Press Conference<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
January 30, 2001
Coach Tubby Smith
The win against Vanderbilt is hopefully a confidence booster and will give us some confidence as we go to a ballgame against the hottest team in the league, and that is Georgia. They are playing extremely well and that is impressive. Jim Harrick and his staff are impressive and even more so are the players. I watched the Tennessee-Georgia game and I know that had to be a great victory for Georgia.
Georgia had a lot of heroes in that game. Anthony Evans probably got them going with his toughness inside. It is always a challenge to keep Shon Coleman and Anthony Evans contained. Ezra Williams is playing really well. He didnt shoot that well against Tennessee but he made a big three in the first overtime to keep the momentum going. I think he has been a big difference-maker for them this year.
I would say they are the surprise team in the league but I would say that it is no surprise to me because some of those kids we were involved in recruiting them.
We have to keep them out of transition and contain D.A. Layne. I think we did an adequate job on him here, but we will have to do a much better job down there. We played some zone here against them to try to keep them off balance. We will have to control the boards because they outrebounded us when we played before. We are going to have to make shots, obviously, and I think when we go on the road that is something we havent been able to do. We have had droughts where we have not been able to score consistently. Our defense has been pretty effective, except for the Alabama and the Vanderbilt games where we gave up four- and five-point plays. We cant allow those things to happen against a team like Georgia and expect to have a chance to win.
We need to sustain our focus for a longer period of time. In the Alabama game, I think, there was a situation where we had a defensive breakdown. We had people getting open for threes and Rod Grizzard hit a three, which meant that they got some momentum back. We need to stay focused during that period. Not that we lose our focus, but we just make some mistakes. Those are momentum breakers. It is not so much what the opposing team does to you, it is what you do to yourself.
We are still a team where this is new for them. They have never been in this situation, going against a top team in your division. If you want to be the top, you have to beat the top team. Obviously a win would put us in a tie probably for first place and would get us closer to our goal of winning the SEC regular-season championship. We are in control of our destiny as long as we play to our potential because we have beaten Georgia before. That should give us some confidence going in.
Psychologically, our kids are right there. We had a good practice yesterday and I think they are staying focused. I think they are getting back into a routine now. That first week back when we had to go on the road, that was a new experience that six guys had never been through. And you have some guys that, academically, that is a big adjustment. But I think overall we are in pretty good spirits and pretty good health.
I think we have done a very poor job of challenging shots on the perimeter. That is something we have worked on the last day or two. We are trying to make a conscious effort to challenge shots better.
On the OSU tragedy
