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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2010

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Auburn. We'll begin and ask coach Lebo for some opening comments, his thoughts on the Auburn team headed into the Tournament. And then we'll take questions just for the two student-athletes and then excuse them. And then we'll finish up with some questions for coach. Coach, if you'd begin.
COACH LEBO: We were very excited about a chance to play in the tournament, playing against a very good Florida team.
Hopefully, we'll come in here and play very well in this game. I think it's important for us, obviously, the way we play, to shoot the ball from the perimeter. And then, you know, what presents so many problems for us is Florida's balance. They've got five guys who can score the ball, five guys that average double figures. So that balance presents a lot of problems.
But our kids are excited about playing them, excited about being here and got a very tough matchup in our first round against Florida.
And the SEC West, the whole side has struggled against the top four teams in the East. I think 0-24. Talk to our kids about having a chance to get one of those wins against one of the top four teams in the East.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take your questions for the two student-athletes.

Q. When you are all playing well, what's the difference? What is it that you find when you guys are on the little runs since you've gotten together when you've played well?
TAY WALLER: Everything comes easy. It's like we get open shots, everyone playing defense better. Everyone's game just goes to another level when we play better as a team.
FRANKIE SULLIVAN: I think it gives us more confidence in each other and trust in one another that we can pass the ball and execute the plays well once everyone is just clicking and getting their shots off.
If we do that, then we're hard to beat. It's hard to beat us anytime then.

Q. Tay, can you talk about what Coach was mentioning about winning one of those games against the East, with the West being 0-24. Can that be motivation?
TAY WALLER: Yes. We know we've got to give our best effort right now because right now we've got to win the games.
As a senior, I don't want my season to end right now. So we're trying to bring the freshmen up to par with the seniors so we can play hard.
We know there were a lot of close games with the top four teams in the East, and we know we could have at least won all of them, but right now we've just got to stick it out and play hard right now.

Q. For both players, last time you played Florida, they went to the line 40 times. How do you guys kind of cut down on fouling this time around and keep them off the line?
TAY WALLER: Mostly the guards ran into our big men a lot on the hedges, so we've been working hard to practice and cut down on that. Hopefully, we can stop fouling. We can play much better when we don't foul. Hopefully, we can cut down on the fouls and play good defense.
FRANKIE SULLIVAN: That's a big focal point going into this game is not fouling. I know that I hack a lot, so I'm trying to keep my hands to myself and help the team out. Them shooting 40 free throws is not going to help the game by a long shot.
As Coach tells us all the time, if you go back and look at the stats, the team that shoots the most free throws or gets the most possessions is the team that usually wins the game.
THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse you. You can return to the locker room. We'll continue with questions for Coach Lebo.

Q. Jeff, you know what's going on, a lot of people are talking about your job. Do you hear that? Are you concerned about your status right now?
COACH LEBO: No. I'm focused on this team, and I'm focused on the Tournament, focused on Florida. That's my total -- that's where all my energy is going right now, to these kids.
As in most cases, I think, when the season's over, I'll sit down with my AD when the season's complete, and we'll have a conversation at that point, but that's it, that's kind of where it is right now.

Q. Jeff, there's the old adage about guard play in March. You have kind of a guard-oriented team. Does that maybe give you a little good feeling about your chance at a run here?
COACH LEBO: Well, I mean, we've got to have a lot of things happen, I think, for us to be successful. Shooting the basketball obviously is one of them.
We've got to be able to keep Brendon Knox on the floor. When he's effective for us, we've got a good basketball team because you have to defend us inside a little bit. When he's not on the floor for us, we become very perimeter oriented.
That's been an issue for us with fouls. He gives us -- he's our best shot blocker. He's one of our better rebounders. He gives us some garbage points in there. We've got to have him playing at a high level for us. When he does that, we can be a pretty good basketball team. When he doesn't, we've got a lot of limitations.
That's just kind of who we are and what we are.
When you come into these arenas, sometimes it's not -- you know, being a shooter myself, these things are different for kids to shoot in. And the depth perception becomes a little different. The back drop is different. So you're always concerned, being a three-point shooting team like we are, how we're going to shoot the basketball in venues like this.
And when you're not shooting, we've got to be able to get some easy ones inside and get to the foul line a little bit more than we had in the past.
Guards -- you've got to have good guards, I think, in this game. In the college game, I think you've got three really good ones, and they're playing at a high level. It becomes very difficult to defend. But you also have to have an inside presence when the shots aren't going, and that's, for us, is Brendon Knox. He's got to be on the floor for us in this game against Florida, who's got very good inside people, for us to have a chance.

Q. Jeff, what do you think about the depth perception and everything, the shooting environment here?
COACH LEBO: It's probably a little bit better than the big domes. But, you know, you get in these tournaments, and it's kind of odd playing in them.
And myself, the depth perception, obviously not playing in big arenas, those that play in big arenas, I think, have a little bit of an advantage. And they typically give you the new balls too, which as a player, you really don't want to play with new basketballs. I mean, they're hard, they're not broken in.
So everybody has to play with them, but they become a little bit difficult when you're used to a different type of ball. So those are things that you have got to overcome when you play in these things.
They were issues that I had a little bit as a player. We hated new balls when we started in these tournaments. In the NCAA Tournament, we have the same thing.
But we had -- when I was playing, we played in big arenas in Chapel Hill, so it wasn't as big a factor for us because we played in those type of venues. Every home game, we were in that venue.
Kentucky plays in that type of venue. So I think that gives them a little bit of an advantage.

Q. Coach, Tennessee and Vanderbilt managed to play in this building back in December. Does that maybe, if you can get a game in a building, how helpful can that be? Does that maybe give them an advantage having played at least once here before?
COACH LEBO: I think it's helpful that they know the environment. I can't remember -- I think Vanderbilt got beat in here, I believe. I don't know what Tennessee did.
But I think it's a slight advantage maybe just from the standpoint of they've been in it, they've played in it, they got their feet wet in it. You've still got to play well in it. I think that's the most important thing.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2010

Jeff Lebo

Frankie Sullivan

Tay Waller