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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2011Tobias HarrisScotty HopsonBruce PearlATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: Joining us is Tennessee. We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from Coach Pearl. COACH PEARL: Well, I think as far as our team heading into the tournament's concerned, we're trying to find out ways to play our best basketball. So right now that would be to continue to play the kind of defense that we have been playing with the same kind of energy, and it's been the personality of our team. These two guys here are clearly our best players and our best offensive players but have both made a real commitment to guarding and have both improved in the areas tremendously. So we got to keep that going. I think the second thing for us to be playing our best basketball is to try to find ways to get some other guys either loosened up and engaged and willing and confident and add to what we have. If we're able to do that, then I think we'll be playing better offensively. And I feel like we have a few more weapons and a little bit more confidence and have a chance to obviously advance. The Arkansas game, the first time couldn't happen any further away. It was the first game of the season. They're a really good team. They have beaten some really good teams this year. They hurt us inside at the four and the five. We had a hard time guarding their ball screen stuff and they got to the rim too often and, of course, you got to do everything you can do to try to contain Rotnei Clarke. THE MODERATOR: Take questions. Q. I was wondering if you would talk about Brian Williams. I guess he was practicing today. What's his status? Assuming he can play, what's his impact. COACH PEARL: I think Brian is available to us and I would anticipate he would play. I don't know how much he'll play in that first game or when exactly he'll get his first rotation, but it won't be like before he was out. But I would anticipate that he'll play. What will he bring? It's amazing sometimes what a couple of weeks off can do to your timing and to your conditioning. But Brian brings some toughness and some defense, some rebounding, brings a presence to us and we certainly will look forward to having him back some. And if he plays well in his rotations, he can play more. Q. If the players could talk about Brian and what his return would mean? SCOTTY HOPSON: Obviously Brian's a big contribution to our team and he does a lot of the small things on the basketball floor that really don't get recognized. And as far as rebounding and 50/50 balls and even on the offensive end clearing out space for me, and Tobias and the rest of us guys to get scoring opportunities, so he's a big factor to our basketball team when he's out there. TOBIAS HARRIS: I would say that Brian really helps us on rebounding, and in them games that we didn't have him, we really missed him down low. And he is just another passing dimension in the zone offense, so we're really looking forward to having him back. But since he's been out, other guys been stepping up and I think we need to just continue to feed off that and feed off that energy for us as a team. Q. When you say you're not sure exactly how he'll play and it may not be like it was before, you are saying you're not sure about his health or you're not sure about how you'll handle the rotation? COACH PEARL: I think two things: one, how he'll play after being out. And so therefore, guys comeback and miss some time and like Tobias said, there's been some guys that played a little bit more, maybe John Fields, Tobias played some center, we moved some things around a little bit for about a week and a half, and now you got to kind of twist it back a little bit. So when you have an injury or a situation late in the year, that can be disruptive. Now as I said, if he comes back and he'll get a rotation, and if he's back to being Brian, and in a positive way, then he could have a greater impact on the game and we'll go to him more and he'll play his way back in. Q. The NCAA question, Bruce, I know you've been asked every day, but can you again, mindset coming into this, do you really think you need at least a win -- you got some impressive wins on the schedule. Do you have feel like you've done enough already? COACH PEARL: You never want to feel like you've done enough. We're approaching it with the players that obviously we know where we're sitting and it may be in, but it's not a done deal. You don't ever want to put yourself in a position where somebody else really is, even though they're in control, you want to help your chances as much as you possible can. So we're going to look at it like we got work to do here to secure our position, to improve our seeding, and to compete for a championship. We won the NIT earlier in the year. We did not win the regular season, though, in the East and didn't finish in a place we -- we're in the road uniform tomorrow. So we just feel like we have got something to play for and we want to try to be playing our best basketball and we know that another win or another, the more