Marshall University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Coach Tom Herrion
12/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2012
Kentucky Men's Basketball
No. 23/NR Kentucky vs. Marshall
Postgame Quotes
Rupp Arena - Lexington, Ky.
Dec. 22, 2012
Marshall Head Coach Tom Herrion
Opening statement ââ'¬Â¦
"Been a while since we've been beat by 28. Obviously really disappointed in our second half. Too many easy baskets, layups. We allowed (Ryan) Harrow to get off the snide, have a career night. Free throws and layups that they made in the second half, I thought we were a little less resistant. We wilted a little bit at times, which is uncharacteristic of my team. We know we have some offensive struggles, which are evident. But we need to defend and rebound and be a little tougher over 40 minutes against a team like Kentucky. Obviously a lousy way for us to go into the break but we will come out of it and bounce back."
On the game after the early first-half timeout ââ'¬Â¦
"We came out and got a couple of buckets early and cut it. (Coach) John (Calipari) called a time out, like most coaches do, a great coach does. The message was just to reenergize them and to play with a little more passion and like I said that same stretch we had three out of four possessions where we turned it over, not against pressure. We threw it to the post and it went out of bounds. We just had really bad turnovers at really bad times for us. What you can't do against this team, and they are really good, when you open the floor up off turnovers or long misses, they are so good and so explosive. I thought we did a really good job in the first half controlling tempo. I thought we had them in a grind, which is what we need to do against a team like this, to give ourselves a chance. The kids played really hard, we just obviously didn't play smart and our offensive inefficiency is just destroying us because it is putting so much pressure on our defense each time down."
On guard Ryan Harrow's career-high 23-point game ââ'¬Â¦
"Harrow was terrific. But when you are laying the ball in, I want to say of the 10 made baskets, eight or nine were layups, maybe all 10 of them were layups. But to his credit, bad defense on us. But he has been struggling as you know, offensively, statistically and on film. He is a terrific player; I remember when he was at (North Carolina) State. You think he got worse sitting out here? I don't think he got worse sitting out here. I know he has had some different things going on."
On the physical play of Kentucky ââ'¬Â¦
"Physically, yeah they have great players and a terrific coach. They matched our physicality and we are a physical club. We better be, it is the only chance we got. We are short now guard wise with (DeAndre) Kane out, so it hurts us in our offensive flow and our ball movement. I'd like to think that our team can physically play against a lot of teams in the country. I am not saying we are that good, don't get me wrong, but we like to try to lay the wood on people and I thought they responded pretty well."
On his impression of Kentucky in the game compared to tape ââ'¬Â¦
"It is hard for me to say. I have obviously watched a boatload of their tape. I've probably watched their last six games. And I thought they were much more active and kind of like how I like. Bodies were flying today. Body on body for both teams. I think some games they might have bounced off some guys and not responded and tonight I thought they played at a physical level. Which is going to be helpful to them as they move on in their season.
On Kentucky's progress during the year ââ'¬Â¦
"They have great opponents coming up in non-conference and in the SEC. They are going to get better and better. You all are in the midst of it every single day but you can't flip the roster every year and expect the magic wand to happen from game one to game 39-40. It is going to take some time. Sometimes give respect to the teams they have played. Baylor won by almost 20 last night against BYU. Notre Dame is pretty good. It is not always how your team is struggling or bad. Maybe some other teams played well. Sometimes it is like the end of the world coming if you guys don't win or you play poorly. Sometimes it is about what is good about some of the teams you are playing."