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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Charles CaramoucheJohnny JonesJohnny O'BryantNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE FLORIDA – 80 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with the LSU. We'll ask Coach Jones for his general thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the two student athletes. Excuse them back to the locker room. Then we'll finish with Coach Jones. Coach Jones. COACH JONES: We knew going into the game today that it would be a great challenge against a really strong basketball team, and I thought Florida did a tremendous job of coming out, establishing themselves early and really setting the tone. Unfortunately for us, I didn't think that we were hitting on all cylinders today, weren't as effective, and didn't execute at the level that we needed to have an opportunity to compete. They did a great job on the boards and winning the war on the boards is extremely important. They shot a great percentage from the field. Those are two areas we can't be deficient in to have an opportunity to have success. But I think Florida did exactly what they needed to and the type of team that they are, I think you have to be at your best and we weren't there today. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take your questions for either of the student athletes. Q. Could both players talk the matchup that Erik Murphy creates and how hard it is to handle a guy who can go inside, outside? CHARLES CARAMOUCHE: He's a great player. He's versatile. He can play both inside and out. He kind of put the defense on their toes, because, you know, you got a big guarding him, he'll take him outside. You have a guard guarding him, he'll end up posting him and taking him on the block. It's a tough matchup. JOHNNY O'BRYANT III: Just like Charles say, it's a tough match, especially, you know, Florida is great in every possession and have a guy like that that can spread the floor and create opportunities for the other guards and also inside. Q. This is for Johnny. How tough was it to establish a rhythm today with the foul trouble? You sat the last couple minutes of the first half and then picked up that third one early in the second, how much did that inhibit you today? JOHNNY O'BRYANT III: Very tough. Not being able to get a flow of it, when I finally got in, you know, kind of forced shots, getting double teamed. It was very tough. Q. Charles, they seemed to do a nice job of limiting you in the second half, coming off defense. What were they doing that slowed you down in the second half and maybe inhibited what you were able to do at halftime? CHARLES CARAMOUCHE: I think a part of it was I didn't make as many shots as I did in the first half. I think they kind of played the same game plan, shoved a little hard on the screens and limited my vision. But I just didn't make as many shots as I did in the first half. Q. It seemed like they go on a 12, 1 run there, at the end of the first half, kind of stretch the lead out. You kind hold there and then Frazier makes that 3 over the top of Malik at the end of the first half. How big of a momentum killer is that for you guys, you know, to go into the half when they're on a 7, 1 run like that. CHARLES CARAMOUCHE: That shot was big, a big boost for them going into halftime. I don't think that one shot caused the tempo of the game. They came out and played from the beginning to the end, and you got to give them credit. They just played their best basketball today, and playing a team like this, we can't have any setbacks. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for either of the student athletes? Q. For either of the players, how much of it was playing yesterday for yourselves and maybe Florida being a bit rested, did that maybe play into the trouble with the rhythm, or was it just maybe Florida's physical defense? CHARLES CARAMOUCHE: I thought it was advantage for us, you know, we all talking, think about those AAU days when you have games back to back. We kind of thought we were going to have the momentum knowing they coming in first time playing on that floor and just sitting, resting. We had our blood pumping and got a chance to get out there and play, but, you know, they're a veteran team. They didn't use that as an excuse. They came out, they played and they did what they've been doing all year. Q. This is for Johnny. Johnny, could you talk about Patric Young's physicality defensively and how difficult it is to try to get going offensively with him inside? JOHNNY O'BRYANT III: He's a big, strong body. He plays great post defense on people. He made it very tough. Like I say, you got Young behind you, they run and defend at me. It was very tough. Q. Coach -- this is for Charles. Coach talked in his opening statement about rebounding. The guards, you know, did a nice job for them tracking down balls, 50/50 balls. How much of a difference is that today when the second possession was being generated by those guys winning those plays out and really dictating the terms of the game? JOHNNY O'BRYANT III: Just like you say, you know, our guards had to do a great job -- guards did a great job defensively in the first half. Second half we lost them on ball screens. It was tough. CHARLES CARAMOUCHE: We're a pretty small team, and we kind of preached at, you know, we got a block out limit on the offensive rebounds. I think our bigs did a good job keeping big Patric -- not Murphy, Murphy had a pretty good first half as far as rebounding the ball. We have to get in there, help our bigs out and come up with those 50/50 balls and just limit, you know, offensive rebounds. THE MODERATOR: One more question. Anyone for either of the student athletes? All right. We'll excuse you back to the locker room, fellas. Thank you for coming. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Jones. Q. Coach, obviously Florida killed you on the boards by 20. Is this just a bad matchup for you guys playing them? COACH JONES: I think anytime you play a team like that you have to have a little bit sense of urgency about you. We knew that they're a great rebounding team, and he did a great job the first time we played them. They were 1 of 7 from the free throw line in the first half. They were able to get 8 points out of it because we gave up offensive rebounds at the free throw line, and it's just a sense of urgency, playing with toughness. And I didn't think we did a great job of setting the tone early and allowed them to keep running through those lanes and making tough plays. Q. Coach, when you guys get off to good starts offensively, it seems to be through Johnny, pitch-outs that create some driving lanes. Just not having that early it seemed to be key during runs there. Seemed like you had hard time finding room for the guards to operate early. Is that maybe an accurate description was happening out there today? COACH JONES: I think Florida is one of the better defensive basketball teams in the country. They've done a good job of making sure they rotate. They do a great job of helping. They're long, have great length, and with their size, quickness, and the strength that they have inside, they can make it difficult for you. They did a great job of getting to where they needed to be on the catch, getting in gaps, not allowing driving lanes, and when we did throw it inside, they doubled down. That really worked well for them. We weren't able to execute at a high level like we would like to. Q. Johnny, can you talk about Murphy and what matchup nightmare he can be for a team and the X factor that he brings to that team? COACH JONES: Murphy is an excellent basketball player. When you have great shooters on the perimeter, like a team like Florida and you got a guy like Murphy who have the ability to step outside, pick and pop, either you pick your poison, you're either going to try and switch it and go with the guards and try and contain and stay with them or you got to peel back and try to get to them. If you have any daylight, he's great at getting his feet set, knocking down shots. He's a matchup nightmare because if he can get a guard inside because of the switch, he's extremely patient in there and he's capable making plays. You try to run-off him and double, he's a great passer, get it back out to his other shooters and those other guys are knocking 3-point shots down. So when those guys are clicking like they did today, they make it extremely tough. Q. Coach, just this is your first year in the SEC. Talk about next season, the core of this team should be back for another run next year. COACH JONES: Well, I'm excited about it. I like the team. I thought they did an excellent job of competing, playing extremely hard, and I think they did a great job in terms of buying into a new system and what we're trying to implement. I think through recruiting the core of this team coming back, I think it will give us an opportunity to have a bright future moving forward. Q. Coach, I know Johnny wasn't at full strength the first time you played these guys today, foul trouble. Just how tough was it to get him going today, how hard was it to get him a rhythm established? COACH JONES: When you have a team like Florida who take it personal and I think they look at it and they've done a tremendous job in terms of -- Johnny being a part of their scouting report, I think it was important to them to take him out of game. I think they did a great job at running two guys at him when he caught it. Trying to contain him, made him try to play up over top. They're a very good basketball team, one rebound there in the first half as well. Q. Follow-up question, how confident are you about an NIT bid right now as of today? There's a lot things that can change, obviously, but do you feel like you guys are in a safe position as far as that goes? COACH JONES: Never say a safe position. It's something we hope for and something we'll be looking at. We'll be excited about the opportunity should it present itself. THE MODERATOR: One more question for Coach Jones. Anyone? All right. Thank you. COACH JONES: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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