University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE POSTGAME QUOTES
November 03, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2005
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Bruce Pearl:"After 16 or 17 days of practice, I believe we did enough things right to consider it a good sign. We had the looks offensively and we worked hard on defense. Overall I am very pleased to have the win, but we have got work to do.
"Our problem, depth-wise, is really in the front line. Damion Harris is about the only big guy we have around, but he is just not ready. In the backcourt, we have five guys to handle three positions - C.J. Watson, Dane Bradshaw, JuJuan Smith, Stanley Asumnu, and Chris Lofton.
"Chris was terrific. Sometimes in practice, he sort of backs off, but when we keep score, and the lights come on, he steps up. In playing the first time for us tonight, C.J. Watson had a few uncharacteristic turnovers. We will work Andre Patterson into the rotation starting tomorrow. We want him to play some three (small forward), and some five (center). We are going to let Ryan Childress to play some four (power forward). We want him to do that, and that only, since he is a freshman.
"Southern Indiana is a good team, picked to win their league. The Screaming Eagles played hard and played well. We were pleased to see Major Wingate get a double-double, but he can do better. His stamina was noteworthy.
"We will feel more pressure when we play ETSU, when it will count. C.J. and Chris are both as good as advertised, better than I thought - very good players."
Regarding the technical foul: "They did not want my opinion. They had heard enough, and decided that was it."
SOUTHERN INDIANA RICK HERDES:"I am glad we are not playing them three years from now. The biggest thing is they have to buy into his system, and Bruce will hang some banners in here. They are more physical than us. I questioned our conditioning. We have had a lot of guys hurt.
"We had freshmen play like freshmen. Twenty-seven turnovers are absolutely too many turnovers, but we will not see anyone else play that fast this year. Lofton is the best shooter I have seen in a long time. There is nothing good about losing. We turned the ball over about three times in about a 60-second stretch, and it was over.
"I told Bruce before the game that Chris Thompson could play for him and be a darn good player. They wore us down some with their pressure. They will win some games like that this year. I thought Nick Brooks looked really tired. I have got to get Nick inside. I think he is a better player with his back to the basket.
"We just did not convert in transition, but I think their size was a factor. Turnovers were our nemesis last season. I will remedy that on the practice court. I wanted to learn some things about our team tonight, and I did."
