SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2026

Tae Davis

Porter Moser

Nijel Pack

Bridgestone Arena

Oklahoma Sooners

Postgame Press Conference

Arkansas 82, Oklahoma 79

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Oklahoma. Coach, if you would give an opening statement.

PORTER MOSER: Just want to say to our guys, how they have fought through struggle is as impressive as any college basketball team fighting through any kind of struggle as they did this year.

The number one conference in the country, when we were struggling, they stayed together, showed unbelievable work ethic, character, belief in each other, pushed through hard, started playing some of the best basketball in the country. The last month they've played some of the best basketball in the country. It's a credit to the guys they are to do what they've done and to turning the tide of what they did.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Nijel, the final shot, the look you had...

NIJEL PACK: Yeah, we had an opportunity to miss the free throw for us, and we had the opportunity to send it into overtime. Mo sent me a good screen early. I seen Brazile was kind of far back. My guys give me confidence, my coach gives me confidence and gives me the ultimate green light. That's the only thing you can wish as a player on the court. I had total confidence in the shot, just happened to come up a little bit short.

Coach let me know you'll live or die by that shot. I really appreciate having him behind my back.

Q. You come in new to this program this year. You go through a rough stretch in the middle of the season, finish the way you did. What has it meant to be part of this program?

NIJEL PACK: Yeah, it meant the world to me, honestly, to come here, play in one of the best or the best conference in the country. To go through that rough stretch, it built me as a person, built my character.

I never struggled like that so much in my life. When we thought we were at the bottom, it just shows a group of guys that can be resilient, that can do something special when they put their minds to it and believe in it.

We didn't stop fighting. We could have easily quit a month or two ago when things were really bad for us. We turned it around. Now we're one of the hottest teams in the country. We're playing really, really good basketball now. I'm glad we were able to change it.

TAE DAVIS: Like Nijel said, it's meant the world to us, all of us. Everybody has been resilient day in, day out. Like he said, the struggles through the season, everybody has had a will to win every day, win the day every day.

It's built our character. Like he said, we one of the hottest teams now. We built ourself into that. It's meant the world and it's really built us up.

Q. Darius had a huge game. What makes him unique, difficult to defend?

TAE DAVIS: He's a great player. He's a three-level scorer. We knew that coming in. He (indiscernible) the ball screen. He's a great player. We knew that coming in. He had a great night tonight.

NIJEL PACK: Yeah, I think all around the team, the whole team around is just a really great team put together. When you've got a guy like that at the point guard position, when he's able to feed other guys, make them better, also score for himself, it's hard to guard.

I feel like tonight he took real initiative on scoring. He was really efficient. That's what you ask for out of a player. They're coached really well, as well. We have to give our hats off to them.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, you're dismissed. We'll continue with questions for Coach Moser.

Q. You're very complimentary of Darius and how good he is. On the switch, when Brown went on him on the deep two that sealed the game for them, what kind of play is that? I don't think Brown could have contested it much better.

PORTER MOSER: I don't think he could have either. It's a wrap play. Set the screens. Comes so tight off of it. He took a fade-away three. We just looked at it. It was a really, really tough two. That's what -- defensively you're trying to get them to take tough twos.

He makes tough shots look easy. I mean, that didn't look easy. Not a lot of guys could have made it other than Darius Acuff. We forced him into a tough shot. We still put ourself...

You know what? I thought we got down to 7, we still battled back to 2. Still had a chance to tie it and go into overtime. Our guys are resilient. You wouldn't have looked at it. I don't think anybody asked me in the last two days. Did we look like we were dragging? I thought our guys played their tails off after going back-to-back games. It wasn't even a thought. We didn't even talk about it.

Darius Acuff, like Tae said, he's a three-level scorer. Stops on a dime, gets separation for his pullup. Then he can go by you, bump you off, get a midrange. He's an elite player that had a great night.

Q. Regardless of what Sunday may have for you, what do you want the country to know about this team? What will you always remember about this team?

PORTER MOSER: What I want the country to know is they're playing some of the best basketball in the country right now. Analytically, one of the top 15 teams the way we're playing. Number one conference in the country. Going into night won eight out of 10 SEC games.

Should be glorified how young people stuck together in this day and age and overcame stuff. That should be glorified. What some of these guys were going through, the heartbreak stuff, 40-footers at Missouri. To keep coming back and to turn it. That's what I think the country wants to see. I think the country saw how good of basketball we're playing. I think the whole country saw that.

I don't think anybody wants to play Oklahoma in this tournament. I think they'll say it. Every coach said it to me, how we've played. That's what you want in the tournament. You want the best teams playing their best in the tournament. You don't want teams limping in, limping in.

Oklahoma's not limping in. We're playing some of the best basketball in the country. I want the whole country to know that these guys are unbelievable fighting through hard. That should be glorified in this day and age.

Q. Cal said he sort of reached out to you when things are low. What did that mean to you? He also said he thinks you guys are a tournament team. Do you agree?

PORTER MOSER: Yeah, on the latter, I definitely agree. I think having 10 quad one and two wins, if you look at 12 or 13 of the experts that say teams that are on the so-called bubble, I think we're one of the only ones with quad one or two wins. We have no quad three or four losses. Our strength of schedule is top 25. That's the message they're always telling you, to play great schedules.

As far as Cal is concerned, he's one a Hall of Fame coach on the floor, Hall of Fame person off the floor. He kept on calling me to remind me that he started 0-5 in the SEC last year and went to the Elite Eight.

Leadership, coaching, it's about spreading that belief. Cal is one of those guys that every day spreads that belief. Felt we did that with our coaching staff. Every day we spread the belief that there is a path. There is a path. We're sitting here, we have zero regrets on how much we just fought through it.

Cal, yeah, one of the best.

Q. You just had two guys up here with you that are winding down on the end of their college careers. Gave you everything they had. What did it mean to get the effort and leadership?

PORTER MOSER: It was tremendous. I mean, these guys have had a path, like a lot of guys do, in the transfer portal era. One of the reasons why we liked them so much is how much of high-character guys they are.

I'll say this. Sometimes young people, when you go through struggle, you don't want to hear about getting better. These guys were so open to we need to get better defensively. If we want to do some of the things we have to do, we have to commit to this. They did. They were two of the guys that just absolutely... Everyone did. We completely flipped it defensively.

But those guys every day came to practice. I didn't coach effort with them. I never coached attitude with them. That's the reason why together we overcame a lot of struggles and found our path when a lot of people didn't feel like we had a path. These guys did. We did.

Hopefully on Sunday, I feel confident, I really do. You never want it out of your hands. This team, 10 quad one and two wins, not limping in. I think that's the biggest message. Greatest tournament in the world. You want to see teams that are hot.

I made runs in this tournament. I've had my teams play in it hot at the end of the year, on a roll. You want 'em to play your best basketball. This team is playing their best basketball. I don't think people want to see us in the tournament.