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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 17, 2013Reginald BucknerMurphy HollowayAndy KennedyNick WilliamsNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE OLE MISS – 66 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to continue on with Ole Miss. We'll can Coach Kennedy for his general thoughts on the game, then we'll take your questions just for the three student athletes, let them return to the locker room, and then finish up with Coach Kennedy. So, Coach, if you'd begin. COACH KENNEDY: Obviously a big moment for our program, big moment to -- for these three guys to my right. Guys that have continued to persevere. We knew this was possible if we stayed together and we focused on the things that we could control. I don't think we played outstanding basketball today or yesterday or Friday, but we played determined basketball. I thought we were very determined. I thought we were the tougher team. I thought it was more important to us, and, as a result, we just had an opportunity to enjoy something special. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take your questions for any of the student athletes. Q. Murphy, what's the run and the trophy sitting in front of you mean to you right now? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: What are you talking about? Q. That thing? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I didn't know -- what does it mean to me? Q. This entire run, those three straight wins. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: It means a lot to me. It means a lot to these two guys besides me also. We've been around almost -- I've been around almost since Coach Kennedy got a job. It means a lot, man, just for the program, the young guys to experience it this early. I think it's real good for the program. I'm happy that we got this accomplishment. Q. For Nick, just talk about what does it mean for you and the two guys next to you, three seniors? NICK WILLIAMS: Means a lot. I think I can think back to the Kentucky game where AJ went down and I went down and the locker room was real quiet, and, you know, it was just real bad in there and we stayed together and it means a lot to have these two guys, you know, right next to me and to fight through it all. It just feels great. I cannot explain it, but, you know, we did what we had to do and we fought. Q. For Murphy, there in the first half, seemed like the offense was struggling around you but you seemed to be carrying your team. Were you making a conscious effort to try and get some points at that part in the first half? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: Yes, ma'am. I didn't want the game to get too far away from us, and, you know, I made plays based off hustle and we kept ourselves close like we did in the other games at halftime. We just managed to come out with the win at the end. Q. For Reggie, big game yesterday and big game today, blocked shots, big baskets, what was working for you these last few days? REGINALD BUCKNER: Man, us three seniors, we've been here before and wanted to go out as winners, so we did everything we could to help our team get this trough trophy and we got the win tonight. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions for any of the student athletes? Q. For any of the three players, how good does it feel not only to have the trophy but knowing that it doesn't matter what happens in a couple hours, you know you're in the tournament. NICK WILLIAMS: Feels great. We worked so hard to get to this point and it just feels so good to celebrate with the guys in the locker room, and I don't know, man. I'm at a loss for words. Q. For Murphy what was going through your mind those last two free throws at the end? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I was just like, man, just make one (laughter). I was like, just make one just in case they hit a 3, we can go into overtime. Me and my boy Reggie been struggling ever since we've got here, we've been struggling, man. It was tough, man. I knew I had to step up, so I stepped up. I made one. Q. Murphy, actually for both guys, we asked Marshall in the locker room: Did you have to have the Mississippi State loss to get to this point, to get to this stage, to have this moment? Did that ultimately make the biggest difference? Did you have to go through the Mississippi State loss to get though point? Was that ultimately the deciding moment to get you here? REGINALD BUCKNER: I mean, the Mississippi State game was an eye opener for us. We kind of got relaxed around that time. We played hard and it got us here. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I didn't want to go through that Mississippi State loss, but like Reggie said, it was an eye opener. You know, one minute it's the start of the season, started out 6-0 on top of the world. Next thing you know, you lose a couple games. I think we just realized stay the course and just handle your business, and we did that and success finds us, like Coach said. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions for any of the student athletes. All right. We'll excuse you, you can return to the locker room. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Kennedy. Q. Just talk about the second half. Y'all looked like a much fresher team. You only played -- six guys played a lot of minutes. Just kind of talk about -- credit the freshness. COACH KENNEDY: Well, both of us were in day three of a three-day grind. I tried to explain to my team, Florida has had a lot of success. Billy is a first ballot hall of famer, back-to-back national championships. He's won three SEC Tournament championships, regular season champion. They're a legitimate Final Four contender. Not saying that they didn't want to win this game, but for us, this was a special moment. It's been a long time since Ole Miss Had been on this stage. And our guys had earned the right to be here, and I wanted us to seize it. So I really think -- and you can hear in the seniors -- I really think we played with a sense of urgency that is needed to win championships. Then ultimately when we were able to make a few plays, that gave some separation, and as basketball is a game of runs, we're up 6, 7 points. We decide to turn the ball over, make some poor decisions, and then it comes down to a one-possession game. Really, really proud of our guys for taking the right approach which allowed this to happen. Q. Coach, kind of the same question to the players earlier. How great does finishing this run feel, these three games going into it and finishing it off and really having the momentum? COACH KENNEDY: Well, I felt like coming into Nashville we obviously had some work to do to achieve our ultimate goal, which was to get to the NCAA Tournament. Coming into today's game, I felt pretty confident that we'd achieved that just based on what is still in play as it relates to college basketball across the country. This was about an opportunity to be a champion, something that you don't get every day, and for us -- I'm a guy who was