FEB. 27, 2021
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, Ky.
Kentucky Student-Athletes
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#30, Olivier Sarr, Sr., F
On seeing his family on the video board prior to the game …
“A lot of feelings, man. It was just unbelievable to see them out there and see their faces right before my game. It’s been a long time, as a lot of people know, because of the pandemic. It was just an unbelievable feeling to see my brother and my parents out there watching the game. It was just fantastic.”
On the wearing effect of another close game …
“It’s definitely not easy. It’s something that I think about and something that will hopefully pay off one day. I’m just trying to learn from these experiences and move on.”
On the difficulty of guarding Florida forward Colin Castleton in the lane …
“We over-helped at times and he was able to find guys open for three-point shots. That cost us a little bit.”
On the team’s morale …
“It’s one game. We’ve still got a lot to prove and a lot to learn. We had a lot of mistakes. We’re going to take it one game at a time and make sure that we’re not taking two, three steps ahead and just focus in on the present moment.”
On what the team has to prove and learn …
“We have to learn how to finish the last four minutes, learn how to close games like we did for the past three games before that. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes, whether it’s bad defensive coverage, bad execution, bad spacing —that’s what I meant by that.”
#0, Jacob Toppin, So., F
On what Florida was doing with its zone that was so effective …
“We’re a better team when we are running the floor. They were kind of staying compacted and we couldn’t get into the middle of the paint, so that was making it hard for us. We couldn’t figure out how to penetrate the defense and that’s what affected us.”
On if they feel like their backs are against the wall with postseason near …
“Oh yeah, we’re definitely in attack mode right now. We wanted to win this game so bad for what we want in the future, but we didn’tcome up with a win. But now we just got to look forward, look intothe future, just take it one game at a time from here and we’re in attack mode like I said. So, we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep getting better and we’ve got to come out with ‘W’s.”
On whether not having a midweek game upset the team’s rhythm …
“I don’t think it affected us at all. We did a lot of conditioning, so we were in game shape. We did a lot of things in practice that prepared us for this game. We just didn’t come out with the ‘W’.”