Postgame Quotes vs. Georgia

OLE MISS HEAD COACH KERMIT DAVIS

Opening statement…
"I say it all the time, every SEC game has a life of its own. It does. I have a lot of respect for Tom Crean and Georgia and their fan base. They stick right with their team, sell out games, and have won one game (in conference play). They came on the road, played LSU, Mississippi State and us and could've won all those games. Their team played great at the end, and I thought our team got up, had some defensive breakdowns but I thought Breein (Tyree) made some great plays down the stretch. We went 1-3-1 on the last possession just to try to force a jump shot, and I thought our guys played that over really well. It was a good SEC win for us. This time of year, they're not all pretty but you take them and move on. I appreciate the fan base that came today, very enthusiastic and got loud, so a good one. We'll take it today, take tomorrow off and get ready for Tennessee on Wednesday."

On if he was aware of some players' intention to kneel before the game...
"I was not. This was all about the hate groups that came to our community that came try to spread racism and bigotry. It's created a lot of tension for our campus. I think our players made an emotional decision to show these people they're not welcome on our campus. We respect our players' freedom and ability to choose that."

"These are out-of-state groups that are coming here to our campus. That's what has upset our community. Breein (Tyree) and these guys have a huge love for Ole Miss and this community and Mississippi and they want our campus and university portrayed in a great way."

On addressing the protests any player's families or prospective player's families...
"I've talked to Breein's (Tyree) mom. I've talked to a couple other mothers on the team in the last couple days and just talked about them. I have two daughters. The number one thing is the well-being and safety of the students and our players. That's number one. We addressed it yesterday as a team and talked about the events that were happening and how it happens. The logistics of all of it, we're going to move past it."

On the beginning of the second half…
"I didn't have a great feel for our team when we broke for the second half. We had a look of passion and intensity. I talked about it in the timeouts about playing on the edge, but Georgia came out and hit us hard. We didn't come out with a lot of pop or toughness in the second half."

On rebounding battle…
"When you get beat on the boards you get beat on the boards. I did think what happened was they did some switching, their perimeter guys got on some of our bigs and they did a good job of offensive rebounding. D.C. Davis was the key to this win. Breein (Tyree) scored some buckets, but when I put D.C. in our lead went to eight. He defensively rebounded the ball, he was unbelievable defending and played without any mistakes. He was our most valuable player when that lead went to eight."

On defensive possessions…
"Give these guys a lot of credit. Breein (Tyree) has been 1000 percent late game. He's made every one of them. We were going to foul, we were going to call timeout when we were up three. We went across the halfcourt line, I was really worried about the matchup with (Nicolas) Claxton, that's who they went to. That's a hard matchup to guard, and I thought these guys were perfect in it. We almost triple teamed the ball and he took almost a 28-footer up. We were up one, that's the shot you want them to take, nothing driving to the goal and getting a foul. These guys executed the 1-3-1 great."

On scenario for any team to beat Tennessee…
"Rebounding and toughness. It's fitting there's a three-team tie at the top with Tennessee, LSU and Kentucky. They've got great character, depth and physicality that you'll have to match. Our guards are going to have to be terrific in the game. I know this, this place will be rocking on Thursday. Our guys are going to have a great couple days in practice, and it sure is a great opportunity we're looking forward to.

On KJ Buffen's game…
"He's playing through some pain. He hadn't practiced. He showed toughness, and I thought he competed really well. He got his hands on a lot of balls. The tip dunk was terrific that he had. To get eight points and four rebounds not healthy playing full speed, that's toughness."

OLE MISS GUARD BREEIN TYREE

On if there ever any discussion among the players on how you want to respond to the protest on campus...
"There wasn't any discussion. It just intertwined with what Coach (Davis) said. We're just tired of these hate groups coming to our school and portraying our campus like it's our actual university that has these hate groups in our school. The majority of it (the decision) was we saw one of our teammates doing it, and we didn't want him to be alone."

On who started it, and do you think this is a multi-game thing...
"I'm not sure who started it, but I was a part of it. I don't anticipate it being a multi-game thing, and it really just has to do with them coming to our campus during a basketball event. It went on during the game."

On missing a free throw but getting the last defensive stop…
"It's all about winning. We had more game to play obviously. I was upset I missed the free throw, but the game's not over."

On NCAA Tournament thoughts winding down the season…
"I'm definitely aware of it. I've never been in the tournament. It's something I think about every day, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I think everyone on this team should be thinking about it every day trying to figure out our best way to the tournament and how we're going to finish as strong as possible to get there."

GEORGIA HEAD COACH TOM CREAN

On the last possession…
"Caught us a little harder than what we wanted, and they brought the traffic to it. We had the right guy with the ball. The drive wasn't there so we probably could have kicked it a bit quicker, but we wanted to get it isolated at that elbow and play from there. It's a tough situation, but we had the guy we wanted with the ball; we just didn't get the look we wanted."

On the locker room morale…
"I think they're highly disappointed, but I wouldn't say they're frustrated because they're getting better. We're a much better team than we were when we played Ole Miss two weeks ago, a much better team than when we played (Texas) A&M a week and a half ago. They keep getting better and improving. We knew that we were going to have to have a great effort to win today; Kermit (Davis) is an outstanding coach. He's got a very good team. They cut as well as anyone we've played this year in our league and out of our league. They play good defense as well; they're a really good team. I'm proud of the way we battled back. I think we just have to stay on the "we're getting better" path. And I'd like to see them have a result so they can see why it's worth it to play that way, because even though we didn't get a win, we've been right there."

On if Ole Miss is an NCAA Tournament team…
"Oh absolutely. There's two teams I get asked about a lot where there's a question mark: Ole Miss and South Carolina. There's no question mark on those teams. There's nobody in the country that wants to face Ole Miss, whether it's in the opening round, the second round, or the Sweet 16. I would also say South Carolina — I don't want to miss anyone else — but I wouldn't even consider them on the bubble. But Ole Miss, I don't think it's even close. They're really good, as is South Carolina. This league deserves to have a lot of teams in that tournament when the time comes; it's a really good league."

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Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

D.C. Davis

The University of Mississippi Athletics