University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Vols 81, Georgia Tech 58
December 03, 2016 | Men's Basketball
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Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes
(On the defense)
"The majority of our time coming back from Maui was doing just that. We think that we got a chance. It has to be who we are. Defensively, when we're in games every night and maybe when we aren't playing as well offensively, we're still out there. But, I thought we took a bigger step with guarding their motion and doing the things that they do. They run a really good offense, constant movement, so you have to stay on edge. But, what we told our guys at halftime was we're not there yet. We'd given up nine to ten offensive rebounds that turned into three of their three-point plays where a couple of post guys didn't go get it, but more importantly, our guards didn't finish it. Overall, we continue to build on it. That has to be the staple of who we are."
(On whether Shembari Phillips separated himself from the rest of the team)
"I thought Shembari did a really good job today. You go back to a year ago and he had never played the point. He's getting more and more comfortable with it and he still would probably rather be off the ball but he's good at it. He's starting to understand his looks and he's starting to handle pressure better when people do it. When you look at his lines, seven assists and one turnover, I thought he had a great day today.
"I thought Lew Evans, we're all happy for him, is a great example of just staying with it and grinding. It's a long way to go and Lew has struggled up to this point, but he was really sharp today, especially with our scouting report and the way he worked the scouting report.
"Grant went inside and scored. John Fulkerson does what he does. You look at his line: he has eight to nine rebounds every night. He goes and comes up with those rebounds and makes balls loose that way. We still have things we have to do to get better, and those minutes, they realized they were very valuable.
"As a coaching staff, we thought the play of the game was Kwe Parker in the last fifteen to twenty seconds when they were diving on the floor because all we keep talking about is we have to learn to play forty minutes. When you come off the bench, to come off the bench and play that many minutes and you do that, is where we want to be as a team overall."
(On starting strong in both the first and second halves)
"Well, what we realized going to Maui, we have a lot of confidence in our man offense. We think that we have a lot of things we can do out of it. Over in Maui, playing against terrific teams, they didn't want to guard the man. We struggled against the zone, and that's my fault, because we hadn't spent enough time with our zone offense. But the last week, we did. We were really good today against the zone. We got some execution, and they're a difficult team too in the fact that they're changing. They'll go from a one-three-one to a two-three right in the middle of a possession. They make you recognize. You have to be able to recognize things.
"I thought in the first half, Shembari and Lew were really good. Grant is good in those situations where they help our guards recognize what's going on. We still--at the end of the clock situations whether it was getting driven by or we're not rebounding--we've got to get better there."
(On being able to work the ball in the post, as opposed to relying on Robert Hubbs III last year)
"It's big. It's huge. Lew will score a different way down there. We think we can throw it too. Admiral's a guy that can turn faces and score down there. Grant can. Grant turned it over holding the ball too long. He can't hold the ball as long as he did and just keep backing up. What we teach those guys is to get down low and two quick dribbles. If you don't have it, you don't have it. You have got to move on to the next play. Grant and Fulkerson can score down there. Obviously, Robert's done that. Kyle has got a game down there where he can do it. But, we still have to develop that more. We still missed some opportunities early, where we could've gotten it in a little bit more, but it's a big difference because a year ago, we didn't have the ability to do that."
(On the rotation)
"Honestly, I don't have a clue about what I'm going to do other than the fact that when you look at the post guys that started, it's going to be based on one line and that's that rebound line. We're going to go with the guys that rebound the ball for us early on the front line whether it's John Fulkerson, Grant Williams, Kyle Alexander or Lew Evans or you put Admiral Schofield in that mix. That's what will determine probably who starts and who plays, who's rebounding the ball better, and pretty much the same thing on the perimeter. We're so close in terms of our skill level and we've got confidence in every guy that we have. When a guy's not getting things done, we're going to go check out the next guy and see which one's getting it done.
"Then, fatigue. I think these guys are getting better at understanding how hard you have to play and they're taking themselves out a little bit. At the end of the game, they're down. They're starting to push the ball and it somewhat turns into an open court, freelance kind of game. There were a couple possessions up and down--which is fine with us, we wanted tempo--but we got sloppy where we just let fatigue affect us a little bit.
"Honestly, with the rotation Detrick Mostella wants to come off the bench. That's something he chose on his own and he feels more comfortable coming off the bench.
"Honestly, from game-to-game, foul situations and it can change from game-to-game. When you think about Shembari Phillips and what he can do, he can shoot the ball, Jordan Bowden can shoot the ball, Robert Hubbs III can shoot the ball and then you've got three guys that can go inside a score. We've got a pretty good offensive team out there. We know that Detrick can come in and give us some instant offense and if we feel like we have to go with some defense, Kyle can do it right now. I want to see Kyle rebound more. He's got to do that. But honestly, I don't know. We haven't settled into a rotation yet and I don't know when we will."
(On if there is an update in Admiral Schofield)
"I'm going to talk about it with the coaches. We'll talk about it tomorrow. He's worked hard, He's stayed in there. Since Maui, he's done his part and I'm going to decide probably tomorrow what we're going to do."
