Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie quotes
Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 1:18 amConnecticut Head Coach Kevin Ollie
“They had a lot of easy lobs and a lot of easy baskets, they [SMU] took it to us. They played a great game and they have a great team over there, it’s unfortunate they can’t be in the postseason because I think they would have a really great shot.”
“You know we try to play, but we weren’t good enough. Now we just have to regroup and just try to fight and try get our seniors out the right way on our senior night and play with the emotion SMU played with tonight.”
Thoughts on the effort…
“Yeah, disappointed with the effort. We had the game – it was a nip and tuck game. In the last seven minutes of the first half, they took control. We have to get back to playing tough, playing aggressive, sharing the ball, not turning the ball over, and we didn’t play solid tonight.”
Thoughts on SMU taking away the inside game…
“You know you have to dribble the ball up the court to get it to our inside guys and our inside guys have to beg for the ball and roll down, but we didn’t do that tonight. That’s the bottom line. You just have to go in there and play hard. You know they stepped up and pressured up and we fell back instead of being aggressive ourselves. If your point guards can’t get it up, and we are committing turnovers, it’s hard to get it into our bigs. And our bigs have to roll and demand the ball, and a lot of them weren’t doing that, so it was a complete breakdown on offense, our guards and our bigs.”
Thoughts on tournament chances and motivating players to reach goals…
“I am just going to remind them to play hard and whatever happens after that, happens. We just have to keep established habits, I’m not going to look into the future, I’m going to stay in this moment and try to get better. Hopefully we get better on practice. I’m not looking for the tournament, I’m not even going to mention the tournament to them. I’m going to mention this moment… ‘the next minute, the next hour that you all play, and play aggressive and be together, try to work a little harder’.”
“They had a lot of easy lobs and a lot of easy baskets, they [SMU] took it to us. They played a great game and they have a great team over there, it’s unfortunate they can’t be in the postseason because I think they would have a really great shot.”
“You know we try to play, but we weren’t good enough. Now we just have to regroup and just try to fight and try get our seniors out the right way on our senior night and play with the emotion SMU played with tonight.”
Thoughts on the effort…
“Yeah, disappointed with the effort. We had the game – it was a nip and tuck game. In the last seven minutes of the first half, they took control. We have to get back to playing tough, playing aggressive, sharing the ball, not turning the ball over, and we didn’t play solid tonight.”
Thoughts on SMU taking away the inside game…
“You know you have to dribble the ball up the court to get it to our inside guys and our inside guys have to beg for the ball and roll down, but we didn’t do that tonight. That’s the bottom line. You just have to go in there and play hard. You know they stepped up and pressured up and we fell back instead of being aggressive ourselves. If your point guards can’t get it up, and we are committing turnovers, it’s hard to get it into our bigs. And our bigs have to roll and demand the ball, and a lot of them weren’t doing that, so it was a complete breakdown on offense, our guards and our bigs.”
Thoughts on tournament chances and motivating players to reach goals…
“I am just going to remind them to play hard and whatever happens after that, happens. We just have to keep established habits, I’m not going to look into the future, I’m going to stay in this moment and try to get better. Hopefully we get better on practice. I’m not looking for the tournament, I’m not even going to mention the tournament to them. I’m going to mention this moment… ‘the next minute, the next hour that you all play, and play aggressive and be together, try to work a little harder’.”