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NIT POSTSEASON


March 30, 2006


Tommy Amaker

Graham Brown

Daniel Horton


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

TOMMY AMAKER: I'd like to congratulate South Carolina, what a terrific basketball game that they played tonight. I think the world obviously of Coach Odom and go back a long ways with him. I thought that they brought it from the opening tap, had us on our heels early. Got us down by a large margin there, and certainly was a little bit too steep for us to battle our way out of.
But you give them the credit for what they were able to do tonight. I thought they had so much energy. Disappointed obviously in some of the ways that we felt like we helped them get that energy or those leads. But certainly, you give them the credit that they deserve and I thought they earned this victory and that they deserved to win tonight.
Q. Daniel, what went wrong out there? It seemed like they had a lot more fight than your team.
DANIEL HORTON: They came out stronger than we did. After that we fought them pretty much the whole way. The first few minutes of the game decided the game. They came out a little tougher than we did.
Q. Why do you think that is? Why do you think you guys were sluggish or whatever?
TOMMY AMAKER: Well, let me answer that. I don't think that we were sluggish. I thought that they played an exceptional basketball game early that put us on our heels. We are playing for a championship, and I don't know if that's for us to say that we were sluggish. Our kids did a great job for this tournament and all season. I think you give South Carolina credit for what they were able to do to win it.
Q. Did you notice that their athleticism was what you expected? It seemed like they were really getting up and down the floor, especially early.
DANIEL HORTON: Yeah, that's how we want to play as well. Like Coach said, you have to give them credit for the way they came out and started the game. I think we had a couple breakdowns, of course, but I think you have to give them all the credit in the world for the way they started the game. After the first few minutes, we played them pretty tough. We got up and down with them and we made plays and they made plays.
Like I said, the first maybe, seven, eight minutes of the game decided the game.
Q. One of the things you've done well in this tournament is do what they did, get out on people.
DANIEL HORTON: Say that again.
Q. How come you couldn't match their intensity early?
DANIEL HORTON: It's like that. Sometimes you come out and one team comes out and imposes their will early and it was them tonight. Like I said, I don't think that it's anything that we were not ready to play or came out sluggish or anything like that. The last stretch of the season they played exceptionally well and they did that tonight. You have to give them all the credit in the world. I don't think it's necessarily anything we did wrong. Like I said we had breakdowns and did not play the perfect game but you have to give them credit for how they played tonight, played great tonight.
Q. In the second half you got going, it seemed like time and time again you gave the team a spark but could not explode, did you feel like you found your spot? It just seemed like you were imposing your will on the game but it wasn't enough.
DANIEL HORTON: I was just trying to play hard and my teammates played hard as well. Every time we made a run we would have a breakdown or they were making a great play and silence the run. Some nights it's like that in basketball. You have to give them credit. They made plays, they did everything that they wanted to do and you have to give them credit for that?
Q. Graham, can you talk about going up against their size and athleticism?
GRAHAM BROWN: We knew they were athletic in the post when we first came into the game. We knew we would not have a position down low, we knew they were athletic and tried to try to limit them on the fast break. Those guys are so long and they are just getting rebounds and they are kicking it out and then when Renaldo, he would get there and get the rebound, he would push it up the floor and he's a great player for their team. That led to a lot of fast breaks and a lot of breakdowns. You've just got to look at their athleticism. That was a key thing for them tonight and they were on the glass and doing everything they wanted to. You have to give them the credit, they came out ready to play and they are a very athletic team and well coached.
Q. Can you talk about this being the last game of your career and emotions after the game?
DANIEL HORTON: Obviously we lost, we lost a championship game of a tournament that was very important to us. I think that we came out and we played hard, I think we left it all out on the court as far as it being our last game. We came up short but I think like I've always said, everything doesn't always go your way in life. I think we will handle this and we will bounce back as seniors and the team will bounce back as a program, as well. It's tough but we have to move forward and keep getting better as a program?
Q. For both of you, you said you wanted a better ending after the Big-10 tournament; do you think you got it?
