"It's just about survival, right? That's what it's about. The league is so good and so competitive. And to see Georgia come in here and play so hard. Great, great, great game-planning. They played a little 3-2 zone, 1-2-2 zone. Hadn't played it hardly all year. I told Coach White I thought that was a great call because it caught us off guard and we managed to find a few things that we could do that was good to score 80 points. In the second half we made some good adjustments in the second half. But that was a good move. We're great against zones, we just didn't prepare at all for it. And I thought (Silas) Demary and Asa (Newell) are two of the best players in our league and they played like it again tonight.”
"We got in foul trouble. Denver getting four fouls and Chaney living in foul trouble puts a lot of pressure on the rest of our guys on the bench. So we have to do a good job especially when we know we're playing someone that likes to draw fouls. That's tough for Denver. Denver is a good player but he dives into contact, he throws his head up for most of the blows and all of a sudden the best defender in the league is sitting there in foul trouble. Sometimes you got to realize you have to referee the best players like Denver Jones is one of the best players on the floor and he got into some foul trouble without a whole lot.
"Beating Georgia matters to Auburn; it matters to me. I believe that is 13 out of the last 16. That's a pretty good stretch against one of your rivals."
Chris Broome
"That's why he's player of the year. Unbelievable poise. He plays at a great pace offensively and the fact that he's patient, calculating and the fact that he attacked the rim like he did in this game so much. I mean, that was the biggest difference at the end of the day. We had 4 and they didn't. And 4 played pretty good tonight."
2nd half shooting
"I think there are two things that jump out: one would be the fact that, in the second half, the bench is in front of our coaching staff. So we're able to help them. We oftentimes defend better in the first half for the same reason. The second thing could be fatigue -- the fact that teams are more tired in the second half, therefore offense tends to work a little bit better for you."
"I thought the combination of getting the ball inside — we had some great inside-out opportunities. We made more shots, and we made our free throws. To have four guards out there like Tahaad, Denver, Miles and Chad Baker, who are great free-throw shooters, it's a great way to close out a game. Tahaad didn't score it very well tonight, missed some shots, I know he's disappointed. But he also had five assists and one turnover; he still contributed in a really positive way."
"Our focus is: We've just got to continue to get better. I know it sounds strange, but that's our goal. And while we're doing that, we're going to try to beat the people who are in front of us."
"We're clearly getting everyone's best shot. We are. That's great because to the victor go the spoils. A victory over Auburn, with our math, could really get somebody off the bubble and into the tournament. That's what these kids are playing for. We recognize that, and we're going to get that again Wednesday night against Ole Miss, even though Ole Miss is already in.
"Our guys are used to it. I think the other thing, too, it's a combination of having a bunch of older guys. They're starting to see the end of this thing in the regular season. And they don't want to waste opportunities. I think that sometimes keeps them engaged and continuing to work. Obviously we're trying to play for championships."
Offensive Rebounding
"You know, in the framework of our offense, we have backside rebounding built in, like in the NBA, they don't do any of that stuff because nobody goes to the offensive boards, because the team is so good transition everything's spread five out. And the college game, we got a guy or two down there that are in backside position to be able to do (unintelligible). When you got Chaney, Dylan on the backside rebounding, and you got Johni with the ball in the post, you put three shooters out there: A kindergartner can figure out how to score with that."
"We got in foul trouble. Denver getting four fouls and Chaney living in foul trouble puts a lot of pressure on the rest of our guys on the bench. So we have to do a good job especially when we know we're playing someone that likes to draw fouls. That's tough for Denver. Denver is a good player but he dives into contact, he throws his head up for most of the blows and all of a sudden the best defender in the league is sitting there in foul trouble. Sometimes you got to realize you have to referee the best players like Denver Jones is one of the best players on the floor and he got into some foul trouble without a whole lot.
"Beating Georgia matters to Auburn; it matters to me. I believe that is 13 out of the last 16. That's a pretty good stretch against one of your rivals."
Chris Broome
"That's why he's player of the year. Unbelievable poise. He plays at a great pace offensively and the fact that he's patient, calculating and the fact that he attacked the rim like he did in this game so much. I mean, that was the biggest difference at the end of the day. We had 4 and they didn't. And 4 played pretty good tonight."
2nd half shooting
"I think there are two things that jump out: one would be the fact that, in the second half, the bench is in front of our coaching staff. So we're able to help them. We oftentimes defend better in the first half for the same reason. The second thing could be fatigue -- the fact that teams are more tired in the second half, therefore offense tends to work a little bit better for you."
"I thought the combination of getting the ball inside — we had some great inside-out opportunities. We made more shots, and we made our free throws. To have four guards out there like Tahaad, Denver, Miles and Chad Baker, who are great free-throw shooters, it's a great way to close out a game. Tahaad didn't score it very well tonight, missed some shots, I know he's disappointed. But he also had five assists and one turnover; he still contributed in a really positive way."
"Our focus is: We've just got to continue to get better. I know it sounds strange, but that's our goal. And while we're doing that, we're going to try to beat the people who are in front of us."
"We're clearly getting everyone's best shot. We are. That's great because to the victor go the spoils. A victory over Auburn, with our math, could really get somebody off the bubble and into the tournament. That's what these kids are playing for. We recognize that, and we're going to get that again Wednesday night against Ole Miss, even though Ole Miss is already in.
"Our guys are used to it. I think the other thing, too, it's a combination of having a bunch of older guys. They're starting to see the end of this thing in the regular season. And they don't want to waste opportunities. I think that sometimes keeps them engaged and continuing to work. Obviously we're trying to play for championships."
Offensive Rebounding
"You know, in the framework of our offense, we have backside rebounding built in, like in the NBA, they don't do any of that stuff because nobody goes to the offensive boards, because the team is so good transition everything's spread five out. And the college game, we got a guy or two down there that are in backside position to be able to do (unintelligible). When you got Chaney, Dylan on the backside rebounding, and you got Johni with the ball in the post, you put three shooters out there: A kindergartner can figure out how to score with that."
