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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2012Terrance HenryMurphy HollowayAndy KennedyNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA CLAUDE FELTON: We're now joined today by Coach Andy Kennedy and student‑athletes Terrance Henry and Murphy Holloway. We'll start with an opening statement from coach. COACH KENNEDY: Excited about being here. Another tournament. Another opportunity for us. Playing an Auburn team that we're obviously very familiar with, having played them twice before. Lost a close game in Auburn and won a close game in Oxford, so it should be a very competitive Thursday night. This team is playing well, we have won three in a row. We're trying to continue to garner momentum moving forward. We realize that if we want to play beyond this tournament, we need to win basketball games, and Thursday night presents an opportunity for us to do that. CLAUDE FELTON: We'll take questions just for the two student‑athletes at this time. Q. If you both would address this, please. With Jelan's suspension, but also with the Dundrecous situation earlier in the year, Murphy with your own injury, do you guys feel like it's been hard to overcome distractions to get to 8‑8 in the league, to get to 18‑12, what do you guys feel about the focus you've been able to give to the season? TERRANCE HENRY: I feel that we're a resilient group. We have been through a lot this year with what you saying, Dundrecous and the problems that we had with other things, with Jelan, and injuries with Murph. But you know, we fought through that and we got back to 8‑8 in the league like we need to do. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: We're a resilient team, we came through a lot of adversity, and I think we're going to keep playing good and keep winning. Q. Could you talk about what's changed for you guys since I saw you play up in Knoxville in that Tennessee game? TERRANCE HENRY: I felt like after that game that was a three‑game losing streak and we were disgusted with the way we were playing. And we had three games left and it was three very winnable games. So we just vowed to each other‑ me, Murphy, Nick and Reg are the veterans of the team ‑ to play hard and give it all we got for these last three games to see where that gets us. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: After that game, coach just told us, Y'all got to take ownership of this group, and if you want it, you know, just step up and win some games. And that's what we did. Q. For both of you guys, since Jarvis has been on campus, have you seen him improve and change and do you think he's ready to lead this team through the tournament? TERRANCE HENRY: Jarvis? Oh, well, I thought as soon as he set foot on campus, he was very mature for his age. Being a freshman and he knows his role, he knows his role on this team. He manages the team and he gets us set up, he gets people that need the shots in the right spots and everything. So the future's going to be bright for him and the program. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: Man, you say everything. (Laughter.) I think Jarvis is ready. He's a mature kid. Y'all seen him. He has good offensive games and sometimes he plays, sometimes he doesn't play as well. That comes from being a freshman. But I think he has way more ups than downs. Q. Both of you, if you would address this, please, what do you think you have to do to get in the NCAA tournament here? Is there a number of wins you have to get? What do y'all think about that? TERRANCE HENRY: Just win, baby. Simple as that. We need, I don't really know a ballpark figure, but I'm guessing, two, three wins, that ‑‑ four would do it definitely, but two or three, I think. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I can go ahead? (Laughter.) I don't really look into it too much, but I figure we just keep winning and everything will take care of itself. Q. Talk about LaDarius white, with Jelan out, stepping in as the back‑up point guard, what do you see from him? I'm sure the last game was an encouraging sign. TERRANCE HENRY: I always told him, he kind of got down middle of the SEC play because he wasn't playing as much as he was at the beginning when he got eligible, but I just told him that, Man, you just be ready because you never know when your time might come. You never know what might happen. And it worked out in his favor for him to step in and he contributed. CLAUDE FELTON: We'll excuse the student‑athletes and you can return to the locker room. And we'll take questions for coach. Q. Can you elaborate at all on Jelan's status and maybe what you were able to determine what happened on Saturday? COACH KENNEDY: Other than the fact that he's not with us, I think that speaks volumes. We're in a situation now where we're in the grind day‑to‑day. It's survival of the fittest for us, and I would like to focus on the guys that are here with all due respect. It's a situation that's unfortunate, but he's not with the team and where we go in the future's yet to be determined. Q. I thought I heard you say on the teleconference that you guys have figured out some things offensively and I just wondered what they were? COACH KENNEDY: Did I say that? Sometimes ‑‑ well, I mean, I ramble, but I'm not sure I went as far as saying we figured out this team offensively. We have to be efficient and we have got to make sure that we don't turn the ball over, and we have done a better job of that lately. We're not having turnovers, which lead directly to our opponents having open‑floor opportunities. We're much more inside‑oriented trying