BURN THE HORSE
Quotes from UALR following Tuesday's loss at No. 2 Kentucky:Arkansas-Little Rock Head Coach Steve Shields
Opening statement …
“Obviously Kentucky is an outstanding basketball team. We knew that coming in, and we had the utmost respect for them. I’ve known Coach Cal (Calipari) for a good-while now, and he does a phenomenal job. They have great players. They’re extremely fast, as you all know from defense-to-offense, and that was a concern of ours competing with their length and athleticism to value the basketball. I thought our guys did a good job of valuing the basketball. Obviously, getting to the glass was a concern as well. Over the last five games they’ve had a positive 11.1 rebounds per game over their opponent and a positive 8.5 margin for the year. With their length that was a big concern of ours. They had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, and we talked about not giving up 10 in the second half. Unfortunately for us they were able to get us on the glass with a positive 27 margin. I’m really proud of our basketball team. We’ve been through a lot this year. I think they, these guys in particular (Chuck Guy and D’Andre Williams) have shown great resiliency. We’ve led a lot of games in the second half, but struggled at times to learn how to win. It’s an ongoing process for a young basketball team. We have seven new guys on this team this year, and the two conference wins coming into this game were big for our team.”
“Obviously Kentucky is an outstanding basketball team. We knew that coming in, and we had the utmost respect for them. I’ve known Coach Cal (Calipari) for a good-while now, and he does a phenomenal job. They have great players. They’re extremely fast, as you all know from defense-to-offense, and that was a concern of ours competing with their length and athleticism to value the basketball. I thought our guys did a good job of valuing the basketball. Obviously, getting to the glass was a concern as well. Over the last five games they’ve had a positive 11.1 rebounds per game over their opponent and a positive 8.5 margin for the year. With their length that was a big concern of ours. They had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, and we talked about not giving up 10 in the second half. Unfortunately for us they were able to get us on the glass with a positive 27 margin. I’m really proud of our basketball team. We’ve been through a lot this year. I think they, these guys in particular (Chuck Guy and D’Andre Williams) have shown great resiliency. We’ve led a lot of games in the second half, but struggled at times to learn how to win. It’s an ongoing process for a young basketball team. We have seven new guys on this team this year, and the two conference wins coming into this game were big for our team.”
On the difference of Kentucky’s defense in the second half …
“I think they upped their intensity level. With that kind of length, we were concerned about getting into our offense. I thought our guys did a good job of being able to do that for most of the game. We tried to tempo the game and get the ball from side to side. I thought in the second half they forced us into some late shot clock situations and we had to settle for shots, which we did not have to do in the first half. They had a stretch in the second half where they were 10-for-13 from the floor and we were 1-for-12 from the floor.”
“I think they upped their intensity level. With that kind of length, we were concerned about getting into our offense. I thought our guys did a good job of being able to do that for most of the game. We tried to tempo the game and get the ball from side to side. I thought in the second half they forced us into some late shot clock situations and we had to settle for shots, which we did not have to do in the first half. They had a stretch in the second half where they were 10-for-13 from the floor and we were 1-for-12 from the floor.”
On his team playing physical with Kentucky …
“That’s the way we want to try and play. We want to play inside-out from a defensive standpoint and force them to take jump shots and not letting them get above the rim. They’re so good at transitioning, getting into the paint and getting it to the rim as well as in a half-court. I thought our guys did a good job of that. We had a goal of five takes for the game, and I know we had three in the first half. I’m not sure what we ended up with, but I thought our guys continued to try and pack it in. Unfortunately, for us they are just so long and athletic. They have a guy like (Anthony) Davis get 16 rebounds for the game, I mean the kid is a phenomenal rebounder. (Michael) Kidd-Gilchrist had 19 rebounds I think against Louisville on Saturday, and they have a number of guys who can really rebound. I think every guy who played had at least one rebound except for (Twany) Beckham is the only guy who didn’t have a rebound. That just talks about their length and athleticism, and that was our focus coming into the game. We have to make sure that they get it into a body and make them create space. That’s a tough challenge to do, possession after possession.”