we win, the more we improve our resume. Q. Given you guys played on the road in the SEC, does wearing the road uniform, could the guys talk about being 5-3 on the road this year? COACH PEARL: I just think that we have been fairly business-like. I would say that with the exception of maybe in the first half against Kentucky, we did not take advantage of our home court advantage. We did not allow the crowd to inspire us and elevate our play or our effort or energy. I thought in the first half against Kentucky, they were. The guys were playing. They played so hard and so effectively, particularly the defensive end. The crowd was great. We have had great, great crowds. We finished fifth in the nation in attendance and averaged almost 20,000 fans. And we would have liked to have treated them to more home success. But I have enough veterans that they're not going to go on the road and be intimidated. They're going to play the game and their game is not going to be swayed one way or the other. So Scotty's been through it for three years, Tobias is all business. That's his nickname. We're more business-like on the road and we'll take care of our business. Perhaps that will be the case here today. We'll continue to play well away from home. I think it's a great compliment. Certainly we have had great records at home. We have had great runs at home. We had seasons we have been undefeated at home. I would almost prefer the recognition of being a good road team. I think sometimes that speaks to your toughness. SCOTTY HOPSON: Just [] compliments our toughness and our veteran guys with the toughness that we have and it just trickles down to the rest of our basketball team. And I'm a tough guy and Tobias is obviously tough, him being a freshman and doing the things he's done this year. It's been good for us and it just shows what we are as a team. TOBIAS HARRIS: I would say as a team we don't really focus on our home and away record. We just go out and try to play basketball and we know what's at stake right now for the SEC tournament, we know that we need to play our best basketball and build some confidence for what's to be held in the future for us. So I think as a team, we're ready and we're mentally focused and we just are going to have to come out here and show what we're about. Q. You were talking several weeks ago about trying to find that third guy offensively. Is it lack of confidence by the players or is there something just not quite there that they haven't been able to kind of break through there? COACH PEARL: I would say players want to, they obviously want to win. At this point of the year, they don't want to try to get themselves going at the expense of the team. And yet I think that Scotty, Tobias, and myself are encouraging, you know, Let's take Melvin or take Cameron, take Brian or Josh Bone to be able to make shots and play, continue to play defense. I just think that if we can get a little bit more from those guys. And that means they got to have some confidence to go ahead and take a shot. Tobias is occasionally will dribble a hand off, and I've heard Tobias tell his teammate, Shoot that. And it's amazing what the difference in confidence level between when a teammate, when Scotty drives, draws, and dishes, and he yells at his teammate to shoot that, it just gives them a little different level of confidence. Sometimes I'll yell Stick, from the bench and they hear that. And so part of it is confidence, and of course if we do that, it's not so much a third or fourth option. It will just open things up more. Guys have got to be guarded and it just makes you a more dangerous team. Q. As far as your preparation goes, I'm sure you would have liked to have been on the sideline when you first faced this team. Has that affected at all your preparation going into this one and what could that affect just as far as the feel that you might have for the Razorbacks? COACH PEARL: It's a good question. Obviously I wasn't there to see them up-close-and-personal. We watched, we did the game plan, and obviously seen them a lot on tape. I don't think it's going to make much of a difference. My job is to try to help prepare something for the guys and then, during the course of the game, assist them. I was able to prepare at that game, I wasn't able to assist them, but they did fine without me. They did very, very well without me. Q. For Bruce, you changed the culture of Tennessee basketball in a number of ways, and one of the ways is the SEC tournament. I mean Tennessee was next to invisible here, took you a couple years, but how important and significant is that and what advantages are there? COACH PEARL: I think our guys have got a sense for our fans traveling, families traveling, and what it's like to lose in the first round and have people plan on coming for the weekend and then have to go home. One of the things that I will talk to the team about tonight, the hardest game for us to win is going to be the first game. I said it Sunday after we got beat by Kentucky and all we have been doing is focusing on Arkansas. But I will tell them that if we have the opportunity to advance in this tournament, I75 