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March 17, 2015
DAYTON, OHIO
OLE MISS - 94
BYU - 90
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by head coach Andy Kennedy and student-athletes Stefan Moody and M.J. Rhett. Coach, we'll start with an opening statement.
COACH KENNEDY: Welcome to March Madness. What a tale of two halves. Two teams playing extremely hard. BYU was in complete control early in the game -- tempo, aggressiveness. All we said at halftime, we made a few adjustments with how we were guarding some of the ball screens. We tried to get a little more athleticism in our 4-5 to make sure when we were switching they couldn't get clean looks. And then we just wanted to show that we belonged to be here. That's all I did. I challenged our guys. Let's show that we're worthy of this selection. There's a lot of quality teams in college basketball that don't have this opportunity. So let's go show that we're worthy, and we did that.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.
Q. Stefan, at halftime, like Andy said, down 17 points. What was the mindset of the team? I mean, was there any let-down at all or did you all know this was it and was there a sense of urgency, I guess?
STEFAN MOODY: Definitely a sense of urgency. We can't let up. We could have went in the locker room, sulked about it and came back out and it would have just got worst. But AK challenged us and we responded.
Q. M.J., not just the first half but you guys came in losing four of the last five, and Coach Kennedy just referenced proving that you guys wanted to be here. What was the message you sent you think with the way you came back there in the second half?
M.J. RHETT: We belong here. I feel like we belong here. We want to make a run and just keep going.
Q. M.J., seemed in the second half there was a conscious effort to get the ball inside and out-physical them. Was that a sense of what you all wanted to do?
M.J. RHETT: We wanted to attack the paint as much as we could. Our jump shot wasn't falling today until the second half. So we kept trying to keep attacking -- attack, attack, get to the rim, and that's what we did. We were relentless, and we didn't want to go home.
Q. Stefan, you seemed to have a feel for the dramatic. When you hit that 3, what did it feel like? That was a long way to come back in a game like this.
STEFAN MOODY: It felt great. But I mean, I was just trying to make plays. Coach challenges us to make plays and come back in the second half. Those are some of the big shots you gotta make.
Q. Stefan, you came into this one struggling a little bit, certainly not tonight. With such an emotional win, coming back from 17 down and you kind of getting your groove back what can this do for the team heading to Jacksonville?
STEFAN MOODY: It could do a lot. It can show we can be a great team and we have to come out in the first half and show that.
Q. Stefan, how frustrating has it been for you the last five or so games and what was different for you out there tonight?
STEFAN MOODY: I mean, it hasn't really been frustrating. That's why I have teammates to definitely pick up for my slack. But I mean it feels great to finally get over that hump, that shooting hump and move on forward in this tournament.
Q. M.J., for you, really fueling that comeback in the second half, were you playing intending know that BYU's 3-point shooting all game could be on display and could get tight in a moment's notice? Were you playing tense down the stretch or hard was it not to knowing that BYU could come back really easily?
M.J. RHETT: We had to stay to our principles. We knew what the game plan was, trying to run them off the 3-point line. We still didn't shoot in the first half, but we still executed in the second half and we got stops, and we came together as a team. We did what we had to do.
Q. M.J., it seemed like down low there was a lot of struggle in the first half. What changed in the second?
M.J. RHETT: Our approach. We changed our approach. Changed the mindset. We came out lackadaisical in the first half, not really finishing plays around the rim, kind of missing layups. We just had to change that. And like I said we just don't want to go home. We're trying to keep going.
Q. Stefan, 25 to nothing points off turnovers what was the sense among the team as you started to build momentum there?
STEFAN MOODY: Just to keep going. It fueled our defensive effort. It's a lot easier to play defense when what you're doing is working and you're getting stops, and we kept going and rolling off of that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.
Q. Andy, you've always said, even when the struggles were there for offensively you never questioned their effort, never questioned their approach. Was this kind of a good result to see, good reward for that?
COACH KENNEDY: Certainly. Again, for us, it's one thing to -- we hadn't played a team like BYU and BYU hadn't played a team like us. It's really the last time -- the last time we were in this tournament two years ago we had a similar setup we played Wisconsin in the first round. It's polar opposites as it relates to style. And the first half they were in complete control. We talked about, I know sometimes you guys are thinking, damn, did the coach not tell them they could shoot it. Yeah, we told them they could shoot. But incredible shots. I mean, Tyler Haws, my goodness, when you score 2,600 points that's probably a pretty good hint you're a good player. But he made hard, hard, hard shots. They were doing some exchanges. We were late. The only real adjustment game plan we made in the second half, other than challenging them, was if you notice we started A.J. and Anthony Perez at the 4/5, because Sebas and Coleby were having a hard time being in man to man they couldn't switch off. We were switching those hand-offs and they couldn't get extended and they were making us pay. Once we made that adjustment they missed a few. Then we were able to get into some of our changing of defense. It's hard to change defense when you can't make a field goal. We shoot less than -- we shoot right at 30 percent in the first half. So it's impossible in transition to change your looks. You guys know that follow us that's what we do. In the second half we were able to get to more of that. Bothered them. Turned it over. We got out to the open floor and took momentum of the game.
