University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes
November 22, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2002
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POSTGAME QUOTES
Gardner-Webb vs. Tennessee
November 22, 2002
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH BUZZ PETERSON: "It was a tale of two halves. Were we nervous to start the game? I don't know. Rick (Scruggs) has done a good job with this team. They lost a lot of players from last season, but they can really shoot the basketball. After the way they hit in the first half, I was worried they would do the same the rest of the game. We put a little more pressure on the ball in the second half.
"Ron Slay and Jon Higgins both had big second halves, hitting some big, big shots. I was pleased we only had three turnovers in the second half. Jon (Higgins) should have some confidence in his shooting now, after this game, but he also did a good job defending against (Otis) Daniels. Slay was cramping, but he fought through it, and had some good shots. Higgins was really big down the stretch. I thought C.J. Watson did some good things in the second half. Wilborn contributed a lot defensively.
"V.M.I. coming in here Monday does a lot of pressing, and they have an excellent shooter who will test our defensive ability. They run and press very well."
GARDNER-WEBB HEAD COACH RICK SCRUGGS: "Some people might have been surprised at the score, but we thought we could win. We wanted our kids to play 100%, and they did. That's all we can ask. We hit the shots in the first half, and got tired in the second half.
"Tennessee was more intense defensively in the second half. This is a young team. We lost five seniors from last year, and this is this team's first time under fire. We sold them on the idea we could win. They're young enough they believed it. We're just not athletic enough.
"Late in the game, we had Childs wide open on the 3, and he missed; that would have been a dagger. Our execution was sharp in the first half. Tennessee's was sharp in the second half. We had to hit the shots to have a chance. With so many young guys, we didn't know they were scared, excited, or nervous.
"We had nothing to lose. We've won 70 games over the last three years (25, 22, 23); the last two years in Division I, so we had enough guys here who believed. Our guys felt they could do it. We knew we'd have a hard time with Slay. We did a great job on him, even though he had 31 (points). We were confident in the first half, and our execution didn't catch up with theirs in the second."
