we figured it out a little more and that's when they went man-to-man. The zone didn't really hurt us, just that one part of the game when they were in 1-3-1."
