Stan Heath Quotations

Uno. That's the highest ranked team we've beaten, the best win we've had. There were a lot of heroes.

We're more concerned about playing at a high level. We're doing a lot of things well, but we have to bring our 'A' game because we have high goals.

When we can get in transition, we're a dynamite team. We're fun to watch.

We got up by 20 and then relaxed. But we refocused and got things done.

We're finding a way to win at the end of games. We've been locking up on defense, making more plays at the end.

We know we've got a big challenge in front of us. But we're starting to play very good basketball as well.

With this one, I think we can win three or four in a row and get on a good roll.

We have to get ready to play on Saturday and fight for a win. We have to create our own breaks and get to the point where we're greedy with a lead.

There are some tough guys on this team. They're definitely getting there as far as physical play. It's bothered me that we haven't had that persona, but our inside guys are maturing. Rebounding is a toughness trademark.

We've been in so many close games. We made some mistakes, but when we needed to we made big plays.

We've seen some zones this year, but Texas-Pan American will play zone about 80 percent of the time.

This probably is a smart thing. Ronnie wants to play in the NBA, and this rule is made for guys like him. He wants to find out exactly where he is. We all support him. He'll continue to work toward his education.

We won?t have to worry about presses any more.

We need to make a big jump in rebounding. We should be a plus-five rebounding team. Rebounding is more of an attitude than anything. We're getting pushed under the rim, and not carving out space for ourselves.

Let me emphatically state that no inducements or improper offers have ever been done to any recruit at the University of Arkansas. I believe the source of the claim has a lack of credibility, and I believe it was intentionally done to harm our program.

Sean (McCurdy) gave us some valuable, valuable minutes, too.

Sean can help us with his shooting and Cyrus with his rebounding, and both can do other things. I'm just glad our freshmen can be our fifth, sixth or seventh options and not our first or second.

Ole Miss went on a 14-7 run and that was a turning point. They got some momentum going and we could never get the lead.

Silly me. I probably should have had him in there more getting shots 70 feet away from the basket.

McNaughton is a handful. Steven is going to have to make him earn everything. He's going to have to do a good job of making him work to get his points.

McNaughton is a handful. I've got one of the best defensive centers in the country and I hope he doesn't get in any kind of foul trouble. He relishes shutting someone down. He's going to make McNaughton earn every basket. We don't want him to shoot a high percentage -- that's our goal.

One of the announcers, Seth Davis, picked us to lose the game. I think that's something that grabbed our attention right away. We don't want to just be a happy team just to get into the tournament. We want to go there to win some games.

On film sometimes you say you are doing that in the Patriot League, but he also had 20 something against Kansas and a big game against Syracuse. He's a high level player that just happens to be at a school that maybe doesn't get that much recognition.

Maybe three or four years ago (eight wins) was the plateau and then maybe three or four years ago the Big East had some teams at 9-7 that didn't get in. Since then, I think there has been a little insecurity.

I was really proud of the way we closed out each half.

I was taken aback by the way the guys just kept fighting and fighting. Early on, it didn't look good at all. All we could do was battle back, and we did that.

If we didn't know the definition of adversity before, I'm sure we know it now. (The loss) was tough to swallow.

I felt like we had done enough that we were going to be in, but it's always good to see your name on that board. I really didn't want to wait till the end of the TV program.

If I say it, it will cost me.

I don?t think it?s an upset either way. When you are paired up eight and nine, you are truly the two teams the NCAA Committee feels are balanced in terms of matching up that first day. The winner is going to win, and that?s the way it?s going to be.

I don?t think Sean shot the ball the way he can. He?s going to improve the 3-point area we were a little bit weak in this year.

I don't think people clearly understand how good our league is. We're the third-ranked conference in the country. We just aren't top-heavy. There's not someone that looks like a Final Four team right now, but someone could play their way into that. Instead of being top-heavy, we have a lot of good teams.

He was all over the place. So active. He's really helping our basketball team.

