University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-Georgia Postgame Quotes
January 26, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl: "It was important that we bounce back from the loss Tuesday night at Rupp. Georgia had only one loss. In terms of the loss column, they were in the top four in the SEC. They were coming off of home wins over Alabama and Arkansas.
"The defense got after it, and created lots of turnovers. We have tremendous energy on defense trying to disrupt our opponents. Our defense is a factor; they play with intensity. Offensively, we had a lot of assists (26) and had a good field-goal percentage (57.1 %).
"It is great to see Chris Lofton play so well. He was penetrating and not turning it over. Lofton put it on himself to have a good game tonight. Tyler Smith is a terrific player. He is unselfish and when he does turn it over, he figures out what he did wrong.
"Our games are starting to become an event. After the Ohio State win, I noticed that people had come back to campus, and every restaurant was packed that Saturday night. I took my kids to lunch today, and it was amazing how much interest there is in our basketball team.
"The response to Duke Crews' return was very heartening. To think that he had nine points and eight rebounds. He gives us some physicality and we need it. Josh Tabb came in because of some foul troubles we were having, and he did a great job defensively. Tabb also received a warm welcome from the fans and it was wonderful to see how he was greeted."
Georgia Head Coach Dennis Felton: "There is no doubt they have a lot of athletes, and there is no doubt they forced a lot of turnovers. That is something they have been successful doing all year. But I just felt as though we did not play well at all. There were far too many times when we just were not strong and decisive and did not handle the ball with authority. I would love to see what kind of game it could have been had we not turned the ball over 16 times in the first half. I am certainly disappointed with the way we played. We responded poorly most of the first half.
"Chris Lofton ended up getting some quality shots in tonight's game. I feel as though he got going mostly against our zone. He got some good step-in looks facing the basket. He certainly made a couple tougher than that, but unlike past experiences with him, he probably got some better quality looks in this game than he has in the past.
"Their defense had something to do with it, without a doubt, but I thought our turnovers had to do with our being soft. We came out aand played soft. It is really disappointing. A team like Vanderbilt, one of the top teams in the country, came in here and got beat by 20, so that possibility exists when you are playing against a terrific team. But I was disappointed, and I felt like were soft to start the game, and did not give ourselves a chance."
POSTGAME NOTES
* Tyler Smith had 17 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds. The nine assists were a career-high.
* The Vols' home-court winning streak stretched to 27 games, the third-longest streak in school history.?? The winning streak is the nation's fourth-longest.
* Chris Lofton recorded seven 3-pointers today, giving him 374 for his career. Lofton is now in 10th place in NCAA career record books for 3-pointers made. Lofton scored a season-high 27 points tonight.
* Georgia shot 4-of-22 from 3-point range, continuing the Vols' streak of opponents' low percentages. Tennessee's last five opponents shot a combined 18-of-99 (18.2%) from behind the arc.
* Duke Crews nearly recorded a double-double in his first appearance since December 4, 2007 (at UT-Chattanooga). Crews scored nine points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
