UConn-Texas postmortem

Some notes, quotes and video from UConn's tough, 55-54 loss to Texas on Sunday. A painful loss for the Huskies, in more ways than one.:

RYAN BOATRIGHT:



(on how he first hurt his ankle with 5:58 left)

“We were fighting for a rebound in traffic, and I don’t know what happened, if I stepped on somebody’s foot or something.”

“If anybody knows me, you know I’m not gonna sit down. I was just trying to tough it out the last four minutes. For me, when I continued to play, when I put all that force on it to turn back the other way, it just gave out.”

(on being helpless while watching Jonathan Holmes' game-winning shot went in)

“Man, it was crazy, because when I rolled it and I was falling, I’m watching it the whole time. So it was like slow motion. As I’m watching the ball go through the air, I didn’t even feel my ankle, it was like numb. As soon as it went through the basket, it just shot straight through me. The pain was crazy. But, it was a great play, he made a tough shot. It’s basketball, you’ve got to live with it, get better and move on.”

(on status of his injury)

“I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I’ll be back. It’s nothing major, to the point where I’ll miss 2-3 games. I don’t know if I’m gonna play Friday, but I’m gonna try my best to get back Friday.”


KEVIN OLLIE:



“I’m disappointed for them, because they worked very, very hard and should’ve won that game. But it was a great shot by Holmes, he’s a great player.”

“They’re wide-open shots. Somebody’s gonna have to step up and make some shots here if we’re gonna win some games.”

(on Boatright's ankle injury)

“Ryan is very meticulous about his body, so he’s gonna get in and rehab. He hates missing practice, so that’s one guy I’m not gonna be worried about him getting back on the court.”

(on whether he's "confident" Rodney Purvis will be back for Friday's Yale game)

“I’m not confident in anything. I’m gonna let my medical team address the situation. He’s gonna be in a boot, I don’t know how long. If he’s ready, he’s gonna be out there playing, hopefully like Rodney can play.”

(on Omar Calhoun)

“He had a good practice, but we just didn’t feel comfortable in him playing in this game. Hopefully, he gets another week off and he can come back for Yale. If he’s not ready for Yale, we’ve got a break for finals, and I imagine he’ll be ready for Coppin State.”

JONATHAN HOLMES:

"The first look was to Myles (Turner) slipping to the basket, I’m guessing it wasn’t open. The second one was D-Holland screening for me in the corner. Connor (Lammert) did a really good job delivering the pass, and D did a really good job setting the screen.”

“Yeah, that’s about as good a look you’re gonna get with four seconds left.”

RICK BARNES:



“I know how hard it is to come in here and win. You come in here and win, you’ve done something.”

“The only time we really listened to what we were asking for was on that last play.”


DANIEL HAMILTON:

“In the huddle we said switch everything, but I guess the guy behind me didn’t know that they were setting a back screen on me and we were supposed to switch everything. My guy ended up getting the open shot. He just made a tough shot.”

“It’s real tough. I just think we’ve got to get in the gym and make shots. If we just make a couple more shots, we’ll be alright. I think going in, we’ve just got to get more time in the gym and continue to work on our game.”

“We most definitely should have won. We had the game won. It just came down to one shot and just miscommunication. If we had communicated, we would have won the game, because we played hard and we got after it.”

“I got back-screened and I guess we just got confused. He got open for a shot, and it was uncontested.”

(on whether he was able to talk to Barnes, who coached his older brother, Jordan, for two seasons)

“I actually tried to go in the beginning of the game and he didn’t want to shake my hand. I thought it was pretty crazy, but that’s how it goes sometimes, I guess.”