University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Vols 67, TSU 46
December 27, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2014
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Tennessee Head Coach Donnie Tyndall
(Opening Statement)
"I just want to start by saying that Dana Ford is going to do a great job at Tennessee State. That is an athletic team that plays extremely hard. To his credit, he got the job late and put a team together. He is doing a great job. I thought our kids competed for 40 minutes. I don't think we ever got in a flow against the zone offensively in the first 30 minutes. Anytime you make a few threes, that loosens things up. You have more driving lanes and opportunities.
Typical of how we play, I thought our press began to wear on them. They began to have some turnovers. That should be credited to our crowd. They were great and got in to the game. They helped us get some key stops. Someone asked me after the game, 'You are doing a lot of different things during the game: coaching, cheerleading, etc.,' and I told them I was desperate at that point in time. At some point, our fans will get up on their own, and I won't have to encourage them. They sure were good tonight, though."
(On giving up the early lead)
"I think that is something you have to worry about. We did the same thing against Marquette. We started off pretty well and had an early lead, but then guys may have the tendency to think it will be an easy game. That certainly wasn't the case tonight. Tennessee State had no quit in them, and they bounced back. It was a very competitive game at half. We were only up three."
(On resiliency of the team)
"We have a resilient bunch that has been through a lot of adversity. I think our team has shown throughout the year, thus far, that there is no quit in them. When things don't go your way, that is a part of basketball, and you keep your head up. For the inexperienced team that we have been, that is a tribute to them because a lot of times, with young and inexperienced guys, when things don't go their way, they hang their head and pack it in. Our team hasn't done that the entire year."
(On Armani Moore)
"Probably three times he dove on the floor for lose balls. As you mentioned, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, two steals, a block. Nothing we do in our program is ever judged or evaluated on shots attempted or shots made, means nothing. We judge them on rebounding, taking charges, diving on the floor, getting an assist, deflection, steals, all those things and then the points will come. Armani [Moore] does a lot of things to help our team win and he did that again tonight."
(On creating excitement with the fan base)
"Everywhere I have been, the first two stops, there was a sense of apathy about the program, no one was involved, people weren't coming to games so you had to get out and meet and great and let them get to know you and your team so they feel some ownership in your program. I know they had a great year last year and there were a lot of distractions and controversies and all those types of things. So you come into this situation, we have an incredible fan base, people that are passionate about Tennessee Basketball but I still think they need a pick me up or an energized type of situation. If you tell them and show them how much you appreciate them and let them get to know you a little bit, then again they are going to feel some ownership in what you are doing and want to continue to support you. So we have done that every where we have ever been and it certainly won't stop."
(On competitive games)
"I think that is a great example, you talk about two OVC teams, Tennessee Tech has a chance to beat us, we only win by three and Tennessee State is up by one with 15 to go. Our margin of error is like that big. I try to tell these guys, if we aren't exact and we aren't on edge and we aren't detailed in everything we do, we are going to get clipped. Now it could be against East Tennessee, could be against Florida, who knows when it would be. The bottom line is we need to be detailed and exact because we don't have a large margin for error. I think tonight was a perfect example for that."
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Tennessee Guard Josh Richardson
(On wearing down the opposing team)
"It is just like what Coach Tyndall talks about every game; we have to take the other teams legs. They started to wear down in the second half, and we began to turn it up a little bit."
(On slow patch during the game)
"I am not sure what happened. They started to hit some shots, and we were having small breakdowns on defense. They did a good job of making us pay for it."
(On having other people step up)
"I feel like everyone looks up to me as being the leader or most consistent guy. I take that role on, but it seems like every night, someone on our team can get hot. Kevin did a good job tonight of hitting his shots and staying aggressive."
Tennessee Guard Kevin Punter
(On the slow start)
"In the first half, we were kind of sluggish. They made a lot of pretty good shots. We started to pick it up more in the second half, and it started defensively. We got more steals and deflections. We got the fans in to it. We appreciate the fans for getting us going a little bit."
Tennessee Guard Armani Moore
(On tonight's game)
"I think we came out, we were looking slow, looking sluggish, we weren't playing Tennessee Basketball. So it was all about coming together at the end, Coach had a talk with us, more importantly Josh [Richardson] and I had to get into each and everyone of our teammates and tell them we needed to step up."
(On the team's defense at the end)
"Yeah, we definitely picked picked up the defense a little bit, we got into them, caused them to speed up and make some crucial turnovers at the end. I think that is what helped us out in the long run."
(On Coach Tyndall's getting the fans into the game)
"That is part of it, you have to come out and you have to coach your team and sometimes you have to coach the fans. It is all about picking up intensity no matter how you are doing it. The fans got into the game tonight, they helped us out and gave us a little bit of a boost and we played better in the second half."
Tennessee State Head Coach Dana Ford
(On closing the first half with an 8-0 run)
"I thought we were a little bit more assertive at the end of the first half. We shared the basketball, we passed up good shots for great shots, something we've tried to emphasize and we got some pretty good looks and were able to knock them down."
(On the key to the second half start)
"We were taking care of the ball and we continued to get stops and we fought on the glass a little bit. It kind of went south after that."
(On going toe-to-toe with Tennessee for a stretch)
"That's not what we play for, obviously. Our feelings aren't always dictated by the final score. There are some things that we are going to take and evaluate and watch. The message tonight was that we have to get more guys stepping up, we ran out of manpower the last 13 minutes of the game. No matter if it's an SEC opponent or whoever, when you go on the road, you need eight or nine guys plays playing well."
(On making 11 3-pointers)
"That's our best offense right now because those are our most assertive players, the guys that shoot the three. They have confidence, they step up, they work to get open and they don't hesitate. People find them and they're knocking them down."
