University of Tennessee Athletics
Peterson Weekly Press Conference
March 15, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2004
Comments from Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson from Monday's weekly press luncheon prior to Wednesday's NIT opening round game at George Mason (7 p.m.-EST).
BUZZ PRESS LUNCHEON | 
On playing at George Mason in the opening round of the NIT:
"We're excited about postseason play and playing in the NIT. You never know what's going to happen; you could get a home game or a road game. We're looking forward to this opportunity. We're excited about it. The best thing I like about it is you get more practices, and you can work on more stuff with your guys. We have more chances to develop them. Now that we've got an opening round game, I don't know how much practice time we're going to get. If we're fortunate enough to win our first-round game, we'd probably turn around and play again on Friday. And if we win then we'd probably play again on Monday or Tuesday of the following week. It is a game situation, and I think it would be very good for our guys. Again, we're very excited about this opportunity to play in the NIT and face George Mason."
On George Mason's team:
"They're a team that was picked to win the [Colonial Athletic Association championship]. They won 21 games and lost the championship game to VCU right at the end. A former graduate assistant of ours, Eric Konkol, is now a full-time assistant for them, and they have a couple players on their roster from the state of Tennessee. They're a very good team. They like it fast-paced, and they'll use their quickness. They have a big guy (Jai Lewis) inside who's about 6-7 or 6-8, 275 pounds and is having a pretty good year. They like to go up and down the floor, and they were 12-1 at home -- their only loss was to Old Dominion in January. So they've had a very good record at the Patriot Center. We're looking forward to the opportunity to face them."
On rebounding from an opening-round loss in the SEC Tournament last week:
"The biggest thing is that this is a chance to wipe out the bad taste in our mouth from the SEC Tournament (loss to Alabama) and go get us a win somewhere and erase those memories. On Sunday we practiced for about two hours and worked on a lot of defense and did some scrimmaging. It was a good, solid practice. It had been several days since we had a practice because after the game Thursday, we watched all four (SEC Tournament) games (at the Georgia Dome Friday)."
On the team's mindset going into the NIT:
"We've talked to the players about stepping up another level. Your intensity level has to be at an all-time high when you're in tournament play. In the postseason it's very important that you give it your all. When don't go your way sometimes in adverse situations -- like shots not going in on offense -- that's where you have to pick it up a little bit more and play really good defense."
On the team's attitude toward the NIT compared to last season:
"A lot of it is mental. Last year, we went into [the NIT] really frustrated that we didn't get into the NCAAs. Our mindset wasn't where it should be, and then we had to turn around in 48 hours and play Georgetown. Your mindset going in has to be that you're going to win the thing, and you're going to get some extra games. Now that we play in the opening round, we can get six games if we go all the way. That'd be nice to get 21 wins. It's not going to be easy, but it is something that we can strive for. Going on the road and winning at George Mason would be nice for this ball club."
