Andy Kennedy Quotes (178 Quotes)

They have good individual players, but what makes them a special group is the way they play together. They're better collectively than individually.

I need the truth to be told and the truth to be told is we can't give one league nine bids. So to every coach in the Big East, today was a frightening day.

He was really out of it at halftime. I could tell something was wrong. He was wobbling.

He had a monster game. Made big shot after big shot for us.

We've shot the ball well. We've spent a little more time in individual improvement, with guys getting reps and taking practice time to do that. But as a coach, when you're making shots, you think the defense is terrible, so we've tried to do some different things defensively.

You keep on going. I saw the (Big East) commissioner and he didn't say, 'Andy, we're going to cancel the rest of the games.' ... We do what we've got to do. I'll walk the campus looking for tall guys. I don't know what else to do.

I'm hopeful we learned some things from it. I don't know of another team in the country that runs that 1-3-1 (zone), and certainly no one runs it as well. You try to simulate it and until you face it, so hopefully both as a staff, and more importantly as players, we'll do a better job of attacking it.

They're very dependent on their core. I think they've got a little more depth than us because they can bring some bigger guys off the bench. But they don't have football, so that's one advantage we have, I guess, over them.

I appreciate that. I went into this with my eyes open. I signed a one-year contract. That's what I expect. For me, it's about trying to get this team to the NCAA tournament. I thought we let a golden opportunity slip through our fingers tonight.

It really is amazing for someone who is 6-6 to play in the league we play in and to be outsized night in and night out. He's got incredible timing and his physical strength is his biggest attribute which allows him to overcome his size deficiencies.

I'm just relieved that our guys rose up to the challenge so that we could live to fight another day.

We're in an NCAA tournament night, there's a lot of teams with local flavor, it's Friday night, it's St. Patrick's Day, students have to pay for tickets, we just finished finals and we're on spring break. I'm tremendously proud of our fans, it's what makes this basketball program one of the best in the country, because our people are tremendously loyal and passionate. Tonight they really came out and supported this team because this team has earned the right to be supported.

I just think it energizes you. I think sometimes you get caught up in such a funk, man, that you don't have energy and you put so much pressure on other aspects of the game when you don't make shots.

The biggest strength of this team is our resiliency. They've just been terribly resilient through all the obstacles that have been thrown at them. They continue to fight and find a way.

I thought we were deficient in every possible area tonight with the exception of Eric Hicks. If he didn't show up tonight, then believe it or not, it could even have been uglier than it was, I don't know how that would be possible but it would have been.

I think he's exceeded expectations when you look at what he's done. But it's unfair that we've had to be so dependent upon him. When he plays well, we're a tough out. When he does not play well, which happens as a freshman, we struggle.

We did not do the things we needed to do and as a result, we have to accept the consequences.

I hope these guys realize all the work, all the obstacles they've overcome. Now we're coming down the stretch. Now you have to do whatever is possible to salvage the year. We can't afford to fall prey to feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to keep fighting.

I thought we were a little listless. How can you be listless playing on national television in Freedom Hall against your number one rival

We had our opportunities. We just didn't take advantage of them. We got some good looks and couldn't knock the shots down and we turned the ball over too much.

We had a conversation, because of the fact we're playing, (Boone) is sensitive to not disrupt anything.

It was just as bad the second time. We just seemed to be out of sync, a step slow. It wasn't just one possession, but continuously.

Us finishing strong down the stretch, I think, was imperative in order for us to put ourselves in a position. But I am hopeful for these guys that we will live to fight again in the Big Dance.

The Big East has certainly lived up to all the expectations. Night-in and night-out, the league is just so brutal. There's just no off-nights.

Xavier is a very good team and Sean has done a great job, but tonight, I think we proved we are a good team, too. Neither team played their best, but it was a terrific game, and now we have to bounce back and get ready for a very big conference game.

I hate to use the word fear, but they sensed it and took us right out of it. It's very uncharacteristic of our team.

I'm hopeful these guys realize all the work and all the obstacles they've overcome. Now we're going down the stretch. Now it's time to do whatever is possible to try to salvage this year. We cannot allow ourselves to fall prey to a pity party ...

It's hard for this team to play catch-up against a quality team in this environment. I thought our shot selection was a little bit poor. We're dependent on making perimeter jumpers and those things come and go.

He said he fell and hurt his hand (in practice) Friday. But I don't remember it.

We will really miss him the rest of the season.

This has been a very difficult time for men's basketball at the University of Cincinnati. I have been given the charge to move this program forward, to put the focus back on our student-athletes.

We're going in there on Senior Night and a must-win situation for them. We have more work that has to be done. We have two opportunities plus the conference tournament to get that done.

We realize this has been quite an odyssey that we've been on. And we know the next time we lose, that odyssey comes to a close.

The Princeton offense was in full effect today.

It was a grind. It was an appropriate ending. We played about as well as we could, hit them as hard as we could. They just kept coming. That is a quality basketball team. It was not given. Nothing this year has been given to us.

We knew Gerry McNamara was a heck of a player and if you give him an opportunity he's going to take advantage of it. He did that. We knew that 2-3 zone was big and effective, which it was. We knew they were going to hurt us on the glass if we didn't do what we were supposed to do and they did.

I don't take any solace in losing the game by two or 22, we lost the game. The standard at Cincinnati has not slipped to the point where we will get any gratification out of moral victories. I said that early, I'll say that late. If this team does not make the NCAA tournament, I will feel as if we've failed, I will feel as if I've failed.

We needed him to step up. He and Eric (Hicks), out of our core, played really well (against Villanova). We didn't get production we needed out of a couple of guys. We were fortunate to be in it down the stretch. It's been different guys on different nights. We've had some guys be more consistent.

James for the first time has strung together a consistent season.

This team just has to find a way, we have to keep battling, there's no time to hang our heads. We tip it again in a Big East game at 2 p.m. Sunday (against Rutgers). I want it to hurt, so they don't want to feel that way again, and it's certainly hurting our guys.

Sometimes you just get caught up in such a funk you don't have energy and you put so much pressure on the rest of your game cause you don't make shots.

We had opportunities and just did not make the play. I was disappointed that we did not capitalize, whether it was Jihad going 0-for-9 or Cedric McGowan not rebounding on the defensive end.

I would never trade this for anything. I also hope I never see it again.

This was huge. This puts us right back in the game. This was a marquee win on the road in a very tough place to win. I hope it shows the NCAA committee that we are continuing to play good basketball.

I think they are a tremendous team. We were exposed on both ends of the floor today by a better team. You see they had 22 assists on 30 field goals which tells you the Princeton offense was in full effect.

It's very uncharacteristic of our team, coming into tonight, our last three games we've turned it over in single digits. Our guys just did not handle it well and then one thing led to another. One thing that our team cannot survive is compounding mistakes.

We trapped a little bit more, maybe not as much in the full court as we have in the past, but in the half court to create opportunities. It was the turning point of the game. They were up six or seven and we created opportunities, we finished in the open floor.

I've had the opportunity to run a top 20 program - amid less than ideal circumstances, granted, but I was given that opportunity. And I knew once the opportunity was afforded that (Ole Miss) was best for me.

We're all dealing with this as best we can. We're not going to lie down, I assure you, tomorrow. We are not going to forfeit this season. We're going to do what we came here to do, and that's push forward.

I don't know whether to laugh, to cry, to scream, or ... I don't know what to do. They've got me paralyzed a little bit. I do know this The games keep coming.