University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: UT 77, Lenoir-Rhyne 49
November 08, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats
Tennessee Head Coach Donnie Tyndall
(Opening Statement)
"Let me start by saying, I thought Lenoir-Rhyne played very hard, they are a physical team, they are an efficient basketball team. I thought as the game wore on and the second half, in particular, our press wore on them, which is usually the benchmark of our team. Everywhere I have been, the way we have played the last eight, 10, 12 minutes in the second half, we wear on people and our term is, `take their legs.' I thought we did that. But again, that is a tough, gritty group. Our press was better tonight than our first game, three steals the first game, as I told you, wasn't very good, and 18 steals tonight is much better. I still don't think we are getting to the foul line enough. We have to drive the ball and get more post catches to get to the foul line. But I thought overall, particularly the 2nd half, we played pretty well."
(On the press in the second half)
"I think so. Anything we do defensively, it is not just go play basketball, there are different rotations, there are different rules so it may look like we are just out there pressing and running and gunning, it takes a while to pick up schematically what we do and where they are supposed to be. I thought we made progresses from the first game, learned from the film session, and we were better tonight."
(On progress on steals)
"We have made progress which is encouraging. I thought we had some good practices this week. Again, 18 steals is pretty good. We did cut down our turnovers, from 18 to 11, so almost cut them in half, that is pretty solid. But we are going to face a very, very athletic, hard playing team in VCU that is going to press us every bit as much as we are going to press them. So we have to continue to improve in practice this week in taking care of the basketball."
(On Josh Richardson's performance at the point)
"Absolutely, as you can see, without having a true point guard, Josh was pretty good tonight but we still aren't what you call a fluid, smooth-flowing machine on the offensive end. We are, we are going to have to hopefully create some offense from our defense and it will be a work in progress as we move forward."
(On not starting Armani Moore)
"He is going to have to earn it. When you are out for almost a week at different times off and on, I don't necessarily penalize guys for being hurt but in reality they are penalized because other guys are moving ahead. So he is going to have a chance over the next few days to earn his starting job back. He is going to have to beat our Robert [Hubbs] or Derek [Reese] and then we will go from there. He is going to play starter type minutes."
(On Armani Moore playing the three and the four)
"Well you know, early on I thought he was going to play almost exclusively at the four and times went along and some of these other post players are developing, Derek Reese is coming along, Jabari McGhee, Tariq [Owens] is making strides, so it pushes him back to his natural position which is the three spot. So as of right now he has played most of his minutes at the three but he will certainly continue to play both positions."
(On players proving themselves)
"It is still pretty close. You look at a guy like Dominic [Woodson] for example had three rebounds in 13 minutes, three rebounds, three points. Tariq [Owens] comes in and he gets four and three, so that is pretty close. Then you are looking at Jabari [McGhee], he gets four and five and Willie [Carmichael] gets four and four. So they are pretty close. Then you look at Armani [Moore] and Robert [Hubbs], Robert gets eight and seven, Armani gets four and seven plus three assists. So there are a lot of guys that are pretty even and it is pretty balanced. I do think as we move forward we are not going to be able to play 11 guys or 12 guys. But if you can play nine or 10 legitimate guys with our style of play in the press, that will be beneficial."
(On Derek Reese)
"I think Derek can really stretch the floor. He is what we call a pick and pop four man. He can throw back to them and he can make jump shots in trail situations or pick and pop situations. He can rip it and drive it one or two dribbles when he gets a big guy in a closeout situation. I didn't start him in the second half because I didn't think he rebounded the ball well the first half. But he did a much better job the second half. He is a very skilled four man, so he helps you run offense and makes it a little bit easier with out lack of natural point guard. You have to be able to run some offense through your bigs."
(On Derek Reese's ability to be an all-around player and that possibly adding to his responsibility)
"Yeah, yeah, uh Derek is a better athlete than maybe people would think, that he is an athletic guy with strength. The biggest thing with Derek that earlier in the year, earlier in our practice sessions all he wanted to do was be a jump shooter and now I think we got him going to the offensive glass. We've got him driving the ball a little bit and then when he does loosen up, the defense because he can dribble drive it. It gives him a chance to make those jump shots which he made a couple tonight."
(On Devon Baulkman shoulder injury)
"Yeah he's got that shoulder that's been bothering him. He hurt it early in the year and kind of aggravated it and I don't know if he will be back this week or not. We will know probably a little bit more probably by Monday."
(On Ian Chiles and being able to see a little bit of what he can do even if it was limited)
"Yeah, you know with Ian right now, with the way our rotation is, if he could come in and play two to four minutes a half and be solid and steady it certainly would help us because he is a guy that can handle the ball a little bit. Uh he is a guy that isn't a great defender yet but I think a lot of that has to do with his injuries uh so hopefully as he becomes healthy and works his way through things he can contribute some, and who knows I've had guys early in the year that didn't start or play a minute and by the end of the year they were starters playing 26 minutes and vice versa so he is a guy that is going to continue to improve."
(On Robert Hubbs being more active in the offense)
"It is absolutely, Robert is a guy that I constantly have to beg or plead to be aggressive and make plays off the dribble. He is really unselfish and he shares the basketball but sometimes he can almost be too unselfish. So he was aggressive, he was good in our press. I think he ended up with three steals. Robert had 3 steals which is great he was good at the front of our press and had seven rebounds. Five offensive is really good for that spot."