south will continue to fill up with cars that will travel down to the tournament from the Volunteer state. And that's sort of something that I would love to obviously get them experienced with. History matters to me. We played in the Final Four of this tournament the last few years and that's been important. That once all the teams get here, and all the fans get here, they're going to be 12 teams in here now, and it's going to whittle down. And within a couple days, you're going to have a champion. So it is, it's important. It's significant. I think it matters to the players. Q. I wonder, with the first game being the hardest one to win, how much of that, if any, is trying to get past the loss on Sunday with such a big game? A lot at stake and now here you are playing in the first round. COACH PEARL: I'll be curious for the players to answer that too, because Monday was a difficult day. But I tell you, young people are resilient and they bounce back really, really quickly. All we know is the last time we played Arkansas, they beat us. The last time we played, we lost. And we would like to play better and we would like to be successful. We want to advance in the tournament. So I don't think the challenge of beating Arkansas will be that we're going to -- we still have a hangover for having lost to Kentucky. Or the disappointment, I think we're over that. We are here and we have an opportunity to just look any of these teams, to win this tournament championship, and that's how we're approaching it. You guys, can I ask a question of those players? I would love to hear them answer that question (Laughter). What do you say, Scotty? Were you paying attention? SCOTTY HOPSON: What was the question? Q. How tough was it, Scotty, to get over that loss Sunday and move on With so much at stake? SCOTTY HOPSON: It was tough. But at the same time, this team's found ways to bounce back a lot of times, though. So you just got to look past it. Learn from it and get past it and just go on to the next game. Obviously, we can't deal with the past. You got to try to affect the future. Q. With not knowing what your future is as far as the team and an automatic bid and all that fun stuff, but do you feel like a win-or-go-home fear in your mindset at all in this first game? SCOTTY HOPSON: Just feel like we're trying to win each and every game that we do play. I guess our backs are kind of against the wall at times. But at the same time, it's a 0-0 record and we come out here to win a championship and that's what we're going to do. Q. Coach, we know Arkansas's got to win this tournament to go to the NCAA. Kind of what do you expect from them? And then Tobias, what do you remember about the first game and that last second 3-pointer that didn't fall. COACH PEARL: We're not concerned, or I don't think we give much thought to what the other team has to play for. We just know we are, what we're playing for. We will again focus on the fact that last two times we got on the floor with this team they were better than we were and they beat us. And we have an opportunity to play them again, and what are the things that we have to do better this time, what are the things that we have to continue to do well this time in order to be victorious. And again, we just know that to the victor go the spoils. And to the victor you improve your chances of getting in the tournament and being seeded where we want to be and in a better situation and that's kind of what we're focused on. TOBIAS HARRIS: Last game, last second shot came off, I missed it. But I think as a team, we know that getting to that position is not where we should have been. We have to close out games earlier and not be stuck in the last second shots. So as a team, we know that and coming into this game we know that also, just to play our hardest and try to get the game over with pretty early and close out the other team. Q. This team's been written about and talked about all year by different people. Words like "psycho" and "inconsistent." What do you consider the personality of the team? And I'll ask you that Scotty, Tobias, how would you describe this team's personality? SCOTTY HOPSON: This team's personality is toughness and confidence. Guys still each and every day trying to progress and get better each and every day. I think that's what keeps us bouncing back and resilient, the fact that we do want to keep getting better each and every day. So I think progress is the key for this basketball team, but we're definitely confident going into this tournament. TOBIAS HARRIS: Progress and continuing to work hard, I think right now as a team, this is where we need to peak and just reach our highest of our abilities right now, and just gain some confidence and really work hard as a team and play together and I think we'll be fine. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. COACH PEARL: What were we? Psycho and what? Q. Psycho, inconsistent. Up-and-down. Turbulent. COACH PEARL: Okay. All right. I just wanted to make sure I knew what that was. Appreciate that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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