Opening statement …
“First off, I thought before half, I thought it was a tremendous effort by our guys. Kentucky is a great team, we know that. Cal has probably one of his more talented teams here and I thought our guys fought toe to toe in the first half, but we all know the game is 40 minutes. We didn’t do our part in the second half. They continued to do what they do in the second half and the thing that glares out in my mind was I thought the game would be won in the paint. The true form it was between transition baskets they got in the second half and then the first half – they won in the paint, got offensive rebounds and then they shot 40 free throws. You shoot 40 free throws, you’re going to win a lot of games. I know they want to clean it up, but that’s just going to another level. It was a physical ballgame, and I know that. But, hats off to them. I thought (De’Aaron) Fox did a good job of controlling the game – and (Derek) Willis – the guy that keeps haunting us. Last year he haunted us at Bud Walton Arena, and tonight he haunted us as well. He’s one of those stretch guys – and it just seems like I go and watch games and he don’t shoot it like that – but when the Razorbacks show up, he lights it up. We’ll learn from it. We’ve got a team that is still learning how to play in an environment like this. You haven’t seen the best of the Razorbacks yet.”
On if he was happy with the way that his players contained Malik Monk …
“We lost the game. I’m not satisfied. We lost the game. This is Arkansas versus the University of Kentucky. This is not Arkansas versus Malik Monk. Monk is a hell of a player. We know that. I don’t think I would have recruited him since the ninth grade if I didn’t think he was a hell of a player, so let’s get past that. This is Arkansas versus Kentucky.”
On the play in the second half involving Jaylen Barford …
“I didn’t see what happened, but it caused the guy who was playing the best on our basketball team in foul trouble because they called a technical foul and then a personal foul, so I don’t know. I don’t know if something was said. I’ll have to look at the replay. It started off like maybe they called a charge. I think if cooler heads contained themselves then I think you say this is something you call a technical on both guys. We’ve got a hell of a game going on and the kid was playing well, so I haven’t seen it – but obviously I’m biased and I don’t agree with the call. It is what it is, and that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Kentucky is an outstanding team and they did what they needed to do. In the conference race, you’ve got to defend your home court and they did that.”
On the balance of Kentucky’s offensive attack …
“That’s what I’m saying – people want to talk about Monk. (Bam) Adebeyo, what about him? (Isaiah) Briscoe, in the second half I thought he was better. Like I said, Willis, Monk is a big part of it, so you pay attention to him and that’s part of the strategy. I don’t think people understand that. You pick on him and then other guys might get off. I hope you guys cover basketball enough to understand that. From that standpoint, that’s kudos to Cal. He got a couple fouls early on in the second half and we had to find out where he was, but I thought it allowed a lot of other guys to get to the offensive boards, and I thought they were a lot tougher going down the stretch than our guys.”
On Anton Beard’s lack of productivity compared to Arkansas’ last game …
“Well, I’m sure. He’s been in treatment ever since the last time we were at home. He’s playing on a lot of guts right now. He’s not 100 percent, but a lot of players aren’t 100 percent. He came in and gave us a lot of things on defense. We just seem a much calmer team when he’s on the floor. Obviously, we would have used some scoring and that’s what happened. We had a drought. We had a drought there in the second half and we just needed some scoring. Whether it would be him or whether it would be Dusty Hannahs. We asked (inaudible) to score inside and we missed some lay-ups. Trey Thompson had a couple going down the stretch, but at the end of the day consistency is what we are trying to find with these guys. It’s like with (Jaylen) Barford before half, he’s there, the second half it gets turned over and the foul trouble and it just kind of goes that way. With our team, we have to have certain guys play well and with Kentucky, I don’t think it was an off night, but (Monk) didn’t give you the points that he normally gives you. But it came from other guys. That’s why it’s called T-E-A-M.”
“First off, I thought before half, I thought it was a tremendous effort by our guys. Kentucky is a great team, we know that. Cal has probably one of his more talented teams here and I thought our guys fought toe to toe in the first half, but we all know the game is 40 minutes. We didn’t do our part in the second half. They continued to do what they do in the second half and the thing that glares out in my mind was I thought the game would be won in the paint. The true form it was between transition baskets they got in the second half and then the first half – they won in the paint, got offensive rebounds and then they shot 40 free throws. You shoot 40 free throws, you’re going to win a lot of games. I know they want to clean it up, but that’s just going to another level. It was a physical ballgame, and I know that. But, hats off to them. I thought (De’Aaron) Fox did a good job of controlling the game – and (Derek) Willis – the guy that keeps haunting us. Last year he haunted us at Bud Walton Arena, and tonight he haunted us as well. He’s one of those stretch guys – and it just seems like I go and watch games and he don’t shoot it like that – but when the Razorbacks show up, he lights it up. We’ll learn from it. We’ve got a team that is still learning how to play in an environment like this. You haven’t seen the best of the Razorbacks yet.”
On if he was happy with the way that his players contained Malik Monk …
“We lost the game. I’m not satisfied. We lost the game. This is Arkansas versus the University of Kentucky. This is not Arkansas versus Malik Monk. Monk is a hell of a player. We know that. I don’t think I would have recruited him since the ninth grade if I didn’t think he was a hell of a player, so let’s get past that. This is Arkansas versus Kentucky.”
On the play in the second half involving Jaylen Barford …
“I didn’t see what happened, but it caused the guy who was playing the best on our basketball team in foul trouble because they called a technical foul and then a personal foul, so I don’t know. I don’t know if something was said. I’ll have to look at the replay. It started off like maybe they called a charge. I think if cooler heads contained themselves then I think you say this is something you call a technical on both guys. We’ve got a hell of a game going on and the kid was playing well, so I haven’t seen it – but obviously I’m biased and I don’t agree with the call. It is what it is, and that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Kentucky is an outstanding team and they did what they needed to do. In the conference race, you’ve got to defend your home court and they did that.”
On the balance of Kentucky’s offensive attack …
“That’s what I’m saying – people want to talk about Monk. (Bam) Adebeyo, what about him? (Isaiah) Briscoe, in the second half I thought he was better. Like I said, Willis, Monk is a big part of it, so you pay attention to him and that’s part of the strategy. I don’t think people understand that. You pick on him and then other guys might get off. I hope you guys cover basketball enough to understand that. From that standpoint, that’s kudos to Cal. He got a couple fouls early on in the second half and we had to find out where he was, but I thought it allowed a lot of other guys to get to the offensive boards, and I thought they were a lot tougher going down the stretch than our guys.”
On Anton Beard’s lack of productivity compared to Arkansas’ last game …
“Well, I’m sure. He’s been in treatment ever since the last time we were at home. He’s playing on a lot of guts right now. He’s not 100 percent, but a lot of players aren’t 100 percent. He came in and gave us a lot of things on defense. We just seem a much calmer team when he’s on the floor. Obviously, we would have used some scoring and that’s what happened. We had a drought. We had a drought there in the second half and we just needed some scoring. Whether it would be him or whether it would be Dusty Hannahs. We asked (inaudible) to score inside and we missed some lay-ups. Trey Thompson had a couple going down the stretch, but at the end of the day consistency is what we are trying to find with these guys. It’s like with (Jaylen) Barford before half, he’s there, the second half it gets turned over and the foul trouble and it just kind of goes that way. With our team, we have to have certain guys play well and with Kentucky, I don’t think it was an off night, but (Monk) didn’t give you the points that he normally gives you. But it came from other guys. That’s why it’s called T-E-A-M.”