(On where the team is overall compared to where you thought it would be)
"Well I'd say this and I mean it sincerely, I really like my team. They are so coachable. They're good kids. They work hard so I think we have a chance if we continue to grow to surprise some. We don't have a go to post four, although our bigs are certainly getting better. I think our team's probably a little bit ahead of maybe where I anticipated but certainly still a long, long ways to go."
(On the NCAA investigation and addressing it to the team)
"Yeah, I have and it's not going to be a distraction at all and I'm not going to comment on that again until the end of the whole deal is over and all I'll say is it won't be a distraction and we won't let I be a distraction and it shouldn't be a distraction."
(On it being a relief to get on up and have this game)
"Well I love basketball and other than my daughters, it's my favorite thing in the world and I love getting on the practice floor and I love game night and, uh, it's fun getting to see our guys get out there and play a little bit and let the fans cheer for them so anytime I get to go to practice or coach a basketball game I'm in my element."
(On Josh Richardson taking a step forward from Monday)
"I thought he made nice progress, I really did. You know Josh, uh, again what he had 14 and 4 and no assists, made a couple of nice passes. That were bobbled or weren't quite finished, uh, but he's doing a better job and like I said with him he is such a good kid and such an unselfish kid. He's just going to continue to get better and better."
Tennessee Senior Guard Josh Richardson
(On playing an in-season game following two exhibitions)
"We better be ready to play a real game. There's no running from it. I think we've gotten a lot better since last week. We just have to watch the film this week and see what VCU likes to do, and I think we'll be ready."
(On being the leader of the team)
"It's been a lot different, but I think I'm getting a lot better at it. The first half, today, when things weren't going our way and it was a close game, I think I did a lot better job of stepping up and talking to guys and keeping our heads in the game."
(On the difference between the team before and after the two exhibitions)
"I think we've just grown up a lot. We have game experience now. Guys are just figuring out how hard you have to play every game. Can't take any days off."
Tennessee Sophomore Guard Robert Hubbs III
(On leading the team in rebounds)
"It feels good, but [Coach Tyndall] emphasizes just about every day that he wants me to go to the glass every, single time. I went out there and did that tonight."
(On the success of the full-court press)
"I just think we had to be in our right spots and not give them open lanes to pass the ball so that they could beat us down the court. I think we did a good job of that. We made them turn the ball over a lot."
(On biggest personal improvement over the offseason)
"Just being more active on the floor. I'm flying around, got my conditioning up good this summer. To be able to press for a long period of time and get a couple steals--little things like that can carry a team a long way."
Tennessee Junior Guard Kevin Punter
(On the slow start)
"You always want to get off to a fast start, but we have to get that out of our game with the whole slow starts because when you play the real good teams and get into conference play, you look up and would probably be down 15 real quick. We just have to keep chipping away and come out to quicker starts."
(On team's play compared to pre-exhibition games)
"I feel like we're more poised, relaxed. Getting that one game under our belt--of course we always know what to do--but sometimes you just need that one game to get under you, then you get rolling. Today, I think we all did a pretty good job out there on the defensive end. We're still growing and learning, and I think we're going to be great."
(On personal assessment of game)
"I still have to learn when to take certain shots. Today, I took a few quick ones, and Coach said, `Not that one.' I took a couple of JUCO shots. I'll be all right. I just have to tone it down a little bit and just look for the extra pass, not that I don't. But, just things like that, and I'll be fine. I have great teammates around me so I'll be good."
Tennessee Junior Forward Derek Reese
(On improvement from first exhibition game)
"I think we got more deflections, more pressure on defense. Got a lot more steals. Really focusing on defense. We really improved on that."
(On fitting into Coach Tyndall's system)
"I think I fit in really well. Everyone fits really well. Everyone is really long, athletic, can handle the ball. Everyone is versatile, so that really helps everyone else. Fits the system."
(On starting quicker vs. No. 15 VCU)
"We're going to have to. We can't have sluggish beginnings like that. We're learning. We're a new team, new system, a lot of new stuff. We're just getting used to the system. Coming out slow like that--we can't keep doing that."
Lenoir-Rhyne Head Coach John Lentz
(Opening Statement)
"We just gave up 18 steals, and you can't do that. Up until the last three minutes--at the last media timeout--the rebounds were 30 to 30. I thought we did a decent job there. I thought our half court defense was pretty good. Where they beat us is open floor steals, non-slot passes, people not coming to the ball. That's what we worked on for three weeks. We just don't have the same length that they do. They forced 22 turnovers, 18 steals. If we have 15 turnovers and seven steals, it's a little different game. Credit to them--they are long and athletic. They do what they do well. Our guards are 5-foot-8, 6-foot-0, 6-foot-1. They are 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6. They are big. But, the kids played hard, and that's what we're trying to do. Just had needless turnovers. Our thing was for three days, `When in doubt, don't throw it. Take a five-second violation, take a 35-second shot clock violation and go from there.' That way, we could set our defense and play. When they get a steal and it's three-on-one, there is no defense to do. I think that was the big difference."
