|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: CHARLOTTEMarch 27, 2008Bruce PearlJaJuan SmithTyler SmithCHARLOTTE, SOUTH CAROLINA COACH BRUCE PEARL: I told the guys that tonight's game doesn't take much away from the finest season in the history of Tennessee basketball. No team has accomplished the things that these guys accomplished this year, and I'm awfully proud of them. We struggled all night long, and Louisville deserves a great deal of credit for that. I've been coaching a long time, and never has the tempo of the game been dictated so much by the opponent. We usually dictate tempo and we attacked the pressure and we had opportunity, opportunity, to hurt the press, and we just didn't finish. And that was a fact for us. Louisville did a good job of staying out on JaJuan and Chris and not giving them looks, and we didn't take advantage. We were in foul trouble all night long. Wayne Chism getting those two fouls early, he was the one guy we couldn't afford to lose in that situation and it disrupted us. To the kids' credit they battled, they played hard, but it wasn't enough against a team that is as talented and as well coached as Louisville. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Tyler, what adjustments did you feel like they made on you in the second half? You came out and scored in bunches. TYLER SMITH: I got two quick fouls, which gave me three fouls, and they made me play a little bit back. But I mean, they were going at me and were trying to post me up and things like that. Q. JaJuan, you guys got within one point in the second half, feeling pretty good at that point? JAJUAN SMITH: Yes, we felt real good when we got the lead down to one, but they kept fighting. They're a great team. You've got to take your hat off to them and give them a lot of credit for not giving up. They pushed away from us. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Questions for Coach Pearl. Q. It looked like they did as good of a job as anybody against you, extending their zone and getting hands up on the perimeter shooters. Was that a big factor? COACH BRUCE PEARL: It was. Their length bothered us both on the perimeter, deflecting passes into the post, blocking shots, as well as in and around the basket. They've got terrific size, terrific length, and we've got -- I mean zones have not bothered us this year. We've seen some zone, but they did a good job of identifying Chris on most of our inside-outside stuff and their size bothered us when we got the ball close to the rim. We probably didn't drive it on them as well as we should have, but that's what zones do. Zones get you to tend to stand around on the perimeter. Q. Coach, I actually wanted to ask you to look ahead a bit. You saw Louisville tonight, you watched a little bit of the Carolina game, what do you think of that match-up? COACH BRUCE PEARL: I think it's a Final Four match-up, no question about it. Two great teams, with great coaches. The personnel. North Carolina shoots it pretty well from three and they've got a number of guys that shoot it. We shoot well from three, but it's pretty much Chris and JaJuan. And Wayne being in foul trouble and against a zone, it's not as common of a 4 man to step out and shoot it against a zone. But Carolina will put three or four guys out there that can score it, and Hansbrough inside is a little bit bigger target. It's a great match-up. Q. Maybe it's too soon to ask this: Talk about next year. You lose JaJuan and Chris, obviously, but do you feel good about what you got coming back? COACH BRUCE PEARL: We do. We feel good about what we got coming back. It's hard to answer that question right now, because everything has been focused on this group. We're going to put a team out there that's always going to represent. So I feel good about our team for next year. I'm sorry I didn't do a better job with that. Q. When you made your comeback in the early 16-point deficit, you were forcing them to take perimeter shots, shoot three-pointers, but when they made their second spurt they kept going to the basket, what happened during that stretch? COACH BRUCE PEARL: Good question. They had 14 turnovers at halftime and they probably turned it over several more times early in the second half, and at the end they didn't turn it over at all. All they did is they drove it on us, and we fouled them, and part of our extending defensively was we made it difficult for them to run their offense and for them to run their patterns. Once they started putting the ball on the ground and driving by us, it was just a good adjustment that they made and they got to the rim and they got to the foul line. Q. Coach, there has been a lot of speculation over the last couple of weeks that you might be pursued for other head coaching opportunities. At this point do you anticipate being back at Tennessee? COACH BRUCE PEARL: It's great to be a Tennessee Vol. I anticipate, if Tennessee will have me, being back at Tennessee. I think they'll have me, though. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|