to get the ball close to the basket and create some angles for Murphy or Terrance or Reg to play to their strengths. We're not going to be a volume three‑point‑making team. I don't have any illusions of us tomorrow night coming in here to making 11 threes to coast to a victory. That's just not who we are. But we have to be timely in our shot making. Nick Williams has not shot it better as of late; Jarvis is a kid if you look at his numbers, he's over 40 percent from three, but he's not a big volume like his predecessor Chris Warren was. He's got to make timely shots for us. And that's kind of who we are. We got to defend, rebound, and that's really the reason that we have gotten back to winning. When we were in the losing streak that Terrance was referring to, we were getting out‑rebounded every night. Teams were shooting in the upper 40s against us consistently, and we couldn't overcome that. We have since got back to really defending. We're not turning it over. We have been somewhat efficient offensively and in timely shot making. And as a result, we have gotten back to winning. If we can stick to that formula ‑‑ the problem, and we talk about this as a group all the time, the way that we have to be successful is a hard way to play. It's hard to watch from my perspective; it's hard because literally, we are in the grind. It's hard on our kids physically. There's nothing that has to come easy and we have to stay committed to playing that way in order to have a chance to win. I think our guys realize that, and now with the fact that we have had success as of late, I think they're committed to it. Q. Talk about Jarvis. He's a freshman point guard. Is he ready for coming into this tournament and having to play must‑win games? COACH KENNEDY: We're 30 games into this. He is a freshman and he's never played in the SEC tournament before, and so, obviously, every day's a new day. However, he plays over 30 minutes a game for 30 games. My math's not great, but that's over 900 man minutes. He's a guy that's been through almost every situation so I'm not worried about his perceived lack of experience as a freshman in this tournament setting. He understands the importance of the games, as Murph and Terrance both talked to about. This is a kid that's mature and he wants to win and he wants to lead this team. And now it's just a matter of going out and making the plays. And I thought that in the last probably seven eight minutes of our win at Arkansas he was instrumental. I thought he gave us quality minutes against Alabama, so he's playing good basketball right now and my hope is that that continues. Q. Same thing I asked Terrance, with Jelan out, how important is it for LaDarius to give good minutes? COACH KENNEDY: That's the biggest blow to us is the fact that JK was playing 21 minutes a game. He was a primary ball‑handler for us, which puts some added pressure on Snoop, on Maurice, who has not played as much. Obviously, in the Alabama game, we played Terrance and Jarvis both over 30 minutes. I think Terrance played about 38 minutes. So it puts a burden as it relates to minutes and productivity on those other guys. But again, we have been through so much as it related to our personnel and how vastly we have had changes with the Dundrecous situation and the Murph situation, and we have had different guys for different games. Our guys understand who we are and we have just got to play to who we are. Q. We asked the players and what do you think about how many wins it might take to get in? Obviously you're also two wins away from win number 20. But getting win number 20 hasn't guaranteed you a tournament berth before. COACH KENNEDY: No, I just think it's the target constantly moves. Some of the other teams that are in the same predicament that we are, are playing as we speak. There's going to be winners and losers each and every day. The only thing that‑‑ and you can go crazy trying to figure it all out. I choose to put my energy on preparing for Auburn, for if we're fortunate enough to get through that game, we obviously have a Tennessee team that is playing very, very well, and a team that is also in flux and needing of winning and opportunities. And for us, that's really where our focus is. It's an understanding that if we want to play beyond Thursday, we need to win basketball games. And that's what we're committed to doing. Q. I assume Kendrick's not going to play in the whole SEC? COACH KENNEDY: He's not with the team. Q. Going back to the Tennessee game, you guys jumped out and I know your focus is on Auburn, and if you could tell me what happened, you're up 15‑2 in Knoxville, looking like you were going to blow the doors off. What happened in that game and what's happened since then that you guys have been able to reel off these wins? COACH KENNEDY: We got off to a great start in Knoxville, if I remember, and we were zoning them early and they were struggling with that. If memory serves, Coach Martin went to his bench, he may have pulled all five guys, and a kid named Dwight Miller, and forgive me if I'm not saying his name right, but Dwight Miller comes in and as luck would have it, against the Ole Rebels, I think he knocked in two or three threes and I'm not sure he's made two or three all year, has he? I remember it vividly, flashed to the high post and he knocked in a jump shot and then a three. And all of a sudden, you look back, and he's not mad at Trae Golden anymore and he's back in the game and he knocks down one. And I was talking with Barry out during our shooting time and the story of Jarnell Stokes is really an amazing story, and I think it gets ‑‑ because of