Opening statement…
“Beating Kentucky is historic. I thought we had a great team effort. I thought our post guys did a terrific job fronting the post and keeping it out of there. Allen Flanigan was a man out there in every which way – rebounding, defensively, attacking the rim, using his physicality, willingness to take big shots, 8 for 8 from the foul line. You talk about a warrior. But up and down the roster. Devan Cambridge has quietly put together three straight really productive games. JT Thor makes big plays late. Dylan Cardwell is out there against five-star kids, high-major transfers. He didn’t play high school basketball last year, and the year before, he played behind Kofi Cockburn at Oak Hill. Dylan Cardwell is a really, really good young prospect. I’m really proud of our team. Both teams played really hard, and offense was difficult this afternoon.”
On Devan Cambridge’s three-game stretch, coming off the bench…
“Nobody likes to step out of the starting lineup, but he knew Sharife (Cooper) belonged and he was AAU teammates on the Nike circuit with AOT. Jamal (Johnson), Al (Flanigan) and Devan all volunteered. I made the decision to let Devan really have the honor of giving his friend and one of our leaders an opportunity. To Devan’s credit, he’s come back from break and he’s been very focused. That’s why today when Sharife doesn’t have his best game – he still draws nine fouls, he still gets eight assists, he’s still got a great plus-minus – but he also sees, ‘I don’t have to carry us.’ I want him to carry us. But when he doesn’t, we can still win, and that’s a really good sign. It’s play from Devan Cambridge or Allen Flanigan or JT Thor or Dylan Cardwell or Jaylin Williams that makes all the difference in the world.”
On Sharife Cooper playing better in the second half…
“He did. Let me just say this. Think about Sharife Cooper’s week. He finds out on Saturday morning a week ago he’s going to play, and he plays Alabama in a four-point game. And then we travel Tuesday to Georgia, he plays Wednesday against his arch rival in his home state. Then he comes back and plays Kentucky? That’s a pretty tough eight days. I would imagine he’s tired. I would imagine he’s pretty sore because they were physical. And I think missing 72 days of practice – you couldn’t see it right away, but you can see it now.”
On winning the battle on the boards…
“Dylan Cardwell had four big ones (in the first half). JT (Thor) got three. If there’s traffic and there’s a bunch of bodies in there and the ball goes up, 22 in white (Allen Flanigan) is going to get it. Twenty-two in white? He’s going to get it. At the end of the day, it still boils down to defense, rebounding and 50-50 balls. And one of the things I told our team, that’s not where Sharife (Cooper) is going to make us better. We’ve got to grow up in those other areas – and to a certain extent we are – if we’re going to continue to get better.”
On beating Kentucky four seasons in a row…
“I think you’re judged by how you do against the best teams on your schedule, and certainly Kentucky is going to always be as good as anybody on our schedule. Beating Alabama is important, beating Georgia is important. So it matters. We want to make history. I think before I got here, they had lost 17 in a row or something like that. I’m not even sure. But look, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunity. We played Kentucky at home three years in a row, and the reason why we’ve got them at home is because TV wants the Auburn-Kentucky game because it is competitive. And our program has been one of the top-five programs in the SEC over the last four years or so. So it’s great to make history.”