FAYETTEVILLE — Follow along as Mike Anderson reviews Arkansas' win at No. 21 South Carolina and previews Saturday's Ole Miss game.
Manny Watkins and Dusty Hannahs
— MW on his shot in the final minute: Just one of those shots. Looked up and saw the shot clock at 1, so he didn't think he was going to get it off. Was trying to draw a foul.
— DH on scoring 9 straight: I was just being aggressive.
— DH: We won't look past Ole Miss. We know what we need to do now.
— MW on the zone defense: It comes and goes every game depending on coach. We don't want to be predictable. We're not resting in our zone. It's active.
— DH on hearing boos against Vanderbilt and home losses: "You don't want to add to that. That's really all I've got to say to that question.
— MW: We want to play well at home.
Mike Anderson
— Now have an opportunity to have a better performance at home against an Ole Miss team playing really well. Rebels have won 4 of 5 and have been down big in a lot of them.
— Rebels have multiple shooters, so Hogs have to guard the perimeter.
— Saez is a double-double waiting to happen.
— Ole Miss plays physical and aggressive and switches its defenses.
— "I think we've been playing a pretty good brand of defense as far as making adjustments as the game goes along."
— Ole Miss is scoring at a high clip, "like 90 points in the last two games."
— On being .500 at home in SEC play: "I scratch my head on that. We've always been really good on home." Had some lessons learned. Can't take plays off in conference play and assume you're going to win games at home. I think our guys have learned how to win, trust and depend on each other on the road.
— "It's a big game for them. It's a big game for us. There's a lot at stake." It's a big game with five games going down the stretch. Everyone's trying to position themselves.
— Players were dialed in and executed the gameplan last night. They've learned their lessons at home. "We're starting to find ourselves a little better, play a little better."
— On Anton Beard: "I saw him earlier and he said he was clearing up a little." Practice will be short today because they got back late, but he expects Beard to participate a little. "Will he be ready to play? Probably a game-time decision."
— On going zone: "I'm not married to any system. I'm married to winning." South Carolina spread them and attacked the glass against the zone. Hogs were more connected and talkative in the zone. Most active they've been in it. Made adjustments as South Carolina tried to overload it.
— Were able to put bodies on people for rebounding in the zone. Did a good job on their main rebounders boxing out. "We were rebounding as a team. Making them take tough shots and being in good position to rebound the basketball."
— "We've had problems when people have attacked us on the glass." Moses Kingsley will be boxing out Saez, so the guards will need to rebound Saturday. Ole Miss has a lot of long rebounds because it takes a lot of 3s.
— Thought made shots transferred some of the energy to defense. "We played with toughness last night for 40 minutes. We'd done it in spurts" but last night was a full game.
— When you've got multiple guys shooting the basketball and feeding Moses Kingsley, it helps.
— Trey Thompson was big. Had 2 critical steals. His presence in there with Moses Kingsley guarding guys inside made a big difference. He has anticipation. The offense flows when he's out there because he doesn't clog it up, is a great passer, a great screener and probably has the highest basketball IQ on the team. He gives you intangibles. Good to see him avoid foul trouble, because that's been his biggest issue. Zone probably helped in that regard.
— Thompson that innate ability. Sometimes passes too much. Instinctive with soft hands and can run the floor. "He does remind you of some of the stuff Oliver (Miller) did." Sometimes his passing is contagious, because Kingsley started doing it. Good rebounder and defender.