UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 12, 2022

Tom Crean

Men's Basketball Press Conference

South Carolina - 80, Georgia - 68

Q. Coach, you mentioned the transition game. I guess I would just ask you about the adjustments today and just, I guess, Carolina's zone seems to be the overwhelming theme.

COACH CREAN: I think the transition, no question, that hurt us in the first half. We didn't do a great job of getting the rim covered. And we have to get back and get the rim covered. You stop the ball but before you stop the ball you cover the rim. And that was certainly, that and the rebounding were two keys to the game.

And, again, if you're going to win games, you've got to make shots. We didn't make enough. Against the zone, we just wanted to get the ball inside. We missed some open shots. We wanted to go play through Braelen as much as we could. We wanted to get the ball in the middle and get it swung.

And there's a few too many times that we're playing east to west but then we were able to get it inside and we just missed the shots.

No question, a lot of guys had to play longer tonight. We didn't get a lot out of a couple of guys which hurt us, which when you've got nine guys on your bench or nine guys that are eligible health-wise to play for you, you've got to get more from more people. Couple times we didn't get that.

Bottom line, we didn't make enough shots. And we still had chances to bring it back if those shots go in. And unfortunately the disappointment of missing shots affected our defense. And that's just a continued area of growth that we've got to get better at.

Q. Assuming you can't change any roster, you can't bring in any other players, you're working with what you're working with, what are some things that you can do to kind of change the trend and get things going in the other direction?

COACH CREAN: We have no size right now. With Josh Taylor being sick, with TyMcMillan being out, those are guys that can spell Braelen a little bit. And we didn't have a great -- we didn't get a lot from Dalen today. And in a situation like this you need something from everybody.

And it's just a matter, guys had to play way too long. It's not that they played too many minutes; it's that they played too long of stretches. And the game is a very physical game. And your confidence can leave you a little bit when you're not making shots.

And when we weren't making shots it makes it that much more imperative to get to the rim to make plays. And too many times again today, though, we challenged the shot blockers. And we just have to understand that, we call it an ice, if you don't have the layup just drive it underneath the board, bring it out on the other side of the or board and make a kick.

We continued to challenge guys for no reason. And instead of driving it out, like I said, and icing it or pump faking -- and those become shot turnovers when you drive in on shot blockers.

Again, we've got to get smarter there. But I think the fact that we had to play guys so long stretches, definitely a kid like Braelen, we had to play him such long stretches that he needs a blow here and there and we weren't able to do that today unfortunately.

Q. I know you said in the past you've been doing this a long time. With everything that's happening, you mentioned having only nine guys tonight, how do you keep from getting frustrated with what's happening with the season right now?

COACH CREAN: I just don't think you can. You have to tell the truth. I think you have to tell your team the truth, which I do. I think you've also got to have a really strong belief, which I do. And those are really, really important things.

The games -- it's getting harder and harder for players to understand how much game is really there. Six-point game. Ten-point game. We started the game, I think, scoring nine out of ten or eight out of ten. We finished the half scoring seven out of 12, which wasn't bad either. Right?

And so your scoring is going to come. What can't happen is, when you're missing shots, you allow the other team to come down and you have to, A, get the transition or, B, let them get open a few times. You cannot be living in the last play. And that's the thing that I try to harp on the most, because you can control your mentality. You can't control if the ball's going in or not, necessarily. But you can control your mentality when things aren't going your way.

And we weren't great there today, unfortunately.

Q. I think there was a two-point game with under 10 minutes to go. Do you think you guys ran out of steam because of the depth issues, or what do you think might have happened?

COACH CREAN: I would say, without looking at the film, the way I was feeling during the game, probably. Probably. I'm not trying to make that an excuse. It's just a fact today that we had to play some guys too long, and without those.

And so I would say that would be it. But I would also say that the fact that we were letting lack of offense. Lack of offense can wear you down, too. And we struggled with that at times.

We still struggle with that. I wish we weren't, but we do. And we should be past that, where our lack of offense is controlling our talk on the defensive end, not necessarily controlling getting back, but controlling our talk or how we're closing out to people.

And it was a very physical game, and we didn't always match up with it physically the way we needed to.

Q. Talk a little bit about Devin Carter and Keyshawn Bryant and how hard it is to stop those guys when they get going like they did today.

COACH CREAN: They're really good players. They're really good players. No question about it.