Feb. 12, 2005

Recap | Box Score | Notes

Post-Game Coaches Quotes:

Dave Odom — “It was a difficult loss for us … a great win for Auburn. Credit Jeff Lebo and his staff. They had a good plan and they forced us to play right into their hands. They can play very well if you let them. I thought we had the ability to play with them by down-sizing, but I guess I was wrong. I was very disappointed with the way we came out in the 2nd half. We lost our energy at that point for some reason. I don’t know why. We did make a strong run down the end. The key to the game was that we didn’t make enough inside baskets. Now we face Kentucky on Tuesday … the best team in our league. I’ll be interested to see how we play Tuesday. We must play well. I believe we will. They got some open looks and they got a lot of those off of ball rotation and we didn’t react very well.”

Jeff Lebo — “I’m awfully proud of my team. Tonight we played awfully well, especially offensively. We shot the ball at a high percentage from the three. Defensively we were good enough. We tried to slow the game down defensively a little bit with what we did. Offensively, we traditionally like to play fast and shoot the ball from the perimeter. We’re all right when it goes in the basket. We don’t have any answers when it doesn’t. The key for our team was how we started the second half. On the road, we’ve really struggled. We were tied at half and felt good about it. In the first five minutes of the second half, we made some plays offensively, got some stops and got some confidence. You look at my team. We’re not the most imposing group of guys. We have no depth. We’re unique in this league. We have the smallest team in Division I basketball I believe. Auburn High School basketball team is way bigger than we are. But we are odd to have to defend. People don’t see what we do very often. It’s hard to simulate. Offensively, when we’re making shots, we’re hard to defend, because we can shoot them at five different spots. I thought the key to this game was could we take care of the basketball against their traps. We did that very well. We’ve been a team that has been impatient at times and taken some bad shots – tonight I can only remember one. At the seven minute mark, my team could hardly run to the bench. I told them you’re not allowed to get tired this is our time – we’re in a situation where we can win this game and you’re prepared for this moment and gut it out.”