SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2021

John Petty, Jr.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama 85, Mississippi State 48

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by John Petty, Jr.

We'll have you open with your thoughts on the game, then take a few questions.

JOHN PETTY, JR.: Yeah, I thought our team came out well-prepared. There was a lot of questions about us coming out in these early games. Previously we didn't do too good. I feel like our guys did a great job of getting up this morning, getting locked in. It showed out there on the court.

Great win by our guys. Everybody contributed, so good win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Coach said he woke you guys up a little early. How early was that wake-up call this morning?

JOHN PETTY, JR.: We got up about 7:00 this morning and started getting moving, breakfast and everything, about 7:30. It was pretty early.

Q. What has the coaching staff got across to you guys about starting defensively and how that carries over to offense?

JOHN PETTY, JR.: We harp on that as a team. We figure and we know that's how we got into the top 10 in the country. That's how we won the SEC tournament. I feel like that starts the base to everything.

That's one thing that we really harp on, shootarounds, practice, walk-throughs, anything. Anything before we start anything is going to start with our defense because we know defense will always lead to offense with turnovers, fast break points, and everything like that.

Q. What was the mood around the locker room after Josh went down?

JOHN PETTY, JR.: We were really happy. We were really concerned at first about what happened. Even though we still don't know. But we all know that he's going to be all right. We going to pray for him. We going to still get the job done for him even if he's not able to go for the rest of the weekend.

Hopefully we get some good news. We still waiting to hear something. Hopefully we get some good news.

Q. Certainly came off as a statement, but was this game meant by y'all to be a statement? Did you intend to let people know you guys are a contender here?

JOHN PETTY, JR.: Absolutely. That was definitely a statement game. But we just come here to play our game. We want to play good on both sides of the basketball. We really not worried about what everybody else thinks, what everybody else does. We just want to make sure we play basketball at a high level for ourself, for our coaching staff, and for our program.

Every game is a statement game for us. We're going to come out and play like that every day.