Postgame Quotes: Alabama 56, Vols 38

Jan. 10, 2015

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Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall

(Opening Statement)
"Let me start by giving Alabama a lot of credit. We told our team before the game that there has been some nights that we have out-toughed the opponent but this would be a night that we weren't going to be tougher than this team, we had to play better than this team. I thought that our guys competed. The last 12 minutes offensively was what we have seen at times throughout the year where it gets ugly, it gets stagnant, we don't have a guy to just throw the ball to the post and loosen some things up. So everything has to be manufactured off the dribble drive. When they went zone we had a couple good looks and we missed them. I thought guys got on their heels a little bit and quit driving the ball and punching the gap against the zone. But give Alabama credit, they are long, they are athletic, they do a good job defensively of trying to make you try to score over top of them. I thought their length and athleticism bothered us, contested shots, we went two-for-17 from the three. One of our other losses, common theme, I believe we were three-for-20 against Marquette. We are a perimeter oriented team, we don't shoot the ball real well from behind the arc, it makes it tougher for us and that we certainly the case today."

(On Alabama's zone)
"I think so. When you look at that we only shot 11 free throws for the game, they did a nice job of defending without fouling but on the flip side, we just weren't aggressive enough driving the ball. When we did drive it, we saw there were several times when their length and their athleticism around the rim made us shoot what I call hope shots where you are kind of double-pumping balls, you are throwing it up and kind of hoping it goes in rather than just driving and stick it in the goal. So when that happens, guys become reluctant and now they can go out and guard the three point line even that much better or that much further on the floor. I thought that was the case particularly the second half."

(On if the team was being timid tonight)
"We have such a young, inexperienced team, a lot of these situations we go through are the first time. So it is kind of the first time, at home, that we went without shooting the ball real well and went for that long a period of time of not scoring. You could see guys drop their heads a little bit in the last two or three media timeouts. All I did was encourage them and try to pump them up to try to stay aggressive, `we are going to make a few of these, this is our time.' Unfortunately it never happened but it will be a learning experience. These guys will watch the film tomorrow, the good thing about basketball, you don't have to wait a week to play, we will get another chance to play on Tuesday and hopefully we will play better."

(On not scoring for a long period of time)
"Anytime, particularly on the road, you go without scoring it can avalanche on you. At home, you can survive if you just get a bucket or two, now our guys get their heads up. It just kind of kept continuing to slide on us. We had some good looks around the goal that just didn't go and we had some really good kick out threes where guys we wide open, they just didn't go in. All you can do is stay positive, our guys have been coachable all year, nothing changed tonight when it didn't go our way. They were continuing to battle. We held that team to 41 percent from the floor, they only made six threes. If you would have said that before the game, I would have said we would be in good shape but we just really struggled offensively."

(On if Alabama took Tennessee's legs)
"They very well may have and we talked about that before the game, their style of play is similar to ours, they are just deeper and more experienced than we are. Their guards, you could see those guys, they look like they are football players, they are strong, athletic, powerful guys. They very well could have wore us down, that could have been the case. We never really got a chance to get in our press the last 12 minutes of the game because we didn't score."

(On Alabama defense)
"I'll watch the tape, but we took 17 threes. 15 of them were good shots and they just didn't go in. You have to credit the defense for some of that. The other part it just wasn't our night. We have a pretty good zone offensive package because we have seen every zone set imaginable over the last six years. Again we got some good looks. The one thing I'll say is that I don't think you could replicate or duplicate their length and size in a practice a day or two before. Their length changed a lot of our shots, particularly around the goal."

(On tonight's offense performance due to lack of true point guard)
"I think we will have that with due time. Those long athletic guys that can cover even more space, but when you have that length and don't have a guy that is penetrating and punching the gaps. I don't want to start saying that because we had one bad game that it is because we don't have a true point guard. Josh (Richardson) has been fantastic all year. He had a rough night. I had a rough night coaching. Our guys had a rough night playing. That is part of it. We got to bounce back. Certainly when you have guys punching in the gap and making plays against that zone it makes it easier on the offensive end."

(On Devon Baulkman)
"No injury at all. He started the game a little sluggish for whatever reason. We gave Detrick Mostella some minutes there and Robert Hubbs III quite a few minutes at the three. There was nothing particular there with him."

