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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2010Anthony GrantJaMychal GreenMikhail TorranceNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Kentucky – 73 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Alabama. We'll ask Coach Grant for his general thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the two student-athletes. Coach, if you'd begin. COACH GRANT: Well, to say it's a tough defeat would be an understatement. You know, our guys came out today, and we played to win. We certainly had opportunities in the game. Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish it out. Give Kentucky credit. They're obviously -- all year long have been one of the best teams in the country. I think, when you look at their record in our league, their record overall, I think it speaks for itself. You know, all the credit go to them. They made the plays they had to make to win the game. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the two student-athletes. Q. For Mikhail, just discuss the difficulty in guarding John Wall off the dribble and how he was kind of able to get to the rim in the second half, kind of down the stretch. MIKHAIL TORRANCE: He's a great point guard. There's a reason he was the SEC player of the year. I try to make it as tough as I can, and he just made some plays. THE MODERATOR: Could I just ask JaMychal just for his general thoughts on the game, please. JAMYCHAL GREEN: I thought that we played hard, and we fought together. We just came up short. It's been a great year for us. Just sorry it's going to end. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse you. We'll continue with questions for Coach Grant. Q. Coach, when Wall and Bledsoe? Started getting to the rim the second half, did you think about going back to them more man to man than the zone? COACH GRANT: Well, we did. We mixed our defenses up the whole game. We switched back and forth. And those guys did a great job of penetrating and either making shots on their own or finding teammates for open looks. Q. Just how would you describe your first season, you know, with Alabama now that it's wound up. Or maybe a chance to play postseason. What was the season like for you? COACH GRANT: Well, we're hopeful that we'll have an opportunity to continue to play. We'll have to wait and see what happens throughout, but I think we made some strides in the right direction over the course of the year. I think we've gotten better as a team. I think there's a better understanding of what it takes to win and the commitment that you have to have to each other in order to do that. So right now I'm probably not in a position to reflect completely. We just played about 20 minutes ago. But overall, I think we made strides. Q. Just talk about how important the free-throw shooting was in the second half. I think you guys were 7 of 12. COACH GRANT: Well, you got to be able to make your free throws. We missed some. We left some things out there in terms of points, whether it's at the free-throw line or opportunities at the rim. You know, the first game, the discrepancy in the free-throw line was I think we shot 19, maybe they shot 31, something along those lines. I think there was a big discrepancy there. So I was happy to see that we were able to get to the free-throw line. I thought our guys played extremely aggressive, played tough. But certain nights the shots aren't going to fall for you. Unfortunately for us, tonight we left some things out there on the offensive end that may have been able to make a difference. But what we've hung our hat on all year has been our defense and our rebounding. I thought John Wall tonight really stepped up and made some plays that I think everybody that's watched him over the years has grown accustomed to seeing him make. He's a phenomenal player. Patrick Patterson really stepped up and did a great job, and we weren't able to get the steps we needed to on the defensive end. Q. Anthony, just down underneath the basket, they were scoring sort of at will. I think they doubled you up in points in the paint. Talk about what makes it difficult for you to match up with them underneath there. COACH GRANT: Well, John Wall's extremely quick, he's a 6'4" point guard. He's very dynamic in the ways that he can attack you. Eric Bledsoe is another very quick, very athletic guard that makes it difficult to keep him in front. And then with DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton inside, they have the size and physicality that not very many teams in the country can match up with. We knew it would be very difficult in terms of being able to keep them away from the rim for 40 minutes tonight, but we tried to make it as tilt as we could. And, obviously, we weren't as successful as we needed to be. We competed on the backboard tonight, plus 12 rebounding margin. I think Kentucky leads the league, I believe, in rebounding margin. So for us to out rebound them, I think it shows our guys competed. We fought. But it wasn't enough to win tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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