Kind of a tough day weather-wise.
I sure appreciate the people that came.
I think it would have been, no doubt,
a completely sold out event
if it hadn't been for the weather.
You know, it was a heck of a college basketball game.
You know, it's a game, we're up 8, have control of the game,
and then, obviously, the one guy makes back to back threes
and they call a foul.
Just in a matter of, like, 20 seconds,
it went from work and work and work up 8 --
what's going on back there, Paris?
Paris, what's going on back there?
[ Speaks indistinctly ].
Huh? Okay.
I'm sorry. I thought something was.
I apologize.
But it just got to be --
you know, we worked so hard to get it to 8, keep it to 8.
In about 25 seconds, it's tied.
In the end, they got the ball
out of Breein's hands three or four trips,
and just nobody else on our team could go make a play.
And so, you know, I thought we played well
for about 35 minutes of the game,
and then just we're having trouble stopping,
you know, like, come here, ball, this guy gets 31,
this guy gets 34, Wichita State, a guy gets 29.
So, just did a poor job at the end of getting to Joe.
All the teams came in with all-level SEC-level guards,
your guards got really good,
get to the basket, get to the midrange,
but a three-point shooter like that,
let's talk a little about it.
How do you compensate?
You can play good defense, but if he gets hot, it's over.
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, if you try to stay on top of him.
I thought we did, for the most part.
Like you said, he'll go make one,
and then get it going,
and we talked about it in the scout.
I mean, you can't just look at him and say, no.
This is where he makes balls from.
In there the two years he's been in Arkansas,
and so we kind of relaxed, and we just didn't get to him.
Fouled him one in our 13.
And he is, it's a unique talent when you can make them --
he's got great length,
high release when you can make them that deep.
But he also makes them deep and plays the block shot late.
They turned to transition, and he got a couple of stills late.
Talk about him on that end of the play too.
He's a good player, just a good player.
He's just a good player.
You know, he's Arkansas kid; right, from Arkansas?
You know, right there, stayed at home, went to school,
and he did, he had a steal, I think at the end.
You know, KJ, we had a chance to tie,
and turned it over right there.
So, yeah, he was a good player tonight.
They hurt you with dribble penetration
more in the second half, Kermit.
Was that difficult?
Yeah, you know, they got inside Devontae again, late, you know.
We tried to spell Devontae
and get him out of the game to give him a break.
We tried to play our three bigs together.
We couldn't do it.
We were more effective playing smaller guards.
You know, it's just hard to play Blake and KJ together right now.
So many defensive mistakes, so many lapses,
I mean we just couldn't do it, so we finally said,
okay, we're not going to play them together unless we had to.
We did a little bit at the end,
you know, and just tried to play three guards.
But, yeah, they drove it.
But the biggest thing was just the one guy
made a bunch of shots.
I thought, at times too, they called Devontae on a pus off.
I think it's a real call that you need
if you're going to guard the dribble, you know.
But it's officiated the same, you know.
And we'll watch the tape, you know,
because if you start extending a little bit,
then it gives a guy a good advantage.
Kermit, it seems like, at times,
especially the middle 20 minutes,
the offense just scored better
than it had in the last few weeks.
What kind of worked for you guys there,
and then what changed for you in the last five to seven minutes?
Yeah, you know, having a hard time,
you know, hard time scoring around the goal.
I mean, Dream is having a real difficult time
just catching balls and finish them down there,
and so, you know, we went the to a smaller lineup, played KJ
and Blake together at the same time.
Thought it made us a better offensive team
and gave us a little more mobility,
and so that's what we did. We went real small,
because Arkansas will go small too.
Just the ball moved and,
you no Devontae made a few shots, you know,
and Blake and KJ, it's just college basketball.
I mean, you need four or five guys to get 8,
10, 12, 14 points, and we just been in a situation
where guys have gotten great looks and can't make them.
Today for a little part of the game, our offense moved better.
You always say we're on the cusp.
But when you guys really needed
the confidence builder, you didn't get it.
And this week coming up, what is kind of your message, you know?
You know, I said there's absolutely zero moral victories.
And did our team improve? Yeah.
We played good spots.
But we all expected to win in that locker room.
There was no doubt in our mind we were going to win the game
as we prepared, and you're right,
there was quadrant one win that got buy us.
But you know what, there's two more coming here,
and just tomorrow we'll watch this time in the morning
and turn your attention right to Florida.
It's all you can do.
You just got to have, like, many seasons within your year.
They're all, like, three day- preparations.
So, you just got to lose it, watch at 10:00-11:00 o'clock,
put it to bed, and we go right to Florida,
and it's just all you can do,
just keep coming, because we've said it.
I mean, last year I think we played the eight toughest
schedules in the SEC, and this year it's number one,
and just by luck of the draw, and so it's going to be taxing.
And January is a tough, tough month.
But, on the other hand,
some great opportunities for our team.
You kind of reevaluate those bench minutes at all?
Well, one thing we were doing, we're playing too big.
We're playing too big.
Just like I said, KJ and Blake, last year,
came in for each other.
We tried to play them together.
It's been hard; okay?
Then we're trying to play sometimes
Dream and Dude and KJ or Blake.
We're just not very athletic.
We're not very athletic doing that.
And so now, with Bryce Williams being out, Luis being out,
we got four guards, I mean, it's all we got.
So, it's one of those things that, you know, Franco and all,
I thought they did fine.
But just at the end, those two guys, they're both
going to make really good plays before they leave here.
They kind of took off and tried to make a play
in a nut-cutting of a game, one-possession game, you know.
But they're minutes just have to keep increasing,
because we're going to try to play smaller.
Anything else? Thanks for coming, guys.
Yeah. In the first half,
you guys start off pretty cold in the first ten minutes.
What do you say to your guys to kind of get them back going,
especially Breein?
Well, we just had a -- well,
I didn't think the moved as well, you know,
but then we had the ball right at the goal.
I mean, can Dream had the ball at one foot, missed it.
KJ missed one right there, you know.
So, we had a couple chances,
and I thought well just settled into the game.
We settled into the game and the ball moved.
But, like I said, it's just a difference when you get three
or four or five guys all kind of making buckets.
They don't have to just be hot.
I mean, kind of the ball moves,
and you score them from different spots,
and that happened until,
like, probably the last five minutes of the game.
All right, thanks guys. Thank you, guys.