(On the quick turn around for the Arkansas game)
"You got to learn from the tape. It's college basketball. If you feel sorry for yourself or hang your head in this business people will bury you. They will put you out of business. With such an inexperienced, youthful team all I can do is continue to tell them, show them in the film room and we have to go to the practice floor to get better. It won't be a taxing two days physically because we are so limited, but we have to learn in the film room. We have to squeak a few things. No knock on Alabama because I think they are a safe tournament team, but Arkansas is even more talented. So we better be ready."

(On how the team will respond to the bump in the road)
"That is where I have bragged on Josh (Richardson) and Armani (Moore) all year for their leadership. They have done a fantastic job. Now they will be counted on even more to provide leadership the next couple of days to get these young guys ready to go against a really good Arkansas team."

Tennessee Guard Armani Moore

(On coming back in games with such a young team)
"I feel like being a leader on this team thats something I have to focus on this week, is showing them its not about what we did the last game, it's about the game we have to play the next time. So we have to have a good couple of days of practice. Watch film, learn from it, see what we did wrong and hopefully we can put that film towards the next game and start executing a lot better on offense."

(On not coming back in the second half)
"It's not a shock at all. Most of the time when you have good players, credit Alabama they are a good team. They just came out and made better plays at the end. We weren't making shots and also rebounding more at the end. That's a result of that, you lose the ballgame. It's not about laying around moping this week, it's all about going out and getting better. And hopefully the next game we can get a W."

(On confidence taking a hit)
"I don't think they took our confidence tonight. Like I said a lot of times when we got speed up on offense that caused us to do some bad things on offense . A couple times I made a crucial turnover and that resulted in 2 points on the other end, but I feel like me as a lead, Josh as a leader, we both have to be better and if we're on the right track then our team will be on the right track as well."

Tennessee Guard Josh Richardson

(On 14-minute scoring drought)
"I think they were tough in the zone, and we didn't do a good job of adjusting and playing our offense to it."

(On Alabama's zone defense)
"They did a good job of keeping us out of the paint, and we just stopped attacking."

(On giving up offensive rebounds)
"It wears on you physically. When teams get second chance points like that, it kind of breaks your back if it's late in the shot clock. I don't think we did a good job of responding to it."

(On how SEC teams have guarded him)
"I think teams are trying to get the ball out of my hands a lot more. I am just trying to keep attacking and adjusting to their defense."

(On rebounding from this loss)
"We will definitely have to watch the film tomorrow and find out what we did wrong.

Alabama head coach Anthony Grant

(Opening Statement)
"It was a great, great win for our team today. Any time you can get a road win in this league, you have to cherish those. Tennessee has had great success here at home, so we didn't take lightly the opportunity we to come here and get the win.

"I thought as a team we did a great job staying connected in terms of what we needed to do offensively and defensively. We had a great team effort. I'm proud of Rodney (Cooper), I thought he did a great job stepping up for us. You look at the stat line he provided for us, I think it's indicative of what this team is capable of. We talk about having multiple guys that on any given night can step up for us when the opportunity is presented. He certainly did that for us."

(On if the physical nature of the game favored Alabama)
"That's just the nature of basketball. We knew it was going to be a tough game, a tough opponent, a difficult environment. I'm proud of our guys for having the ability to stick together and get the win."

(On holding Tennessee scoreless for nearly 14 minutes)
"I didn't know that until the game was over. We were just thinking about getting stops and rebounds, stops and rebounds. I thought it was a great effort by our guys.

"I don't think we did anything differently. I think the aggressiveness, the connectiveness that we had together, I thought the guys on the floor did a great job of understanding what we needed to do, what we needed to try to take away from them. (Josh) Richardson was hurting us early in the half. I thought the cumulative effect of the game, our guys understanding what needed to happen, where guys were on the floor that had the ability to hurt us were and getting to those guys. Then having the resolve that, when the shots did go up, to go in as a team and box out and rebound. That's what hopefully the habits that we're building, the understanding of what it takes to win. I was proud of our guys doing what they needed to do to get the win."

(On the progress this season over last season)
"We just try to be consistent, we don't judge it. We know what we have to do to get better and move forward as a team, we let everybody else worry about that, we just control what we can control."

Alabama senior guard Rodney Cooper

(On the team's assists)
"As a team we move the ball pretty well. When we move the ball, we get good shots. Like coach said, on any given night, anyone can step of for us, so we did a good job of moving the ball to get good shots."

(On winning a big game on the road)
"We just came even closer together. We came together and said we weren't going to lose this game. We're not focused on last year, we're focused on this year."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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