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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: KANSAS CITYMarch 23, 2013Murphy HollowayAndy KennedyNick WilliamsKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI JOE DALFONSO: We are joined by Ole Miss student‑athletes. Questions, please. Q. Murphy, so much is made with Marshall. Talk about the inside game, how important it is to the team. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I think the inside game's a big part of our team as far as rebounding and, you know, Reggie Buckner is able to block shots, alter shots. I think it scares other teams going to the rim sometimes after he blocks a few. We're both very good rebounders. All the attention going to Marshall, when he comes off screens, slips always open. It just works well with him. Q. What kind of challenges do LaSalle's four guards present? NICK WILLIAMS: I think it's a big challenge, but I think we're up for it. Reggie and Murphy do a great job of slipping out on guards with our defensive philosophy. I think those two guys guard smaller guys. We just do a great job of packing it in and making tough outside shots. Tomorrow when they play their four guards, we'll be okay. MURPHY HOLLOWAY: Same as Nick. We'll be okay. We've been switching ball screens for a while now. I've ended up on point guard, shooting guard. I think we'll be all right. Of course you want to keep Buckner close to the basket so he can block and alter shots, but I think we'll be fine. Q. Murphy, I noticed this morning that your program was cited as tops in the SEC for academic progress under the NCAA eligibility requirements. Are you ever concerned that all this publicity, the pictures of Marshall partying last night, things like that, that people who don't know your program might get the wrong idea and not realize you're a lot more than a bunch of guys that party and win basketball games? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: I don't know nothing about the partying. But, uhm, I don't think‑‑ the attention to Marshall Henderson, the only attention I see is as far as basketball‑wise. It's all positive, so... That's all I have to say on that one. It's a great university. Like you said, academically, as far as like sports going now. They doing a great job for us, with their student‑athletes. Q. I'm assuming you don't know much about LaSalle because you don't play much in their conference. Does that add to the challenge? NICK WILLIAMS: We watched some film on 'em last night. We know that they have a bunch of guards that can do a lot of stuff. I mean, at this point, you know, of the year, a lot of teams don't know a lot about different teams they play. But it comes down to you just got to man up, go out there and play your ball. I feel like we did a great job yesterday of staying within our team, doing what we do best. So, you know, we want to watch some more film on them. But it still comes down to playing your style and doing what you do best. Q. Had Kansas State won, you'd be playing them here. Do you prefer playing a team that wouldn't have 18,000 people wearing purple here tomorrow? MURPHY HOLLOWAY: Of course, you'd rather play a team that probably has just as many fans as we have here, not a team that has 18,000. Just because in the second half, I felt like their crowd got involved with the game. I think they worked so hard to come back, at the end of the game they just kind of ran out of gas. NICK WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, we're happy that we're playing the team we're playing tomorrow. But, you know, I mean, crowd really doesn't affect me personally. I don't feel like it affects our team too much because, you know, before this year our crowd wasn't too big anyway. You still got to go out there and play the game. So, you know, the crowd isn't out there on the floor. I mean, hey. JOE DALFONSO: Gentlemen, thank you very much. The head coach of Ole Miss, Andy Kennedy, is with us. We'll ask him to open up with a statement. COACH KENNEDY: Happy to be here, obviously. Excited about the opportunity that tomorrow presents. Playing a team that's playing outstanding basketball in LaSalle. We're pleased with the fact that we did enough to be able to accept this challenge tomorrow. JOE DALFONSO: Questions, please. Q. How much of an advantage do you think it is for you that they're playing their third game in five days? COACH KENNEDY: I think this time of year they're playing with so much internal fire, I don't think it's going to have nearly as much effect as, for instance, the SEC tournament where you're catching a team, three games in three days. Three games in five days, they're going to be practicing anyway, playing. I'm not sure it's going to have the same effect as it would if it was in consecutive days. Q. If they start four guards, how do you exploit that? COACH KENNEDY: That's what they do. That's what they're going to do. Everybody's got a system in place that has gotten them to this level. They've won two games in this tournament and done so against quality opponents. That's what they're going to do. Totally different style from what we faced yesterday. They play seven guys, five of which will stretch you out to the three. They're going to beat you off the bounce. We have to do a good job of trying to contain the dribble and keeping them out of the paint. I would hope that Murph and Reggie play with the consistency they've played the last couple weeks, and do a good job on the glass and be able to score inside. They've got one true post guy they play the majority of the time. He's formidable, good player. But our hope is, again, we can try to attack them inside out. Q. Such a contrast in styles from what you played yesterday. Night and day. How much of a challenge is that for your guys? COACH KENNEDY: You know, it's not that big a deal. We've played 35 games. We've played fast, slow, we've played teams that press, teams that zone. At this stage of the game, I'm not sure you can face anything you haven't already seen. As a comparison, I think LaSalle is similar to Alabama in our league. Again, they've got four guys on the floor that can make shots and they also can beat you off the dribble. Defensively they're stingy, not allowing you to have easy looks. We just played Alabama a couple weeks ago. That would be the one team I would compare LaSalle to that we've played in our league. Q. You mentioned