Lebo Quotes after LSU win

[AUSportTalk 4]

I'm just so proud of my team, especially my seniors. They are four

guys that have meant a lot to me personally and a lot to this basketball

program. It's very gratifying as a coach to see them go out in this

way.

Senior Day is a special day and it's an emotional day. To have

this happen to them in the last game of the season is so special. I'm

very proud of them and I thought that all three of them were big

tonight.

Korvotney Barber was absolutely terrific today. He had 16 points and

17 rebounds in 28 minutes with two blocks and four assists. Rasheem

(Barrett) was solid for us, 12 points and 9 rebounds. Quantez

(Robertson) did one heck of a job, especially on defense.

It's a great team win for us. We battled hard and defended them

very well. We did a very nice job on (Tasmin) Mitchell today. We made a

bit of change to put our bigger guy on him for this game and that

certainly was a factor. Chris Johnson's foul trouble was a factor too.

I'm awfully proud of our team and what we've done coming down this

stretch.

On Korvotney Barber's performance

He was unbelievable and incredibly active off of the glass. I think

he had five rebounds in the first half. He was all over the glass with

his quickness. We were 2-of-16 from three and if you would have told me

that we'd be 2-of-16 from the three and win the game, I'd say you

were insane.

"Defensively is where we were very solid. We spent a lot of time in

preparing our minds after how we played them before. They are a very

physical team. I thought that Korvotney was just terrific because he

spent the majority of the game on Mitchell. He did a great job

defensively along with an unbelievable offensive performance. I think it

was one of the best that I had seen out of him. He's been playing

great. He got jarred in the first half and he lost his bearings here for

a while. I could tell because I've been through this before that he

got winded early, two times in the first half. I think that sometimes

the emotions of this game can really take a toll on you. We had to get

him out of the game a couple of times because he kept giving me the

tired signal."

On why the pick and roll worked well

"We do a lot of pick and roll, but it was something that I thought

that we would be able to get some stuff with it. We were very efficient

with it tonight. We got to the bucket a lot tonight with the majority of

our early points coming in the paint. We get a lot in there actually,

more than you might think, but it's not in a conventional way. We get

our points off of the pick and roll and by getting in the paint with our

guards."

On whether or not the team needs to be seen in person to be

appreciated

"I just know that 10 league wins in this league has never happened

before with a team with that many wins not getting in. The way we're

playing right now, I don't think that after this win against LSU, with

us being the only team to beat LSU and Tennessee, the two top teams in

our league, I don't think you can ignore that. I don't know what

they look at. You can look at numbers all you want, but the numbers will

not dictate how well our team is playing right now. I'm not one to

toot my own horn, but I've got to for these guys. We've won eight

out of nine and to say that we're not even in the mix is a slap in the

face of our guys and the SEC in my opinion. This is a good league. Is it

as strong as it has been in past years? Maybe not, but it's not one

that's far below some of these other ones. I watch a lot of basketball

and these guys have put themselves in the position to be talked about

and that's a credit to them."

On lack of respect for the SEC

"They kill the SEC. They kill the SEC West, in particular. The SEC

West was at .500 the last I checked.  I don't know what happened

today. I don't know how they could say that the West is a lot worse

than the East. There have been some years where that has been the case.

I don't know anybody in any of the BCS leagues that have won eight out

of nine. Maybe there are one or two. You can't take anything away from

the kids."

"Another thing is that we had some losses early. You have to realize

that Rasheem Barrett was not healthy and he is a key ingredient to this

team and you can't help that. He blew out his groin and we had to play

without him against Mercer. It was not until January when he finally

started to come around. You look at his numbers now versus the SEC

versus what they were before he was giving us before he was hurt. It was

substantially different and you're talking about a 1,300 point scorer

and a starter. Everybody knows that in basketball, one guy can make a

huge difference."

"These kids have been unbelievable. I hope they can continue the

ride. It's been one heck of a ride and it's been very

gratifying."

On the seniors bringing Auburn basketball back on the map

"I think that they take pride in the fact that they call themselves

*grinders* and they grind it out. There's nothing fashionable

about those kids. They've been through some hard times and through

adversity and I think that shows a lot about them. You're going to go

through some adversity and how you handle that tells me a lot about you

as a person and as a player. These guys have been through that. They

came when it wasn't fashionable to come to Auburn. There was a lot of

stuff happening in the basketball program and the school and they still

decided to come here. They have worked awfully hard and have been very

consistent for us. They have meant a lot to me and it's a really

emotional time for me to have to say goodbye to those guys as some

point, but we're not going to say goodbye just yet, we'll worry

about that later."

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

I love it!  How improbable is it to go from being torched on the road by Ole Miss and everyone believing that the coach may be losing his team to this!  Unbelievable!  I am so proud of Coach Lebo and that team!  War Eagle!!!