|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2010Mark FoxRicky McPheeTrey ThompkinsNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Vanderbilt – 78 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to continue on with Georgia. We'll ask Coach Fox for some general thoughts on the game, and then we'll take your questions just for the two student-athletes and excuse them to the locker room and finish up with Coach Fox. COACH FOX: Vanderbilt came very determined to play tonight. You know, I think our team was excited about playing also, but they really out rebounded us in the first half, and that was a significant -- that had a significant impact on the ball game. We opened the second half with some competitive fight, got back in it, but we just couldn't. We played from behind all night. That's just so hard to do, especially on back to back nights. THE MODERATOR: We'll take your questions for the student-athletes. Q. For both players. You can you just talk about the difference, offensive flow tonight compared to last night. RICKY MCPHEE: Yeah, like Coach said, just Vanderbilt came ready to play tonight. They were definitely the more aggressive team to start off. We just got behind and just weren't able to make that run to come back and take the lead. TREY THOMPKINS: Like Coach said and Ricky followed, it's hard to play from behind. Vanderbilt's a great team. They're strong, they're tall, they're long, and they played great defensively tonight. We can't fault them at all on their ability to guard tonight. Q. I know you're disappointed with this loss, but this team fought all season long. You had a lot of close games. Do you feel like this program is getting closer to where you want to be after having your first year under Coach Fox? RICKY MCPHEE: Definitely. We're taking the right steps and becoming a better program. I mean, my experiences over this last year have been awesome. I'm going to cherish them for the rest of my life. Just want to appreciate the Coach for giving a chance for me this year and having the opportunity to play. TREY THOMPKINS: You're correct about the fact that we fought all year, but as a team, we expected to win some of those games. We never shortchanged ourselves on the fact that we were inexperienced with Coach's system or we were a young team. We came out to fight just like all our opponents did. We expected to win just like any other team would. Q. Trey, just talk about -- I'm not going to ask you to make a declaration right now, but if you are back next year, the front line that you and Travis are starting to develop, how formidable the two of you have been. TREY THOMPKINS: Travis and I, we work together very well. He's one of the most athletic people I've ever played with. He compliments me because of the things that I like to do on the floor and the things that he likes to do on the floor. We credit most of it to Coach's system because it has us all over the floor, so it's pretty hard to guard us. So we get a lot of looks, and we get a lot of chances to play off of each other. So hopefully in the future we'll get to see some more of that. Q. Ricky, can you talk about defensively in the second half, was it fatigue that set in? It looked like they really got going offensively. RICKY MCPHEE: I mean, I guess we cut it to -- I want to say two in the second half, and they just made some big shots. We just weren't able to bounce back from that. But it definitely wasn't fatigue, we just got outplayed. I give credit to Vanderbilt for executing on offense. I mean, we just weren't able to bounce back in the second half. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse the two student-athletes. We'll continue with questions for Coach Fox. Q. Mark, can you just comment on Travis' game tonight. What you thought about his play. COACH FOX: Travis played very well. You know, I think that he's really matured as a young man and as a player, and he played very well last night, and he was able to put back to back games together. I wish we had a couple more guys that could have done that. You know, he's really maturing as a player, and that's good to see. Q. Coach, Trey was very effective offensively the first two games against Vanderbilt. Was there anything in particular that you saw that made it difficult for him tonight? COACH FOX: They zoned us the majority of the ball game, and they were shaded towards Trey. I mean, we had a tough time finding openings for him, but he's been our best player and our leading scorer all year. So obviously, when you go into a game, the defense is going to be geared to slow him down. And when we've been most effective, we've had more than one guy that has scored next to him. Tonight we really only had Travis effectively scoring around Trey and just couldn't draw some of that attention away from him. Q. Coach, you talked about the young talent on this team, and there is a lot of potential. Just talk about what you learned about this team that gives you a lot of optimism for next season. COACH FOX: You know, I inherited a group that they're good kids. You know, Dennis Felton should be credited for recruiting good young men. These are good kids who, when I walked in, were very receptive to everything I asked them to do, and they've continued to get better. One of the things that we felt like this team could do is improve the entire year, and we felt like we did that, and kids kept getting better. We just had a lot to learn and a lot of room to grow. Certainly, we had some deficiencies in some areas that we have to address, but, you know, this group was very competitive and driven to be a good basketball team, and I told them tonight I respected their efforts. Q. I was going to ask what your message to them was after the game. You may have just sort of started to answer that. COACH FOX: I just told them that we were prepared to play tomorrow. I never felt like this team wanted this season to be over. I didn't have that sense at all today. Oftentimes at the end of the year, you sense guys that are just waiting for it to end. I never sensed that with this team. And they were excited to come to the gym every day and today also. I just told them that, you know, they've made an impact on Georgia basketball. They've given us some momentum forward and earned some respect back for our program, and I'll always be appreciative of that. Q. We asked about possible postseason tournaments. Do you think that's out of the realm of possibility? COACH FOX: I don't think we'll do that. This is it. Right. Q. Can you talk about Trey's impact. Obviously, you'd love to have him back next year, but just what he's meant to this team and what he's meant paring up with Travis. COACH FOX: Well, Trey's a wonderful kid, and he has been a lot of fun to coach. He has been very committed to improving and learning and learning, expanding his game, expanding his experience as a competitor, as a leader, and he's continuing to grow. And he's made a huge impact on this team, and he's really helped Travis mature as a player. And Trey is a very, very good basketball player, and I think he could get even better. I really do. And he'll certainly -- we'll sit down, he and his family, and discuss what his future will be. Trey will make the best decision tore Trey because this is his life. Q. Coach, can you talk about what Vanderbilt was able to do in the second half, particularly with Jenkins. What did they show you in the second half? What made them execute in the second half? COACH FOX: He shot the ball very, very well. You have to credit him for that. We knew he was a good shooter, and he made baskets. I thought defensively tonight that -- you have to give Vanderbilt credit. They were much more physical than us. They're more physically mature, yes, because they're older, more experienced. They were more physical than us tonight. I don't know if it's the fact we played back to back and they came in fresh, but you have to credit them for making a lot of plays. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. 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
|