Holloway, Buckner. So much made of Marshall. Talk about the impact that these two guys have on your team. COACH KENNEDY: Coming into the season, I had a pretty good idea that Marshall was going to be an impact player for us. But I really put the onus of the team on Buckner, Holloway and Nick Williams, our three seniors. Ultimately you're going to go as far as your upperclassmen take you. When you talk about Murphy Holloway, you're talking about one of the most decorated players in the history of our program. That's why it's so fulfilling for me as a coach to see him experience this. It validates his career. He's the all‑time leading rebounder, scored over 1400 points, had a gazillion steals, he's missed a thousand free throws, just missed another one (smiling). He's a guy that plays with toughness. He's our swag. People think Marshall's our swag, it's really Murph. Then Buckner is the best defensive player in the history of our program with his ability to block shots, change things, rebound the ball. Those guys have to show up big for us most every night. As we've won six in a row, coincidently, they've played really consistent basketball in that stretch. Q. You've talked a lot this year about guys that can stretch you out giving you problems. What do you think has been better about the defense lately? COACH KENNEDY: I think we're locked in. We've made some adjustments as it related to the way we play. As a result, we're not getting stretched out as much. It was typically in some ball screening action that we would get stretched us out. We'll have to make the necessary adjustments just to make sure that we don't get strung out. I think more than anything, we're locked in and we're playing with a sense of urgency that you hope continues. We just had our practice time on the floor. The one thing that I wanted our guys to be cognizant of is don't get caught up in all of this. Let's still live on the edge. Don't exhale. It's not time to reflect and exhale. For us it's about the opportunity that tomorrow presents against a very good LaSalle team. Q. Coach, chances are with the attention your team is getting, if you were to meet somebody new who would ask you, Who is this Marshall Henderson guy, how would you answer? COACH KENNEDY: He's a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To me, he's a very good basketball player, passionate basketball player. He really cares. So many times from my seat, I'm not sure guys care as much as I want them to care. Would they care as much as I care? Probably not. They're 18, 19 years old. I want them to maximize the opportunity. I think sometimes for guys that have seen him for the first time, I've said this many times, I think he can send mixed signals. A lot of the things he does are misinterpreted. But I know it comes from a good place and so do his teammates. For the guys that just saw him play for the first time yesterday, he's 1‑for‑13. I'm dumb enough to continue to run plays for him. When he made it, it was like a celebration because the guys know if he makes one, the likelihood of that continuing grows and it certainly helps our team. Q. Yesterday you said you thought Jarvis was broken down. How much do you expect to get out of him? COACH KENNEDY: He'll be fine. The first game back after not having played I think physically took its toll a little bit, especially against a team like Wisconsin who is very physical. Of all the Badgers, the one that's very proficient off the bounce is Traevon Jackson. I think he got a little fatigued and made a couple poor decisions. That was my fault for allowing him to get to that stage physically. We didn't do a whole lot physically today. Based on the tip time tomorrow, he'll have a full day to be ready. Q. I noticed your game yesterday and the game against Florida that Marshall scored almost all of his points in the second half. Have you decided that's just not the way he's going to do it, start earlier? COACH KENNEDY: I would like him to make shots a lot earlier, that's for sure. And he talks about it. I told him today he may be talking about it too much. It's almost like it's set in his mind. I thought in the first half his looks were as clean if not cleaner than the second half. I don't know what it is. Sometimes he gets overanxious. The things I was encouraged about was he was missing long. He was straight, but he was just long. He was probably jumping a little bit higher, had a little bit more adrenaline. Initially, I've told this to the guys that cover us on a daily basis, I initially try to run action to see how the opponent is going to defend some of the things we do. But we never really get to that phase because when he touches it, he shoots it. I wised up yesterday and the first three plays were to him. He had three good looks and he just missed them. I'm stopped fighting getting him to turn. I'm going to him early and hope he makes it. Q. You said there were mixed reactions to Marshall. There was an article just done on the most hated players in basketball. They had a Duke white guy section. How much of the reaction to Marshall would be different if his race was different? COACH KENNEDY: You know, I don't know. I think more than anything, I don't think it has to do with the color of his skin than the craziness of his eyes. He's got some craziness going on in those eyes. I think really that's what everybody sees. Does he do a few things that I wish he didn't do? Of course. But I think the intensity of the way in which he approaches the game is the most polarizing thing about him. Q. How much of Ramon Galloway did you see and how much different is he now? COACH KENNEDY: I saw a lot of him. I tried to recruit him out of high school. He was in high school down in Florida. Tremendous player. I made the comment just a minute ago on radio that I don't know who's got more swag, him or Henderson, because he plays with mad confidence. He was playing really well yesterday as we were sitting there watching it. He's a guy that every time he touches the ball, he's in attack mode. John puts him in a position where that's what their team needs, very similar to what we need with Marshall. We need him to be aggressive. Ramon is different. Obviously he can stretch you, but he's proficient off the bounce. He's going to be a difficult matchup. JOE DALFONSO: Thank you. COACH KENNEDY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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