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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 16, 2008Gary ErvinJohn PelphreySonny WeemsATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Pelphrey for some overall thoughts on the game, then we'll take questions just for the two student athletes and excuse them back to the locker room and then we'll finish with Coach Pelphrey. COACH PELPHREY: Congratulations to Georgia. They were just the better basketball team tonight from start to finish. Our guys fought and battled to get themselves back into it. We did that, but Georgia was just better than us tonight. They deserve all the credit, and certainly winning four games in three days, nobody thought was possible except those guys. They deserve all the spoils and we wish them nothing but the best. I've got a lot of respect for Dennis Felton and the job he's done while he's been the head coach. I think he's a wonderful representative of Georgia and our league. Class guy, give them the credit. We just could not play well enough against them to challenge for a victory. Q. Obviously you guys have played well here in Atlanta the last two years, but just talk about the thrills of getting to the final and then the disappointment of not being able to win? SONNY WEEMS: You know, it's great that we got to The Finals both years, but we didn't come away with a win. That's what we wanted the last two years, and we didn't come up with it. Q. For both guys, why do you think you guys got off to a slow start? Just maybe explain that. SONNY WEEMS: I don't think we was -- I think Georgia was more ready to play than we were. They came out with the intensity. And I think tonight they just wanted it more than we did. GARY ERVIN: They just came out aggressive. That was something that we was hoping was going to happen on our end. From the tip, they got easy baskets, came down after a transition after a miss and got a three-point shot, got a foul point lead. You've got to tip your hats off to them because they played good for 40 minutes. Q. Do you think subconsciously, you know you had NCAA Tournament bid wrapped up, but you played a team knowing they didn't have a tomorrow if they lost this game, and that's why they made all the extra plays because they knew they had to win? SONNY WEEMS: Tip your hats off to them. They wanted the NCAA Championship. We wanted it, too. We wasn't worried about the NCAA Tournament or what was on down the road. We just wanted to get this victory. GARY ERVIN: I don't think we was worried about the NCAA Tournament, not for a second. There's no excuses just to come out and say that they were just playing for that last game and they was trying to get into the NCAA Tournament. We was trying to win a championship. That's what we were trying to do, and we fell short here this afternoon. Q. I think you guys were 2 of 17 on threes. Just talk about that. Do you think you were getting good looks or do you think you were overanxious? What do you think about the three-point shooting? GARY ERVIN: You know, Georgia is a great defensive team. Throughout the tournament they've been holding opponents to low three-point shooting, under 30, and field goal percentage under 40. So you've got to tip your hats to them. But at the same time those are shots that we usually make, penetrating to the lane and kicking out to wide-open shooters. Those are some of the shots that we usually make, and they didn't fall this afternoon. SONNY WEEMS: We had great looks, and I think we just needed a man to get up there and knock them down. Q. Sonny, this is your first game in double figures in five games. You were hot in the first half. Why do you think you were able to kind of produce offensively today why you haven't the last couple games? SONNY WEEMS: I don't think I was rushing anything, but I'm not worried about individual stats. I just wanted to get this championship. Q. For both you guys, I know it's tough right now, but can you already look forward for motivation knowing that you got a chance to go to the tournament and you have something to prove there because you haven't won there in the last two years? SONNY WEEMS: We can't get this game back. It's over with. We've got to concentrate on what we have in the future. GARY ERVIN: In all honesty, I think it's going to soak in. This is not an easy game to just put behind us. We had a chance, an opportunity to win a championship and cut down Nets. You don't get the opportunity all the time. At the same time it's going to take a while, but we have to put this behind us because we're preparing for something else. Next time we step on the court and something like this happens, we're hanging our jerseys up, especially six seniors. For our career we'll never put this jersey on again, so we've got to make the best of this opportunity. Q. You guys were playing from behind the whole game, but you cut it from 19 I think to five. Knowing Georgia was playing their third game in 28 hours were you kind of waiting for them to hit a wall, or what did you think of that? GARY ERVIN: Not at all. We just were trying to go out there and pressure. In a situation like that when a team is hungry and they've got a lead and a team is fighting back, I didn't think Georgia was going to step back for one second. We just couldn't make our shots and get the defensive stuff that we needed towards the end of the game. Offensive rebounds hurt us. SONNY WEEMS: Georgia played those two games yesterday, and I don't think them being tired was anything about this. You're competing for an SEC Championship, and you've always got to come out and play for that. