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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2016Avery JohnsonRetin ObasohanArthur EdwardsNashville, Tennessee Kentucky - 85, Alabama - 59 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Alabama. COACH JOHNSON: First, I want to congratulate Kentucky. They played an outstanding game on both ends of the floor. We haven't had much success with them this year. This is our third loss to them. They came in. They were energized. They were ready to play. Coach Cal has done a nice job with a balanced team, some young guys, some older veterans. We've got to take our hats off to them. They were ready to play. They pressured us all night long, and we were on our heels. So congratulations to them. We hope that not only Kentucky but a few other teams really move forward as it relates to the NCAA Tournament. The two guys that are here, Retin Obasohan and Arthur Edwards, our seniors, they've been unbelievable this year. Such a joy to coach. They work hard. They're very coachable. They have great families. They are outstanding young men in the community. They worked awfully hard, obviously, in Retin's case and Arthur's case, in terms of working hard in the classroom. They've been a great role model for our younger players. So it's just been a joy to coach these guys. We fought. We just didn't have enough in the tank. Their athleticism bothered us tonight. They had some guys like Poythress, who normally doesn't make four or five threes, or whatever it was, in a game. They got some wide open threes on us. Again, nothing to hold our heads down about. Up until this point, we've had a really good season. I'm really proud of our guys on so many different levels. We've won a lot of big games. Q. For Retin, obviously, not a lot of things went right tonight, but foul trouble in the first half. Did that throw you off at all? How did that affect you? RETIN OBASOHAN: It didn't throw me off. Like most of you guys know, that happened in the first game. So more than anything, my role just changes. Sitting on the bench, I've just got to encourage my teammates. They did a great job of just hanging in there, battling. I guess that's just adversity you've got to fight through. Q. This is for Arthur. You seemed to be in a really good rhythm tonight shooting the basketball. Both games you really played well. Does that give you a lot of confidence should you be able to go to postseason and further, maybe the NIT? ARTHUR EDWARDS: Yes. Coach has been giving me confidence all year shooting the ball, so that didn't really bother me much. But, yeah, I was confident. Q. Coach, Alex Poythress has been a tough matchup, it seems like, for you all year. Tonight -- I think he's made two threes all year, and then he makes four. Does that just make it that much tougher? COACH JOHNSON: You basically summarized our game tonight. We came into the game trying to minimize his success in the paint, and when he stepped out to three, we wanted to contest him at three, but we didn't expect him to shoot the ball like Jamal Murray. So he made some shots. He had it going. He's a guy, obviously, that's been hungry to play this year, especially with his injury last year. So he played like a star tonight, not only inside, but from behind the three-point line. Q. Coach, talk about Ulis and Jamal Murray's tandem. I think they're the best backcourt in college basketball. What is your thoughts after seeing them three times? COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I agree with you. I've seen them three times this year, and obviously, I've seen a lot of players at the next level. So those guys, they're next-level players. They know how to play well off of each other. They both can pass, dribble, and shoot. I know that sounds really simple, but when you can pass, dribble, and shoot and you really don't have many weaknesses, you don't know whether to force them left or force them right, they can go both ways, they can make the midrange game, they can shoot the three, they make their free throws, they can pass it, high basketball IQ. So outstanding backcourt. Definitely the best in the country, in my opinion. Q. Coach, as you look at the season overall, talk about the mental aspect of what this team's learned about itself emotionally, as far as toughness. They've had some ups and downs. What have you seen, and what are you going to look at going into the postseason? COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, we've been pretty much mentally tough all year. We've been in a lot of situations where much wasn't expected of us. This year we've been trying to lay a foundation for the years to come. We've had to change the culture inside and out. We haven't been in this program five, six, seven, eight years. It's only the first year. In a lot of ways, some of the things we've done this year with a lot of our top 25 wins and some of the things that we've done, I expected that to happen next year. So a little bit ahead of schedule. I'm proud of our guys. We had a lot of new guys that had never been coached by me before. Now we have some continuity with some of our young guys coming back next year. We have two redshirts that are sitting out. Obviously, you guys know we've got some different recruits coming in. So I think this has been a really good foundational year for us. Hey, guys, a lot of times coaches that are in the first year of their programs, they might win four or five games. So look at a lot of the teams that's going to the NCAA Tournament this year. One of my former assistants, Larry Krystkowiak from Utah, I think he won three or four games his first year. So for us to do what we've done this year has been short of amazing in so many ways. And that's not an excuse. That's just the facts. The numbers don't lie. Q. Coach, just talk about the chances for postseason for this group. What would an NIT bid mean for this team for you? COACH JOHNSON: I think our resume is solid. We're playing in a tough SEC conference, where a lot of teams didn't win a lot on the road this year. Played well at home. A lot of parity in the conference. I think, you know, when we play the right way and we get some starters, make some shots, and take care of the ball, we can play with a lot of teams in the country. So whether that's NCAA or NIT. Two weeks ago, we were supposedly on the bubble, right? Or we were the last four in. I'll put our resume up against any team in the country or any of those teams that's on the bubble watch. I really love our resume. So whether it's NCAA Tournament, NIT, or whatever it is, I'm hoping that we can make it to some postseason tournament. Q. Coach, talk about your bigs and your inside game, particularly with Jimmie Taylor and Donta Hall, what you saw out of these guys this year and what you're looking for in the next few months. COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, we have a ways to go inside. Jimmie, obviously, he had some highs and lows this year. We still think there's more that he can give us. Donta came a long way this year. Shannon Hale, obviously, he's been limited this year with his foot situation, hasn't been totally, 100 percent healthy. Michael Kessens, he's improved. So we have to continue to improve inside. Our guys work awfully hard every day with our staff inside. But we have a ways to go. We're not on Kentucky's level in terms of our production inside, but at the same time, we blocked 12 shots yesterday. So we can be very competitive. We just need a little bit more offense from some of our front line players. We'll get there. We have a lot of games on video that we'll have an opportunity to review in the off-season, which we didn't have that this off-season. So my staff works awfully hard with our guys, and we've come a long ways, not only with our inside guys, but with our perimeter players. Justin Coleman got better. Retin Obasohan, hey, first team All-SEC. A guy that averaged five or six points last year. So we take pride in developing our players and helping them improve. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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