We knew they were talented. We didn't come out with the focus and composure we needed against a team like that.

When you have 20,000 people cheering against you, you find that energy somewhere, somehow. I think tonight you saw that mentality and mindset. The tougher team won tonight. I feel 100 percent confident in saying that.

It's the SEC. You can't take a day off and you can't slack off and that shows. Against South Carolina and Auburn (both double-digit losses) we didn't have that same intensity as we did against Tennessee and LSU. You have to come out ready to go on game day. If you don't you're going to lose.

It's easy to get fired up for the big-time teams where you're clearly an underdog. We came out flat against teams we were supposed to beat and paid for it. I think we've gotten confidence from our big wins and learned from our ugly losses.

(Sunday) was amazing. We upset LSU, but in contrast to that victory, there were about 20,000 people in the arena (Sunday) essentially cheering against you. ... It was my first time (beating Tennessee) and only the second time in program history. So you can imagine what that felt like for all of us. We beat two potential (NCAA) No.1 seeds, and we beat Tennessee on their home floor. That's huge. Not a lot of teams can say that.