University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: South Carolina 70, Vols 60
January 11, 2017 | Men's Basketball
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Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes
(Opening statement)
"I thought both team played extremely hard defensively. Offensively, we were woeful and weren't aggressive. We didn't do anything that we talked about that we wanted to do on the offensive end consistently. We wanted to get to the free-throw line, and we did, but we could have gotten there more. Early in the game I thought we missed some shots that we needed to play. We got down. Point-guard play, we had 10 or 11 turnovers between that position, and it's tough to win when you turn it over like that. And they turned it over 22 times themselves, but I'm more concerned with us. The way we turned it over, it goes against what we talked about, what we wanted to do and we just didn't do it. And you have to give South Carolina credit. I thought we were really tentative. I didn't enjoy watching our team play tonight. I thought it was the first time all year that we were really tentative for long periods of time, and that is what was really disappointing."
(On South Carolina's defense)
"They are a good defensive team. We are a good defensive team. Between the two teams, both teams had 22 turnovers. A lot of it had to do with South Carolina. They are the ones standing between us and the basket. They are the ones making us stand around, taking us out of what we need to do. We don't move the ball. We have gotten to where the ball starts to stick too much. That's what is really disappointing."
(On guard Jordan Bone working his way back)
"He has to listen better. His teammates were trying to help him out tonight. You saw on the first play of the game the kind of speed he can put on people and create some things. He has to make better decisions. His decision-making is just not good. The fact is, he has to listen better. It's that simple. He has to do that. I can't ask the team why we do this or that, and guys respond that they don't know what we are doing. That directly does back to the guard play. It is up to the guards to make sure we are getting into what we need to get into, and we just didn't do that."
(On his current on-court leadership)
"It still needs to get better obviously, but we still have a lot of young guys that are learning that this is a lot harder than they imagined. Going to score a basket and fight for space on the floor and fight to get open and the little things are what we did not do tonight. We didn't set up cuts. We got to the free throw line, we did that. Some of this is a learning process for these guys, there is no questioning that. It is disappointing that we didn't execute, but I think you have to give South Carolina all of the credit and coming in I knew it would be an ugly game because both teams were going to get after each other defensively. We talked about the little break downs, like letting a guy who is 6-11 dribble down and have a guy open behind you and no one knows he is back there. You cannot drive to the basket and try to alter a lay up when no one is making a play for the ball. It's a 10-point game, but I don't want to take anything away from South Carolina because I think they are really good and Frank has done a terrific job with his team, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot."
(On if the team has regressed since December)
"No, because I believe other teams get better. South Carolina is 13-3 and they have been there. They were right there last year. Our league is better than people think it is, but the key is that there is more room for us to get better. Our guard play has regressed. We had problems the last two games and maybe that is my fault with me trying to get (Jordan) Bone in there quicker than he was ready, but it is obvious that teams are teeing up against us on the perimeter and getting after our guards. When you are being pressured you have to beat the pressure. We are still not handling the ball like we need to. The fact is that we have to get better."
(On South Carolina and wanting to win now)
"The hardest thing is that I want to win right now. In a 40-minute game if you do what you need to do and you don't beat yourself you can win it. I believe that. You see it all the time when teams you don't think can win actually win. It is when five guys think as one and if you don't get that and you know you are smaller and there is little room for error and you play the way you play. I think you have to build that into guys. When you have young guys you have to make them want to win right now and I believe you have to teach that. I don't think you can stand before them in a game and say you are building something for the future because all we have is the next game and I think they have to have the will. I have had teams like this before and you can coach them like a team that is ranked number one in the country, and we have 40 minutes to go out and win this basketball game. So whether it is being patient or not it goes back to what I said where you have to get better every day. Some of the things we did tonight show me that if we don't listen, we struggle. If we do listen, we are going to be okay. When they are battling as hard as they are battling it is going to happen for us."
