Mark Gottfried Good Quotations

Whether we play Winthrop or Louisiana Tech or (future opponents) Temple or (North Carolina) State, the players realize we schedule very, very good basketball teams and we've got to play at a high level every night.

We knew they'd make a run, come back at us a little bit. They're too good of a team, too well coached, but our guys were able to respond to their run and extend the lead back up there.

We're not good enough to look past anybody or have letdowns. Every team we play can absolutely put it on us when we're not playing well or at a high level.

We're 1-of-10 from the 3-point line and we're right there and have a chance to win at the end of the game. We're down three and Ron had a pretty good shot at the end.

Obviously, Ole Miss came to Tuscaloosa and won. Our players have a lot of respect for how good they can be.

Richard Hendrix was terrific today. He was a real presence. We did a good job of getting the ball inside and rebounding the ball. Richard especially.

He got loose against the zone and made a couple of shots. He got off to a real good start and I thought that was the key.

We thought with his (Felix's) size, he might be a little tougher to shoot over. He took some pride in that today, and he should. He's a really good defender.

I think it's a good decision. I think he's got a chance to be one of the premier forwards in the nation next season. He became a leader on our basketball team this past season, and I think he'll continue to mature as a player. And I'm also excited because he's on track to graduate next spring.

I think teams have done a good job of defending him a little better. And he's not Superman. He's human. He's going to struggle from time to time. That's just part of it. He'll be fine.

Look at their team and the personnel they have. I think everybody in this league would all agree Arkansas is good enough to handle everybody in this league. They played terrific in Tuscaloosa. We were fortunate enough to win.

That was the good (side). There was no question. The last two games he was something like 2-for-15 from the field. But for us to be good, we have to give him the shots when he's open. You just have to take the bad with the good. He had one of those performances that's phenomenal.

That was the good of Jean Felix. I think in his last two games he was 2-of-15 from the field. Today's some of the best we've seen from him. He did a great job shooting the ball.

We never got into a good rhythm. Defensively, they did some things and took some of our strengths away. We never seemed to get our aggressiveness back they way we need to around the basket.

We're not thinking about the NCAA tournament. We're thinking about playing a game at Ole Miss. Period. It doesn't do any good to start all that speculation. It's way too early.

We've been pretty good on the road with our poise, but I thought today we got a little hurried. Late in the game, LSU made some big shots and we weren't making shots. I just felt like they had a little more in their tank.

They did what they needed to do. It came down to the backboard. We played our big lineup, so we're disappointed we didn't win. Kelvin's got a good team. They played hard and rebounded well.

It just legitimizes our conference. We always want to bark about how good our league is, yet at some point you have to back it up. I think our whole league did great in the tournament.

It's important to have our legs back underneath us. But the players are in pretty good shape and in good basketball condition and can handle it pretty well.

His last two games he was 2-for-15 from the field. He really concentrated on his shooting. For us to be good you can't take the shots away from him. He got loose against the zone and made a couple of shots, he got off to a real good start and I thought that was the key.

He's really smart, really quick and I think he can beat you in different ways. He's such a good foul shooter that when he's fouled, it's hard to not count those as two points. ... We want the ball in his hands late in the game.

The difference tonight was the defense in the first 15 minutes of the second half. I thought Auburn kept us off balance in the first half with the 1-3-1 zone. We weren't taking good shots. We didn't do a good job getting the ball around the basket. We didn't do a lot of things well.