Rick Barnes Job Quotations

He's been great to me. He's always asked me what we could do to make my job better.

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 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.

Transition, we said if they make a 3 we're going to get it out quick and run the transition game. I told A.J. to push it. We did a really nice job of executing right there at the end.

We did a better job in the second half of taking care of the ball. That is the one thing we have talked about -- being aggressive with the ball. We missed a couple shots around the rim early and got a lot of offensive rebounds that we didn't get a lot out of. But over the course of the game, it turned out a lot like I expected it.

They do a great job of creating offense with their defense. Out front, if you don't handle the ball well, those turnovers usually result in easy baskets at the other end.

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.

I told our guys before the game that the key would be what we got from our bench. I watched our last game (KSU) where we bogged down on the offensive end. Obviously, A.J. came up big. They did a great job of double-teaming the post.

Their guys are quick. If you don?t handle the ball well, they do a tremendous job of taking it away and capitalizing on it.