(On the outside shot not falling)
"Again I think that it's setting your shot up, getting out running. Passing. Passing has so much with it. We drove like we wanted to, threw some passes, they're off. We're not delivering the ball where it needs to be to help guys. Bowden and Bone tonight tried to make these over the top passes that are not going to be there against teams that are going to collapse and close as quick as they do. We did (as well), we were able to knock it loose. Passing is a lost art and we've got to get better at that."
(On if he's worried about his young team's confidence)
"No, we're going to spend enough time with them and we're going to keep talking to them and I think the one thing we know is we're not going to stop working. We know that we've had to fight through some injuries this year, we know that. We've had to figure all that out and at this time of year, you'd like to be rolling. It's our job as coaches to keep getting these guys better, to keep doing our game plan. We go back and I'll look at what I did or didn't do in terms of truly getting to understand how we've got to run our offense the way we need to do it. I just think we've got too much character in this group that these guys are not going to quit playing. They realize it's a long way to go and we're working towards being a better team."
Tennessee guard Robert Hubbs III
(On what can be taken away from the game)
"We played good defense. We keep them out of their offense. We just turned the ball over and they got easy points. We can't let that happen. That's something we talked about before the game. If we turn the ball over, we have to sprint back and prevent them from scoring."
(On the fight forward from the South Carolina loss)
"We have the talent. It's right there. We just have to put it all together and find away to have more energy coming into the game."
(On being ready to play Vanderbilt)
"We'll be ready to go. We'll be fired up. We just have to bring it and play with a whole lot of energy for 40 minutes."
Tennessee forward Grant Williams
(On having trouble making shots and holding onto the ball in the first half)
"It's tough. You have to bounce back, and we have to be better. The ball is not going to go in the hoop sometimes. That's why we have to pick it up on the defensive end and create some offense. But credit to South Carolina for being controlled and veteran guys, understanding that whenever we come up and make a run to stay calm and make it right back."
(On cutting South Carolina's first half lead to six and using that a momentum for second half)
"We knew that they were going to respond. Those guys are too good and too old to let some run rattle them, to allow guys to make them feel pressured. They did a good job every time we made a run to get right back up to the tempo and lead. We had a lot of breakdowns. We had a lot of turnovers. Credit them for stifling us on offense."
(On why South Carolina's defense is difficult to score against)
"They communicate. They're great when it comes to helping each other out. A big man goes and rotates for a blocked shot. They don't allow interior passing when it comes to somebody driving or trying to drop it down, they're there for the help. We just have to do a better job learning from these experiences."
South Carolina head coach Frank Martin
(Opening statement)
"I just told Rick (Barnes) that I know my guys try to play hard but I respect the heck out of him. He gets his guys to play hard. Between turnovers, fouls and bad decisions we just made this a prehistoric game today. It's unbelievable. The inability to understand time, scoring and making better decisions. I can't speak for Rick's team, I'm speaking for our team. It's a win and we did play hard. I think we out-rebounded a team for the first time since October. We tried to battle on the glass. (Tennessee) got 17 offensive rebounds, that's bad. That's good for them, bad for us."
(On South Carolina's defense on the perimeter)
"We are a good defensive team. You go through and look at our numbers all year, outside of the last game we played, everyone else is not touching 40 when they play. We are pretty consistent. Our numbers probably changed but I believe if we are not leading, we are top three in the country in three-point field goal percentage. It's what we do. I thought Tennessee had some looks, too, that they didn't make. They're difficult to guard. They've got a lot of face-up guys. They are tough as nails. They drive you. They make it hard."
(On freshman Hassani Gravett's play)
"He's been playing better. He's starting to understand what we do here a little bit. He still goes into mental blocks and forgets what we're doing, trying to run, like all first-year guys. The thought process is not as smooth as it is for a senior. He started to play well for us after he rolled his ankle that week and now he's been engaged in practice. He's starting to have a peace of mind on what to do and not to do. Like all first-year guys, the ball is starting to go to the basket for him. In today's game, it's all predicated around them seeing the ball going to the basket. That's the enthusiasm and confidence that they play with. He's seen the ball go in the basket a couple of times these last couple of games and I think it's making him a little more confident and aggressive."
