Lamar Head Coach Tic Price
Opening statement…
“Y’all were at the game right? So, I do not have to give an opening statement. They were physically much stronger than our guys. We found out we were out massed. They’re much bigger, much stronger, very athletic. They did not take us lightly at all. Coach John Calipari had his guys ready to play. We knew going in, it would be a hard match up. We felt like early in the first half, we went a two-three zone because of match-up issues in hopes that they would miss some shots, but they made the shots. Tyrese Maxey knocked some good 3s. Before we could get out of it, they had increased the lead. So, their transition game is very good. They had those shot blockers right there. Even when we penetrated, our guys had a pink elephant in the back of their mind. They were looking for those big guys back there. It was a tough game for us. Hopefully, we can learn and learn together from it. I am not sure how much it helped the Wildcats. Hopefully it helped Cal find the right combination for his team. But, this we knew would be a tough task. The zone on them ended up not being a good decision, but after they knocked down some shots, that gave them some good momentum and made it difficult for us to stop the bleeding.”
On the improvement of Nick Richards…
“I think he is playing with a lot of confidence. He did what he is supposed to do and had a distinct height and size advantage. You should be a better player than when you were a freshman. There is a maturation process that goes on. For big guys, it takes a little bit longer to come around. But, I do think playing against some quality big guys every day has made him a better player. So, with that being said, Ithink Nick took advantage of his athleticism, pretty much was a bully in that paint, which is a good thing. It will help him in his confidence and that will help him to knock down some shots. I think he is a better player because of repetition. Playing against some good quality competition every day and obviously, he did what he was supposed to do when you have that kind of size over your opponent. You should be dialing in and they did that tonight.”
On Tyrese Maxey providing momentum…
“Maxey is a good player. He is much bigger than our guards and he was able to just raise up and shoot over the top of them. He is a great one-on-one player. I think he is a rhythm shooter. He knocked down a couple shots and he gets going and he can be a very difficult match up for my guards because he is so much bigger. I think he is going to bring some exciting moments to Kentucky basketball this year.”
On if making 3s is a contagious thing…
“Well, I think it really takes a couple shots to go down, and then you get confidence. I think that was the case. I think I called timeout, I couldn’t wait for that media timeout. I had to call it or it probably could’ve been a lot worse, in hopes that we could stop the momentum. But, when you knock down one or two shots, or maybe two shots, it builds on your confidence. I do think that was the case with Kentucky’s guard play, and we knew going in that we had to contain dribble penetration. But also, there should be shot pressure. But, even with the pressure, they’re just so much bigger than us. We’ve not played against perimeter players that are as big as they are. I think that as this team continues to play together, by the time they get into conference play they’re going to be a good basketball team. They’re a good basketball team now, but I think they’re going to be even better.”
On the outcome of the Kentucky vs. Evansville game…
“Oh yeah, we watched the Evansville game because we tried to find out what they did to beat the Wildcats. But,you’ve got to make shots against Kentucky and Evansville did. We didn’t. The way we played the ball screen was pretty much just open up and let them through. Evansville did the same thing, but the difference is, Evansville did make some shots. We couldn’t duplicate the offensive side of it. Plus, we didn’t have big and strong kids to match up with them physically either. So, you can watch Evansville all you want, but if you don’t have guys to match up with Kentucky, you’re going to have problems.”
On Davion Buster…
“Davion is a kid that is very driven. He hates to lose. He is little, that’s probably why we ended up getting him. If he was 6’4”, he’d probably be at Kentucky he is that good, but because he is so little, a lot of people passed on him. He ended up in high school averaging about 30 points per game. Y’all saw, there isn’t a shot that he doesn’t like, he pretty much has the green light. Again, (Tyrese) Maxey did a good job of wearing him down. Of course, anytime you penetrated… Nick (Richards) made it very tough for our guys to shoot over. So, I think because of his size, he was forced to take more outside shots, you know you can penetrate him, create off the dribble, but even when he took one dribble pull-up shots, there were big guards in his face to shoot over top of that made it difficult for him. But, he’s an exciting player for us. In the whole conference, he’ll be one of the better guards.”