Ole Miss Head Coach Kermit Davis
On Opening Statement…
“It obviously was a great college game, proud of our guys. There were a lot of disappointed guys in the locker room. Zero – zero – zero morale victories for Ole Miss here, I have so much respect for Cal (Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari) and how Kentucky plays. Toughness, you know we talked about just being the toughest team in the gym, that was two really toughteams playing at the end. Give Kentucky credit, they’ve won some games like that. We had our best player at the free throw line, we have him there a million times, but great game – great atmosphere like it always is here, got beat by a really good team here today.”
On how important Immanuel Quickley is to this Kentucky team…
“I don’t think Cal gets enough credit for player development. We played Quickley last year, had a great game in our place, he was probably a no factor in that game, so his player development is really good. So much attention is (Nick)Richards and (Ashton) Hagans, he might be the second best on-ball defender in the nation besides Hagans. He was great down the stretch, you know we guard him well, they made two or three really tough-tough 15-17 footers, that’s the shot you want them to take and give them credit, he made his share for sure.”
On Kentucky’s free throw execution down the stretch…
“Yeah, that was the difference, they shot 24 and we shot 11, they got to the line and we didn’t, they went up one and had to make free throws and they did. They got off to a slow start at the line, we can never kind of get in the bonus, finally we did and give credit, they attacked the paint and got to the line and they are a very good free throw shooting team.”
On how unusual it is for Breein Tyree to miss those free throws late in the game…
“Very unusual. He is a great free throw shooter, that’s a part of who he is, and we have him there every time, down one there is nobody else we put on the line but Breein you had to pick. He came up short and even at the end you get it back to one with eight seconds to go, but he competed his tail off but yes, that is the main guy we want there.”
On what was intended in the last offensive possession…
“It sure didn’t look right. We just tried to run a little stacked play and key in on Breein. We wanted to take some time off the clock and it really didn’t matter who took the last shot. It was win or lose it right there. We probably went a little quick, but we tried to stack it and they did a good job.”
On Kentucky’s poor shooting from three…
“They shoot the least of three’s in our league, but they have the highest percentage, so they shoot good three’s. That’s why we went zone. We got in some foul trouble and went zone. We tried to make them shoot it from the perimeter. We didn’t do a very good job of getting long rebounds but 2/22, that’s the stat that will win the game. That was a good stat, but I think it was the free throw line that won it here.”
On Nick Richards’ development…
“It was the reason we were trying a zone. We were going to try to double him. I thought our guys did a good job. He will just play over the top of you and I think it’s a credit to Calipari and his staff and just developing. They get so much attention on the one and done guys but the guys who stay in the program get a lot better and he is one of them. He may be the best center in college basketball.”