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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2011Trent JohnsonAndre StringerStorm WarrenATLANTA, GEORGIA LSU: 50 THE MODERATOR: We'll continue on with LSU. We'll ask Coach Johnson for his thoughts on the game. COACH JOHNSON: For the most part, I thought we did a very good job of competing to the best of our ability. Vanderbilt's a very good basketball team, they're very physical, very well coached, and I thought that they dominated us on the glass. And I thought for a period there, they sort of lost focus, and we managed to make a couple plays, make a couple shots that got us back in the game. But I don't want to take anything away from them. I thought we competed hard, but that's a good team. That's a team that if Jenkins is healthy, they're going to go far in the tournament. And for us, it's been a struggle all year long sustaining any type of good basketball play. But I did like the way the guys held together. Storm fouled out, Garrett fouled out, Malcolm White had back spasms, hasn't practiced in three days, so he wasn't a hundred percent. So that hurt us. But all in all, again we got beat by a good team and we are going to have a couple weeks off and get this team turned back in the right direction for next year. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. For both you guys, I think you guys were down 20 couple of times early in the second half, and obviously it's been a long season. Just talk about the way that the team, like coach said, kind of hung together there and was able to get back and actually be within eight points late in the game. ANDRE STRINGER: Well, we just tried to fight our best. We never really realized the game was over. It never was to us. So we just kept fighting hard and came together and tried to string something back together. STORM WARREN: For the most part that's pretty much what we did. That's our team effort. We're never going to drop our heads no matter what happens out there on the floor because we're going to be out there together. We're going to stick together and fight together to the end, no matter what it is. Q. For both Storm and Dre, I know your coach doesn't like you making any excuses. You're a young basketball team, but you haven't used that as an excuse all season. Just talk about that. ANDRE STRINGER: We definitely don't use that as an excuse. We work like everyone else work, everyone else puts our jerseys on like we do, so we can't hang that over our head. We have to play hard and listen to coach and execute. And this year, it's been up and down and we got to get better. STORM WARREN: We don't use nothing for an excuse. When you step on that court, you got to get the job done. And pretty much they just get to learn from it for being young. It's been a great year for them stepping into college and stepping up the way they did, they did a great job. Q. Storm, how good defense a team is Vanderbilt, would you say? STORM WARREN: Well, I'm not going to take any credit away from those guys. They played a pretty good game today. They did everything that coach asked of them and it probably pretty much bounced in their favor. But they're a good team, you know. They're pretty nice this year. They did a really good job on those boards. So they're a pretty good team. They're pretty much going to do pretty good in the tournament as well. Q. If you guys could, I know this game just ended, but if you could look forward a little bit to next year, your expectations and how much better do you expect this team to be? ANDRE STRINGER: Hopefully we'll be a lot better. We're going to work hard, extremely hard. Obviously, as coach said we're going to take a little time off and get right back at it. And we're going to have to give a hundred percent every day up until next season's first game, and I think I really believe if we do that, we'll be a better team. STORM WARREN: We have a great coaching staff and they're going get us in the spots we need to be and capitalize on mistakes that we made on this season and point out the things that we probably didn't be able to see ourselves being out there playing. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a nice team next year. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for coach. Q. First off, the technical, could you tell us what happened there? COACH JOHNSON: Yeah. I just did like that (Indicating). Okay. Q. I know it was a frustrating season, but promising young players on this team, what gives you optimism that can you turn things around next year? COACH JOHNSON: Obviously, we have a group of guys that are coming in there, that on paper, they're pretty talented. So you would like to think that this group, what they went through this year, all the adversity, the up-and-downs, the inconsistency, that they will learn from it. But that's all going to be judged in the spring and the summer. I have a really, really good feel because the bottom line for us, and I said this going into this year, this is a team that's a bunch of good kids. And I love them as kids. But between the lines, we're nowhere near where he we need to be to be competitive. So that's going to be addressed daily, and I think on paper, we'll be as talented as a lot of teams in our league. But 21 losses this year, 20 the previous year, it is what it is. And losing's a bad habit and it's something that I can't deal with very well. I haven't dealt with it and I'm going make sure that they don't get accustomed to dealing with it. Q. First off, coach, if you could just talk about the play late in the game by your team, getting down. And then also you talked a lot about the competitiveness and what are some things specifically that you can do with them in the offseason to make them more competitive? COACH JOHNSON: Well, to make them more competitive, I'm not sure we can address that here. But the bottom line is, late in the game, I thought that, again, I said it when I first came, I thought Vanderbilt got a little bored and that's when you're talented and you're good and you've beaten a team like they beat us at our place. I thought that they got a little bored there for a minute, the 3 ball didn't go down for them. And I thought we for the most part we did a very good job of competing the best we could. Chris Bass gave us some energy, got in the lane, made some plays he hasn't made all year long. But it's one of those games. Its one of those things. But they did what they had to do to win the game. And I think these kids all year long, literally kids, we did a good job of trying. But there's a big difference between trying and being ultra competitive and having a little fight to yourself. Q. Ralston's year, all SEC freshman team, what did you like about his play this year and what do you see for him next couple years? COACH JOHNSON: He's number one. He's very coachable. Number one, A, is that he's always aggressive. He's never afraid. He's 0-12, but he never backed away from trying to attack a guy like Jeffery Taylor, who is the best offensive player in this league off the dribble, trying to create a shot. He's going to be special. He has a demeanor about him. He never changes expression. But without question, he's our best player and he's probably our most competitive player. He's got a chance to be a special player in this league. Q. Can you talk about what Vanderbilt does defensively that makes it hard for teams? COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, well, I mean, they out-rebound you, they block shots, they got a guy in Jeffery Taylor as an individual who can go guard your one, your two, and your three. And they got the big fella in the middle. And they're very physical in terms of how they bump you off of the cuts within the confines of the game. But again, and I'm basing that off of not how they defend us, I'm basing that of all the tapes off of Florida or when they play Kentucky. They're a good defensive team. And they're older and they're experienced, so that helps. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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