He was cutting and moving, and he was hard to guard. Give his teammates some credit too for knowing that he had a hot hand and riding him out. We just jumped on his back.

He tends to be in the right place at the right time. That's a typical Vincent practice, but when you don't get minutes you sometimes don't get into a rhythm. But he knew we needed him today.

He has to bounce back, be competitive and tough. He has to know he will never be perfect. The coaches aren't perfect. That was a hard play.

He is a handful. Chris has played very well in most of their big games. I feel in some ways that I've got one of the best defensive centers in the country in my team in Steven Hill. I know Chris is going to be hard to stop, but he's going to face a kid that relishes defense, relishes shot blocking, relishes shutting somebody down. And if he (Chris) does well, it's going to be because he earned it.

We've been very consistent. No team has shot over 40 percent against us in conference play. We were right on our average here in the first half, and then they shellacked that in the second half.

We're probably a little bit behind where we thought we'd be, and we've got to play some catch-up. We've got this week right now to make Arkansas better, and that's what we're going to do.

We're playing well and we want to continue to do so. It's really important for us to get some wins to ensure a possibility of NCAA postseason play.

We've got to work on his lower body strength.

We've got to make sure we pick our guys back up and still be demanding, still be encouraging. Florida is having a great season.

Here is what I liked -- we rebounded and defended our butts off the whole game. We didn't make shots in the first half and that frustrated us. I wasn't concerned. I knew we'd come back in the second half. I just told our players that our (14,734) fans deserved a good performance.

Hard to win on the road when it's 33-to-9 at the line. Hard to win when you think you do a good job on defense and they end up with three free throws.

Going to Rupp and playing in a nationally televised game on CBS is a great opportunity for us. I know our kids are real excited about it.

He's always been one of our best free throw shooters. What he has is a very solid routine that he sticks to and is very consistent.

He's healthier than he's been. He'll help us against zone.

His year off has helped him elevate his game. He has trimmed his body and is a little more chiseled. I think he has had a great year so far.

He wants to play in the NBA. He knows that's a big part of his future. In order to do that the rule was specifically made for guys like him, guys who aren't really considered in that realm of a first-round draft pick. Ronnie is going to make sure he doesn't do anything to jeopardize his ability.

Green had turned the corner and would have had a good look in the lane.

Kentucky is starting to play at the level everyone thought that they could play.

Kentucky is definitely starting to play at the level we all expected. A lot of it has to do with Randolph being more in sync with his teammates and them with him. You can see they playing with more confidence and playing the kind of basketball Kentucky is known for.

I think it's a good time in terms of just finding ourselves. Maybe (getting) one more degree of each guy that can take us to another level.

I thought Vincent was huge for us off the bench. He gave us a nice lift. He gave us momentum when he first came in the game.

I think we saw poor defense, poor rebounding, not-great shooting and not-great passing and those aren't ... add them all up together, it's not a good recipe at all. It's one of those recipes you might throw up with.

Last year I thought there was clearly separation after North Carolina and Illinois. It wouldn't surprise me (if all the top seeds exited before the Final Four).

I think the way you play (affects the calls you get). If you're shooting a lot of jump shots, you're probably not going to get the benefit of the doubt with the whistle.

I said, 'I'm going to give you one more chance,' and I gave him one more chance. And he responded.

Our team played very well at Alabama. That was one of our better road games. We could have made better choices. Where do we go from here? We go to Auburn and get a win.

Our team can play with anybody. The question is, can we beat anybody? Other teams are going to make runs. We have to finish plays, make free throws and do the other things we were doing early in the season.

Our strength has never been the three. We definitely want the game more in the paint.

Steven just kind of built a wall in there.

Steven has a humorous side to him that you wouldn't expect. I see more of it this season. Life is more normal for him in some ways. He's opening up slowly.

Steven fell awkwardly and tweaked his back. He had a sharp pain.

Steven always guards the other team's best front-court player. He relishes that role. But he's got to defend without getting in foul trouble.