(On Kyle Alexander's performance)
"One stat line: rebounding. You've got to rebound the ball and that's the bottom line. He has to rebound it. When we were pressing, I knew I took him out twice because he didn't do what he needed to do in the press, the three-quarter court press that we run. Again, because we're still trying to build into these guys that every possession counts, sometimes you can get by with what you didn't do not hurting you. What we're looking for are habits. We want winning habits on every play and we want to win every possession. We certainly want to win it by doing what you need to do and if they score against you, you say good job. The fact is it's just execution and today it was rebounding breakdown with the press."
Tennessee guard Shembari Phillips
(On playing point guard today)
"I'm working at it everyday. I played a lot of it last year, and it really helped me when I went back to the wing. When my number was called to go back to the point, I was ready for it. Everyday I'm working at it, getting better. It's only up from here."
(On getting a win today and playing well)
"It was big for us. This game, playing an ACC team which is a power conference, its confidence booster for us. Thinking back to Maui, we took Oregon into overtime, we played well with Wisconsin. We know we can play with the best of them. The SEC is a tough conference, so just being able to stay in those games (is big). In my opinion, we should have won two-out-of-three of those games in Maui. We will be alright. We're going to continue to build off this win. The games coming forward, you should see the same thing. We should be consistent with the effort we gave today."
(On whether this game validates the way you played in Maui)
"I don't think it validates anything. We know what we are capable of. We're a tough group of guys, but we have to be consistent with the toughness. We have to come out and give it all we've got for 40 minutes. When we get that mindset, that's when we'll be the team everybody thinks we can be."
Tennessee forward Grant Williams
(On scoring against taller players in the post)
"We're comfortable. We know that we can play our own game. We know what we are good at. We know how to play the game of basketball. Offensively, we feel really comfortable with that. We just have to do a better job rebounding the ball defensively."
(On Shembari Phillips playing the point guard position)
"He's doing a great job. Shembari is phenomenal. He's adjusting as well as learning the point guard position. He's doing a great job. We need him right now. He's just doing whatever we need him to do. That's the best part about him because he is such a selfless guy."
(On what the difference was defensively)
"Defensively, I feel like we know where we need to be now Filling our gap, we know exactly what position we need to be on the white line. We do a great job communicating on defense now, compared to how we were in the first game of the season. So that's something we have been emphasizing, something we have been watching on film, just discussing. We're going through that right now."
(On if he was surprised by a double-digit win)
"We understood what we needed to do when we came in. We know how we wanted to play. If we executed our game plan, how we were going to win. I feel like we were prepared for this. It was going to be a tough battle no matter how much time was on the clock and no matter who was playing. We're coming out here to do whatever it takes to win."
Tennessee forward John Fulkerson
(On holding Georgia Tech to 58 points)
"Everything Coach Barnes talked about before the game was defense. We needed to pick it up and be intense on defense. I think we did a pretty good job of that out there today."
(On going up against guys who are taller than him)
"I try to play harder than them. You can't let them outwork you, and you have to play harder than them overall."
(On the confidence built from back-to-back wins)
"It would help us a ton to just know that we can always play together and play hard. If we can string together some wins, it will really help us."
(On getting more comfortable each game)
"I am. The more reps and experience I get, the more comfortable I will be."
Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner
(Opening statement)
"You have got to give Tennessee credit. They played with more energy than we did and I'm disappointed about that because we pride ourselves in being an energetic team and we didn't do that today. I thought we were on our heels. I take responsibility. I need to look at what could I have done better, maybe in the preparation or whatever it may have been. Our mentality has been attack, attack, attack, and we played really passive today, so I was disappointed in our energy level. Again, that falls on my shoulders. Hopefully we can analyze and examine some things and decide what we need to do to get better at that."
(On Moore's absence from team play)
"I think it hurts us not having Justin Moore obviously. He's one of our most energized guys, our most vocal guy. We are limited at the guard spot as it is but that's not an excuse. The next man up has got to step up. We had some of our main rotation guys didn't play as well as we needed them to play today and when you're in that situation, with the limitations we already are in with the margin of zero, it's a bad recipe."
(On low post play)
"I thought they were the aggressor. We got to the paint but we were very off-balance. Their athleticism bothered us in some areas. We would get to the paint, but we would just throw up a `hope' shot. Hope's a bad strategy. Like I've said before, we've worked on layups as much as any team in the country, if not more. When you go up against this great athleticism you have to have great balance and I always talk about it that you have to vertically and violently attack the rim. You can't just go up there with a hope strategy. We just didn't do that today."
(On the current three game road trip for his young team)
"Well, two parts to that. We are the least experienced team in college basketball so this three-game road trip is more scheduled for a veteran team, not usually in a straight rebuild situation or in a situation as inexperienced as we are. Hopefully through the stretch we learn the areas we can get better at because this is who we are playing in the ACC. We are going to have to be able to compete and just find a way. It's going to be good preparation for us in terms of leading up to where we are at when it comes to ACC play."