GRAHAM BROWN: We really came together after that Big-10 tournament. The last game of the Big-10 tournament we obviously didn't have a very good game and didn't come out with any fire or very much passion. We obviously did that in the NIT. I think that in the first couple of games we had there at home, it was obvious. We came out there and we fought as hard as we could and we were in every game. We were out there playing our defense like we have been all season and we were fighting. I think we accomplished quite a bit in this tournament. We obviously did. We made it to the championship game and that's a great thing for us. We didn't pull off a victory, but, you know, sometimes that happens with the game. There's always going to be a winning team and there's always going to be a losing team. We fell short today. But we accomplished a lot of things and we're going to move forward and the program is going to gain from this.
DANIEL HORTON: I pretty much agree with what Graham said. It's tough right now. I know Graham battled, I know Coach battled and we battled as a team. It's hard to put into words right now. The one thing I do know that despite losing tonight everything and we've been through as a program and no matter what people say and no matter what people do, this program is going to continue to move forward and Coach is going to continue to do that. With Coach leading this program and the guys we have in this program, there's no question we are going to bounce back from tonight. No matter what happens, I feel that in my heart; that this is a great program. We're going to be -- it's hard to put into words, man. It's tough but we're going to bounce back.
Q. Could you talk about the one play, it looked like goaltending and they didn't call it and you got pretty upset; can you talk about that?
TOMMY AMAKER: Well, yeah, you know, I'm not trying to get into the specifics about the calls. I mean, obviously it's a terrific crew. All of the games that we've played in this tournament have been high-level games with a high level of officiating as well. It's certainly a situation I disagreed with and I got a technical for it and I deserved it.
Q. Didn't you think -- it was goaltending.
TOMMY AMAKER: I thought they missed a call and I got a technical and I deserved to get it.
Q. You asked for an explanation; what were you told by them?
TOMMY AMAKER: You know what, that's not important. I don't know what -- the game goes on and there was a call that wasn't made or whatever and that happens. I understand that. I accept that. I obviously know that the officials on this game are outstanding officials. We had a difference of an opinion on a play there and that's the way it's going to end.
Q. You tried to motivate your team, you're very animated; did you notice that maybe South Carolina came out with a little more fight at the beginning?
TOMMY AMAKER: I wouldn't say they came out with a little more fight. I would say that they played well early and that got them going. Obviously if we would have been playing as well as they did early, maybe we would have gotten us going a little bit better or quicker. That's what happened. They got out of the box early. That's one of the things that has helped us a lot this year. We've had games that we have been after it right away and things sometimes have gone our way early. I thought that's what happened for them and I thought the question about Daniel imposing his will and trying to make some plays, I think you saw every time it seemed like we had a moment that could keep a run going or to make a dent in the lead or a big dent in the lead, put a big-game pressure on them, we missed a layup or got blocked and sometimes those misses turned into a leak-out or a transition, easy opportunity for them that took the air right out of us.
Certainly, I thought that their play early and they got out of the box, we got some layups and we didn't guard them as well as we needed to. But they are quick, they are athletic and they did an outstanding job to win this tournament.
Q. Daniel so many times has been able to get you going; did you think you still had a chance?
TOMMY AMAKER: We kept competing as you were able to see. And you need things to go your way when you're down like that. You have no margin for error. And certainly a missed shot or a missed layup or even the kid who is not the best free-throw shooter in the country, the second best I think, coming into the game tonight, he was maybe the best coming into New York, he missed some free throws.
So things like that happened for us, and every one of those opportunities that we didn't take advantage of kind of let the air out of our opportunity to make a run at their lead.
Q. Could you take a moment and just talk about what Daniel has meant to this program?
TOMMY AMAKER: Well, I think he's been everything. He's been everything to me. He's been an absolute high-level competitor since the day he stepped foot on campus. I'm going to miss him as a coach and as a teacher. He's been a special player for me to have an opportunity to interact with, to coach and to teach.

End of FastScripts...

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