Post Game Quotes: Tennessee

pre>Feb. 8, 2017

Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy

 

On what the key was down the stretch...

"Tennessee made the plays. I thought, honestly, it was the antithesis of our first matchup. Not that we were in control like they were in game one, but if you look at the stats we were up for 29 minutes. Our first half was reminiscing on our last outing at Vanderbilt. We kept a lot of charge, and one of the things that we do is we turn and take clean looks. The definition of a clean look is the shot we want, by the player we want, at the exact same time. Obviously, they are not all wide open, but there are looks that you are going to have to make in SEC play. I think for the first half we were 5-for-14, and we were up at the half. We had more turnovers than assists, which is a recipe for disaster for us. We were down two on the glass at half. So we felt fortunate because we did not play that well. I thought in the second half we were hanging around. We were up by two with the ball with around 3:50 to play in the game, and then I think we finished like a pinball. If you drop it in their real hard and shoot it off the underneath the black pad you get a point like a bumper. That must have been our strategy. I promise you that was not the intended game plan because we had about four or five of those at the end. That is where I will give Tennessee credit. They had big shots. I thought with seven seconds to go they had a side out. We zoned them, and they turned it. I think it was number 23, Jordan Bowden, knocked down a huge wing jumper. I thought (Tennessee guard Robert) Hubbs made a big play. They dove on 50-50 balls. Tennessee just made all of the effort winning plays that you need to make down the stretch."

On Grant Williams...

"He is just so active. I think he is always around the ball. He uses his body well. We have the size advantage for the most part when we had Sebastian (Saiz) on him, but when you play behind him he negates that because he puts his body on your body and negates any size advantage you might have. I thought he was big with blocked shots. He is a terrific player."

On poor free throw shooting in the second half

"There are a couple stats that will hold true regardless of whether you're watching junior high girls' basketball or the NBA. If the opponent makes more (free throws) than you attempt it's probably going to be a long night, especially on the road. They were driving on us which was obviously their strategy. They did not shoot a lot of threes; I don't think they made one until the second half. They were driving us off the bounce. We were not as disciplined at the end. We fouled. We had a good crew here tonight."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related News

Related Videos