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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Anthony GrantRetin ObasohanLevi RandolphNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Florida – 69 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH GRANT: You have to give Florida credit. Good game by them today. Finney‑Smith was outstanding both halves. I thought he really helped his team today with his ability to rebound the basketball, score the basketball. Proud of our guys. I thought our guys battled all the way through. Foul trouble hurt us a little bit today. Probably made a big difference in the second half there. But we I think put ourselves in position where we had opportunities. Unfortunately we weren't able to make enough plays to win the game. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student‑athletes, please. Q. Can both players just talk about what Florida was able to do, on the offensive boards, especially, how much that hurt you with second chance points that they were able to get. LEVI RANDOLPH: That's one of the things we talked about coming into today was their ability to offensive rebound. They did what they normally do. They got some extra possessions, so it was tough. RETIN OBASOHAN: That was a focus for us coming in. But like Coach Grant said, we got to give Florida credit, because we didn't do what we had to do. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse you. We'll take questions for coach. Q. What did you think of the charging call against Rodney with about three minutes left that turned out to be his fifth foul? COACH GRANT: At the time, again, I have to see it again, I didn't agree with it. But it was a good crew, veteran officials. I'll have to look at it and see if my feelings are different once I see the play from a different angle. But I felt like it was a good basket from my view. Q. How limited were you offensively during that 10 minutes when had you to pull Rodney through the second half when he got his fourth foul? COACH GRANT: Well, Cooper has been able to really help us in the first half. I thought he was really aggressive. I thought he was playing extremely well. He picked up his second foul there with two or three minutes to go in the first half. I had to take him out. That hurt us. Obviously, when he picked up his fourth early in the second half, that hurt us. I think if you look at the stat sheet, I think it obviously tells the story. We didn't get a whole lot today in terms of productivity off the guys that we brought off the bench, so we needed him out there. I don't know what his total minutes were in the second half, but we had to play, obviously, too long of a time today without him on the floor. Q. Could you talk about what Dorian Finney‑Smith was able to do. You guys shut down Frazier completely, but what he was able to do throughout the game to be so effective. COACH GRANT: He's a tough cover. 6'8", the way Florida plays with him as a pick‑and‑pop guy, with the way he can shoot the ball, stretch the defense, I think since his return I think he was 8‑11 from the 3‑point line. He goes 4‑9 today. Riley Norris, our freshman forward, was mashed up with him. He was able to take advantage from an experience standpoint on some things there. I thought Riley really battled, but tough cover for anybody. Especially with the way they can space you with the variety of different guys they put out there. He did a good job getting extra possessions for his team like he has all year. On the offensive glass, he gets six of their 12. He gets half of their offensive rebounds. I thought that he was able to impact the game in a variety of ways today, not only just scoring, but just with his energy. Q. Have you given any thought to the NIT about continuing to play and have you heard anything? Would you want to do that? COACH GRANT: We hope that we have done enough to continue playing. I know that we feel like with the wins that we have, with the RPI that we have, that we're deserving of an opportunity of continuing our season in the NIT. Obviously, that's a decision that will be made Sunday. But I know for myself and our players, we hope to be able to continue our season hopefully in the NIT. Q. What's got to happen to the point where we're talking to you after a tournament about a NCAA bid and not a NIT bid? COACH GRANT: That's the goal of our program. That's been the goal since day one to put us in a position where we can compete in the NCAA tournament and compete for championships. We just got to continue to try to control the things that we can control. Some things, unfortunately, in this business, are out of your control. I think our guys battled all year. I feel like we continue to get better in spite of the different adversities that hit us over the course of the year. I think we got a good group of guys, obviously, in the seniors, Levi Randolph, Rodney Cooper and Dakota Slaughter, those guys obviously have been I think integral parts of our team. But we got a good base of young guys. Jimmie Taylor continues to show that he's going to be a force in this league for years to come. Once we can get some pieces back and get healthy and add, hopefully things will go in our favor. Q. Have you given any thought to next season at all in terms of your future and do you expect to be back next season? COACH GRANT: Haven't given it any thought. Our focus is on this year's team, controlling the things that we can control on a daily basis, hopefully we can continue to play this season. We'll see what happens for us on Sunday. We'll know more then. As I always do at the end of the year, we'll evaluate as we move forward. THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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