University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-UAM Post Game Quotes
November 14, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl: "Our defense was good from start to finish. I was disappointed we were not more effective with our full-court pressure. We will need to be able to do that against future opponents. We were unselfish in shooting, as indicated by our shooting 60 percent. We passed up some good shots to get some better shots.
"The way we played was a testament to our depth. We missed a lot of open shots, however, that we should make.
"Duke Crews played well and looked good. Chris Lofton, when we need him, will be there. We ran a lot of set plays for him, but they were in situations where we did not really need the shots. Against tougher competition we will have to be running more set plays.
"Arkansas-Monticello was very patient and we were too. But I thought they got too many offensive rebounds. We had good looks from 3-point range, but we did not hit our 3-pointers very well.
"We have 12 good players in the program, and we do not have a player who cannot play."
Arkansas-Monticello Head Coach Mike Newell: "One of the things we wanted to work on was not turning the ball over, and I thought we did a really good job of that in the first half. But this is our first real game, and we do not have any real experience back.
"You have got to give Tennessee credit. Physically, they are so much bigger and stronger than our bunch. Our goal was to try to keep them less than 100 points, and to try to be in a position where, if we shot the ball well, we might be able to do something during the last 10 or 15 minutes. Obviously, in the second half, they came out and got too many easy baskets. I think we wore down a little bit.
"Tennessee has an excellent basketball team; they are deep, and they are going to be tough to contend with. I do not see them losing at home. They have the big kid (Tyler Smith) back; they have good size and excellent athleticism. Pearl does a great job; I have known him for a long time. This was a great experience for our kids. Now we have to regroup and get ready for West Virginia.
POSTGAME NOTES
* Tennessee's 57-point margin of victory ties for the fourth-largest margin of victory in program history.
* UT had 28 assists tonight, only 3 short of the most in team history.
* 11 different Vols had an assist in the game (team high: Howell and Ramar Smith?? 5 each)
* Tyler Smith led UT with 15 points, while 14 different Vols scored tonight, with 5 reaching double-figures.
* JaJuan Smith hit two 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, tying him with former teammate C.J. Watson for eighth place in career 3-pointers made with 165.