(On guard PJ Dozier's play)
"He didn't play well today. I don't think he was engaged and that's why he was in foul trouble. His fouls were senseless fouls. The foul trouble wasn't the issue, he just didn't play well today."
(On South Carolina's foul trouble)
"We like to play a lot of guys, especially early in the year, on purpose, and get guys ready for moments like this. You go on the road in conference play and now you have certain guys that can play, and haven't played. You don't get mad at them when they don't perform well. We have played a lot of guys. We are comfortable with the depth of our team. There's a reason you have starters and backups. You want your starters on the court. You would like to substitute, but not for foul trouble. You would like to substitute to rest and take advantage of certain matchups -- things of that nature. Unfortunately, with Chris (Silva), not PJ (Dozier), last game he got in foul trouble and today he just didn't play well. When you have to sub for foul trouble it's usually your own guys making mistakes. Tennessee comes at you though. They're relentless. They don't stop and they made it look hard on him."
(On the importance of a 3-0 conference start)
"It's awesome for our guys. It's awesome for our fans. That's not going to help us beat Ole Miss on Saturday. Jim Harrick had a great saying. He says 'I'd rather be up than down. I'd rather have the ball than not. And I'd rather win than lose.' So, I'd rather win than lose. I think that our players think that way, too. Believe me, don't think I don't sit at home and feel really good about where we're headed compared to what we were at four years ago. At the same, from games like this, we have to figure out a way to know confidence. Confidence in what we're doing. Confidence in the next day so we can perform a little better and so we can correct some of the things that we're not doing well. A lot of our ill today was Tennessee. They just brought it to us and we answered the bell. When we played at Memphis and other places, I didn't think we answered the bell when they came at us. We answered the bell today. 3-0 is better than 2-1, 1-2, and the proverbial 0-3 we were my first couple of years. My players at the end of the year of don't ask me `how' or 'by how much,' they ask 'by how many.' When you have enough wins, they like you a lot more so we've got to figure out a way to go get another one on Saturday."
(On Maik Kotsar and "freshman wall")
"Maik has been interesting. I don't want to speak for him. When we get home you guys can ask him, but he's been a little different since the holidays. I think he misses home like most foreign guys do. Everyone else has family for the holidays and he didn't get to see his family. I think that has something to do with it. I could be wrong. He was a lot better leading into this game than he had been leading into the past two weeks. I didn't expect him to play well the last two games. I expected him to play better today. I think the physicality of today's game bothered him. I think he got wrapped up in the physicality of the game, but like in the second half of the Texas A&M game, he answered the bell. He made plays to help us win. I have no idea how he dribbled the ball through everybody. I think everybody on Tennessee was surprised he was still going. He made that layup and that's a big play. He didn't play great but he gave us eight rebounds. I have got to help him a little bit. I'm playing him in the low post way too much. I have got to play him from the elbows and top of the key a little bit more. That's something I have got to do. Maik's a really good kid. He wants to be coached which makes him fun. He wants you to coach him and not let him fail. He doesn't want a lie, he wants the truth. He comes in every day and he is ready to go. He's been better leading into this game and I assume he's going to be tomorrow and Friday leading into Saturday."
(On the defensive physicality and surviving this game)
"When we score a little better and don't turn it over 20 times, I like our chances a lot more. Our defensive concept is something our team continues to grow into. It's predicated around not letting teams run their offense. West Virginia doesn't allow you to run your offense through their full court trapping and pressure. Ours is designed not to let you run your offense with different techniques but it's the same philosophy. Tennessee doesn't let you run your offense. They get in there and make you go through counters and different things you haven't had in practice. It's what we do. We practice it hard every day. Our players are committed to it, that's why we've become good at it. When we play as hard as we did today - because we did play hard -- I like our chances of winning."
