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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2006Joe CrawfordTubby SmithNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Okay. We're ready to begin with Kentucky. We'll Ask Coach if he'll be begin with some opening comments on the game, and then we'll go to questions for Joe and Randolph. Coach. COACH TUBBY SMITH: Well, I certainly want to compliment and commend the Gamecocks. Coach Odom had his team ready, and they executed their game plan extremely well. By taking care of basketball, spreading the floor, really making some clutch-clutch shots, I thought their kids really played with a lot of energy and heart. My hat is off to them, certainly I wish them the best in the tournament and the championship game.THE MODERATOR: If you have questions for either Joe or Randolph, please raise your hand and we'll get one of the floor microphones to you. Hands up. Questions. Hands up. Okay. On the side, John. Q. Question for Joe. Joe, when South Carolina went on that run there I think they hit four straight 3s there in the second half, did you guys feel like were you playing good defense and they were getting good looks, or were they taking advantage of open shots?JOE CRAWFORD: They got the ball out on the break. You know, we didn't get back, and they got open shots. THE MODERATOR: Hands up. Questions for either Joe or Randolph? Raise your hands. Alright. Fellas, we'll excuse you to return to the locker room. Thank you. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Smith. If you'll raise your hand, and we'll get a microphone to you. Hands up. Let's come start right here in the front.Q. Tubby, I was going to ask you, a minute and one, 28 on the shot when South Carolina had the ball, about three. That's when you guys started to foul. Can you thought about thought process there on trying to get him to the line. COACH TUBBY SMITH: We're down three, and I think they only had three, four fouls. Want to get to a point where it's 1 and 1. We had been playing -- I thought to that point they were make something jump shots and they weren't really throwing it inside on us. So that's why there weren't a whole lot of fouls called during that period. But we just needed to get to a point where we could get to a 1 and 1 so we could put them on the foul line. And it almost worked, so -- that was my thought process at the time, go for a steal. If you don't get it, you know, try to make sure you foul. Q. Kind of follow-up on that question. Once you get to the 6 fouls, there was 44 seconds left. Were you wanting to play defense at that point in time? Were you want to go foul then? And, of course, Wallace got the open dunk. What happened there to leave him open? COACH TUBBY SMITH: Somebody didn't rotate down inside. We had -- I think someone came up -- I thought we tried to get the foul there on Tre' Kelley, and Tre' wasn't called. One of our guys swiped from behind as we were going behind him. Looked like he hit him, but you got to make it an obvious foul. THE MODERATOR: Have another question? Go ahead. Q. When the shot -- with 28 on the shot clock, were you worried about constantly resetting the shot clock instead of playing defense one and getting the ball back?COACH TUBBY SMITH: Your question again? Q. It was 1:01 to go and 28 on the shot clock when you started fouling. If you could have just played defense once and gotten the ball back, did you think about doing that? COACH TUBBY SMITH: Yeah. We always -- we were trying to play defense the whole time and opening that we could get a steal. No -- you're told to guard them as tight as you can, make sure it's a three-point game. You're not trying to -- you're trying to get the ball back because you know they're trying to hold it. So they're saying we're not going to let you do that. We have the breakdown defensively and made a couple -- I don't know who we fouled at that particular time. We did foul. 1:01, the score tied, you want to play defense as long as you can. You know you're going to get the ball back. Try to contain them and make sure you get an opportunity to get a stop. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions? Any other questions. Okay. I see you now. Q. Tubby, same question I asked Joe. When South Carolina went on that run of hitting the 3s in the second half, do you think they were just getting the ball out on the break, your guys weren't getting back or just hitting tough shots, do you think?COACH TUBBY SMITH: They made a couple shots. You know that they're gifted shooters, Kinsey, and I'm not sure who else made a 3 there, I think maybe Tre' Kelley hit one or was it Bryce Sheldon. You lose guys in transition. You might have the wrong match-up. They were doing a good job of screening, and you could feel their energy and their momentum shifting when they made a couple shots there, and that can take -- most of it was in transition, losing the guy, pushing the ball up the court, and we can make -- when you can make shots in transition, you're getting a lot more open looks because we're a pretty good half-court defensive team. We struggle in transition as most teams do. THE MODERATOR: Other questions. Did you have a follow-up, John? Q. Tubby, last couple games taken care of the basketball real well. Turnovers seemed to hurt you today.COACH TUBBY SMITH: Yes, I was disappointed we didn't do a better job of handling the ball under pressure. You know, I thought it was just lots of times -- they're a very good defensive team. You've got to move the ball, screen better. We just got away from those things, you know, little bit of 1 on 1 now and the turnovers weren't really forced, you know? Throw the ball out of bounce, go behind your back, underneath out-of-bounds play, you turn it over. Never turn it over underneath on an out-of-bounds play. We did. Trying to throw lob passes. Just ill-advised decisions. THE MODERATOR: Let's come back around to the aisle. Q. Coach, do you feel like your team is in any better shape right now going into the NCAA Tournament than they were before the SEC Tournament, and was there anything you saw that you feel most confident about that you didn't before?COACH TUBBY SMITH: I thought we played pretty solid defensively other than today, you know, giving up 40, 50 percent in the first half and 47 for the game. We've been defending. When you get to this level, you've got to defend. We rebounded the ball well. We've been doing some things well. That's why we got to the semi finals today. You know, you got to play with a lot more energy, and I thought we -- I thought we matched South Carolina's energy for the most part, just, you know, you got to make some clutch stops and clutch shots in a game like there where every possession is so critical. But, no, I think I see us doing a lot of things better certainly since we've played in this tournament that I think will be beneficial to us going forward. THE MODERATOR: Another question. Q. Coach, if South Carolina goes on and wins this tournament, they would get one of the bids. By winning two games, are you absolutely convinced you guys will be going to the tournament --COACH TUBBY SMITH: I'm not absolutely convinced of nothing. Q. What kind of -- COACH TUBBY SMITH: I have no comment about it. How can I comment about that? I just hope that we get an opportunity. I believe we will. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Raise your hand? Any other questions for Coach smith? Alright. Thank you.
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