Belmont Head Coach Post Game Quotes (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

Belmont Head Coach Rick Byrd

Opening statement … 
“Well my first thought is literally this is more people that have been to our games in the past. It says a lot about what Kentucky basketball means. I’m sure proud of our team and you would be too if you would have seen our last two games and how poorly we played. We didn’t get what we were used to seeing on the road at South Dakota State and Denver. You look forward to playing at Kentucky for the right reasons. This game became about lets get back to what we do, do it right, do it well a lot more often than we did on the road. I think we accomplished that. The big difference in the game was Julius Randle. If they didn’t have him, I know we could guard him better. He made eight shots and scored 29 points. I don’t know if I can find many games were a guy gets three and a half times the amount of points of shots that he took. We couldn’t stop him from making it except by fouling him. He’s so strong, our guys fouled him and he doesn’t even notice. I felt like we did all we could, we just have no bulk inside to match (Julius Randle) inside. You need bulk and ability to move laterally against a guy who can play against a guy like him. Length and size help, also. We are 0-for-3 in that category. Credit Kentucky for gathering together and doing what they’re supposed to do. I know they have done that a couple of times this year and Cleveland State strung it out even longer that we were able too. They did what teams do that are supposed to win. Kentucky people don’t want to hear it. Duke does it a lot. The great programs find a way at the end. I was proud of our team. This was a tremendous experience for our young men to get to play in Rupp Arena.”

On if his team had to make a lot of 3s to stay in the game … 
“With this lineup in particular, we pretty much have to make 3s in any game. We made 15 in that win over (North) Carolina and 11-for-30 is not a terrible return. Eleven-for-33 would be one point per possession, which would be pretty good. J.J. (Mann) did not have a good night. We shot it pretty well tonight, obviously Drew Windler did. We tried to get their big guys to come out and cover. Drew Windler in particular was our best bet. Drew answered the bell the way he started out and it made them adjust how they had to play defense against us.” 

On Kentucky showing a lot of depth … 
“I was surprised. They hadn’t played a lot of other guys. There was a guy or two that we didn’t have on the scouting report. I know for us when we have a guy who doesn’t get a lot of time and he comes in and plays well and gets things done, it lifts the team up. There are more guys not playing than are playing and all of those unknown guys, when their buddies get in, can make a difference. For that matter, to the regulars, it’s a big deal. They know how hard the guys practice and don’t get to play much. When they come in and contribute it’s a big left for your basketball team.”

On what it felt like to be up 10 early on in the game … 

“We say this all the time regardless of which way it’s going, but it’s a 40 minute game. You can’t get too excited about what the score is. If it would have been 25-15 them, I bet we would have caught up to them a little bit. I don’t think we are as good as they are for 40 minutes, but when we play well, we are competitive. The game just has its way of getting where it’s supposed to be. On this floor, Kentucky is 13 points better than us, I would say. I was glad we were up, but we don’t really talk much about that. We just play. We just go on to the next possession. We try and talk every timeout about what they’re hurting us with and what kind of adjustments we need to make, what adjustments we’re going to make on offense, where the game is and then there are issues with late-game situations and how we are going to handle them. You are worried about the nuts and bolts of the basketball game.”