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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2010Zach GrahamAndy KennedyChris WarrenNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Tennessee – 76 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Ole Miss. We'll ask Coach Kennedy for his general thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the two student-athletes. Coach, would you begin. COACH KENNEDY: We're obviously disappointed that we didn't play better in the second half. Very competitive game. I thought our effort was there. Our execution failed us. The old nemesis, the free-throw line, which has been an issue for us. Typically a tell tale sign is when the opponent makes more than you attempt, you're not going to like the outcome. And that's been our issue all season in league play. We've probably been outscored from the foul line 100 to 150 points, and we just have not been able to overcome it. THE MODERATOR: Questions for either of the two student-athletes. Q. This is for both Chris and Zach. It seemed like you guys got off to a really hot start and everything, and then Tennessee kind of clamped down. There were a lot of turnovers. What did Tennessee do differently, or what did you guys do differently? CHRIS WARREN: It's not a matter of them doing something different. We just started executing or probably just cooled down. We got good looks. We just didn't come through with them. ZACH GRAHAM: Just like Chris said, we had a couple plays on the table and open shots, layups, free throws, and we just didn't come through. Q. For Chris, can you just talk about the difference with Tennessee's guards in this game versus when you saw them the first time. CHRIS WARREN: Can you say that again? I didn't really get that. Q. Just asking you about Tennessee's guard play in this game versus the first meeting in Knoxville. CHRIS WARREN: It was pretty much the same. J.P. Prince, he shot fairly well. We didn't expect him to hit two threes in the first half. Bobby Maze, he got a couple of transition baskets. Bone didn't play. First time he killed us. But it was pretty much the same. Q. Zach, you guys got off to such a fast start. Did you feel like for all that energy you all didn't have enough benefit? Did you feel like the lead at that time should have been bigger than it was and that you all could take more control of the game? ZACH GRAHAM: I feel like we was in a good spot. I mean, we won the first half. We just needed to come out and win the second half by at least one point. We didn't do that. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse you. And we'll continue on with Coach Kennedy. Q. Andy, it seemed like this year you guys were so close to beating a lot of these east teams -- UT, Vandy was close, Florida was close. What did you think at the end kind of separated them from you guys? COACH KENNEDY: Free throws. We've talked about this before. We lost four home games. They were not all East teams because we lost to two Western opponents. You know this because we've talked about it. We got outscored by 60 points from the free-throw line in four home losses. That equates to spotting each of those teams 15 points. You can't overcome that. Tonight not only were they cashing in at a high rate -- and obviously, the numbers are a little bit extorted because we had to foul at the end. But you can't come into an SEC Tournament against a very good basketball team and go 12 for 25 from the free-throw line. And it just kind of spread on us. It was contagious. We were around 36% from three. We did, I think, a good job of defending their first shot offense, and we hold them to under 40%, which is our goal. We held our own on the glass. It comes back to that alarming differential on the free-throw line, and that's really been the case for us all season long. If you look at our team statistics, again, I know it sounds like an exaggerated number, but we've been outscored 120 to 150 points, been outscored by that in league play, and it's been a nemesis that we have not been able to overcome. Q. Andy, you had talked before the game that Eniel might play, might not. You didn't know his plan. Could you talk about the decision not to play him and what went into that. COACH KENNEDY: Chris, as you just said, Chris and Zach and Terrico have kind of been our guys lately. I thought Zach was really playing well, and he honestly just got his minutes. It's hard to play five guards. You kind of settle into a four-guard rotation, most especially when you're coming down the stretch. His absence from our team has just kind of made him odd man out today. Q. Coach, Chris made his last shot from the floor with like 12 minutes to play. What happened down the stretch? He was turning the ball over and missed a few three-pointers. COACH KENNEDY: Very uncharacteristic for Chris. He's been our all league guy, our most consistent player. You can never question his heart and his effort, and he continues to fight. When we were down, I think it was, nine maybe in the second half, we tried to give him some space, and he came down and knocked down two huge threes to push right back in the game. Then he got to where he turned it over. Nine turnovers for him is a season high, it may be a career high. And those turnovers not only cost us possessions but led directly to fastbreak opportunities for Tennessee. All of a sudden, you fight so hard to get back into a one-possession game, and you look up, and you're down seven or eight again, and you're just trying to catch up as time gets away from you. Q. Andy, could you comment on Wayne Chism's play again today for Tennessee. COACH KENNEDY: Wayne Chism has been tremendous. He's really had an outstanding career. I probably am not an expert to speak on this because Tennessee obviously has a storied history in basketball. But if you look at what he's been able to accomplish in his four years not only statistically but with the success the teams have, he has to go down as one of the all-time best in the history of that program for the things that he brings each and every night. He's a matchup problem because of his size. He is tireless on the glass, and he's not a volume guy, but he's a big shot maker. I've got a lot of respect for the job that that young man's done, as I do their program. Q. Coach, it's pretty well-documented Tennessee holds the opponent under 69, they win games, they grind it out. Can you speak to Tennessee's defense. I know it's not highlight making, but it seems to be pretty effective. COACH KENNEDY: I honestly think it's who they are. You know, tonight -- last night I think they made four threes on 23 attempts. Am I correct? Tonight they make eight threes on 23 attempts, and it's an 11-point game. So you do the math. But those shots come and go. I thought they were very, very good on the free-throw line. We tried to play the catch-up game late, and it didn't work for us. But thing that's a constant for them, they typically don't turn it over very much, and they really guard you; tonight was no different. We knew exactly what we were going to get. Their bigs are mobile enough that they're able to switch those high ball screens, and a couple of times as we were trying to exploit that matchup, it led to a turnover because of size and getting engulfed in the paint with that size. But defensively is really what has put Tennessee in the position they're in. Q. Coach, obviously this game had a lot of NCAA implications on it. Where do you see the team now and your chances for getting a bid? COACH KENNEDY: You know, I don't know. There's so much made of this team in, this team out. To be honest with you, it's just counterproductive for us to live in that world. We just can't live in that world. All we can do is continue to play the game that's in front of us. Now there are no more games until they tell us what's next. Obviously, it's not a good position to be in. I've got a locker room full of very disappointed guys. So we'll have to wait and see. Q. Coach, can you just talk about Tatum and some of the shots he hit, especially early for them. COACH KENNEDY: I think it was maybe the point. Obviously, it's difficult for coaches, but we do this a little more than these players. It's very difficult -- I know based on timing -- it's very difficult to give any perspective after going through what we've just gone through. I'm sure that's what you were referring to, the earlier question. Tatum was the difference today making four big threes. I think he was 4 for 4 in the first half. Despite the way we played out of the gate, we went in with a one-point lead simply because he knocked down a lot of shots. And that was something that they did not have the first time that we played them. To be honest with you, I thought he was the difference maker. He's a kid who's a single-figure scorer, and he comes out and knocks down 15 in a huge game in a very efficient manner. I think that was the difference. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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