WATCH: Kentucky players discuss big win over Auburn

It was a happy afternoon at Rupp Arena as Kentucky won its fourth straight game, beating Auburn 86-54. The Cats are now 20-9 overall and 11-5 in SEC play, with two games remaining.

How were the Wildcats feeling after the big win? You can see for yourself on the KSR YouTube Channel. Check out interviews with Oscar Tshiebwe, Antonio Reeves, and Cason Wallace, along with a partial transcript if you’d rather read than watch.

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Partial Transcript

Antonio Reeves

On how the win feels… 

“You know, it feels great. Everybody was connected – talking on the defensive end. Everything was just going good for us, defensively and offensively. So I’m happy about that.”

On if the atmosphere today met his expectations of coming to Kentucky…

“Yeah, of course. You know, it’s just that everybody had to figure out what their role was on the team, at first. Everybody is just starting to get connected with one another – trust one another, so you know, you could just tell out there – it’s totally different. This is what it’s all about.”

On when he knew his shots were going to start falling in the game…

“I knew that – the first three I had, and then I had a wide-open three after that. I already knew I was gonna knock that one down. After that, I already knew every shot I put up was gonna go in, so like, it was just one of those days for me.”

On communication and having each other’s backs…

“You know, ball-screen defense, guards fighting over [screens], Oscar being in the right spot off the ball-screens. Just guys pulling – you know, if the ball is on the strong side of the board. Everybody is just connected with one another now, and everybody’s talking too. We weren’t really doing that at first, and this guy right here [Oscar Tshiebwe] – yeah, that’s what it really was.” 

Oscar Tshiebwe

On maintaining lead throughout game…

“Like I’ve been saying, we have to fight no matter how much we’re up by. If we slow it down, the other team will come back and it’ll give them more confidence. We don’t want to give people confidence. During Florida, there were times where we relaxed a little bit and then they came back and they got more confidence and then they started to think, ‘Yeah we can beat these people.’ That’s why I say ‘Let’s keep it going, we can’t relax’”.

On confidence increasing throughout the season and post injury…

“This is the time of the year, everything we went through was just to build my confidence and be prepared for the time about to come. March Madness and the SEC tournament. For me now, I have no distractions. I’m just in the gym, focused, locked in. We play together and we just stay focused. Right now I have nothing distracting me from this path, I came back to win a championship. I’m pretty confident right now with this team and where we’re going.”

On how team is taking care of business and focusing on the “small things”…

“I feel like right now everyone is locked in. Right now everybody just wants to win, you can see right now, even the walk ons, everybody just wants to win. You see our bench is hyped all the time, jumping up and down. Losing is too much, we don’t want to go through what we went through. We were just sitting in the locker room sad, going through practice sad, everybody is just sad. We were trying to figure it out and now we’ve found a way to win. We’re diving for balls, like coach said we need to refuse to lose. We just don’t want to lose anymore. I’m glad I outrebounded Chris today.”