Rick Barnes Good Quotations

We told them ... if they score, we've got to get it back and run it at them. We got as good a look as we could probably get.

(Kelvin) lost some games when he didn't have his whole team there. Coming in (to the season) they were like us, a team that was up there. And they're a good basketball team.

I thought the first 20 minutes we were outstanding defensively. I thought we played smarter defensively, and I thought we did a good job of corralling to the ball and rotation was pretty good for the most part.

I thought they were great defensively, maybe as good a defensive effort as I've seen this year. They really realize their athletic ability. They can create a lot of problems.

I thought our guys did a good job of staying aggressive the last couple of minutes. We probably didn't make as many good decisions as we needed to be making in that situation but, overall, when they made their run and got back in it, we stayed with it. We pushed it back out there and made some free throws at the end. I'm happy with the fact that we had only seven turnovers and the job we did on the boards.

I think they've got as good a chance as anybody in the Final Four.

Our guys showed a tremendous will to win. We had some tough times, but we kept believing, and our guys never doubted they were a good basketball team.

Our defense was good. Any time a team shoots 32 percent against you, you feel pretty good about it.

Look at Oklahoma. They start three seniors. They're a good basketball team. If people thought they were just going to go away, they (were wrong). You don't get ranked in the top five in the preseason if you don't have a good basketball team.

I still think we should be a good basketball team.

We have one game left. If we're good enough to win the league, we'll win it.

Both teams play good defense and I think that's why they are where they are right now. But both teams can explode offensively. Both can put up numbers.

Coming in, they were like us, a team that's up there. They start three seniors, and they are a good basketball team. If people thought they were just going to go away, you don't get ranked in the top five or six in the preseason if you don't have a good team.

There's no question. They're not going to take Penn lightly. They know better than that, and they know they're going to have to play good basketball to be successful.

You're not playing this time of year if you're not a good basketball team.

This might be the worst game he's had shooting 3s, but he did a great job at the free throw line. With those five assists, it was a real good night for him.

Ask me in a week or so and I'll tell you. I don't know. Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I'm not sure. I haven't thought about it much. I believe that if you work and you go about your business the way you need to every day, and if you keep focused and don't allow outside things to creep in and if you're chasing something and if you stay with it, handle the ups and downs, I think that some way, somehow, something good will happen.

I told our guys that if we're going to be a good team, we've got to find a way to win when we're not playing well. We did that tonight.

I told them that we were going to switch everything. And if they score, we've got to get the ball back out in transition as quickly as they can and push it right on top of them. We got as good a look as we could probably get.

I told the team after the game they had a glimpse of how good we can be. We were terrific ... but we can still get better.

That's stupidity. We're six games in. That's just something for people to write about. There are plenty of good teams in this conference.

I have no problem with Daniel attempting to find out what his status may be in the upcoming draft. This is a good rule put in place for players to explore their draft status.

I look at it, and we didn't have a good night shooting the ball, but we still scored 82 points. There really were some good things.

I don't know if we can guard Texas Tech for 40 minutes man-to-man. We were tired. Zone was good to us tonight.

He's not going to post those guys up. They're older, and they know how to push you around. He doesn't have to play with his back to the basket. He's really a good face-up shooter.

This is a good rule put in place for players to explore their draft position.

The environment was great and to come in here and find a way to get it done is huge. I feel good for our guys. Memphis is a very hard team to defend because of the way they play.

The game is important to him. He wants to be really good at it.