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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2012Malik CookeDarrin HornNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Alabama – 63 CLAUDE FELTON: We'll get started with South Carolina's Coach Darrin Horn and student‑athletes Malik Cooke and Brenton Williams. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Horn. COACH HORN: Got off to a really good start, and then I think nothing obviously that stretch in the first half where we had some turnovers against their pressure. And they were able to extend their lead, put us in a little bit of a hole. Made a great run in the second half, had some guys step up, Brenton Williams being one. He played really well. Then at the end, they make one 3‑pointer in the game, it's a huge one to kind of put it out of reach there. And we had a good look and it just didn't go down. CLAUDE FELTON: All right. We'll take your questions for either of the student‑athletes. Q. How big was the fourth foul on Bruce about 12:53, you guys did eventually crawl back into it but right after that, a two‑point game becomes an eight‑point game? MALIKE COOKE: He's a key guy, a real good player, and of course it hurts losing a player like him. Q. That shot that obviously Darrin mentioned, what do you think, did it feel good? MALIK COOKE: It felt good, it was a good play. It felt good, I just missed the shot. Q. Kind of your feelings now that the season is over, as you look back on what was the tough season, what are kind of your emotions? MALIK COOKE: A lot of mixed emotions, I guess. I don't know, I learned a lot from everybody on the team. I enjoyed playing with my teammates. I wish we could have got a few more wins, I could have led my team to a few more wins. But they're a great group of guys and they will come back next year ready to work hard and definitely win some more games. CLAUDE FELTON: We'll excuse the student‑athletes and take questions for coach. Q. Just how big was that fourth foul on Bruce? Also, there may be a thought to put in Bill over Eric to replace him. COACH HORN: Our foul trouble was big in general. Bruce's fourth was big as well, just because we seemed to be gaining some momentum, was playing extremely well. That's one of the reasons we rode them out. In a tournament situation with the way we play, it's hard defensively. It's hard to isolate guys. Ended up getting caught in the high post and got caught with his hand on somebody, but that was definitely something that hurt us. There's no question about that. And fouls in general, Alabama is apparently the best defensive team in the country at playing really hard and really physical and not fouling, because they got ‑‑ we only got to the line six times and they shot 29. So I think fouls were an issue in the game in general for us. Breton, you know, we wanted to go with Eric just because that's what we've been doing, but then felt like maybe we needed a little bit more scoring punch and ability to create off the dribble. And really the lineup with him and Damien in up top, and Lakeem, a lot of it we really don't play a whole lot. Did a great job of getting us back in the game. Q. As you look back on the season, how tough was it, did you expect ‑‑ obviously I'm assuming that you obviously didn't expect it to go like this, but based on what you expected out of the young guys, why do you feel like you guys weren't able to put together more wins? COACH HORN: I think you saw tonight, just frustration where we end up with one part of the game that hurts us or a couple guys getting‑‑ key guys getting in foul trouble. That part is frustrating. There's no question about that. One of the things that we are proud of is that we're committed to building a program, and one of the things you have to learn is how to compete and fight and continue to work hard and develop a work ethic and a culture of competing. And our guys did do that. Just like we saw tonight, we're in position to have an opportunity to win the game and we don't make enough plays throughout or at the end. And so that part of it obviously is very frustrating. Q. Do you feel like you have done enough at this point to feel good about your status for next year? COACH HORN: Yeah, my thing right now is that we're committed to building our program. That's going to start with, now that our season's over, hitting the recruiting trail immediately as the rules allow, and we'll sit down and it's customary at the end of all seasons and visit. But we're going to keep plugging forward and keep doing what we have been doing to be commit to building our program. And again, I think when you look at some of the guys that stepped up and played really well, that's a NCAA tournament team that we lost to just now, and we're on the floor with a bunch of young guys that are only going to get better and smarter and stronger and all of those things. So we think there's some positive things going on from that aspect. Q. Could you just talk about defending Alabama in the paint and especially early, they gave you all kinds of physical with those big guys in there? How hard is it to defend them? COACH HORN: I think both of those big guys are really good. Green obviously is terrific, but I think Jacobs has really established himself as a guy, as I mentioned yesterday, that can catch the ball down on the block and do something really positive with it. They both did that tonight. And really one of the things that hurt us was when we were turning the ball over against their pressure in the first half. They were able to get some put‑backs and get the ball in the paint as well. In the second half, defensively, we were outstanding. Held them to a low percentage, very few field goals, and did a great job. But again dug ourselves a little bit of hole in the first half with our turnovers. 17 turnovers is a lot to overcome when you're not a team that scores a lot. CLAUDE FELTON: All right. Thanks a lot. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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