NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: AUSTIN

March 25, 2005

Kelenna Azubuike

Chuck Hayes

Tubby Smith

COACH SMITH: It was a very hard fought game. I thought our guys stepped up, especially our bench. We did a tremendous job. I thought our interior people did a fairly good job against Andrew. You never hold a great player down and he is a great player. We're happy to get the win.

CHUCK HAYES: It feels very good to win this game. We're taking it one game at a time. We're going to enjoy this one for tonight and then tomorrow we're going to get ready for a good Michigan State team. Our three seven footers did everything they could do stop Bogut. We did a great job battling with them. Unfortunately Randolph got in foul trouble. That shows signs of a great team when you have got two guys coming off the bench and contributing the way they did.

CHUCK HAYES: It was frustrating sitting on the bench with two fouls. Lately I have been getting in foul trouble a lot lately. That just shows signs of a good team if you have good three starters in foul trouble and our bench is swooping in and giving us a better effort. Like I said, tonight was definitely a team win from everybody. Everybody contributed in some kind of way.

KELENNA AZUBUIKE: I think we did. Everybody that came in a came contributed in a positive way, especially our big men. I think it wore them down a little bit. We had fresh guys in there. It worked for our advantage tonight and we will use that next game also.

CHUCK HAYES: It felt good knowing that I was able to finish and get the foul. Thankfully it was on their big man who had played the whole game. I think the fatigue had a factor with him with the bodies we were throwing at them. That three point play gave us momentum and sealed the game a little bit.

KELENNA AZUBUIKE: I don't know. I think guys that Azubuike hit -- it was ripping in and ripping out. Maybe it's the gym or whatever. I think it is a good shooting gym. Hopefully we will shoot better next game. We will go and practice those and try to get them to where we are hitting them.

CHUCK HAYES: Patience. They kind of caught us off guard with a box and one to start off the game with Patrick. It took a lot of patience and high percentage shot. They were overplaying and being aggressive on the ball. We didn't let them get us out of our tempo. Like I said, execution, we knocked down some shots.

COACH SMITH: You are right. We are going up against a great player in Andrew. We needed them. I think they were fired up and looked forward to it. In our league, in college basketball today, the big seven footers kind of have a little bit of disadvantage, people are playing smaller, more agile post people. All of our kids do something different. Randolph has started out every game this year except one. He has tremendous strength and hands and can score inside and he is still very young. He is foul prone like he was tonight. A smart player like Andrew Bogut can do that to you. Out of necessity we had to play Lukasz. He had played a lot of minutes last year. You have to keep them hungry by letting them know when the opportunity presents -- in practice maybe show their scrimmage against one another and staying sharp. Shagari has been up and down this year not because of skill but other things. He has picked it up over the last few weeks.

COACH SMITH: Not because of inexperience. I think our expectations are high. Our goals are high each year. This team is no different than any other team that we have had or will have at Kentucky. We have got great leadership. That has been the key. You can overcome a lot of inconsistencies with the right leadership. You have got unbelievable leadership in Chuck Hayes and Azubuike that is comparable to the leadership in '98 with some of the veteran players like Jeff Shepard, Cameron Mills -- I have been pleased. It makes it fun to go practice.

COACH SMITH: We made him have to work for shots. We had a lot of fouls to give. We weren't trying to foul him. He is so good at drawing fouls inside. We were -- where was I going with this? What was the question again ?

COACH SMITH: That was important. We were forcing him to catch the ball farther away from the basket. We are a team that from day one in practice, we have ball line principles as far as trapping the post when he's in a certain area. That is automatic. I was disappointed that he split the double team. We didn't get there quick enough. We weren't as aggressive as we should have been. We worked hard to try to when we didn't do that and we had Shagari in the game we didn't need to give him as much help.

COACH SMITH: Typical Tom Izzo team, Michigan State Spartans team. They are symbolic of their mascot. They are going to be tough and physical. He has got a deep bench, much like us. They play with a lot of confidence. I haven't watched the game yet. When you beat Duke in this type of environment, you have come a long ways. They are an outstanding team with outstanding athleticism. They have an inside presence that can give us a lot of problems. Their speed is what impresses you the most. It was a little bit different than Utah. They didn't look to push the ball like they did. We will have our work cut out for us in trying to stop their fastbreak.

COACH SMITH: About filling up the quota with?

COACH SMITH: I feel like -- I grew up in a family of 17. When you have an opportunity to help people out, I think we should have 15 or 20 of the opportunities to have an education. We have a great program in Kentucky. We like to share it with more people. Unfortunately some people -- but keeping people years ago, they did. I know at Kentucky Adolph Rupp probably had 20 or 30 people on scholarship. I don't see why we wouldn't have more. They are young people trying to become leaders in America. I am happy to be coaching at the college level and having some influence and impact with these young people, as long as they are happy and getting a quality education from a great institution like Kentucky. I would like to see more, more scholarships.

COACH SMITH: Something we haven't done well lately, and that was rebound the ball. I thought that was the -- because they are such a good rebounding team. We did better than we had been doing in the past. I thought that was -- and shooting the ball. Any time you can shoot over 50 percent that is very critical. It can cover up a lot of mistakes.

COACH SMITH: Every player's contributions are important in a game like. They are going to give this a great effort when they go in the game. Joe is as talented a player as we have. Again, when others are struggling, sometimes you need that lift and he has been -- the toughest thing for any player coming to college is to learn to play in that type of come off the bench, be ready when you go in the game to sub. Our guys have a great relationship with one another. Some of them wonder about me. But that is okay. As far as we do what we do. In the end they buy into what we -- in our style of play and our philosophy. Joe takes time. He has seen it and when he is playing relaxed and making shots he is effective.

COACH SMITH: Just a bruise. He is a tough kid. If he can play he will get some eyes on him and in David Kindy we have a great trainer. He will do what he has to do to get him ready. I thought it was a great block. I know that.