Postgame Quotes: Vols 64, Mercer 54

Dec. 22, 2014

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 1  |  Photo Gallery 2 

TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Donnie Tyndall

(Opening Statement)
"Let me start, a know you get tired of me saying this, give the credit to Mercer. I have a great deal of respect for their coach and their program. He has done a remarkable job there. I think he has been there six years and they have beat eight high major schools, including, obviously of beating Duke. His teams are always disciplined and tough and play the right way, we knew it would be a battle. The biggest thing, I think, when you look at the stat line is we turned them over 15 times when we were able to get out and play in the open floor a little bit. Other than the last two minutes of the game, we defended at a pretty good rate, we held them to a low percentage. The kid [Ike Nwamu] he got off and had 30 but for the most part we did a pretty good job to contain them. I thought two different segments of the game, the last four minutes of the first half, we spurted a little bit and separated it and they cut it to four or five late in the game and we changed our press up a little bit and converted off of two straight steals or forced two turnovers that we got layups on, so those were key parts of the game."

(On Devon Baulkman)
"He was fantastic. The one thing I always say is it is not about shots made and shots attempted if you see a couple things he did, he had six rebounds, two offensive which were huge, he had two steals in 21 minutes and he got to the foul line four times. So he did other things, I always try to tell these young guys if you get your hands in balls in different ways, whether it is deflections or steals or rebounds, it is amazing how your offense will start clicking. I think that was the case tonight."

(On the defensive performance)
"Our offense hasn't been there a bunch this year, as you know, and the way we play, we talk about it quite a bit, we are trying to spurt teams, and that was an opportunity where we forced some turnovers. You want to do that two, three, four times over the course of the game to be able to win but that was an important four minute stretch there for us. That is how we play. This year particularly, where we don't have a post guy to just throw the ball to and say, `okay, go get us a bucket or go draw a foul,' we are going to have to go get our offense from our defense."

(On Robert Hubbs)
"He did, I think this was Robert's best outing since I coached him and here is why...the offensive rebound that he tipped back in the goal, showed his athleticism and he got it into a physical play which was great to see. Then when he drove the ball on the baseline, I have been talking about Robert a lot of times he shoots a little push slash floater shot, that is a tough percentage shot and we have been talking, just drive it and pull up and shoot the ball, snap your wrist and if you miss it, you miss it. He did that twice tonight on baseline drives. On top of that I thought he was better in our press and I thought he guarded pretty well. So tonight, nothing to do with the nine points, simply getting some of the things we have taught him to the floor. He was good, and we need Robert to do that more, every night."

(On leading at halftime)
"Whether you are up or down, you have to make adjustments. You have to come back out and play the second 20 minutes. I told our kids that there would be no quit in this Mercer team. I told them they would continue to compete for the next 20 minutes, and they did. They cut it to four or five at one point and had a chance. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I thought our kids competed. It is nice to have a lead at half."

(On Richardson's conversion to point guard)
"I don't know if I envisioned him being able to absorb that position from a mental standpoint, the time and score and decision making in that come into position as quickly as he has. I'm not surprised with anything Josh does with the ball in his hands. He's got a great mid-range game. He can really drive the basketball and get fouled. In the last four and five games in particular, he's doing a better job where he has a more concentrated effort to make his teammates better. I'm pleased with his play. I don't know if I'm surprised, except that mentally he's grasped it so quickly."

(On team's progress through non-conference play)
"I think our team has really overachieved like we'd hoped they would at this point. When you look at our schedule coming into this game, I think it was the seventh or eighth toughest schedule in college basketball. We've played some great teams in tough environments or neutral floors. We had a chance to beat top-25, top-40 type programs in Kansas State and Butler, and we handled that on our home floor. Again, that's got to be attributed to our crowd and our fans. I think we're probably ahead of schedule a little bit. ... I'm disappointed we're not 10-0, but that's how I'm built and that's how I've always coached."

