Postgame Quotes: LSU 73, Vols 55

Feb. 14, 2015

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  Photo Gallery  |  USATSI Gallery 

Tennessee Head Coach Donnie Tyndall

(Opening statement)
"I'll start by saying, as I usually do, give LSU credit. That's a very talented team. We were a tad bit up and down. Some people might say that we certainly got them on one of their better nights. I thought they played fantastic. I don't usually discredit anything the opponent does, and I'm not going to because LSU made us be that bad but that's the worst half for any team I've ever coached in 10 years. That first half, I can't explain it. We missed about 10 layups. We played hesitant. We played nervous. We played scared. That falls on my shoulders. I obviously did a bad job preparing our team. As I tell our guys all the time, no one's going to feel sorry for us. You better not feel sorry for yourself. We're going to go back in tomorrow and watch film and try to get better from it."

(On inside game)
"The biggest thing you try to put those guys in pick and roll situations where they've got to ... hedge ball screens. For the most part, they switched ball screens. You've got a big guard and a small, and the small's got to be able to drive it and make the right decision, either finish the play or draw the foul. We didn't do that. There were a couple times where we did drive it, they came over and blocked shots, which is what they do. We started double pumping balls and playing off balance and looking for the shot blocker instead of exploding to the rim and trying to finish.

(On LSU's 3-point shooting)
"You have to pick your poison. They average five-and-a-half made threes per game. Their big guys, as we've talked about before, are NBA players. So if you're going to shrink the floor and try to pack it in on them a little bit, you're going to give up a couple of jump shots. They made nine threes, which is like I said three-and-a-half more than they do on a nightly basis. So we had to pick our poison. (Keith) Hornsby had a nice game. I thought (Tim) Quarterman played really well. Obviously (Jordan) Mickey played fantastic."

(On message to team after first half)
"I told them they're nothing I can say. It was embarrassing. It was absolutely humiliating. As a coach and as players, it should have been the same way. It wasn't good enough. What I can't tolerate or won't tolerate is when things don't go your way to put your head down and feel sorry for yourself. I thought that's the first time we've done that all year. Even against Alabama when it didn't go our way in the second half, we fought and we competed and we just didn't make shots that game. I didn't like our mentality in the last 10 minutes of the first half at all. To their credit, we came back and tried to compete in the second half. But I hate to say this, but this was just one of those nights that we weren't good enough. LSU was too good."

(On Detrick Mostella)
"I thought Detrick got a couple layups in transition. He made the three. He's always active defensively. I thought he did some good things at Vanderbilt. He was 0 for 4 but he was really good on the defensive end. Tonight he made a couple shots and he was still solid for us defensively."

(On rebounding from loss)
"That's always the million dollar question. ... We lost in a tough game against Georgia and same question. We responded well and played well in a tough environment against a good team. You know, we'll see. We'll just go back and watch the tape and get better in practice and roll it out there Tuesday night against the best team in America."

(On forcing turnovers in the second half)
"I thought we were more aggressive in our press because we simply had to be with the score the way it was. So we did force some turnovers. We were able to play in the open floor but there were times when you play that way that you are going to give up a layup or two at the back end. That happened too. I just thought we had to play that way based on the score of the game. I do think we played harder and better in the second half. We didn't play scared or hesitate like we did the first half."

(On Tennessee playing against Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey)
"Again those two guys are really, really good. We have played against big front lines all year long. Tonight for the most part Jarell Martin got in some foul trouble but he wasn't great. Jordan Mickey was really, really good. So we played against big guys. We really didn't get dominated by a post player if I can remember, but Mickey certainly dominated the game today."

(On having a 13-0 run after halftime and believing there was a chance)
"I told our team at the end of the first half if we play the right way we will give ourselves a chance. We just have to keep pecking away. I think we got it to 13 points maybe at one time if I remember correctly. I think we ran out of gas a little bit. We settled for jump shots. Fatigue probably became a factor for us the last ten minutes."

(On if Robert Hubbs III's shot at the end of the shot clock was reviewable)
"It isn't. He said he couldn't review it."

