SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2021

Darius Days

LSU Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

LSU 76, Ole Miss 73

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Darius.

Q. If you can, speak to the patience you played with all night, withstanding the run in the second half, able to come back, make some things happen?

DARIUS DAYS: Good question. We just came together as a team more. Guys down the stretch made big plays. We got stops when we needed them, key rebounds. Trendon came up with a big rebound and a putback close to the end of the game. Gaines had a great steal. That led to Trendon rebounding and putback. He got an offensive foul against Joiner. Changed the game for us. Everybody played their role and did great today. Great team win.

Q. It seemed that in that game you lost it a couple times, won it a couple times. The pace at the end of the game played to your advantage. Talk about how that kind of favored y'all.

DARIUS DAYS: It favored us a lot. We like to get out and run. They played yesterday, played a great game yesterday. They beat South Carolina. They kind of came in here kind of like dead legs. We came in here kind of fresh. Our last game was almost a week ago. We used it to our advantage.

Q. I'll be asking you about Arkansas-LSU round three, you split at home. Both the team teams played real well in those games. What are your thoughts on taking on Arkansas for a third time?

DARIUS DAYS: It's going to be a good one. Neutral court. All our guys are ready. Their guys are ready. It's going to be a good one tomorrow. Bring your popcorn.

Q. What impressed you about Arkansas the last time you played them here?

DARIUS DAYS: They just made better plays. In our game, they just hit more shots. We played really good the first half, then things kind of went downhill the second half.

We're just going to be ready to play tomorrow. It's going to be a good one.

Q. Talk about the late play on the timeout, the pick-and-pop to you. Seemed like you really stepped into it, relaxed in the shot.

DARIUS DAYS: Me and Vern, we work on that same position every day. Like, we shoot that same shot every day. I was very comfortable shooting that shot. They gave me the wide open. I was wide open. They left me open. I just knocked it down.

The guys, they trust me to knock that shot down. That's what I did today. We came out with the win. That's all that really matters.

Q. What did it mean for y'all to win this game?

DARIUS DAYS: It's been a long time. I came here my freshman year, got put out the first round as No. 1 seed. We didn't get to play last year because of the COVID problem. We had to get some redemption, win this first game. The first one is the hardest. We got two more games to go.

Q. You had a monster game against Arkansas in Baton Rouge. Was that one of those games where your shot wasn't dropping? What do you remember about that? Going scoreless, does that give you extra motivation for tomorrow?

DARIUS DAYS: Good question. Going 0-8, that usually doesn't come from me. Some of the Razorback guys, he doesn't miss that much. I'd have been happy I just made half. They could have put us in a better position to win the game.

It is actually a little extra motivation. I played kind of bad there. Neutral court here, so anything's possible.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.