KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. SOUTH CAROLINA
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
FEBRUARY 8, 2025 

UK STUDENT-ATHLETES

#00, Otega Oweh, G

On making double digits…

“I mean I did a solid job of just sticking with it, you know it’s a 40-minute game, so, if the first half doesn’t go well, you always have the second half to bounce back, so that’s what I try and do.”

On bouncing back…

“It felt great, and the way we did it, we got better playing defense, playing better team defense, just helping the helper and having each other’s back, and that was what we worked on the whole week, I mean I’m proud of the stuff we did tonight.”

On having Lamont Butler back…

“Oh it was huge, like just his presence helps us out so much, offensively, defensively, I mean I’ve asked him every single day since he’s been out if he was playing, so I’m just glad he got to suit up today.”

On Brandon Garrison’s performance…

“Yeah, he was a huge spark off the bench, I mean it’s kind of hard for the defense to go from guarding Lamont to him, because it’s kind of two different styles but it’s the same thing kind of, but I mean when he’s hooping and he’s quick, you gotta bring the energy every game.”

#4, Koby Brea, G 

On how far he has come defensively…

“I have been working a lot on my mentality and what I need to work on after the last couple of games. I am just trying to set the tone at the beginning that we are going to get better defensively and lock in on that,”

On what made the defense better today…

“I think we did a good job locking in today. We did a good job sticking to the game plan today, but at the end of the day, you must go out there and show it with a lot of effort and heart, and we did that today. On top of that, we got to have each other’s backs, and we did that today.”

On what made the tone feel different today…

“I think with the last couple of losses we realize (defensively) one person can affect the whole group. So, I think that making sure that it was not just me, as a team we all got to lock in, and I put how I play at the highest importance. Overall, it is just a mentality thing and something we like to see.”

#10, Brandon Garrison, F

On how he felt today …

“It just felt great. Keep putting in the work and you get good results out of it.”

On playing more comfortably…

“Having him trust me more when I am out on the floor with the other guys. For example, when I practice and play with the team, I love showing him I can do it. Trust grows throughout the year and taking baby steps to get better.”

On Lamont Butler coming back…

“We missed him. When we are out there, you can tell that having him back does major things for our team. Having him back allows us to have more steals a quicker response and a confidence boost. “

SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH LAMONT PARIS

Opening statement …

“Alright, that’s a tough one. There was a great crowd and a great environment, but that’s to be expected. We came here two years ago and there was a great crowd and a great environment with a good team and we played well that day and won. Today we didn’t play well enough, I thought there was one particular stretch in the second half where it was at nine and went to 20, it seemed like in the blink of an eye. In some instances, like we had a stretch in Oklahoma where we had a six-point game, and then a couple of minutes went by, I looked down and it was almost 20. We’re continually trying to figure out what the decisions are and what the physical plays are. But they did some good things in the second half and the defensively in the first half. We let a couple of guys get away from us and gave up some easy ones in the second half, and they capitalized on that. We just weren’t able to keep up the pace offensively. And we couldn’t make shots. We didn’t have guys that performed particularly well, not to take anything away at all from what they did.”

On Kentucky’s defense today …

“Again, I alluded to that. I don’t want to take anything away from them. They were back playing at full staff, I think. But, I don’t want to take anything away from them at all. We had some real struggles. We got the ball around the basket some, we had some real struggles. Another four, what I would generally call lay ups. I mean, not like these are drill lay ups, but for ones that you got to finish with a good player, we didn’t do, so. They were motivated, they had a lot of energy defensively. They were active. They were active. They were pressuring some of our guys that are, you know, maybe not quite as strong with the ball. I’d say that was probably a little bit different. They were after it. And they were pressuring the ball a little bit, but we also just didn’t play particularly well.”

On Lamont Butler playing …

“Well, I assumed they were going to play him. Unavailable is the only listing that I pay a whole lot of attention to … More than anything, aside from him being a good player, it think it changes the dynamics of what some other guys are out there doing on the court. Maybe some guys are in more natural roles. I think that is probably the thing I noticed the most. He is a competitor. He has started all these games for a reason. He helps them play their best version of basketball on both ends of the court.”