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Pelphrey if you'll raise your hand. Q. You said the other day you didn't really like the term wanting it more, that kind of thing, and Sonny kind of said that. Do you feel like it was a case of that early in the game or anything? COACH PELPHREY: No, I kind of feel like that's an easy answer for those guys. A lot of times -- they say a million things that probably aren't quite close to the truth. Q. What do you think the slow start was due to? COACH PELPHREY: I think it was Georgia. They played really well. They came out there and we weren't secure with the ball on the tip. We did a good job and got it, and then they said, well, -- Gaines saw an opportunity to make a play, did, and next time down -- I can't remember what the shot -- we got a pretty good look from Darian inside and didn't make it. I thought Georgia played spectacular tonight. I just think that they just played really well early, man. I don't think we were dogging it. I think we were trying. We understood what was at stake. Georgia was just better than us tonight. Q. Just talk about the three-point shooting, 2 for 17. Did you think you guys were getting good looks or do you think maybe you were rushing some shots? COACH PELPHREY: I thought some of them were rushed. I thought maybe a couple of them were bad, bad from the standpoint that -- not that they weren't open because I think they were. Michael Washington is obviously capable of making that shot every now and then, and Stef had one early there and he's made some big, big shots for us in this tournament. I thought they were early. They were bad for maybe not giving ourselves a chance to go inside and attack with some of that first. But you're going to get some open looks, and it's tough against them because they make it so hard even around the basket. If you don't make -- if you make primitive shots it sort of loosens things up. Unfortunately for us tonight, that was the difference in the game. Free throws, ballpark being the same, they just shot it better from the three-point line. Woodbury was a good from the start, and he made one late. We got hurt there with the offensive rebounding, too. They had six, seven second chances on two possessions. That was a little bit disappointing. One of those type of situations where we got back into a scenario where we couldn't be tough when we needed to be. Q. The way your inside game has played in this tournament, are you hopeful that if you can get some perimeter offense that you could advance in the tournament because it seems like your inside game has really, really come on the last few weeks. COACH PELPHREY: Well, we're always hopeful. This is not the end of the world. Nobody died tonight. We're always hopeful. We're at the University of Arkansas where great things can happen, is going to happen. Our guys have made shots from the perimeter. I have tremendous confidence in Patrick and Sonny, Gary and Stef. We wouldn't be playing for the SEC Championship today if it wasn't for those young men. Our front court has played better, scored it well. We need to continue to defend and rebound a little better without fouling, but there's always things that a basketball team can work on, but we're always hopeful. Q. You obviously watched these guys on tape a lot getting ready for this game. Is there any way to explain how this team won four conference games and then four in a row here, a simple explanation that us sports writers can't figure out? COACH PELPHREY: It's a game. You know, obviously what you guys do is all on paper and it's very -- you can look at numbers and stuff and make projections, but it's a game. Last night, I mean, a bunch of people telling me congratulations, great call having Steve shoot the ball at the end of the game. I know he's your No. 1 option. As good as that was for us last night, we were disappointed today. But I think you've got to give credit to Dennis Felton. That's where it goes, not just for these four games in three days, but what they've been doing for a season. Dennis certainly doesn't need me to get on his band wagon, but the guy knows what he's doing. I've got tremendous respect for him and what he's done at both places he's been as a head coach, and he's a class act. The kids handle themselves in the right way, and if you play for him, you're going to be like this. You're going to be tough and hard-nosed and you're going to battle until the very end. I think that's a credit to those guys. That's what happened. It's a long season. All of us have been given up for dead several times, maybe with the exception of Tennessee (laughter). Q. For you, how much does it hurt to be so close to a championship and not get it? COACH PELPHREY: You know, for the moment -- we got the opportunity last night. I was very happy for our basketball team, but I certainly wanted to back it up. Yeah, you know it. It's hard to get to this point in time. You never take that for granted. You know, I wanted to win this championship. It makes you part of Arkansas history. It puts you in the record books. That may be some flaws on my character that I need to work on, but yeah, we missed an opportunity. Q. You guys were out rebounded. How surprised were you that they got 13 offensive boards. You guys missed a lot of shots, but -- COACH PELPHREY: If you understand Georgia, big, huge, physical bodies. Those guys aren't going to wow you with their speed, they're not going to wow you with athleticism, they're not going to wow you with low-post play. But they're going to be big, strong, and physical on you're not going to score a basket on them. And whan a game gets close like it did today they can get you extra possessions because of their physical size. That's what happened. Q. Georgia, I guess they've actually won four games in four days, but it probably was three days hours-wise. Just how unbelievable -- they beat four really good teams, too. How impressive is what they did? COACH PELPHREY: Very much so. I think Dennis Felton and his basketball program deserves a lot of credit. Again, I don't think that happened just overnight. I don't think they got all fired up just because they had a chance to win four games in however many days. I think there's a belief system there that they've had all season long. THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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