“That’s the way we want to try and play. We want to play inside-out from a defensive standpoint and force them to take jump shots and not letting them get above the rim. They’re so good at transitioning, getting into the paint and getting it to the rim as well as in a half-court. I thought our guys did a good job of that. We had a goal of five takes for the game, and I know we had three in the first half. I’m not sure what we ended up with, but I thought our guys continued to try and pack it in. Unfortunately, for us they are just so long and athletic. They have a guy like (Anthony) Davis get 16 rebounds for the game, I mean the kid is a phenomenal rebounder. (Michael) Kidd-Gilchrist had 19 rebounds I think against Louisville on Saturday, and they have a number of guys who can really rebound. I think every guy who played had at least one rebound except for (Twany) Beckham is the only guy who didn’t have a rebound. That just talks about their length and athleticism, and that was our focus coming into the game. We have to make sure that they get it into a body and make them create space. That’s a tough challenge to do, possession after possession.”
On his team’s effort without its leading scorer in Will Neighbour…
“I thought our guys played with great effort without Will. You talk about a guy who is coming off winning conference player of the week based off of his games against Illinois State, North Texas and Denver where he averaged 18 points and eight rebounds a game during that stretch. We certainly missed Will not being here, but we had some guys who stepped up. As we tell our guys, every team’s success is determined by how they handle adversity.”
“I thought our guys played with great effort without Will. You talk about a guy who is coming off winning conference player of the week based off of his games against Illinois State, North Texas and Denver where he averaged 18 points and eight rebounds a game during that stretch. We certainly missed Will not being here, but we had some guys who stepped up. As we tell our guys, every team’s success is determined by how they handle adversity.”
Arkansas-Little Rock Players
#10, D’Andre Williams, G
On playing without teammate Will Neighbour …
“A lot. I never had a doubt really. (Playing without Will Neighbour) was a deep concern too. He’s the man. The man of our team. You got to believe.”
“A lot. I never had a doubt really. (Playing without Will Neighbour) was a deep concern too. He’s the man. The man of our team. You got to believe.”
On what Kentucky did better in the second half …
“They rebounded. I think they had twenty offensive rebounds throughout the whole game. Our concern was to keep them off the board. I think they ended up with 20 points off of second chance shots. That was a big part of it. … They picked it up a lot on defense in the second half. It was a lot more intense. You can really tell. You could feel the pressure.”
“They rebounded. I think they had twenty offensive rebounds throughout the whole game. Our concern was to keep them off the board. I think they ended up with 20 points off of second chance shots. That was a big part of it. … They picked it up a lot on defense in the second half. It was a lot more intense. You can really tell. You could feel the pressure.”
On the team’s effort in the first half …
“Maybe (Kentucky) didn’t expect us to come out the way that we did. Our record doesn’t show what we do, how we practice. I think our team is just now starting to click better than we have before.”
“Maybe (Kentucky) didn’t expect us to come out the way that we did. Our record doesn’t show what we do, how we practice. I think our team is just now starting to click better than we have before.”
#13, Chuck Guy, G
On his thoughts going into halftime …
“I was excited. I expected us to win it. It didn’t turn out like that, but we played as hard as we could though.”
“I was excited. I expected us to win it. It didn’t turn out like that, but we played as hard as we could though.”
On what gave him a winning expectation…
“Just everybody focused in the locker room. We were just all focused. Nobody was down. We were just all together. We showed the first half. We showed the second half. (Kentucky) just picked up their intensity. And they hit big shots the second half.”
“Just everybody focused in the locker room. We were just all focused. Nobody was down. We were just all together. We showed the first half. We showed the second half. (Kentucky) just picked up their intensity. And they hit big shots the second half.”
On thoughts about playing a top-ranked team …
“We were just playing our game. We came off two big wins in conference. And we were just rolling with it. And just playing good tonight.”
“We were just playing our game. We came off two big wins in conference. And we were just rolling with it. And just playing good tonight.”
