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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2011John JenkinsKevin StallingsJeffery TaylorATLANTA, GEORGIA MISSISSIPPI STATE: 81 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Vanderbilt. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Stallings. COACH STALLINGS: I thought if you're a college basketball fan at all, you had to enjoy that game. It was great game from start to finish, both teams. It was just tooth and nail the whole way and neither could get away from the other. I certainly congratulate Mississippi State. I think they have made great progress throughout the course of the season. And a much better team than the team we played the first time, even though we won a close game at their place as well. But very proud of my team, very proud of our execution and how we played the last couple minutes of the game. These two guys were incredible. I thought our zone helped us, and I thought that was a big factor in the second half. And obviously the offensive play of these two guys right here was incredible. We had some other guys step up and make big shots, Lance made a big three, Kyle made a big three, and those are big shots for us. Steve made a big three. Those are big shots for us to take some pressure off these two. Very, very proud of my team. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student-athletes. Q. It seemed like you just kind of, about halfway through the second half or maybe a little later, decided just to take the game over. What was going through your head at that point? JEFFREY TAYLOR: I was just trying to let the game come to me. Fortunately I was able to curl a couple of times and get into the lane and get fouled and make the baskets. And then a couple of times I came off ball screens, hit some shots. So it was just all in the offense. I was just trying to be aggressive and the ball went in for me. Q. John, at what point today did you realize you were going to be healthy enough to be able to play tonight and just how did the toe feel over the course of the game? JOHN JENKINS: I woke up feeling pretty good. And I knew that I really wanted to play, so I kind of told the trainers that I wanted to play and I went through a practice and walking and stuff, and it felt good. So I decided, I guess in the end, that I was ready. Q. As the game went on and towards the end there, how much pain did you feel? JOHN JENKINS: I felt quit a bit but I know I had to keep fighting on. I knew if I didn't keep fighting I would let my teammates down, and that was last thing I wanted to do. To begin the second half, me and Jeff decided we wanted to step up and be leaders. And that's what we did. COACH STALLINGS: Jeff and I. JOHN JENKINS: Jeff and I (Laughter). Q. I don't know if either one you have guys caught either of the fist pumps that Coach Stallings had after the big 3's but just your thoughts on that. And have you seen that much emotion from coach in a game in a while? JOHN JENKINS: I think I have, but whenever he does that, he gets the whole team pretty excited. So that gave us a spark, too, I guess. COACH STALLINGS: He's seen that much emotion, just not positive (Laughter). That's what he wanted to say but couldn't (Laughter). Q. You had seven points in two possessions there. Just talk about the momentum swing that gave you? JOHN JENKINS: I think I hit one that Jeff passed me and I didn't think it was going in, but it went in. And I think I made another shot, tough shot, and so it was something that happened. It kind of gave me some space and I just wanted to knock it down. Q. You get another shot at Florida now, and they kind of handled you pretty well a week or so ago. Are you happy to get another shot at those guys? JOHN JENKINS: For sure. Any time a team beats you twice in the regular season, it's pretty tough to go through. And so anybody would want a third chance, and so we're happy to get it. JEFFREY TAYLOR: Obviously you get beat twice by a team, you want to play them again and get another shot at it. Florida proved that they were the best team in the SEC in the regular season. We definitely look forward to the opportunity to play them again and hopefully we can come out with a win. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for coach. Q. I think that Jeff and John had 22 of your last 25 points. You sometimes see one guy take over a game down the stretch, have you ever been part of a game where two guys just kind of dominated like that? COACH STALLINGS: Probably. I'm sure I have. I don't recall. I didn't know the numbers, but what I liked was how our team stayed connected in that stretch run there and how we played for each other. And they knew to go to those two guys, and then those two guys delivered. But the good thing about our team is that could have easily been Festus. We didn't win the game, but in the stretch run at Kentucky Festus was huge. So we have got guys we can go to and Brad Tinsley was big in the first half of this game. We need to get him to double up his halves. But in any event, we have got some weapons and we try to use them the best way we know how. But you can't teach that stuff that those two guys were doing out there. Q. When exactly did you switch to the zone and why exactly did you switch to it? COACH STALLINGS: We played a little bit of zone in the first half. Then we came out at the start of the second half, we started the half in zone and it really worked for us then. Then they got a little bit of a bead on it, and we went back man. And then when we got it late, we went back to it because we just felt like it had been good to us, and we felt like that would be a good way for us to defend. And when John got fouled on the three and made the three free throws, we went back to it. We were up three and we played it the rest of the game. Q. Did you challenge Jeff to kind of take over late in the second half or did he do that on his own? COACH STALLINGS: No, no. At one point I stood up and I told him, he passed up a shot, he had missed one and he passed up a shot and he was on the other end, and I didn't yell at him, but I got his attention and I said, Shoot that one. And Jeff's a funny kid. He wants to do what he thinks I want him to do. Sometimes I'm confused as to why he thinks or why he interprets as to what I want. But I think when I told him to shoot after, right after he had missed one, I kind of yelled at him for not taking the shot, and we scored on the possession. As a matter of fact, I think Kyle Fuller hit the three on that on that possession. So Jeff's smarter than me, he knew Kyle was going to make it. He passed up the one so Kyle could make the three for us. But in any event, maybe that released his mind and he just thought, Well, wait, gosh, I just missed one and he told me, he kind of yelled at me in a positive way for not shooting. So Jeff played well. Jeff gets the toughest defensive assignment every night. Jeff played a great game for us. Q. Just your thoughts on John's injury in terms of going forward after what you saw out of him tonight. Do you see any lingering affects there or do you think he's in the clear? COACH STALLINGS: I don't know if he is in the clear or not. My anticipation would be that he will be more sore tomorrow than he was today. He played 34 minutes, gave him a lot of rest, and so we'll have to figure it out tomorrow morning when we wake up. But I will say that he was better today than I had anticipated that he would be. And at our shoot-around today, he really worked hard and stayed after and worked out to push himself and break a sweat. And I don't know, maybe that has to become the game day routine for him, because that was pretty spectacular what he did in the second half. Q. You guys have played in a lot of close games so far this year. Would you put this game in a unique category in terms of the score and how the teams were trading baskets and things like that? COACH STALLINGS: Well, this was certainly an offensive game. When you look up and both teams shoot 50 percent or better, both teams are really good from three, I mean, how about this, 28 of 30 free throws were made in the game. So both teams have a lot more assists than turnovers. It was a well-played offensive game. They had trouble guarding us. We had trouble guarding them. And we didn't rebound. We did not rebound the ball the way I hoped we would and the way I thought we would. That was disappointing. We gave a great rebounding effort last night, and tonight I was very disappointed. So that was my only disappointment in the game, was our rebounding effort. But it was just an offensive game and we don't mind offensive games. We're happy to play them. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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