Here is what Willie Cauley-Stein had to say Friday before the Cat left for this afternoon’s game at Tennessee.

On his importance as the only true big man left on the team …
“Everybody is equally important, especially now. Everybody has a little something else they have to pick up on. Our guards have to start getting one or two more rebounds between them. Me and Kyle (Wiltjer) and Alex (Poythress) are going to have to start getting more rebounds between us just to make up for how many rebounds Nerlens (Noel) was getting. Just everybody has to step up in our own different way.”

On the defensive responsibility falling on him …
“None really falls on me; it falls on the whole team. We can’t play the same defenses we were playing, we have to change the way we play defense because, knowing that we had a shot-blocker, a really good shot-blocker on our team, you can kind of gamble more but now we have to play more solid defense and not let guards drive on us.”

On if his knee is ready to play 30-35 minutes a game …
“My knee is ready but personally, I don’t think my conditioning is ready yet. It’s just one of those things I’m just going to have to battle and be mentally strong.”

On people writing the team off with Nerlens Noel out …
“You have to accept the challenge now. I like proving people wrong, and I hope our team feels the same way. We don’t have a target on our back any more. Everywhere you go; the people are always on Nerlens. You go to Florida, people have posters of Nerlens, you go to Texas A&M – nobody has a target on their back anymore. People are already, like you said, writing us off and now it’s one of those things where we can be the addresser coming into a game. People don’t think we are going to win without him and we just have to step up as a team and really get together like coach is telling us to.”

On the injury bringing the team together …
“It makes you have no choice but to come together. He was such a strong force on the team that, you know, his presence was, it was just an impact to everybody. Without it, more people have to step up and do their jobs and really start focusing on what the team needs them to do to win the next games that we need to win to make it to the tournament.