University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-Arkansas Postgame Quotes
February 13, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl: "I am happy to report JaJuan Smith has recovered completely from the flu. In both of these games, when he was sick Saturday against LSU, and tonight, when he was well, he made significant contributions. It was good to see him match the UT record for 3-point percentage by shooting 6-out-of-6.
"We did a good job on the backboards. They lead the league in rebounding margin and for us to out-rebound them was a positive factor.
"They were almost playing a box-and-one on Chris Lofton. We should have done more things to make them ease up on Lofton a little bit. But when he is in there being guarded closely?? as he was tonight?? he opens things up for everybody else. Lofton, physically, is one of our strongest guards, and he did a terrific job on Patrick Beverly. Lofton got six defensive rebounds against the best rebounding guard in the SEC. Beverly could not get very many rebounds because he was too busy out there chasing Lofton.
"Ryan Childress was on an IV all day, and he could not be here for this game.
"We made it difficult for Sonny Weems to get the ball where he wanted it on the perimeter. We kept the ball a little further outside than he would have liked. Weems has become a terrific player, and has really developed his perimeter game.
"We did all kinds of things in practice to improve our power moves at the Pratt Pavilion, where we have all those baskets. We made some adjustments, defensively, but we have some more to do. There is not much difference between the teams that finish at the top and at the bottom of this league.
"We do not pay any attention to the rankings in the polls. We are just concentrating on finishing as strongly in the SEC as we can and our goal is to win the league championship."
Arkansas Head Coach John Pelphrey: "I did not think we were able to play well enough tonight to really challenge them. I was surprised to only be down five points at halftime, and got optimistic. But certainly Tennessee played better in the second half. We just never could get our defense into the game. We did not shoot it very well, and you have got to give Tennessee credit for that. They just made some plays there in the second and kind of just widened it out.
"JaJuan Smith is a terrific player. They have got two guys that are just?? one of them is the greatest 3-point shooter to ever play in the SEC, and JaJuan Smith had a great, great night. That's the thing with Tennessee. Those kids do not necessarily take what you would call a great shot all the time. But for them, they have a skill shooting that basketball, and are capable of making deep ones, and ones with a hand in their faces.
"The thing we wanted to do was to try to limit their transition, make them play in the half court. In the first half, I thought we did a good job with that. In the second half, if you do not score, you have got to play transition defense more. And if you start doing it too much with those guys, with their speed and shooting, it is tough. They are good. There is a reason why they are 22-2.
POSTGAME NOTES
* The Vols' record of 22-2 is the best start in school history. The 22 wins ties for third-most ever for a single season.
*JaJuan Smith tied a school for 3-point percentage, going 6-for-6. Previous school-best was 5-for-5 (four times; last C.J. Watson, Dec. 23, 2004, vs. Campbell). Smith also tied his career high with 32 points. Smith's four assists tied his season-high. Smith's 1,224 career points moved him up six slots to 27th place on Tennessee career scoring list.
* The Vols' home-court winning streak stretched to 29 games, the second-longest streak in school history. The winning streak is the nation's fourth-longest.
* Duke Crews tied his career high with 11 rebounds, and scored a season-high 11 points; his first double-double of the season.
* Tennessee out-rebounded Arkansas 38-36, the sixth consecutive time the Vols have out-rebounded their opponents. Arkansas entered tonight's game leading the SEC in rebounding margin (+6.4).
