Rod Barnes Guys Quotations

We've stayed with the older guys for a long time. Not that we're going away from them, but we've got to do something different.

We're giving a lot of guys opportunities. We've stayed with our older guys for a long time. Not that we're going away from them, we're just going to use (the freshmen).

Some nights, we'll have guys that look like all-conference. It's been difficult. We are going through some growing pains. I take it personally. We need better leadership on the floor.

He'll go down to me as one of the quietest, toughest guys in our league. To me, he's the player of the year in our league. Glen definitely has the numbers, but when you move a guy to a new position and he's exceptional at it, that's pretty special to me.

We're obviously going into this game feeling better about ourselves. I think our guys will be excited about playing. By the time we get there, they'll (State) be ready to play, and our kids realize that.

It has been difficult the last few years to beat Mississippi State. And it will be difficult (today). The great thing about it, a lot of our guys have not been a part of those losses. A lot of our new guys, they've never played Mississippi State.

We expect those guys to really come out and get after us.

Those guys are talented; they're young; they're inexperienced. They need some maturity.

We had a couple of times when our guys could have squeezed off shots when they chose not to. We've got to work our way out of this and gain our confidence back.

When you have a young time like we do, it's going to affect them. Sometimes when you have an older team you may have a situation where guys have been there, and it becomes a rallying cry for everybody.

Bruce Pearl has done a great job of getting those guys to buy into what he is doing. If we had responded with some intensity and aggressiveness early on, it would have been a much better basketball game. After we got into the flow of understanding how hard they play, we were just too far down.

The thing that has helped him, our guys are so close. This is a close-knit group. I think that's one of the reasons why he came back. Most kids in that situation wouldn't have played today. But he made the commitment to come back, and I think the guys were excited to see him and really welcome him.

It's a tough task for us. I'm sure their guys will be prepared for this game. We've just got to play better.

It's mental at this point. We're at a position now where kids know the plays. Mississippi State was more aggressive. ... Mississippi State attacked us, and now I've got to get our guys ready from a mental standpoint to attack Kentucky.

It helped to have guys come off the bench like that. That made it difficult for us.