Florida Head Coach Mike White
On how Immanuel Quickly impacted the game …
“He was fantastic. He was the best player on the floor. I thought he did a great job finding space, searching. They did a good job finding him. Hit huge shots and complimented that with terrific defense on the perimeter. I thought collectively they all guarded. Their perimeter players in particular defended the three at a high rate and really did a good job, I think, led by him on Noah Locke.”
On Kentucky slowing down at the end of games …
“No, that wasn’t a Kentucky factor, it was a desperation factor for us just trying to stay alive and lengthen the game. We’ve actually had three or four of those. A couple of which we won, a couple we couldn’t overcome like this where our guys continued to fight. We had a couple guys look pretty good on the ball. Pretty resilient group. We’ve had a couple of huge come from behind victories, which is a negative and positive at the same time. Just all the same thing from us, just continue to fight. We put ourselves in a little bit too much of a hole there, again, led by (Immanuel) Quickley’s three consecutive three’s.”
On the defense against Noah Locke …
“They just didn’t allow any space. They’ve got really good speed on the perimeter. They defend led by (Nick) Richards and (EJ) Montgomery the interior so well. It’s tough to score in there as well. I don’t know where you’re supposed to score against them. Closing speed on Noah’s attempts. There was a couple times where I thought he had a decent look and then one of those fast guards whether it be (Immanuel) Quickley, (Tyrese) Maxey, (Ashton) Hagans is just sprinting at him. Just the awareness. They’re prepared. Noah has gained a reputation as a good shooter, he’s been shooting really well as of late. But then collectively, their ability to keep us out of the paint to negate some of those collapses is a factor as well.”
On his advice to Kerry Blackshear Jr. before the game …
“Nothing, nothing specific, he had a lot of really good options and then heading into the Texas A&M game recently I brought it up to him. He dismissed it quickly, he said, ‘Coach I haven’t thought about that stuff.’ He is a really really mature young man. I didn’t think it would be a factor at all. I thought he played very well. He had a very tough game last game, wasn’t on the floor much. Terrific player, I don’t know where we would be without him. Very fortunate to have him, glad he’s a Gator obviously.”
On Keyontae’s (Johnson) play down the stretch …
“I thought EJ Montgomery did a very good job down the stretch at just keeping him out of the paint. They forced a bunch of turnovers in the second half. I just thought their attention to detail and their energy level was really good defensively in the second half. I told coach, ‘I just thought they really guarded.’ We got a few looks in the first half, not much opportunity in the second half.”
Florida Student-Athletes
#24, Kerry Blackshear Jr., Graduate, Forward
On the importance of this game …
“The importance of this game was to try to challenge to win the SEC regular season. They’re (Kentucky) number one right now, head and shoulders number one after this game, but we had the opportunity to try to get closer to being number one and they did a really go job of making it tough.”
On battling with Nick Richards …
“He’s elite. Probably one of the best players in the league, definitely one of the best bigs in this league, on both ends of the floor. He plays above the rim on both ends of the floor. Just tried to make it tough on him. He did a really good job competing and I enjoyed that game.”
On keeping Nick Richards from rebounding …
“Just understanding that all those dudes in the front court, they crash and attack the glass. Our guards did a really good job cracking down and I think that was difference and we were able to get an early lead.”
On Immanuel Quickley’s big shots …
“Big time player, going to make a lot of money playing this game. We understood he was a big time player and we keyed in on him, he just made big shots.”
#11, Keyontae Johnson, So., Forward
On the defensive matchups …
“I was just trying to get my defender off the bounce and in doing that, get my teammates open. It gave me open looks for my team.”
On his performance late in the game …
“I would say I didn’t hit a couple shots for them, and then when I was driving, they were backing up more and packing in, so I had to pass out for my team. That’s when all my teammates started hitting shots and I got open again.”
On playing Kentucky competitively …
“We fought throughout the whole game and I think we learned from this game. We had 16 turnovers, and with that many turnovers, it gave us no change to win. I feel like this game was good for us to learn from and move on to the next one.”
On overcoming Kentucky’s 19-4 run …
“We just stayed together and fought back.”