what's happening in Lexington, I think it gets glossed over. No time in my memory has anyone done what Jarnell Stokes has done. He was in high school, practices about a week, lines up against Kentucky and makes his first four shots, gets a double‑double against UCONN about a week later, and think about what he has done for their team. Think about what he would be if he was with them all year. I think it's an incredible story. I'm happy for the kid, because I know him and he's a great kid and deserves it. And obviously we weren't going to‑‑ we knew we weren't going to coast into a victory in Knoxville. They defend. We had a hard time scoring. We'll go through our little segments where we can't score and that's what happened. Next thing you know, you're playing from behind and we don't do that very well either. So we had our issues and Tennessee was the better team that day. Q. Then as far as you won three in a row? COACH KENNEDY: We have come back and we realize our back is firmly against the wall. Not to be cliche‑ish, but our guys, both of them just said, Terrance our senior and Murph, a fourth‑year junior, both said, Listen, if we want to turn this thing around, it's now or never. We got to win basketball games and got committed to doing it. We played one of our best games of the year in beating a good LSU team who came in to our arena at that time, having won four straight. They were as hot as anybody save for Kentucky, and we beat them, and they went home and I think Tennessee beat them close. And we got little bit of momentum. We then go to Arkansas, and for whatever reason, we have had success, and we get that one. And we come home and played pretty well defensively against Alabama. So we have just kind of gotten back to who we are. Again, we have got to go ugly early. We got to win ugly, so we're going to go ugly early. I'm sure you can relate, some of you. Q. Can you describe the process or how it evolved that the guys bought into the idea that, as you say, 'winning ugly,' or doing it the hard way? I would imagine everybody thinks they can just outscore people? COACH KENNEDY: No question. I said this at the end of our last game, we opened our season against Louisiana Monroe and it was an ugly game. And we keep thinking, Well, surely we're going to shoot better than this. And then we play Grambling and it was an ugly game. We said, Well, it's early, and it just continued to build. And I think you're exactly right. Players are thinking, No, man, coach, it's not going to be this hard, we're going to start hooping here, relax. I don't know why you're so mad, why do we to practice. I get all those questions. And over the course of 30 games, we have come to realize, listen, we have to defend, we have to rebound, and then we have got to be judicious in where the ball is at certain times. And let's get it to our guys that can go left and the guys that can go right, and let's stop trying to make them do other things. And so I think it just‑‑ the realization is this is who we are, and that hasn't changed over the course of the first three months. And I don't foresee it changing in the next four days. So we have got to understand that. And it's a credit to our guys that they have embraced it as opposed to giving in, which would have been easy to do. They have continued to battle and that's probably what I'm the most proud of despite everything we have gone through as it relates to personnel. Despite everything we have gone through, as it relates to the adversities of the season, this team continues to fight and continues to believe, and with that we have a chance. Q. I was thinking about what you said about Jarnell Stokes and I'm wondering how much of how he's been able to step right in and contribute is a product of the body that he has, being physically or something else you see. COACH KENNEDY: Well, I think you're exactly right. I think a lot of times the mental grind and the changes that come with playing basketball at this level at times becomes overwhelming for most kids. You combine that with the physical aspect of guys just getting beat up throughout the course of the year and not being physically strong, as physically strong as the people that they're going against just simply because they're 18‑, 19‑year‑old kids going up against 22‑, 23‑year‑olds in some cases. Jarnell, obviously, physically could play college basketball from day one, and just from my own interaction with the kid, I don't want to speak for Cuonzo, but obviously he's very receptive. Obviously he's got a very good basketball IQ. You're not able to do what he's been able to do without that. We had two kids, Snoop White, whose role has obviously expanded based on some things, and Jelan Kendrick, whose not with us now, they weren't able to play during the first semester, so they missed the first eight, maybe nine games. And with that, when they become eligible, you're kind of in the tail end of your nonleague schedule leading into SEC play. The margin for error is such that the coach is not going to allow you to play through as many mistakes a because the stakes are so high and you don't have that luxury. So for Jarnell not to have games early that he can learn and play through, for him to do it at this level right from jump I think is amazing. And I think it's a story that the nation needs to know simply because it's, in my lifetime, I can't remember a kid ever coming in and having the success and his personal success transcending his team as dramatically as this kid has. CLAUDE FELTON: All right. Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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