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BULLDOGS SHOWDOWN AT KENTUCKY
Mississippi State Head Coach Ben Howland
Opening Statement…
“We
are heading into playing at Kentucky which is one of the hardest places
to play in the country, its right there with Kansas and Arkansas. It is
definitely a tough home court. They are a great team and obviously they
are playing well right now. They had a big win on the road with
Alabama. Their guard play in the back court is as good as anyone in the
country. I am really impressed with [Tyler] Ulis to do whatever he can
do to help his team win. He is playing 39 minutes a game, so
essentially he never comes out. He is an incredible all around player.
Their defense forces a lot of turnovers and pressure. It is a big
challenge for us and we are looking forward to going and playing
against them.”
On Craig Sword playing differently…
“Their
defense is so spaced out, so there is less help. When we played [Texas]
A&M they were more like a packed-in defense, and they really played
with the off-ball defenders in the lane and sitting in the paint, where
as Arkansas is a team that really gets out and gets accurate. It
doesn’t open up a whole lot to allow him to drive. He shot the ball
well from the three, especially in the first half. They were less
spaced out. Chicken [Craig Sword] needs to work on moving the ball
more. We were shooting too quickly the other day and we need to take
our time more.”
On what it takes for a team to win on the road…
“To
win on the road you have to play great defense. Defense is what travels
best. You have to do a good job of being better defensively. I thought
our block outs were better last game. We shot a higher percentage from
the three. The first half they were 8-for-13. It starts with our
defense. It starts with us doing a good job taking care of the ball and
not getting turnovers. We had 14 in our last game, which wasn’t
terrible considering how hard they played defensively. You have to make
your foul shots. We also need to do a better job at executing
offensively. Move the ball better, better executing and setting better
screens. We can’t get sped up because of the crowd. We were down by
three with six minutes to go in the game and then we lost by 18. I was
really disappointed in our last 5 minutes of play, there was no sense
in us losing like that.”
On Travis’s offensive production…
“He
had 8 rebounds and 6 points in 52 minutes of play. He had an open three
in the corner at the start of the second half, where he if just drove
to the basket he would have had a dunk or a layup. He needs to be more
aggressive when he has an open shot instead of worrying about passing.
He passed up an open shot with four minutes to go in the game against
Texas A&M. My deal was if you aren’t going to shoot the open shot
you need to have someone else in for you. He has shown he can do that
in the past.”
Travis Daniels, Senior, Forward
On Craig Sword’s play on Saturday against Arkansas…
“I
told him the whole time, just keep doing what you’re doing because they
had an answer for him but he wanted to play within our system and get
everyone else involved. He’s very unselfish. That’s what I like about
him.”
On containing Kentucky’s size on the offensive glass…
“We
just have to be physical and box out. That is something we’ve been
working on the past couple of weeks. They’re athletic, but we just have
to find a body when the shot goes up, especially on the offensive end.”
Craig Sword, Senior, Guard
On team’s poor road performances…
“We’ve
had slow starts in the second half. Every time we go somewhere we play
well in the first half and we come out lackadaisical. They always pull
away from us.”
On opposing SEC coaches calling Sword fearless and tough…
“I’m going to do everything I can to try to get a win for my team. I think I am fearless. I’m really not scared of anything.”
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