Stan Heath Press Conference - Auburn

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas travels to Auburn for a 7 p.m. non-televised game on Wednesday. The Razorbacks are 16-10 overall and 5-7 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn is 14-13 overall and 4-8 in the league. Following is a partial transcript of head coach Stan Heath’s press conference.

“We’re still in this fight. It’s going to take winning, playing our way in and winning on the road. Our team showed a lot of guts and heart, especially in the second half (against Ole Miss). We need to build on that.

“We need to go to Auburn prepared to face adversity and the way they play at home. They have good balance. They can hit you with four or five different players that can score from different spots on the floor.

“They’ve already beaten Vanderbilt and Tennessee at home, so we know it will be tough.

“We know we have to play good defense, find a way to get the tempo the way we want it and thirdly, we have to maintain possession of the ball. Our turnovers have been higher on the road than they have at home.

“I’m not sure how much Quantez Robertson comes out of their games. He runs their team with assists, scoring and guarding. He’s one of the best point guards in our league and his numbers reflect that.”

Patrick Beverley:

“You don’t always want your leading player to be a freshman, but he has stepped up in a lot of different areas. He’s playing with a fire that is infectious to the rest of the team.”

Inside play:

“Our big players will be big in this game. Between scoring and rebounding, and dominating the paint, they will have to play a strong game for us. This will be as healthy as Steven Hill has been in a while. Darian (Townes) played one of his best games against Ole Miss, and Charles (Thomas) has been big for us.”

Steven Hill:

“Before the LSU game, against Auburn the first time and going back for three or four games, he was playing his best basketball. (Hamstring injury) has had him out of sync and out of rhythm. The lift on his shot was not the same and his shot blocking was off. That injury had an impact on our team.”

Team health:

“This is as healthy as we’ve been, physically and mentally. We need to have all our guns going down the stretch.”

Shooting on the road:

“There’s a mental side to being prepared to face a hostile crowd and calls that don’t go your way. There has to be a glue to your team. There’s an experience factor, too. You have to go through some things. It would be nice if you could go through that before conference. I’m going to try to take the team back to the focus we had at Alabama and build off that positive experience we had on the Tuscaloosa trip.”

Point guard:

“Gary (Ervin) has been a little ill. Sean McCurdy’s progress has been just what we needed. My focus is on keeping these two guys playing well and even playing together like we’ve seen a little bit.”