University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-Florida Postgame Quotes
February 05, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl: "What a great game. Anybody who talks about the SEC being down this year just needs to look at this game. I appreciate the style, and I want to talk about it. Many conferences slug it out; but both Florida and Tennessee were committed to up-tempo basketball at its best.
"In the second half, our experience was a factor. With three senior guards?? Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and Jordan Howell?? the way this game came out should happen here in Knoxville. Tyler Smith was the separation in this ballgame; he elevates his play when the game is on the line.
"When they are shooting well, Florida does everything the way it should be done. For us to score 104 points, have 27 assists, and just 9 turnovers says a lot about the way we are playing.
"When you keep in mind that Jai Lucas, Alex Tyus, Chandler Parsons, and Nick Calathes are all freshmen, you know Florida is really going to have some outstanding teams. They came in here to win this game. As defending National Champions, they were not the least bit intimidated. Billy Donovan is at the top of his profession.
"At the start of the game, nobody was back defensively under the goal for us. We did not put pressure upon their quarterback. It was my fault for the match-ups in transition.
"When J.P. Prince got the technical foul, his teammates bailed him out, just as they do for me sometimes when I get a technical. You are supposed to take a foul, dust yourself off and go to the line. I was not happy with the way Prince reacted.
"I am going to continue to set goals for this team to try to reach."
Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan: "Tonight was a great lesson for us because I thought in the Arkansas game we were not making shots, and it affected our mindset. Here tonight, we shot the ball well, ran offense pretty well; I thought we executed pretty well, shot a pretty high percentage from the field, and we still lost by 20. I do not know that it is a lack of ability, youthfulness, strength, quickness, but we have not bought in to defending like we need to defend. It was good to see our guys come back and respond on a quick turnaround. I am not happy we lost, but I thought in the last six minutes we ran out of some gas, and our bench maybe could not give us a lift.
"Tennessee is a good team. They have a lot of answers at a lot of different spots. They have two great shooters in Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith, and Tyler Smith is a really hard match-up because of his athleticism, strength and experience."
POSTGAME NOTES
* The Vols' record of 20-2 is the best start in school history.
* Duke Crews became the first Vol to foul out this season, a tribute to the Vols' depth.
* The Vols' home-court winning streak stretched to 28 games, tied for the second-longest streak in school history. The winning streak is the nation's fourth-longest.
* Chris Lofton recorded six 3-pointers today, giving him 389 for his career. Lofton remains in 8th place in NCAA career record books for 3-pointers made. In his last five games, Lofton is shooting 27-of-52 (51.9 %) from 3-point range, and is averaging 21.6 points per game. Lofton's five steals tonight ties his career-high, moving him into fourth place on UT career list with 175.
* Lofton (26), Tyler Smith (23), and JaJuan Smith (23) scored more than 20 points, the first time since the NCAA first-round game against Long Beach State (March 16, 2007) the Vols had three 20-plus point scorers in the same game.
* Tyler Smith's 23 points was his Tennessee career-high?? scoring 21 of 23 points in the second half.
