University of Connecticut Athletics
Connecticut vs. Arkansas Post Game Quotes
12/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2011
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Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
In sum total, I would say that might be our best game. The 15 turnovers, which are heading down where I want them, at least four to five of them were beautiful passes that just went off guys' hands inside the post.
I thought we did a great job posting up. One of our keys was to go inside, and it didn't work out well because of the foul situation with Andre and a couple other situations where we weren't strong enough as we needed to be.
I thought we really did a good job of controlling the ball against a hard pressure team.
They just come after you. And they don't quit. And they come after you, and after you and after you. I was really surprised we didn't rebound better. I wasn't surprised that they hustled for every loose ball, and really came after us.
On rebounding/effort
I'm tremendously disappointed…We just got outworked on the glass, and our big guys just have to do a better job. No ifs, ands or buts. Tyler was good on offense. Obviously, Andre got thrown off by the fouls. Alex was pretty good, but he wasn't as good as he can be. And that's good. Because I think our three guards, and Niels coming off the bench, it's another story for our kids. Niels hasn't seen the light of day much in recent games. He's had four good practices in a row. And we're talking today about starting him. Just starting him over DeAndre, who we think is going to be a very good player. He just needs to understand that the level everybody plays at now is entirely different. Niels is a good example…for anybody who wants to get additional minutes, they're there to be had.
The three-guard attack was really good.
On Boatright
Ryan was pretty special. He has those Allen Iverson kind of things where his athletic ability just allows him to do some pretty special things that you don't normally see….He does some special things. Secondly, he's not afraid. That's one of the big issues for all athletes, to never have any fear. I don't think he fears making a mistake….Obviously I love that kind of player.
On Napier
I thought Shabazz did a good job running the team. The big thing, as he normally does, is he hit big shots. He hit a couple of really big shots.
On Lamb
I thought they did a good job on Jeremy. They gave him some double-teams, and he still came through with some big plays. For him that was a "fair" game.
On what it means when he can take open shots
We can spread it out a little. It opens up a high-low type thing if Andre or Alex is posting. We have a nice little high-low there.
Coach has been yelling to me to shoot it up when I'm open
I always got confidence in myself. I told you last time, I play with heart. I never surprise myself. I came from high school scoring 40 and 50 so I know I can score.
On playing in a three guard offense
We've got three quick guards who can all score. Coach preaches to us about courage and pride. We all got heart.
We were constantly saying we need to keep our foot on the gas. Let's keep going and just win. With Jeremy out [with foul trouble] we needed scoring from everybody.
On going hard to the basket
You can't be scared man. You can't be scared of nothing. If you go out there and you scared, it's like having blood in the water. They'll attack you.
They had a lot of quick little guards guarding us. I was handling a little bit. Shabazz and Ryan was handling it. It made it hard to guard us.
We definitely got a deep team. I was in foul trouble today. I didn't play as many minutes as I usually do. It was great to see people still scoring.
On Ryan Boatright's performance
It just feeds off the whole team. He's a great player and a great kid.
We definitely battled. We finally closed the game out the way we're supposed to.
They did go on some runs but we were able to get some stops and score on the other end.
Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson
I congratulate Coach Calhoun. The Huskies are a very good basketball team….Their guard play was very, very good today. I thought that was a big difference in the game.
My young pups, they battled them and battled them pretty hard. But in the end, you have to put the ball in the hole.
On Boatright
He really gave them a big-time lift. He did a good job of breaking down our defense and getting in the lane. Whether he'd make the shot or pass it off, he did an excellent job….I saw the game he played against Florida State and I thought he was the difference in that game, as well. He's a good, crafty little guard. With Shabazz and him on the same team, and then you got a guy like Lamb that can knock it down at any point in time, that's a good tandem there.
On Young
I thought he was a big spark for us. He was a guy who was playing fierce, playing with his heart. And our guys did a good job of getting the ball in a position where he could finish… He had a career high, and in an environment like this here, hopefully it sets the tone for his future.
On offensive rebounds
We were active. We missed a lot of shots, so there were a lot of rebounds to be gotten, I guess.