Q. The way the team has structured and evolved do you have to have Stefan shoot like this to have this moment?
COACH KENNEDY: Well, everybody that's still playing basketball in this tournament is a good basketball team. I don't know -- I know BYU is an outstanding team. But I don't know -- you know, they normally don't shoot 15 for 29. They were on an NCAA pace. They shot it incredibly well. You have to match the moment or you're going home, as they say. I thought we made big shot after big shot. Collinsworth picked up his fourth foul. Once he picked up his fourth, they went exclusively to that matchup. In the first half it bothered us because we were having a hard time differentiating the matchup from man. And in the second half they went exclusively to it down the stretch because of his foul situation. We got a lot more comfortable with it. Found some seams and made some shots.
Q. How much did you try to attack the rim in the first half?
COACH KENNEDY: Is this a monologue? Can you pass the mic? What are we doing? What are we doing, bro? What, I'm sorry.
Q. How much did you try to attack the rim?
COACH KENNEDY: We were 4 for 17 in the paint the first half. We were trying to throw it close and finish. Again, I don't know what it was. I don't think the moment was too big. Our guys were excited about this, you know. We had not played well in our last couple of outings. So we were excited for the opportunity. And, again, we wanted to show that we belonged. And I was really proud of the effort in the second half. What a game.
Q. You just touched on the last couple of games coming into the tournament. When you combine that with that first half, did you still have confidence that you could prove you belonged in the second half; if so, where would that come from?
COACH KENNEDY: Just style of play. We knew BYU wasn't going to stop shooting that ball. We knew they were going to play fast and we were going to try to speed them up. I thought the entire game changed when we changed the tempo. We got them going a little faster. They finally missed one or two. So maybe there was some hesitation. Then we got steals in the open floor. When we went to the half-court trap I thought we were able to turn them over. Huge, huge stat for us, and guys that follow us, it's really -- we're now 19-4 when we can shoot 40 percent from the field. Tonight we shoot 45 because of a blistering second half. But the reason we're able to stay in games we usually make free throws. This is as poorly we've shot free throws for the year. We're usually competitive off the glass, which we were tonight. But we don't turn it over. We have 24 assists which I'm sure is a season high. Maybe an all-time high for us. 24 assists off 36 made field goals against that zone. We were getting it in the paint and making the proper read and we only turned it over seven times. I don't know what we had at the half but we didn't turn it over much in the second half. When you dig the hole that we did, every possession is vital and we had to capitalize.
Q. Jarvis missed ten shots in the first half but came up 11 points, 7 assists in the second half. Did you tell him anything at halftime or was it just the faith that you kept with him?
COACH KENNEDY: I told him I'm going to ride with him. He's my senior. He and I have been through a lot of battles. He's one of my favorite players. Great kid who I know is going to come in focused ready to play. He's had the yips like I've never seen this year. God bless him, we've tried everything short of an exorcism. We're going to try to put him in a position to make plays. The thing that I'm most proud of he still led us. Look, he ends up with a double-double, he has five rebounds for him. Goodness gracious he didn't have five in the month of March. He was on top of his game despite his struggles shooting the ball. Found the right people. Moody got going. I thought Snoop was the big impetus. Snoop's the one that came in and got us going us in the second half. So it was a collective effort. M.J. Rhett, 9 for 11 from the field, hit a huge free-throw line jumper off some action that we run. Had confidence to take it. Proud of our group.
Q. Still early, but what kind of challenges does Xavier present to you guys?
COACH KENNEDY: I'm good friends with Chris Mack. I'm obviously very familiar with Xavier from my UC days. I know they're going to be tough. They're going to be physical. They shoot it. I don't know if they're going to shoot it quite as quick. This team from an offensive efficiency standpoint they led the nation, shooting less than 15 seconds. We saw that. That's what they do. They were very, very efficient with it in the first half. The second half we knew they were going to continue to give us opportunities if we could get stops, and thankfully we did.
Q. Looking at the big picture where does this game rank all time as your tenure as head coach?
COACH KENNEDY: Well, right now it's pretty satisfying. We're only the eighth team in the history of Ole Miss basketball to play in the NCAA Tournament. We're only now the one, two -- fourth team to win a game. So that's gratifying. Certainly gratifying for a group that nobody thought would be in this tournament. When the magazines came out in September, October, nobody had the Rebels pegged as an NCAA Tournament team. Not one, because I use that as motivation. They're still all over our walls in our locker room. Not one person believed this team could be here. Many people believed that, okay, they're there, do they deserve it? I think we proved that tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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