born and raised in the South in the state of Mississippi. I grew up following SEC sports. This is a humbling moment for me to know that I'm a part of an SEC championship team because I've got such great respect for this league. Q. Talk about Murphy Holloway's 23-point performance tonight. COACH KENNEDY: Our seniors I thought really, really played well. Obviously the Marshall Henderson show is like the traveling circus. It's up, it's down. We got the high wire act over here, the ponies here, we got all kinds of nonsense going on, and he draws a lot of attention, he's a big shot maker. Really, the dirty work, the grind, is being done by these three guys that were on this podium earlier. I thought Murphy Holloway played like a fifth year senior who is an all league guy who is trying to win a championship should play. He carried us early while we were trying to find our way, as he said, just to kind of keep us in striking range. Once Marshall started make something shots, things opened up. I thought Reg was tenacious defensively at the basket. He blocked 3, but he had to alter another 4 or 5 which enabled us to get out of here. Q. Talk about LaDarius White, came off the bench, 34 minutes. Only 2 points but 9 rebounds forces just 1 turnover. Played a lot of minutes. COACH KENNEDY: I'll tell you this, and I want to bring it to everyone's attention. We just won an SEC championship without quarterback. Jarvis Summers hadn't played in two games. Snoop White played more point the last two days than he had in all the games previous in this season. He had played zero point. A couple of times tonight I was wondering why he's playing the point today. We had to do what we had to do. Jarvis goes down with a concussion. Can you imagine trying to go into a game with this magnitude with your backup quarterback. It happens sometimes. That's what this team had to do. I thought Snoop was tremendous on the glass, 9 rebounds, four assists, only one turnover against a team that's rated top five in the country in team defense efficiency. Didn't shoot the ball well, but I thought he got it at the basket and broke them down a little bit off the dribble. Q. You mentioned a minute ago that the ultimate goal to start this season was to make the NCAA Tournament. You're there now. What's the new goal? COACH KENNEDY: We'd like to survive and advance. It's ironic that 30 for 30 is coming out today, is it not? The Jimmy V survive and advance. I played for Jimmy V in 1987 on a ACC tournament championship team. That is the mantra now, survive and advance. We're in the dance. So much is made about the NCAA Tournament. I was just glad to get the albatross that is the NCAA Tournament off the neck of our program so people now can exhale and get a new focal point. There's been a lot of great things accomplished. I think with today's win, Reginald Buckner is the winningest player in the history of our program. We've won 15 SEC games, which is more than any team in the history of our program. There's been a lot of great accomplishments. It always comes back to but, but. Well, now you got to remove the "but." QAndy, congratulations. Is there a memorable story or saying from Jim Valvano that you passed along to your team at all? COACH KENNEDY: The thing that I told them in the locker room after the game is, obviously in this game when you've got numbers attached to your name, those numbers better make sense or you're not going to be doing this long. So I understand at the end of the day we need to win basketball games, but as the leader of these young men, the one lesson that I think we learned is a very valuable one, and that's the value of perseverance. Stay the course. Continue to believe, continue to work. And as they said, and I'm glad they were listening, success will find you. That's what happened for us today. Q. Going back to Marshall's recruitment, he was tremendous in the national championship last year. Was there anything unique about his recruitment that stood out for you? COACH KENNEDY: Everything about Marshall Henderson is unique from start to finish. You know, his recruitment wasn't anything unusual. I had -- his dad played with a friend of mine who was a grad assistant when I played for Gene Bartow at UAB. That kind of moved us up the pecking order. His name is Jeff Starkweather. I think Joe Dean, Junior, even called him Marshall Kennedy, a Freudian slip. I was crazy. I wasn't that crazy. That comparison between me and him, people need to go back and check the footage. Q. Coach, you talked about Jarvis not being around. Talk about the overall adversity that the team had to overcome all year with AJ going down, Knoxville being hurt. Seemed like everything you had to overcome the whole year. COACH KENNEDY: What it did for us, I went into the season thinking it was the deepest front line that I had ever coached. This is my 8th year. I had the one year at UC and this is my 7th here. And I thought it was the deepest front line I had. We came in with five SEC post players. We had a kid dismissed before the season for not doing the right things. Demarco Cox gets a stress fracture. He was our third post as a sophomore, he was averaging around 15 minutes a game. You would think he's a 15 to 18 to 20 minute a game guy who's down to about 275 and he had a stress and never able to get any flow. Then AJ going down against Kentucky really put us in a situation where Reg and Murph had to do what they did today. One of them plays 38, the other 37 in day three of a three-day tournament. Very, very difficult to do, but that's our margin for error. Terry Brutus, Anthony Perez both came in and gave us spot play. We had to make adjustments, and then Jarvis goes down. I've referred to him many times as my safety blanket. You know, you always go back to Jarvis. With Jarvis we don't turn it over much, people don't press us, he gets the ball to the right people at the right time. He goes down, we're down fighting for our lives a couple days ago. It's funny how things change in 72 hours. We're fighting for our lives against Missouri, and I got to throw a true freshman out there who got us to this point with Derrick Millinghaus and the plays that he made. So it was true team effort. It would not have been possible if these guys didn't continue to persevere. THE MODERATOR: One more question. Q. Three straight 20-plus point games for Marshall, and then talk about that and also the second half when his shots started falling. What did it do for the rest of team? COACH KENNEDY: When Marshall makes shots, it gives the other guys confidence. I wasn't as upset with his shot selection -- a little bit early he gets antsy. But he goes 6 for 14, 3 for 8, 6 for 6 from the foul line, it's a pretty efficient offense day for him. I thought because he had to overhandle the ball in lieu of Jarvis Summers' absence, we trying to do it collectively. He had the 7 turnovers and made a couple of poor decisions with the ball. I thought Marshall played within himself for the most part. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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