(On what you do or say after an unsuccessful first half)
"You just challenge your guys. You talk about all the things you have done. I said how can we go to Vanderbilt in a tough environment and play as hard and as well as we did three nights ago then come out and do what we did the first half. Give our guys credit because I have said it all year we have a tough, resilient bunch. We aren't the deepest or biggest roster in our league we all know that, but they responded in the second half. The way we started the second half was encouraging, but the hole we dug was too big."

(On guys shooting from the outside)
"That is the makeup of our team. We are basically 90 percent perimeter. Even Derek Reese who we consider a post player get his buckets for the most part on the perimeter or driving it from the perimeter. We struggle shooting the ball from the perimeter. We just aren't a great offensive team. We don't have that big guy to throw it to. We get a cheap bucket or easy bucket so we rely on dribble penetration. We didn't get to the foul line enough tonight. Guys didn't make shots, but give LSU credit. They deserve a lot of credit defensively for how they played."

(On the team's mentality)
"I thought our guys have competed all year long. I felt like we bounced back the second half. There were a couple of plays that it got physical. Our guys didn't shy away from that in the second half. Unfortunately we did in the first half."

(On Robert Hubbs III's thumb)
"We are not sure yet. We have to let the doctor take a look at it. At first we thought maybe he broke it, but they haven't had a chance to really evaluate it yet."

(On LSU game preparing Tennessee for the Kentucky game size wise)
"Yeah but instead of two guys like Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey they have five guys. I told our team if we practice the right way, prepare the right way and play the right way on Tuesday we will have a chance to be competitive in that game. If we play like we did in the first half tonight against Kentucky they will beat us by a hundred."

Armani Moore

(Opening comments and what to improve on)
"Going against those guys, I mean they got [Jordan] Mickey and the other guy Jarell Martin, they some tough physical guys. I think they did a good job tonight rebounding down and scoring some inside easy baskets. I think we got to do a better job boxing out and keeping those guys off the glass."

(On shot blockers)
"Our coaches told we had to go in strong, knowing that we was gonna get our shot blocked a couple of times, but at the end of the day we knew we were going to have to keep going at `em, trying to get them to draw fouls and stuff like that."

(On good start to second half compared to first half)
"[We] definitely go to come in at the beginning of the game with a different approach."

(On LSU's three-point shooters)
"We've got to get out to the shooters with high hands, close out and be disciplined."

(On approach when facing shot blockers)
"That's one thing about shot blockers, you know, nine times out of 10 you going to the paint you know they're gonna try to block your shot so you gotta be smart when you go up against them with your shot fake and drawing fouls and stuff like that."

(On Tim Quarterman making it difficult for Josh Richardson)
"They all played great you know. Josh [Richardson] he got a tough role this year. He gotta try to be a scorer, he gotta try to be a leader. That's just part of it."

"We gotta get some things figured out but I'm sure we can get that corrected this week in practice."

(On facing Kentucky)
"We've got to mentally get prepared for this game. We've got to have one of the best weeks of practices that we've ever had. We got to put this one behind us. We know we have to keep on rollin."

(On emotional win over Vanderbilt having impact on slow start)
"Each and every night is gonna be some great competition. We really just came out a little bit low tonight. I know we definitely can't come out and do that Tuesday or we'll be down 20 right off the jump. We just got to really really really pay attention this week in practice and put this one behind us and know that we got to get ready to play our game Tuesday."

Josh Richardson

(On 13-0 run)
"We just pressuring `em. I think they panicked a little bit and we got to going a little bit but they responded with a couple big shots."

(On loss of momentum after Wednesday's day)
"It was kind of surprising, seeing how we came out. I mean the second half we started bring our own energy but it wasn't enough. They did a good job of responding."

(On tough league and playing against Kentucky)
"If you don't come out to play, that can happen against anybody. So just got to bring it."

(On LSU talent)
"Yeah, very talented on the wing, guard spot, down low definitely. I thin k if they bring it every night they could be a really good team."

(On Tyndall at half)
"He was upset. At the end of his speech he was more optimistic about the second half and told us we had time to turn it around."

(On taking his speech to heart)
"If a coach is being negative at all you should take it to heart. It was pretty eye opening at half time."

