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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2014Johnny JonesJordan MickeyJohnny O'BryantATLANTA, GEORGIA Kentucky – 85 THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH JONES: I thought we got off to a great start tonight. One that we felt we needed to to initiate the start of the game. I thought Kentucky did a tremendous job in battling back, holding their composure, fighting back in the game. I thought they did the things that they needed to do and necessary to go in with a halftime lead. That's making some tough plays, knocking down tough shots, they wind up winning the battle of the boards there in the first half. The second chance opportunities that they got there really put us at bay. I thought the second half, we did a great job of fighting back, cutting into the lead. But, again, they made some big plays down the stretch, knocked down some big shots. Unfortunately we just didn't convert making enough plays down there to keep the game close enough to be in striking distance there at the end. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Both of you, Kentucky's big guys turned the tables on you a little bit there. Great shot blockers today. Especially hit the offensive glass. What did they do so well and what did you guys need to do better? JOHNNY O'BRYANT, III: I think we didn't do a good job of boxing out. We let Randle, he had an off‑night tonight early on in the first half. We let him get his own rebounds. We let Johnson get rebounds and put back easy shots. We really got those guys going. We let them get easy points early on that kind of hurt us. JORDAN MICKEY: Randle wasn't shooting the ball too well, but he was able to get his own rebound, put it back, get fouled and go to the free throw line. Dakari Johnson, he was getting rebounds, he was able to score some of those. Q. We're at this point now, do you guys feel like you have done enough this season to earn a post‑season spot somewhere? JOHNNY O'BRYANT, III: Right now, I don't really know. Things didn't turn out how I wanted it to. Right now, we just got to sit and wait and for whoever calls us, and whoever calls, we're going to just play our hearts out until this thing is over with. JORDAN MICKEY: I'm not exactly sure. We had some good wins, had some tough losses, so I'm not sure what's going to happen in the end. I'm hopeful that we can get somewhere, but it's not in our hands right now, so I'm just waiting to see. Q. We're at a neutral site, but it felt more like it was in Rupp Arena. Is that at all intimidating for you guys coming in and just seeing all the sea of blue there? JOHNNY O'BRYANT, III: I knew coming in. This is my third SEC tournament and I know how Kentucky brings fans. My freshman year in New Orleans, they packed that arena. So I kind of knew it was going to be a blue atmosphere in there. But we still did a great job of coming out and handling it. Q. For both you guys, what was going so well early on? Then when you came back in the second half, what did you get going to get it back to three points? JORDAN MICKEY: Early on we were able to get some open shots, open threes for us. We were able to get some good rebound put‑backs, both scoring down low. In the second half, we came out, we turned them over a few times, got some shots up. That's kind of what helped us out trying to get back into the game towards the end. JOHNNY O'BRYANT, III: Just kind of like what Jordan said, they doubled me. I did a great job of getting the ball out. We moved it around, got wide open 3's, and that was big for us in the first half. We just hit wide open shots, we defended, and that was really clicking for us early on. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for coach. Q. Johnny O'Bryant sat about eight minutes. Did you think about bringing him back any sooner than did you? JOHNNY JONES: No, I thought that we were still close enough that if I can get him probably to the five‑ or six‑minute mark, maybe, which we did. In getting him to play it out as aggressive as they were inside and going at us, I'm not sure how long he would have lasted had we put him back in there earlier. They made it a point to go at him. I thought that the post guys did an excellent job of being very aggressive in doing that. So we weren't going to bring him back earlier. Q. Seemed like Willie Cauley‑Stein provided them a spark in the first half. Talk about what makes him such a difficult guy to matchup with and in those situations. COACH JONES: I think their length really was to an advantage tonight. I thought he did an excellent job of making some big plays. He got big rebounds. I thought he had maybe four offensive rebounds there in the first half. When he can get angles like that, it makes it extremely tough. He's long, he is a great shot blocker in there, and he can change the game. Any time you have shooters like that on the perimeter, it's certainly an advantage because it's hard to get down there and double. Q. Seemed like I asked you this after the last game against them, them on the offensive glass, and I know they're talented and athletic, did they do something scheme‑wise that made it so tough on you guys? JOHNNY JONES: No, they weren't shooting the ball well early. I forgot what his numbers were, but Randle only had one field goal there in the first half, but he had about four or five offensive rebounds. They're very aggressive getting to the glass. The shots were going up, he and Cauley‑Stein both‑‑ I'm sorry, Dakari Johnson both had a significant amount of rebounds. I think they may have had 12 at the half. I think they may have been responsible for nine of them. If they're going to miss shots, you got to make sure that you get the rebound and hold them at a low percentage. You give them second chance opportunity, they take advantage of it. That's where I thought they benefited in the first half. Q. Did you notice anything different from Kentucky tonight? JOHNNY JONES: I thought they shot the ball well and they got in the rhythm. Certainly once they got going, I thought they were able to feed off of each other. I thought it's important that you keep the game close tonight with them, but when they felt that they got that little lead, I thought things became easier for them. They were a little bit looser. They played a little bit looser. Q. Same question I asked your guys, do you think you've done enough now to warrant a post‑season spot in the NIT? COACH JONES: I think we played a very tough schedule this year, non‑conference. I thought we were in some good events and teams that we played. At the same time, we are in a very tough league. We had some challenging games. We have had good wins in our league, as well. So I think if you look at our body of works, yes, we would look forward to hopefully playing in one of the really good post‑season tournaments that are out there available to us. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. COACH JONES: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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