Steele has been the best we've seen so far. If he had a Duke jersey on, he'd probably be in line for a (NBA) lottery pick. The kid does a little bit of everything. He can score, he can pass and he runs the team so well.

I think if we can win a game like this, we should be in the NCAA Tournament. That should take us over the hump.

I think it will be a big boost. We dug ourselves a hole, so psychologically you get to 6-5 and win two in a row, winning is contagious.

We never lost by more than five after November.

We need a big jump there. Our team should be a plus-five rebounding team.

That was a great play! To be able to get a stop and then Sean throws the ball up and it goes in. We've got momentum going into halftime and it puts a smile on our face. I thought it helped us by starting the second half getting another lead and extending it.

That was an incredible shot by Mitchell. He stepped up and hit it with Charles Thomas' hand in his face. That was an incredible shot.

I was proud of my guys Saturday on a number of levels. Our kids played hard, they played tough but most of all they finished.

We haven't really had much consistency away from home this year. We wanted to establish that we can win on the road, and we did that today.

We played hard in the two losses, but we missed some shots that I knew we were capable of making. We got those shots to fall against Vanderbilt.

We're definitely looking at Georgia and not the SEC Tournament. We would like to get to 10 wins in the conference and be in double figures.

We're definitely looking at Georgia and not the SEC Tournament. We'd like to get to 10 wins in the conference and be in double figures.

We fought, and we knew that it'd be a typical Ole Miss-Arkansas game. It was going to be a little bit of a war; it was going to be physical and it was going to be aggressive. They were going to come after us and we had to come after them, too.

Those kids are hurting. That was an incredible effort. I have never experienced games like this where they just go south on you in different ways.

To have a player of Patrick's ability available this late in the game is rare. We are very excited about him joining our team. He's an exciting player. He plays hard on both ends of the court. He's a very good shooter with deep range and he has the ability to play both guard positions.

When you start getting single-digit turnover numbers, that's phenomenal, especially since we're doing it by committee at point guard. We're doing it by committee, but we're getting it done.

When you see Randolph Morris with a 19-point and eight-rebound game, that's a great performance.

When you see Randolph Morris with 19 points and eight rebounds, that's a great performance for him. Kentucky is starting to play at the level everybody in the league and everybody around the country knew they could play at.

We practiced this morning at the University of Dallas.

We still have to be a very hungry team. We are in a good position, but things change week to week.

We want to continue to play well and hopefully win on the road. From now on, there are no more home games and all games are on the road.

We left off playing pretty good, so I wasn't excited about the (Christmas) break. But we've had a couple of good days of practice this week.

We're trying to recreate and restore a great tradition of Arkansas basketball. This is the first step.

We have got great momentum going into the tournament now. We'll play these guys again, and I really think Georgia is a much better team than they showed today. I really expect their guards to step up in the tournament. Next time is going to be a lot tougher.

To average 34 points in a Chicago public school league, which has great competition, speaks highly of his ability.

We just haven't had the consistent play at that spot and it's been something that's hindered us, especially late in the game, in terms of having a guy who is comfortable and confident down the stretch to make plays.

We've clearly shown that we're a lot better making defensive and offensive plays down the stretch. We're doing a much better job now. That confidence and momentum should carry us.

There are a lot of things Steven can do, but he's reluctant to do them in games. He needs to not worry about missing shots.

When you don?t block out on free throws and have the ball knocked away from you late in the game, it?s tough. You have to be aware of who is around you. We made too many mental mistakes late in the game to win.

Two key things. We didn't make threes and we didn't make the free throws. If we had made some of those, we could have had a different outcome.

Every win we can get is very important.

We need to get Ferguson going a little bit more. That will be a big key for us because he defensively can match up and guard some players on their team.

You can tell it's Southeastern Conference time. For our first day of practice this week, we were focused and we practiced very hard. We had good camaraderie.

We've had some tough breaks go against us. And yet, I know my team is still fighting and fighting and fighting. We're much improved. We're a better basketball team.

Those two guys are fighting for MVP honors right now. It's a tough combination.