University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Tennessee 80, Pikeville 62
November 03, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2014
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Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall
(Opening remarks)"We certainly need to do a better job about taking care of the basketball, but that is a good Pikeville team. They are number one in the country at their level for a reason. You probably saw the first 12-14 minutes of their game against Kentucky last night. They play hard and they are well coached. They are tough and athletic. The one kid, K.K. Simmons, puts on a show. He made some tough shots. I think the biggest thing with our team is too many turnovers, not enough steals and deflections in our press or half court defense. It's tough for me right now. I have to do a better job. It's so early in the season and there are so many guys basically even at their position. I felt like maybe I wasn't letting guys get into a rhythm because I was trying to play a bunch of different folks. That was a little challenging tonight but we did some good things. One time I looked out and I think we had four freshmen on the floor at the same time. We were playing pretty well so it's a young group and we will continue to get better."
(On Josh Richardson playing point guard)
"We have kind of made that move the past couple of weeks. We talked all preseason about Kevin Punter. One day we just kind of threw Josh (Richardson) out there. He was pretty solid and he embraces that roll more than maybe I thought he would. He puts the ball in our best player's hands more often. I think everybody could see that we don't have a natural point guard. He will get better. Kevin (Punter) will get better as the year goes on as well. We just don't have that natural play maker, so we are going to have to do some things and tweak some things as we move along offensively to help with that."
(On the current starters)
"Those guys have earned that right to start to this point. A lot of positions it could have went either way leading up to the game tonight. Those guys have been healthy. I never really feel comfortable starting a guy like Amari Moore who has missed four to five to six practices over the last couple of weeks. I think at some point he will get that position back maybe sooner than later. Those guys have earned it in practice and that is the way I have always done things. If you compete and beat the guys out on the practice floor you get the first shot during the games. Maybe it will be different the next game. We will see how this week of practice goes."
(On Armani Moore's game tonight versus how he will do in conference play)
"Well Armani is an efficient player. Going 8 for 10 in league competition is hard for anybody. I do think he is an efficient guy. I think he takes care of the basketball and he is a good passer. He is tough and physical. Now tonight we played against a little bit of a undersized team. Maybe he got away with things he won't get away with other nights. That being said I think he will do other things to help our team."
(On what was seen in Josh Richardson to decide to play him at point guard)
"I think it is twofold. Josh seems to like playing the spot. It gives Kevin (Punter) a chance to get off the ball where there is no question he is better at that two spot then he is at the point. With that being said Kevin is still going to have to play some point. Josh will continue to get better and better as the year goes along."
(On being out there for the first game coaching)
"It was exciting. It was an opportunity to let our fans see how we are going to play. I would have liked to play a little bit better but I thought our kids competed and played hard. We had a lot of guys come in. We had almost 11 guys play double figured minutes. That is a pretty deep team. Obviously that rotation will start to shorten a little bit as we move forward, but I thought we did some nice things. One time I think it was Detrick (Mostella), maybe Tariq (Owens), Willie (Carmichael) and maybe a newcomer, (Devon) Baulkman; four freshmen and newcomer out there at one time. We had about a three or four minute stretch that was pretty good. I think that shows moving forward as we grow our program we have some good young pieces in place."
(On Dominic Woodson)
"He is not where we need him to be or want him to be yet, but he has made a ton of progress. I think the biggest thing I can say about Dom is that he went from a guy that had the right approach and attitude about two out of every three days or maybe four out of every six days to a guy that has been pretty consistent. He has maybe had one bad day out of the last three weeks. So because of his approach and mentality he is getting better. He is probably about 275. He has roughly 23-24 pounds off his body since he got here. I would like to get him to about 270, but his conditioning has improved and his attitude is fantastic."
(On how the team played offensively)
"We share the ball. We are an unselfish team. We always try to have one assist for every two made baskets. I think we have some pretty good shooters. If you look at the guys on our team, five or six guys can legitimately make jumpshots from behind the arc. With that being said, 18 turnovers is certainly going to be an Achilles heel if we don't change that from an offensive standpoint."
(On playing Richardson at point in foul trouble)
"That is just where we are at this year. I am not going to use that as a crutch or excuse this year. We will have to risk it at some points this year. He will have to play through it if we are in a close game. When you take a guy like Josh out with 10 minutes to go in a close game, by the time you get him back in with six minutes left, you could be down by 10 or more. We are going to have to tame those chances and especially at that position."
