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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 16, 2013Kedren JohnsonRod OdomKevin StallingsNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE OLE MISS – 64 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Vanderbilt. We'll ask Coach Stallings for some general thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the two student athletes, excuse them back to the locker room and finish with coach. Coach Stallings, if you would begin. COACH STALLINGS: Well, congratulations to Mississippi. I'm happy for Andy and his program, and I'm not a bracketology fan, but I would assume that they're safely in the NCAA Tournament and they should be, in my opinion. They just -- they just played better than we did today, and a lot of that had to do with the fact we couldn't make shots and we're very dependent upon our ability to shoot the ball and make shots from the perimeter. And whether it was fatigue from the third day, or whatever it might have been, we just -- I thought we got quality looks most of the day and they didn't go in. And obviously when you live by the jump shot, sometimes you're going to die by the jump shot. But when the jump shot is your best and sometimes only option, then you roll with it. And so, proud of my team. I thought that this basketball team might have improved as much as any I've ever coached in a single season and for that, I'm very proud of them and I congratulate them and very proud of these two guys sitting here to my right. They led our team all season long. And we're disappointed that it ended this way, but we remain excited about this team's future and excited about how we came together and got better as a team and how we finished. So, not a great day today but very, very proud of my guys. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, we'll take your questions for either of the student athletes. Q. Rod, tough shooting night after a couple good games. Talk about what was different today. ROD ODOM: I don't think there's anything too much that was different, you know, I just wasn't feeling it, and, you know, one miss turned into two and things kind of got rough for me. I wouldn't say I felt any different out there, just couldn't get them to go down. Q. For either of you guys, you think playing that third game in three days kind of made you run out of gas down the stretch there? KEDREN JOHNSON: Well, as a player I try not to think about it too much. Obviously it does play a factor and might have something to do with us not shooting the ball as well as we're used to shooting it. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for either of the student athletes? Last call, anybody? We'll excuse you fellas. You can return to the locker room, thanks. We'll continue with Coach Stallings. Q. Coach, the offensive flow was really strong yesterday against Kentucky. How come Ole Miss was able to give you so much trouble especially on the offensive end? COACH STALLINGS: Again, I thought we got quality shots. Now, there were some possessions where we didn't, but I thought in the first half, up until the last three minutes of the first half, I thought we were getting them and making some of them, and then we hit a rough patch. I think it just -- we just missed shots that we normally make, and if we have an average shooting day, then this game might have -- it might have turned out differently. Now, were there some times that they defended us and affected our shooting? Absolutely. But, you know -- and I don't ever like to blame it all on making shots. That almost seems as though it's being put off on the players, but we turned into a very good shooting team, and again whatever the reason was, whether it was their defense or whether it was fatigue or whether it was anything else, we just didn't make them like we normally make them. We got the kind of looks that we're accustomed to getting and they just didn't go in. Q. Kevin, you guys got -- shot 30 3s, a lot of them short. Does that play a part in the legs? COACH STALLINGS: Yeah. Again, you don't want to sit up here and sound like you're making excuses, because we have no excuses. Mississippi played better than we did, but I certainly -- when you look guy after guy after guy after guy, the same thing seemed to be going on, and, you know, we talked about as a coaching staff at halftime. We had two, three guys that were just a quart low on energy. It wasn't because they wanted to be. It wasn't because they chose to be. They just didn't have the same kind of pep in their step that they had had in days past. And again, whether that was fatigue, whether it was a late night, then an early day, I don't know. We've been in this game -- I recall one other time we had -- we played this third game in three days on Saturday and it was down -- I believe it was down in Atlanta against Florida one year and it was the same exact thing. We went into halftime, and I want to say maybe they were even a 1 seed that year, but don't hold me to that. We went into halftime and we were tied with them. We had won two games. We go to halftime, we're tied, and we came out and they boat-raced us in the second half. And so I don't know. Maybe -- it's the second time that I know of that it it's happened to us where we seem to sort of run out of steam. But again, you have to give Mississippi credit. They controlled the game. Buckner and Holloway were better inside than we were. And, you know, I thought we did a decent job on Henderson, but he has his little spurts and that causes you problems, and so, again, they deserved to win. They were the better team, and regardless of why we missed shots, they were missed and they deserved to win and they deserve to keep playing. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for Coach Stallings? Raise your hand. Anyone? All right. Thank you. COACH STALLINGS: I do want to wish Ole Miss the best of luck. Like I said, I really mean that. I'm very happy for Andy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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