|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Frank HaithAlex OriakhiPhil PresseyNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE OLE MISS – 64 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to continue on with Missouri. We'll ask Coach Haith for some opening thoughts about on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the two student athletes and excuse them and then finish up with coach. Coach, if you'd begin. COACH HAITH: Thank you, Claude. Obviously it was a tough loss for us. I thought our guys played their hearts out. Thought we competed. Ole Miss made the plays they needed to make down the stretch to win the game. You know, you got give them credit. THE MODERATOR: Questions for either of student athletes if you'll raise your hand. Q. Phil, what did you guy learn about yourselves here in Nashville this weekend? PHIL PRESSEY: We didn't finish the game how we wanted. We have to get stops towards the end of the game to win, to win close games like that. I talked to my guys. One possession doesn't lose or win you the game. I feel like for us to grow as a team we have to buckle down and get stops at the end of the game -- end of games when we need them. Other than that, that's pretty much. Q. For either of you guys, do you think you get passive towards the end of games as opposed to aggressive? PHIL PRESSEY: I mean, no, not at all. We try to work the clock as much as possible and get the best shot as possible. I feel like we got some great looks at the end. We just didn't knock them down. Myself I missed a shot or two. Laurence Bowers he had an open shot or two where he usually makes 8 times out of 10. I'm comfortable with him shooting those. I feel like we didn't hit shots down towards the end of the game, but it all comes back to defense. We didn't get stops when we needed them. Q. Alex, what seed do you think you guys deserve in the NCAA Tournament? ALEX ORIAKHI: To be honest, I don't know how that type of stuff works. I play whoever is in front of me. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for either of the student athletes. Q. This one is to either Phil or Alex. Obviously a loss like this really shakes your confidence, and this being the last game going into the NCAA Tournament, what do you think you guys need to do to really get yourselves kind of comfortable to the level you're used to playing going into the tournament? PHIL PRESSEY: I mean, it doesn't shake our confidence at all. I'm going to get my guys really ready to play next game. This next game is for all the marbles. You can have all the records go out the window. Your last game, it doesn't matter. It's just the next game. Everybody goes into this NCAA Tournament 0-0. So, I mean, no confidence at all, we're going in to win it all. Q. Alex, just describe the feeling for you right now. Another really good game but you guys lose. ALEX ORIAKHI: It's extremely frustrated. I'm not a guy that is in moral victories. I play this game to win, so it's extremely frustrating. Once I leave here I'm going to let it go and focus on the future and the task at hand. Q. Phil, you said you talked to your teammates after the game. Could you give us any idea of what you talked about? PHIL PRESSEY: Just next game. Whoever we're playing next, they're not going to feel sorry for us. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We got to focus on our next game. We'll be ready to play, whoever we're playing. Q. Phil or Alex, I know you guys trust Laurence with your life. That mistake at the end turned the ball over. What did he say after he made that play and what did you guys say to pick him up? ALEX ORIAKHI: I mean, obviously it was a tough, tough play, but it could have happened to anybody and we tell him to pick his head up, because Laurence has done tremendous things for us this season and he's a tremendous teammate and tremendous guy to play with. You're not going to be able to get it back. That's what I told him. You have to move forward. THE MODERATOR: One more question for either student athletes. All right. Thank you, fellas. You can return to the locker room. We'll continue with questions for Coach Haith if you'll raise your hand. Q. Frank, I think you guys had two baskets in the last 8:49. Also just take us through whatever the miscommunication was between Laurence and Keion on the inbound pass. COACH HAITH: Phil alluded to, we had some really good looks and we just didn't make them. We still should have drove the ball and, I think, you know, our guys got a little tentative when they got hit a couple times. A game like this, it's going to be bang, bang plays. They were way more aggressive at driving the ball during the stretch than we were. We didn't get to the free throw line at all in the second half. I think that was the difference in the game. They got to the free throw line, they made plays. We fouled Henderson on two 3-point shots. We weren't aggressive enough to get to the free throw line. We came out of the time out, we told the team we had another timeout. Laurence probably -- they fronted our guys getting the ball inbounds, and I think that surprised Laurence a little bit and, you know, just a tough play. Q. Coach, how tough to strike the balance between managing the clock and trying to shorten the game when you have the lead and still going to get good looks and getting action towards the basket? COACH HAITH: We did a good job. We didn't make plays. Defensively I thought we allowed them to get to the rim without rotation and taking charges. We got real passive on the defensive end. I don't think we -- offensively I thought we got good shots. We just didn't make them. Q. Frank, obviously on Ole Miss's last possession everybody in the building is expecting Marshall Henderson to get the ball. Can you take us through the approach there and how surprised were you guys that Millinghaus made the shots? COACH HAITH: We did a good job taking Henderson out. We shrunk the gap on it and Phil helped off of his man to, you know -- you got to get back. You got to get back, but I think they just made a play based on how we were defending. Q. Last few minutes notwithstanding, this team has really improved defensively and obviously that's going to be huge moving forward into the NCAA Tournament. Just talk about why you guys have been so much better this season defensively. COACH HAITH: Well, I think we just -- guys are getting better in understanding the concepts and how we want to play defensively and helping one another. You know, this team has grown in a lot of areas. I'm proud of how hard we fought tonight. The guys fought hard and did it with class. They handled themselves with a lot of class. Q. Coach, how did you enter Saturday waiting for Selection Sunday and how do you have your team -- how do you help your team reset going into the tournament? COACH HAITH: We will. We'll get ourselves ready.  You know, we got -- we're going to continue to play. There's a lot of people, their sneakers won't be laced up next week. That's a great opportunity for us to continue to play and we're going to take advantage of that opportunity and get ourselves ready to play. Q. Frank, Alex missed six shots in the last 40 going back six games. What is it like when you have a player like that playing like that now this time of year? COACH HAITH: It's good. He's on a roll. He's actually -- his knee, thigh was really tight before the game, so -- obviously once he got going, he was out there playing well. It's something we can build on as we get to the tournament. We need post presence and Alex gives us that. Q. Frank, what happened with his knee when he caught -- knocked it? COACH HAITH: Bumped knees. Q. He's okay? COACH HAITH: Yeah, he's fine. Q. Phil Pressey took five shots in the first half. Took twice at many in the second half. Is that something you're comfortable with, taking some questionable shots later on? COACH HAITH: I got to go back and watch. I don't know everyone of Phil's shots he took. He made a big 3 to put us up 3. Phil takes what the defense gives him, and I have to look at some of the shots he took and go back and revisit those. I don't know. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach? Q. Ole Miss insinuated that not every player from your team shook hands after the game. Do you have any comments about that? COACH HAITH: Come on, now. Don't let me talk about -- okay. I'm not getting into that. Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|