(On opening somewhere if doubling or tripling up inside)
"We've got to contain guys off the dribble. I think they're getting to many straight line drives to kick out threes."

(On Detrick Mostella)
"He's a knock down shooter."

(On his thoughts at half time)
"I was just upset about how bad they was beating us. I told the guys we got 20 minutes to turn the game around or at least try to make it a game."

(On coming out at second half)
"I was glad we didn't lay down and fold up like some teams could have and we put together a pretty good run."

LSU Head Coach Johnny Jones

(Opening statement)

"Coming into this game, I thought a big question was how we would respond and bounce back from an emotional and close basketball game the other night. I thought our guys did a tremendous job and may have played the best first half of basketball that we've played all year, meaning we executed on the offensive end, shooting over 60 percent and defensively against a tough player like [Josh] Richardson, doing a great job of containing him and holding him to 30-something percent in the first half. On both ends, I thought we did a great job and it was great to see us bounce back."

(On facing Tennessee's defense)

"They are great defensively in matchup zone. It's tough to prepare for because you don't play against it that often. You want to make sure that, as a team, we were patient catching the ball and getting help looks inside. Then late in the clock, when we needed to take outside shots we could. I thought [Jordan] Mickey getting touches and [Keith] Hornsby hitting shots from outside really helped us."

(On how the team responded to Jarell Martin's early foul trouble)

"I thought the team responded well to Jarell going out, somebody had to fill that void. He has been a key figure and performer for us all year and for the team to play well like that in his absence showed some positive strides."

(On early turnovers in the second half)

"I thought we were overly cautious. We went in to the half with that big lead and I thought the guys came out playing passive and a little bit cautious there in the second half and we had some turnovers that lead to some fast break opportunities and Tennessee took advantage."

(On rebounding from a tough loss to Kentucky)

"I'm hopeful that we're continuing to get better as a team. I think you want to be playing your best basketball in February and March and I'm hopeful that we're trending down that road. They last few games we have played have been good and that's given us confidence."

(On being a possible bubble team)

"We just talked about the impact that we need to make sure that we have the last seven games. We don't need anyone else to do anything for us. We're in control of our own destiny. We needed to make sure that we took that approach in each one of the games that we had coming up of the five and now it'll be those six games. The most important game on our schedule is always the next one. The growth in this team, we can't put ourselves in a position where we're waiting for someone else. We need to be playing good basketball and I thought today they took a positive step toward that."

(On Tim Quarterman's defense against Josh Richardson)

"I thought he was exhausted. I thought he played extremely hard. He played well tonight. Not only Tim, I thought the team did a good job because when Richardson came off of screens, we had other guys sitting there trying to channel with him and making sure that we didn't give him the lane or any easy driving opportunities. I thought as a team we did a great job of that. I thought Tim exhausted a lot of energy. He spent a lot of time with him and did a great job defending him. I thought Tim used a lot of energy defending him but at the same time he was able to execute on the offensive end of the floor as well and made some timely shots for us down the stretch."

(On the players' mentality when having a large lead)

"Anytime you get a lead like that it's hard for guys to really focus and concentrate as much as they did. I think better teams continue to execute when they have leads and sometimes guys will get a little bit relaxed or play a little bit hesitant and I thought we did that the early part of the second half."

(On controlling the game after Tennessee's run)

"Our guys were able to settle in and make the positives and the right passes. What we were doing was taking chances and not zipping passes like we did there in the first half. I thought guys just weren't meeting the basketball and I thought as we settled in, Tennessee made their run. We were able to make some positive plays, make a couple baskets and after we did that I think they had the ability to relax."

(On the team's improvements moving foward)

"Each game we've got to get better in executing and in doing what we did there in the first half. I thought offensively we really executed, took care of the basketball, made the right passes, made the right plays and we shot the ball well from outside. Defensively I thought we were in tune where we needed to be in terms of getting stops and we've got to make sure we're not only doing that, but we've got to make sure we do it in longer stretches. When we make less mistakes and we play longer stretches like that we've got a chance to have a lot of buzz."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Related Videos