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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 9, 2007


Derrick Byars

Dan Cage

Kevin Stallings


ATLANTA, GEORGIA

THE MODERATOR: All right, we're ready to begin with Vanderbilt. We'll ask Coach Stallings for some opening comments on the game, and then we'll take questions just for the two student-athletes. Coach, would you begin.
KEVIN STALLINGS: Yeah, I thought it was a great college game. I thought both teams played just as hard as they could play. They made one more play than we did, but we would take that same look that we got there at the end. Derrick made a great play getting it to Shan. And we'd take that same look again if the game were on the line and be pretty sure that Shan would make it. We congratulate Arkansas. They played a good game.
Like I said, even in defeat, I thought it was a terrific game.

Q. Dan, for you or Derrick: You guys got down in the first half, were able to get back into it, and take control around the six minute mark, I guess. What happened through that stretch that allowed y'all to get some shots to go down? What did you feel like happened from there?
DAN CAGE: Well, they played good defense. They pressured us away from the basket. When we were successful and we started making a little bit of a run, on the defensive end we were taking care of business and getting rebounds and things like that. But offensively we were making good screens and cutting to the basket and starting to have them compact a little more. Then we were able to step out and hit a couple jumpers which gave us some momentum. Unfortunately that momentum wasn't enough to propel us all the way through the game. You know, we didn't make the plays we needed to.

Q. Derrick, I was going to ask you kind of the same thing, where did you feel the game got away from you guys today?
DERRICK BYARS: We didn't start the game the way we wanted to, and we had to try to climb back from behind. We made a valiant effort there in the second half, you know, got some good stops on the defensive end. Made shots and as Coach said, they made one more play than we did.

Q. On Arkansas' last possession, what were y'all expecting of them coming from out of the timeout there?
DAN CAGE: Well, Coach is probably better at answering that question than we are, but they were having some success driving to the basket, and their big guys were a handful for us. So we knew they were going to try to get at the rim. We just didn't execute maybe the way we should have. We'd have to go back and look at film to see exactly what went wrong. Coach and Derrick said it, they made a big play, and that's why they're on the winning end of this one.

Q. Both guys, could you talk about how you feel about yourselves going into the NCAA Tournament, based on maybe how you played today, how you feel about the way things are going headed into that?
DAN CAGE: Well, we have a lot to prove. You know, we've lost two in a row here, which hasn't happened to us in a long, long time. There's going to be a lot of naysayers out there talking about how we're overrated or maybe we're not deserving of getting in, things like that. But we feel like we have a lot to do to improve and prepare for the NCAA, which is why you play college basketball, that's why we practice so long, that's why we work out in the summer and things like that.
So we've got a little chip on our shoulder now. Hopefully we'll be able to prepare well and perform when time comes.
DERRICK BYARS: Yeah, I agree. We have a lot to prove. We haven't lost two games in a long time. One thing though that's positive, we played a lot better on defense than we did Saturday against the Razorbacks. And we're going to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do going further into the postseason. But anytime you play in the postseason, one play can decide whether you win or lose. So we just have to tune up on those things.
THE MODERATOR: All right, fellas, you can return to the locker room. Thank you for coming.

Q. Kevin, you guys are obviously primarily man-to-man. Were you expecting to show them as much zone as you did today, and what went through the thought process of doing that?
KEVIN STALLINGS: We anticipated playing more zone today than we customarily play, in part because of our disadvantage inside size- wise, and also in part because we think they're a little bit more effective against man-to-man than they are zone. That was compounded by the fact that Dan and Ross got early fouls.
I wouldn't say that we played more than we intended to, because we thought we would play a lot of zone today.

Q. Kevin, can you comment on what your guys said about sort of having a chip on their shoulder and there being naysayers, do you feel anything has happened at the end of the season that would cause some question whether you're ready to play in the next tournament?
KEVIN STALLINGS: I don't think there's anything that would cause us not to be ready to play in the next tournament. I think that these guys feel like people have doubted them all season long. Today's the first time that we've lost two SEC games in a row, and we're the only team in the league that didn't lose in the regular season two games in a row, even Florida did. And I believe if I counted right, Florida was the only other team in the league that only did it once. I think everybody else did it twice or more. I think that they generally feel like people don't respect us. They think that we kind of fell into that second seed, so I think that's what they mean.

Q. Coach, Derrick said you guys performed better than you did last time playing Arkansas, do you agree with that assessment?
KEVIN STALLINGS: I think we're significantly better than we were a week ago. If we hadn't, I would have resigned. I couldn't have taken one more performance like that. Since I'm responsible for it, that was my fault last weekend. Anyway, we worked hard defensively this week. We played better defensively. And I thought Jermaine did a very good job this afternoon. Ervin spun around him, got by him and got to the goal on that last play, which is a shame. But I thought Jermaine played a very good game for us, as did a number of other guys.

Q. Coach, would you just talk about the improvement Arkansas has made in these last few weeks. You've seen them twice here, what is your thought about them going through this tournament?
KEVIN STALLINGS: I didn't see them much early, so my opinion would be a little bit skewed. After playing them twice, I don't know how they lost nine games, but we all go through stretches where we play well and don't play well. Maybe we just happened to play them when they were playing well. But that doesn't make any sense to me, because they're right now a very, very good basketball team, I think.

Q. Kevin, just to follow up on what you said, why do you feel people feel you backed into the two seed?
KEVIN STALLINGS: There are a number of things that were written, number of things that were said, so these guys aren't immune. They see that we beat Florida, and all anybody talks about for the next week is the fact that we got fined for rushing the court. Nobody says anything about how they played. We see Michigan State rushed the court a few nights later when they beat Wisconsin, and did you guys even know that they rushed the court?

Q. You talked about the defensive effort, but you guys also shot it better than you did Saturday, what was different there?
KEVIN STALLINGS: We couldn't have played any worse than we played last Saturday, so that just goes under the category of a very poorly coached, very poorly played performance game by our team, by our coaches and by me. We just had more life to us. We played harder, we played smarter, we took care of the ball better, and we just played a better game. It's a shame that we didn't win. We did enough things to win the game. Arkansas just did a little bit more than we did.

Q. Coach, talk about the inbounds play at the end, Ross' lay-up, is that exactly how you drew it up?
KEVIN STALLINGS: Well, I didn't draw it up, it's just something we had in our system and have had all year long. We thought that if they went man, that they would be expecting us to throw it over the top, because we had gotten the lay-up in the first half. The one time that they went man, we got a lay-up then in a different way. So that's just kind of a counter to the play that we ran in the first half. I said if they go man, just run that, and Red made a great pass, and we kind of got the shot we wanted.

Q. Dan said that you guys would go into your next game with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, do you feel this team should have a chip on its shoulder at this point?
KEVIN STALLINGS: I don't know that we should have a chip on their shoulder. If they want to have one, that's fine. Like they said, we're kind of proud of the fact that this is the first time we've lost two games in a row since league play started. As a matter of fact, it's the first time we've lost two games in a row since the first two games of the season.
These guys have been remarkably consistent, and remarkably competitive. I just don't think that they feel like people respect who they are, and how they play. I think that's just how they feel. And it's not something we talk about. I've probably talked about it too much already here. You asked why they think they've got a chip on their shoulder, I think that's why. Thank you.

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