(On Christmas schedule)
"I told the guys, we're going to be completely off tomorrow. I don't want them in the gym. No weights. No film. Just get away, get off their feet just a little bit. They're probably tired of me and -- I don't know if I'll ever say I'm tired of them -- but maybe I'm tired of them too. They need a day away. I think it'll be good for everybody. Then we'll come back and practice the morning of the 24th and the evening of the 25th. I'll have the guys over to my house for a nice Christmas dinner. I told them: that's the life of Division I athletics. You don't get to go home for Thanksgiving during basketball season, and you don't get to go home for Christmas. All these guys want to play in the NBA. The NBA plays on Christmas Day. It is what it is."

(On lineup)
"I think we're kind of at the point where we've got eight starters. Based on lineups, based on opponents, based on how guys practice, that can vary literally from game to game. Detrick (Mostella) had been really good the last few days in practice, so we gave him the nod. Tonight was not necessarily his night offensively, but he didn't do anything to necessarily loose that starting position. We'll go back to practice on the 24th and see how things shake out, but I think right now we've got about 8 or 9 guys who could start on any given night."

(On playing time)
"I've always based everything we do on practice and production. I think when you don't give anybody anything or guarantee anybody anything, it keeps practices competitive No. 1. That makes each and every guy know they need to come to practice and punch the clock. Secondly, collectively, your team gets better because the practices are intense and competitive. It helps everybody, and no one can say, `Well, this guy doesn't practice hard and he starts,' or `That guy didn't practice hard last week and he's still starting.' They know. You either practice the right way or you're not in the lineup."

TENNESSEE GUARD Josh Richardson

(On whether the team is overachieving)
"It's the popular opinion. We don't have much coming back so people think we're gonna be bad, but we're proving them wrong."

(On when Mercer cut the lead to 4)
"Just don't get speed up, don't get antsy. Just keep executing and playing our game and it'll work out."

(On being more demonstrative this year)
"It's just being a leader, just knowing guys feed off my energy and how I'm going. So I just feel like I bring intensity and energy and chip on my shoulder I feel like that will trickle down to everybody else."

TENNESSEE GUARD Robert Hubbs III

(On being more aggressive)
"It helps my game a lot having a feel for the ball. When one of my teammates shoots I have to get in there and take my chances and get a rebound or a tip-in."

(On tweaking the press)
"We just had to put everyone in the right spots. A couple games we've been out of position and it worked pretty good tonight."

(On playing in the open court and forcing turnovers)
"That's definitely crucial because thats how we want to plays. That's fun for us. We enjoy that, getting up and down, getting dunks, stealing the ball, simple things like that is how you beat teams."

MERCER HEAD COACH BOB HOFFMAN

(On tonight's game)
"It was a tremendous basketball game. We were right there. We did everything we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win. We missed six lay ups in the first half. You have to complete those. Teams of mine usually love offense. I didn't do a good job of putting them in places to be successful as much as I should have. Our guys battled like crazy tonight, and that is the kind of young men they are. They have great character, and they are going to work hard. We just have to continue to work at our game and get some guys off the bench to get us some more minutes."

(On the run to open the second half)
"I told them we have to score the ball, and they have to be ready to take the shot. If they missed it, they had to go back down on the other end and play good defense. We played great defense tonight, even though they shot a high percentage. They are talented, and Coach Tyndall has put them in a good position to be successful. We just have to keep getting better."

(On the upcoming schedule)
"They get to go home until Christmas night, and then we have to get ready for Georgia. We are excited about these opportunities to play SEC teams. I told our guys that we still have a chance to finish above .500 before conference play. That is what we are going to try to do before we finish these non-conference games."

MERCER GUARD IKE NWAMU

(On his 30-point performance)
"It is cool to score 30 points, but I would love to get a win more. I would rather have five points and a win."

(On mindset coming into the game)
"The game plan was for us to be aggressive on both sides of the ball."

(On playing three straight SEC road games)
"It is a lot of fun. It is almost like being in the SEC for a little bit. We get to learn a lot about our team and what we need to do moving forward."

(On the takeaway from tonight's game)
"We played hard and had a lot of energy, but we need to sharpen up some intricate details. We just have to do better with some of the little things. That is really what I take from this game."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Related Videos