Postgame Quotes: SC 60, Vols 49

March 7, 2015

TENNESSEE GUARD Head Coach Donnie Tyndall

(Opening statement)
"South Carolina is a tough physical team. Those guys play as hard as anyone in the league. I thought our team started the game pretty well. We got to the rim a few times. When they were on defense, we drove it against their man-to-man. They switched to the zone pretty early in the game. It's the same old story. Against the zone, we didn't drive the basketball enough. If you look at our shot attempts, we were 26 of 45 were from behind the three-point line. That is way too high of a percentage. I don't really have an explanation. I thought we did a fantastic job of driving the basketball against LSU. We were inside their defense the entire game. We got to the rim and finished some plays, but tonight, we played on our heels a little bit. We didn't drive the basketball and settled for jumpsuits, which didn't go in at a high enough percentage. You're not going to beat quality teams settling for jump shots."

(On going against the zone defense)
"South Carolina is really physical on the perimeter. When teams play us man-to-man, we have a lot of different things. We try to isolate Armani against a big guy. When teams play zone, there is only so much you can run, and it becomes a matter of if they are there on the catch, you have to be tough and drive the ball into the gap and make someone help over or up, and then we have to make the right decision. I thought we really played laterally tonight. We didn't play in a straight line to the rim. Part of that is because of South Carolina's defense. They were really physical."

(On home losses)
"It is unusual because I don't know if I have lost seven home games in the last five years, but it is part of the growing process. We have lost to some good teams. I also think our guys may try too hard at home. We had a chance to make three free throws twice. We miss the first and second ones, and then you can almost feel the team tighten up a little bit. That is a compliment to our fans in regards that our kids want to play well for them. They have been amazing all year, and we certainly appreciate that. We just have tightened up at times this year."

(On tight because of senior night)
"That could be part of it, but I am not going to stand up here and make excuses. We didn't get the job done tonight collectively. It was an emotional game like most senior nights across the country are. I know our kids really wanted to win for Josh, Galen and Brandon. I think we competed and tried to play hard, but we didn't play well on the offensive end of the floor."

(On looking towards the SEC Tournament)
"If it is Vanderbilt, they are a heck of a team. We have had two great games with them. They are a quality team that is well coached. In the second half of our second game, they really spaced the floor and did a great job of moving the ball. If that is our opponent, we know it will be a tough game, and we have a ton of respect for them."

(On Kevin Punter)
"I don't like to use that term hit a wall but a ton of college basketball players out there that play 30-32 minutes a game that is the nature of guys that have that roll. He played well against LSU and tonight looking at the stat line people will see three for nine, but what sticks out for me is that he didn't get a rebound or have a steal. Those are the things we have to be better not just him but as a team to beat quality opponents. Unfortunately tonight he didn't give us that."

(On South Carolina's offense)
"I think the biggest thing is that they drove the ball and got in the gap. They only ended up making six threes but a couple particularly in the first half were really timely threes deep in the shot clock. At times they broke us down off the dribble I think we cut it to maybe eight or ten points. Kevin (Punter) got driven on and fouled and we cut it to eight. Robert (Hubbs III) got driven on and we fouled. Those are the key times in the game. Every possession is important when you are making a run like that you have to play without fouling. You got to make guys score over you. We didn't do that consistently. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't consistently good either."

(On Bernard King)
"He was amazing. Last night there was a ceremony kind of honoring him and Johnny Darden. I went out there for about three hours and just spent time with the former players and he spoke. It was unbelievable. It brought tears to my eyes. It was an amazing speech. Today he talked to our team for about ten minutes. The message was really about taking advantage of everyday. He was a guy that practiced as hard everyday in practice as he did on game day. He just talked about doing everything you can to take advantage of everyday. I think that is a great message particular for our seniors as they are getting ready to move on in their life and career."

(On approach to coaching in the SEC tournament)
"It will be the exact same. We will take tomorrow off. Obviously as a staff we will be game planning and getting ready for whoever is next. Monday we will come in and watch this tape, learn from it and get to the practice floor. Monday and Tuesday we will go fairly hard. We will be light on Wednesday as we head over to Nashville. Really it will sound like coach speech but it is the truth we will prepare one game at a time."

(On physicality of South Carolina)
"I don't know if they just banged us up the entire game, but I thought their physicality particularly on the perimeter really kept us from driving the ball. Like I said in a straight line into the gap. Their physicality kind of forced us to play laterally a lot. We couldn't turn the corner or didn't turn the corner to gain advantages."

TENNESSEE GUARD Josh Richardson

(On the emotion of Senior Day and what Tennessee has meant to you)
"I'm grateful to have opportunity to play here. I'm grateful too the fans for being patient with us all year. Sticking it out through all the tough losses and the big wins. We still have a some games to play so its not completely over."

(On how a kid from Oklahoma wound up at Tennessee)
"I don't know. Stuff just happens like that some time. I had a good relationship with Coach Martin in high school. so that's probably where it stated. I came out here and fell in love from my visit. I actually had another visit scheduled the day after I visited here, but while I was here, i liked it so much I decided to just commit while I was here on campus."

TENNESSEE GUARD Robert Hubbs III

(On not shooting to many 3's)
"It's just being disciplined with all of us. We have to get in there and punch those gaps. We didn't do that today. I think we took 26 of our 45 shoots from three. That's not what we do. We're supposed to get in there, and get in the gaps and penetrate and then make a teammate better."

(On Josh Richardson's play)
"He's been a leader since day one, since the coaching staff came in. He's been a great player, the stats prove it."

(On being happy to get back on the road for tournament play.)
"I wouldn't say we're gonna be happy. We're just excited we get an opportunity to play in the SEC Tournament. We're gonna go down to Nashville and try and make some noise."

South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin

(On shooting effectively)

"Last three games we've kind of played more through the identity that we've created through the early part of January. Our field goal percentage as a team are a high 45, 47 and our assist numbers were through the roof. Unfortunately, we went through a stretch in SEC play with a young team. We missed some shots, lost some games. Our confidence kind of got hit. We shot 50-percent last game, 51 today and we got 47 I wanna say against Mississippi State. These guys have been putting in the time. They don't give in. They put in the time and now the ball's going in the basket for them."

(On the difference in the team's performance this time against Tennessee)

"I don't like taking away from teams when they win games. They deserved to win that game. They made shots. They outplayed us. They deserved that win. We were a mentally wounded team. We were too concerned with all the things that do not impact losing. We're in a better mindset now as a team than we were the first time we played. They earned that win. They beat us. They lined up on plays, outcoached us, made shots. We had a shot to tie the game there with 10 to 12 seconds to go, didn't go in. I'm a true believer that in life you get what you deserve. That ball did not deserve to go in the basket because we weren't doing things the right way."

Junior Forward Michael Carrera

(On ending the regular season with a win before heading to the SEC Tournament)

"It's really important. It gave us confidence in ourselves to keep playing how we've been playing right now and to keep working how we're working. We've been having great practices, competitive practices and that's what you have to keep doing, every single day to prepare."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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