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MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 23, 2011Trae GoldenCuonzo MartinJordan McRaeLAHAINA, HAWAII TENNESSEE – 86 THE MODERATOR: Coach, any opening comments? COACH MARTIN: I thought it was one of those games that's really tough to get prepared for, mentally more than anything. But I thought our guys did a good job coming out competing out of the gate and set the tone defensively. Really playing with a lost energy, despite some of the knick‑knack injuries our guys had. But I thought they did a good job of setting the tone early. THE MODERATOR: Jordan, any comments on playing in the EA Sports Maui Invitational and today's game? JORDAN McRAE: Playing here was a great experience. We got to play against two really good teams, and a third really good team. Just being here in Hawaii and playing against these teams has been a great experience. THE MODERATOR: Trae, you certainly had a good tournament here and displayed a lot of poise out there on the court. Any comments about today's game? TRAE GOLDEN: We played three really good teams and got to see what we were capable of. We got to continue to work on our defense. Really continue to work on our offense, and keep our team continuity together. Q. Did you talk about execution coming into the tournament and how you got through? COACH MARTIN: I think the expectations I felt like we have the pieces of being a good team, and you have to go through the fire somewhat to get engaged with the guys, you came out here 2‑0 played against two talented teams. I look at it as a team that it was a moral victory from the standpoint of losing close games. I felt like we had every opportunity of winning the game and came up short in both of those games. So for us the expectation of what we believe as a program and as a team that we can be successful and continue to get better. The key is not to have a lot of young guys, but to have a new team and a new coaching staff. So you have to go through some things and some growing pains in order to get where you're trying to go. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH MARTIN: Yeah, he had a bruise on the back of his leg. Nothing major. Just one of those deals where I probably shouldn't have played him at all. But he's one of those type of guys that won't tell you that, Coach, I can't go. But it's one of those deals that I shouldn't have even played him. He'll be ready to go Monday night, and we probably should have set him out of the gate. Q. Coach, did you learn more about your team coming through these games? COACH MARTIN: I think so. I thought the biggest question mark is defense. I think a lot of times you take for granted the execution you have to have on both ends of the court. We talk about offensive execution, but we have to get better in our defensive execution as well. For us, I thought we could be solid defensively. I didn't know we could score the ball, but I think we have the pieces to score the ball. It was just a matter of executing offense and doing the things necessary to be successful. We played against two really good teams with pressure, which we do in practice. But it's different when you go into live games. I'm just happy with the way our guys competed more than anything. But once again, we didn't come on this trip to say okay, we played hard. But that's understood in our program. It's a matter of winning ball games. Q. It would have been easy to come out flat today, I think. The guys did not do that. Were you on guard against it, or can you just talk about that happening? COACH MARTIN: As a player, going through these situations and these type of venues, that could happen, but also as a coach you're aware of those things and then have one of your key players Jeronne Maymon and also Josh with the injury probably shouldn't have played either, but he fought through it. So now as a coach, from that standpoint, your rotation guys, being ready to play guys, and I was thinking about it and Jeronne's down and that happened. So for us getting out of the gate and playing defensively, especially the way they play a lot of the cut and move and you have to be on your feet and ready to play defense. Q. Jordan, it looked like you were a big part of that coming out of the gate. Can you talk about bringing that intensity? It was 12‑2, you guys focused on taking the fight to them early. JORDAN McRAE: Yeah, we just said we were going to go out there and play hard, and that's what we did. They started on the defensive end first. Q. I know you talked about defense, but from 5 of 7 from three‑point range, that's pretty hot. Was that finding your spot on the floor, just doing well? Can you explain where that came from? JORDAN McRAE: I just think I'm a better player, not rush, and just let the game come to me. My teammates found me open a lot, and I played well. Q. Trae, can you just talk about bouncing back from yesterday and playing with confidence today? As a new starter, how tough is that to forget about what happened yesterday and to go out do what you did? TRAE GOLDEN: Well, I think when you play basketball, you have ups and downs. I think yesterday was not one of my better days, not only shooting for 19, but I lost my man a lot; Antonio Bryant had 21 points. We lost our transition defense as a team. I think I spearheaded a lot of looking tired out there, looking like I just wasn't ready to play defense, and I think that was something that I've got to definitely work on. I went there‑‑ it was tough to bounce back. But I'm glad we had another day right after it so I could come out and play and get back to my game. Q. Coach, it looked like you went through a lot of different lineups today. Can you talk about playing Trae and Wes together? You did it yesterday too. COACH MARTIN: I think we played guys that earned minutes and that rotation during the season, that way you can get Trae off the ball to score the basketball, and Wes kind of relieves them from that standpoint. Just different guys, trying to find the right rotation and also giving guys some confidence to play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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