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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2008Mark GottfriedRichard HendrixMykal RileyATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Gottfried for some overall thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions for the student athletes. COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, let me first of all say that I'm really, really proud of our team. I think that was a great game between two teams. Both teams I thought played great defense. Mississippi State is a great defensive team, and they give you some problems around the basket trying to score the ball. But I'll tell you what I'm proud of, we had some key times where we had to execute certain things, and our guys couldn't have executed them any better. Sometimes it comes down to just the ball going in the basket, and I would go down again with the same shot in the corner off a great execution by our players, and if the ball goes in the basket, we're playing tomorrow. It's really that simple. I would do it again. I have that much confidence in Mykal. Just one of those tough things for our team. I hurt for these guys. They played extremely hard. So did Mississippi State and they're a good team, but we're obviously hurting right now a little bit on that one. Q. Mykal, if you could kind of take us through that last shot, how good a look did you feel like you got? How did it feel leaving your hand? Just kind of take us through that and just the emotion of missing it? MYKAL RILEY: It was like I was starting on the other side of the court by the bench and it was wide overshot, like it was a good shot and it just didn't fall. I thought it was in. It just went in and came out. I thought it was in when it left my hand. Q. Mykal, in overtime when the winds came and the tornado hit, what was that like out on the floor? I notice Hansbrough said something like that sounds like a tornado. What was your thoughts? COACH GOTTFRIED: He mentioned to me after they shot a free throw, I think, and we was coming down the court, and he was like, sounds like a tornado. I was agreeing with him, and then like all of a sudden everything started moving and everybody started running. Q. For both you guys, what was it like during the break, and what were you doing in the locker room? HENDRIX: In the locker room we just tried to come together and be focused, keep Alonzo free so he could shoot his free throws, and just stretch, stay loose, and just focus on coming out and executing. MYKAL RILEY: We were just in there like with our minds, ready to finish the game. Just two minutes left, just going to try to finish. Q. Did either of you try to get in touch with any family members and did you have any success doing so? HENDRIX: There was a lot of that going on, trying to call our folks. We all had a lot of family members here being in Georgia and us being from Alabama. I couldn't get a hold of them. I think everyone was calling and the phones were tied up so that was something to worry about. I finally got a text message through from my dad saying everyone was okay and just focus on the game. MYKAL RILEY: I called my mom and dad and they were watching the game and I asked them if they seen it. They said they seen it, and I told them I was good, I was all right. THE MODERATOR: Fellows, we'll excuse you back to the locker room. Thank you for coming down. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Gottfried. Q. As far as the storm hitting, what did they tell you and how did you try to handle the team during that time? COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, when it first happened, I could -- obviously looked up and saw everything swaying, and I didn't know what it was. I just knew something was happening and wanted to get our team out of there, and the officials immediately said why don't you guys take your team off the floor into the tunnel or into the locker room. I think once we got back there, we were just kind of in a holding pattern. They did a great job of communicating to us and kind of telling us what was going on. They were checking out the building obviously to make sure it was safe. I think for a few minutes we didn't know if we were going to get to play or not. Then after about ten minutes I think everybody realized we would still get to play tonight. Then it was just kind of waiting for them to allow us to go out. We went out and got our families and brought them in there, too, and just kind of sat and waited. Q. Do you think it was the right decision to go back out and play? COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, I think that once the building -- you have people here that that's what they do. I don't know the right terminology, but to make sure the building is safe. I think once that's determined, that's obviously their call. I think once that's determined that it is, I think it's perfectly fine. I didn't have a problem with it. I think once the engineers and whoever needed to make those decisions, you trust that they're making the right ones. Q. How tough is it to see this season come to an end, especially given the way that you guys played down the stretch? You beat Vanderbilt, you won last night the way you did and you played this game down to the final second? COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, that's the hard part. We beat Arkansas, beat Vandy, beat Florida. I thought down at LSU we played great. We went down to Ole Miss and played for 39 minutes and 50-something seconds. I'll tell you, with our guys, I'm disappointed obviously, but I'll tell you, this group of guys, they played hard, they competed hard, they practiced hard, they were focused in mentally. I think we improved a lot. It took us a while, but I thought late in the year we definitely were a team that was improving, which for us it was too late, a little bit too late. But I'm very proud of them for that. Disappointed that we didn't get more done, and we all know that. Like I said, I'm proud at the improvement that our team made. Q. You said a couple weeks ago that seniors can sense when the end is coming. I'd like you to talk about Mykal over this last stretch. COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, I think Lofton made one today late in the game for Tennessee. I just think that -- I remember back when I played in my sophomore year, junior year, that senior year everything is a little different. I think even Mykal Riley here coming down the stretch, you know the clock is ticking down on you and everything matters more. Practices are a little more important, games, everything. He stepped up for us I thought was just absolutely terrific. He carried us here I thought in the last five or six games. He played at a high level, shot it with great confidence and just played awfully well for our team. Q. I've got two things. First, do you feel like there's any possibility of NIT, or would you all consider another tournament? COACH GOTTFRIED: I hope we get to play. We want to play. Again, we've got young players, and I don't know how all that works. I think with the NIT that's changed a lot in the last couple years. I think it's a lot harder to get in the NIT than it once was for teams like us. I look at our team as a team that if you start doing the eye test and you use your gut and you say is this one of the next best 32 teams, we might be in that group. Now, record-wise or RPI-wise, I don't know. But I like our team right now. We're a team that could go into the NIT and win it, I really believe that, the way we're playing. But you have to respect however that turns out. Q. Could you talk a little about the problems you had offensively in the second half? Seemed like they really took you out of everything. COACH GOTTFRIED: Our problems offensively were a direct result of their defense. They're a very good defensive team. They're good on the perimeter. Gordon has size and strength, Stuart Hansbrough, guard, but then around the basket they make it very difficult for you to score the ball around the basket. Our execution was awfully good. We just sometimes had a hard time putting it in the basket, and I think you've got to give Mississippi State a lot of credit for that. That's a result of their defense. They're terrific on that in the floor, especially with Varnado the way he blocks shots. We had a great out-of-bounds play. We ran and brought Richard there late in the game and he blocked it. He one of those guys that changes the way the game is played around the rim. Q. What do you tell your team during a break like that to get them back emotionally into the game if they're sitting there trying to call your parents? It was a pretty scary situation there for a minute. COACH GOTTFRIED: I think once everybody got a hold of everybody they needed to get a hold of, and I think everybody felt we weren't in any grave danger they were ready to play. They were excited. When they told us we could go back on the floor our guys had a great deal of enthusiasm. Let me say this, too. I think from our perspective, the SEC and the people here at the Dome did as good a job as you can do considering the circumstances. They got us off the floor quickly. They communicated with us frequently. They made sure our families and everybody was safe. Whatever the engineers did with the building was right. They brought us back out and gave us time to warm up correctly. So those situations when they happen at the spur of the moment, I think the SEC personnel here obviously, I think they did a phenomenal job. They handled it as well as you possibly could. So I think you've got to give those guys a lot of credit for that. Q. The low is right now, but talk about right when the shot went down in regulation to send it to overtime. That's a whole new life. COACH GOTTFRIED: Our guys stepped up there again I thought in a tough situation. We had three or four of those where I thought just executed perfectly, and then you've still got to make a shot at the end of all that, and he did. He had a lot of courage, stepped up there and made it. When the shot left his hands on the last shot, I watched the ball, and my heart said, that is in the basket. We're winning the game. We're playing tomorrow. It seems like the ball went down in the net and came out of there, and that's kind of been our year. It's been in and out. But they did a good job, our players did, in those situations. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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