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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 26, 2013Mike AndersonAlandise HarrisBobby PortisLAHAINA, HAWAII Arkansas – 87 COACH ANDERSON: First of all, I thought it was a hard‑fought game. For a 9:00 a.m. game, it was two teams that really got after one another, played with a lot of energy and it took two halves. The first half I thought we came out and really competed with a toughness that I know that we have. We didn't play I thought in the second half against California. It was a three, four point game at halftime, but I felt pretty good about our guys in terms of where we were. We come out and‑‑ we're a team that plays with a game of runs as well as Minnesota, and we had that 30 to‑‑ I think it was 30‑10 run in the second half. That was huge. But we got off to a good start from an offensive standpoint. We had some guys that didn't start out yesterday, and we inserted Alandise in the lineup and he's our leading scorer, so it doesn't surprise me to see he's our leading scorer in this particular game. But the one thing he brings is he brings a level of toughness that can‑‑ I think really just kind of transcends into your whole team. It was a good win for us, especially after a disappointment last night against California. Short‑term memory, that's what we talk about. But I was proud of our guys, the effort, and the way they finished off the game in fine fashion. Q. Alandise, can you talk about pressuring Minnesota's guards? Seems like with Syracuse they were able to speed up the tempo to have success and today they had trouble with that. ALANDISE HARRIS: We just tried to get after them, put a lot of pressure on them and get it in the ball handlers' hands. Q. For both players, how tough is it to get up and play a basketball game at 9:00 a.m.? Local time, obviously, I know it's different than what you guys are used to, but 9:00 a.m. game, especially after the disappointment Coach was talking a little bit about last night against California. BOBBY PORTIS: It felt like an AAU game because in AAU basketball you get up early and play two or three games in one day. I just feel like it's all mental, it's all in your brain. You get to rest the night before, then you'll be good in the morning. Q. When you open the second half with that first run, is that one of the better stretches that you've played this season? COACH ANDERSON: I think so. I think we came out and we defended. I thought we had the ball coming out, and we quit attacking the basket. I thought we attacked the basket with purpose. Their zone to me really made us run our offense to tell you the truth, and I thought we got better. We played against the zone last night and even today we started attacking and getting to the basket, and all of a sudden now our heads go up in terms of defending. But the key as Alandise alluded to was keeping the ball out of Matthew's hands. He was a big part of what took place. But our guys scored, whether they scored or got to the free throw line or get a field goal, enabled us to get on our defense. And then our bench, a guy like Moses Kingsley who's been sitting there, we talked about having toughness, having some men with some athletic ability. He gave us that when he came out. He gave us one of those pops. Madden came up and gave us some big, big minutes. To me it was just a total team effort, and when you talk about a team that plays on runs, you don't know when it's going to come, and hopefully we have some more runs in store for us like that when we're playing the right way. Q. Coach, are you surprised at all how well Moses played? COACH ANDERSON: No, he's just waiting his turn. He just got an opportunity to go out and do what he do. He does it in practice each and every day. He's going against these guys each and every day, and I just had to get smarter to put him out there on the floor. Today was one of those days where I told him, last night, we need you to go out and play and give us some quality minutes. Again, to get these guys, to spell these guys for a little bit, that's the thing about our team, you don't know who it's going to be. You look at the scoring today, it was much more balanced today. We had four or five guys almost in double figures. To me that's playing the fastest 40 minutes in basketball. We had 19 assists. We created more turnovers for them and we shouldn't have had as many as we had. We got to the free‑throw line. We flipped the script in terms of they shot a high field goal percentage in the first half, the second half, now we're doing it. But how are we doing it? We have great ball movement, we have a lot of lay‑ups, we got some attacks to the basket. It's a fun game when we're playing it that way. Q. Bobby and Alandise, how proud are you guys of the production of Moses today? And just comment on how proud you are and also how much he's going to mean to you leading into the rest of the season? BOBBY PORTIS: I think I was very proud of Moses because the first four games Moses hadn't been in the game. Moses never complained about playing. He just came in the game and tried to affect the game as much as he can, keep our energy and effort. ALANDISE HARRIS: Yeah, I was proud of Moses, too. Like Coach said, he just waited his turn and we all know the ability Moses got, just if he get in and use it. Q. After watching Minnesota against Syracuse yesterday, were you guys expecting a little more of a fight, especially maybe defensively? BOBBY PORTIS: When I watched the game, I seen that‑‑ I seen that Minnesota runs like a 2‑2‑1 defense, so I thought like the whole game they would play a 2‑2‑1, but that didn't really affect us really. ALANDISE HARRIS: I was just watching the game just thinking we've got to rebound and attack. We just can't keep passing the ball, we've got to attack it. Q. Coach, how important is it that your two guards combined today to only turn the ball over two times in 40 minutes? COACH ANDERSON: They did a good job of taking care of the ball against the zone, more than that they made shots. We got some inside stuff going. Fred actually was the guy that actually got us going. He made his first two shots, then he hits a big three, goes 4 for 4. I think that's critical. That's important. And hopefully it's something we can build on. I thought our guards really had an effect on wearing Minnesota guards down. That's what took place, when you talk about the second half what took place, they wore down. As they wore down, I thought we got much more energy, and I think our bench really provided it. In the first half, if you look at the bench points, it was drastically different, but at the end of the game, that's what I always preach to our guys, it's a 40‑minute game, not a 20‑minute game. Sometimes teams may have their fun in the first half, but if there's a half you want to win, it's that second half. But I thought our pressure defense had an effect disrupting what Minnesota wanted to do. Q. What did you learn about your team overall today? COACH ANDERSON: Well, I think they answered the call. I put a challenge in front of them. I thought the toughness, especially going to the glass, loose balls, and competing for 40 minutes. I thought we did that. The first game, I attribute it to nerves. But not only that, you've got to remember now, we scored 64 points off our bench yesterday, and so now look what took place now. Now I think we've got the guys that have been in place for the games we've already played. Hopefully it's a sign that we're maturing, we're growing, and understanding what it means to be a team and to play as a team. Q. It seems like in the second half towards the end, you guys went on a power run. You guys continued to use fast breaks and just run. Would you comment on that? COACH ANDERSON: Well, our defense, our pressure defense. We took what the defense gave us. I thought our defense, we created some‑‑ we were in a scramble mode. We were making them take rushed shots. We were getting the loose balls. We were getting some steals, and we want to attack you on defense, but we also want to attack you on offense. Minnesota was playing a zone press, too, and if they're going to press you, you've got to make people pay for it. It's something we do every single day, and we were fortunate today to come out on the right side. Q. Coach, first half, Malik Smith, 13 points. Did it take you by surprise a little bit? COACH ANDERSON: Yeah, well, it didn't catch me by surprise. What caught me by surprise was our guys not getting to him. He's a guy you've got to put on the floor. My guys are laughing because I always say, almost don't get it done, guys. So we were almost there. What he did, he almost torched us, but we did a much better job in the second half of making him handle it and not necessarily just spotting up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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