On moving on from the Tennessee win and focusing on the next game:
“That’s what you do, right? We go right in yesterday and dive right into how we’re going to guard Mississippi State. This time of year, it’s a daily process and where your team is at and what you want to do with them physically, mentally, you got to make sure you’re keeping an eye on that as well. Yesterday, especially with our situation now because you’re getting ready for each game, but we don’t have an off day until Wednesday, because we played Kentucky on Tuesday, so you have to manage that as a coach, but the bottom line is we go right in.”
“We’re locked in on how we’re going to guard Mississippi State, and then we worked on us. Today will you have more of a regular type of practice, not a long one, but then go and get ready to play. It’s not that hard. It’s really not and I think when you’re in a league like this. They understand I mean every game right now because they’ve been in every game in this situation what we’ve had in the last couple of weeks—really the entire season, but when you look at the Memphis game to the SEC schedule—every game has been a huge battle. So, I think you start to figure out that there’s no way you can look ahead, look beyond look back. You better stay square in the moment, and that’s what we’re trying to make sure they can all do.”
On Sahvir Wheeler’s injury status…
“Hopefully. We didn’t practice him yesterday. He walked through all the stuff that we did yesterday but we’re hopeful we’ll see more after today.”
FYI, Wheeler suffered an ankle injury in the second half of Wednesday’s game vs. Tennessee
On impact, if Wheeler can’t play…
“Well, I think it’s pretty clear. You just have to deal with it, and if he can’t it is what it is. You just go. Right? That’s why you try to develop and try to get multi-dimensional versatile guys. Obviously he’s a huge factor in this and we’ll see you know we’ll see how it goes today and see how he feels tomorrow.”
On the freshmen’s adjustment to an intense schedule and not many off days…
“ it’s up to us to make sure that we keep it energized. It’s up to us to make sure that we’re helping them get better, but it’s up to them to come in with a spirit of improvement. Right. When you have a spirit of improvement and a spirit of competitiveness. Now, you have a chance to get better, and they go hand in hand. It’s not just about coming in, I’m going to get better but I just don’t want to compete and it’s not just about, well I just want to play, but I don’t want to learn right and you have to have both. I think that’s the biggest thing you can try to do, and then you just keep looking at it I mean you definitely have to manage it definitely when you have this many young guys, and so that becomes a part of the daily process, but you don’t get away from what’s the most important to get ready for that game. So you have your preparation, but you also have the fact that we’ve got to be better from one game to the next. So the more that we’re improving the more that they’re improving their skills, the more that they’re improving the synergy of being with different guys or the groups are together—Repping out, so we get our execution right those type of things are important.”
On Jaykwon Walton’s status…
“ Yeah, he’s clear. He practiced yesterday.”
FYI, Walton missed the last two games with concussion-like symptoms following a collision in practice last week
On as far as Mississippi State goes, personnel-wise…
“They’re tough. Reggie Perry is playing phenomenal and Nick Weatherspoon just changes everything in there because of the quickness and speed. He’s so good off the dribble. And we didn’t coach against him last year, he didn’t play the game against us. So, the bottom line with him is he can really get to the basket. And they’re good and they’re leading the league in offensive rebounding. They’re getting 14 offensive rebounds a game and Perry and Ado are getting eight. So, that’s a big task. I mean, every game we come in here talking about how important the rebounding is and now we’re playing the league leader. That part of it is tough. But, they’re shooting the ball right now. We’re not going to get misled by the numbers of the last few games, percentage-wise, because they can really shoot the ball. Their wings can shoot and get to the rim and those things create an issue. They’re playing well at home. They get on some real runs, you know, like other teams in this league do, so we’ve got to be able to withstand that. Reggie Perry, what he’s had is he can shoot and now, I think in the last five games, he’s the second-leading three-point shot attempt guy. He’s definitely been on the perimeter more and more. We’ve got to be really sharp on where those guys are out on the court.”