Jan. 31, 2018
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Men’s Basketball Postgame Quotes
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
Jan. 30, 2018
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bryce Drew
Opening statement …
“Well this game really hurts. You know, we prepared really hard and played really hard. You know, we took some of their runs and responded and had a great opportunity to win this game in the last three minutes. Their offense got really hot, we couldn’t get any stops those last five minutes and, you know, we were just kind of scrambling there, trying to figure out a way to get a stop, get a rebound, and still loved our chances in that last minute and it’s just unfortunate you know, it wasn’t meant to be there at the end.”
On what make Gilgeous-Alexander so good …
“You know, he has great size and he is shifty. You know, he uses his change of speed really, really well. And, he has a size that can fish over the top of smaller guards or get shots up over bigs and so he has had two excellent games against us and you know you’ve got to credit him for being a shot maker, especially in that second half today.”
On what’s going through your mind watching last play of regulation …
“Yeah, you know, obviously we thought he was going to make both. You know, he is one of our best free-throw shooters and with the scramble we thought it was a good situation. You know, the ball was going and took about three seconds off and you know, unfortunately we were going for the loose ball and committed a foul. Obviously it’s a play we wish we could have back, but that’s basketball. You can’t get it back, you can only learn form it.”
On Riley LaChance…
“He’s a senior, he’s been here. The first one was nothing but net, and we felt really good about it. If we miss, we have close to six seconds to try to defend and get the stop, which we hadn’t done in the last few minutes. We hit a three-pointer, a seventeen-footer, one and one, we had depth that we split. We had a lot of plays that could have helped win the second stretch.”
On the Kentucky defense…
“They started running to the ball and trapping it, trying to speed the game up. We made a few bad decisions trying to attack and get some of their bigs, which resulted in quick points for them on the other end. Once we settled down, we broke the press and moved the ball a little bit. It got us our rhythm back. They’re going to make runs, they’re too good not to. We were able to build that lead back up.”
On the winning play…
“We didn’t make it back like we should have. We gambled in the back court and let them get around at an angle. That’s a mistake from a younger one of our players that we will correct and work on for the future. I still thought we had a really good look at the front of our bench, from my angle it looked like it was going in but it was a couple of inches short.”
On Riley LaChance…
“Riley has won games for us. It wasn’t just him, we had an open three, open seventeen-footer, an one-and-one. We split a pair, and then we made a foul 65 feet from the basket with two seconds on the clock. If one of those plays go our way it’d be a different conversation we’re having up here.”
On what goes through their minds through these close games, ninth single digit loss …
“It has been a lot, and we turned the corner like a couple weeks ago with a couple close ones. This one is different because it was free throws, we missed a couple of shots; then it was a foul that we wish we could have back. So, this one had a lot of common denominators that we haven’t had throughout the season, and all the losses seem like it was a different formula.”
On how much different UK looks now and how better does Vandy look …
“We’re much better, there’s no question. Right now we are in a good rhythm; we’re moving the ball well. Players are stepping up and playing much better. I really like how our team is playing and I feel like we can play much better. I wish we could have flip flopped and played this game at home this time around. We knew Kentucky was a good team and they were going to make runs, so we tried to keep them on their heels as long as we could.”
On how well he thinks Vanderbilt controlled the tempo …
“Tempo is obviously a big key. The bigger key was when they started to press and make their run. We wanted to break the press but didn’t make really good decisions. There is a couple of decisions that we wish we could take back. Fifteen turnovers is too many, you’ve got to credit Kentucky for turning us over.”