(On playing 11 players)
"This is the worst I have felt in nine years in regards to the flow of the game. I never felt like I was letting guys play through a mistake. Other than Josh, it just felt like I was taking guys in and out constantly. There are so many spots where guys are that even, and I am trying to give everyone a chance. There were too many guys to play that many minutes. That being said, we are a pretty balanced team right now. It will start to sort itself out."
(On defending the three)
"We were pretty active. We held them to 35 percent shooting from three. I can live with that. We always try to make the opponent shot 40 percent of the balls from behind the three-point line. We only turned them over 11 times, though, and we only had three steals. We need to be more active and aggressive in our press. It's an opportunity to get it on film and grow from it."
(On missed assignments)
"Sometimes, guys can miss their assignments in their first game of the year. If you watch guys like Devon Baulkman, who could get out and play all day, but as soon as you put him in front of a crowd, he looks like he just finished a marathon. That's not me being critical. I understand what those first games are like. As you grow tired, you can forget your assignment. That goes with Josh growing in the role of point guard and getting everybody in our sets quicker."
(On calming down after slow start)
II thought we relaxed in the last few minutes of the first half. We got in more of a flow offensively. The first ten minutes was tough to watch. We got better as the half went on, but we have a million miles to go. There is nothing better than watching a game on film with your team and learning. We will certainly do that."
(On Pikeville's press)
"I thought there press kept us a little out of rhythm. It wasn't supper aggressive, but it was enough to keep you out of your offense. Credit them in that regard. I played some different guys at different positions."
(On Ian Chiles not playing)
"It was more health than anything. He has been banged up all summer. He is still trying to find his way, and he has ankle that is hobbling him right now some."
Tennessee senior G Josh Richardson
(On playing point guard and scoring the ball)
"Coach Tyndall told me i'd be playing point but he still wanted me to be aggressive with scoring. I took heed too it. I was trying to get other guys involved while trying to score a little bit."
(On nerves of the newcomers)
"They were real nervous going in. I was talking to them in pregame meal and Willie(Carmichael) was like "My brain is going 300 miles an hour". Throughout the game I was telling them to slow their mind down. It's just basketball, just calm down and play. I feel like after halftime we definitely did that."
(On Armani Moore's play in the new system)
"This is perfect system for him. He's a mismatch at power forward. Just like he showed tonight, he can take bigger guys off the dribble anytime he wants too."
Tennessee junior F Derek Reese
(On the team getting adjusted)
"It's getting adjusted. A lot of guys haven't player here at Thompson-Boling Arena, its the experience. It's one of the best places to play in the country."
(On Armani Moore becoming a more aggressive scorer)
"I think so. He accepted the role. He needed to step up and really be aggressive, be more aggressive than last year or the last two years. He really stepped up today."
(On being a rebounder)
"I have to go rebound. The assistant coaches always tell us to stay in the game you have to rebound. My goal is to go out there and get the most rebounds I can."
Tennessee freshman G Detrick Mostella
(On first-game jitters and the sluggish start)
"It's a new beginning for everybody except three people. Hopefully, they learn from their mistakes. I'll learn from my mistakes and what I have to do to accomplish, to be a better player. We go to practice Wednesday and pick it up more and fix the mistakes."
(On passing up shots during the game)
"Yeah, I pulled a couple down that I would have took in high school, but that's for the best of us. I pulled it down because I know we need good shots. I don't want to force it with 35 [seconds] on the shot clock. I'm just waiting patiently for my shots because I know they are going to come off the draw-and-kick. We drive the ball, we get open shots."
(On Josh Richardson's point guard play)
"He looked pretty good. He's getting better and better every time he plays point guard. They can't guard him how they want to guard him because he can drive, he can shoot, he can make players better. I feel like he made a lot of us better tonight. Hopefully, he can keep that going for us."
Pikeville head coach Kelly Wells
(On team's overall performance)
"I would like to take about two minutes away from the first half and try it again. I thought we gave a good competitive effort. We were hungry to challenge tonight, and I thought we played with some confidence. That two minute spell at the end of the half gave them the confidence that they needed and snatched the confidence from us."
(On facing two SEC opponents in two days)
"We had our place in the game. I didn't think we did very well at Kentucky at all. I think we competed hard today. The length of the teams at that level are really challenging for us to get easy shots. We had one guy above 30 points, and no one else had more than six. We are an offensive oriented team. When you can't make shots, it is hard to get your defense excited."
(On what stood out about his team's performance)
"I thought we had some bad body language at the end of the first half. We have nine new faces, so they are still learning about each other. I did think our chemistry was better in the second half, but we just couldn't make shots. We missed a lot of easy ones, and they did a good job of challenging us."
