University of Tennessee Athletics
Cuonzo Martin Media Luncheon Transcript
January 30, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2012
Opening statement
"We had a solid week. We didn't play as well in Nashville but I thought we bounced back strong and really competed on the defensive side of the ball. We did a good job of executing our offense. We've got to knock some of those shots down from the perimeter and late in games take care of the ball. It's very important. We had four turnovers in the first half of our last game and ended up with 16. Those were careless mistakes in handling the ball.
"Now going on the road and being ready to play, it's more mental than anything. Our preparation is there. It's just a matter of carrying out assignments, being ready to play and having fun - embracing the atmosphere more than anything. That's more mental right now, the mental toughness part of it.
"We're doing a good job of rebounding the basketball, especially offensively. We're doing well from a defensive standpoint as a team - really gotten better in that department, really taken pride in that area. Now we've just got to complete the mission more than anything. We're holding our opponents in league play under 60 points - down seven from during the pre- (conference) season, so the effort is there."
On ways to find more offense
"It's just a matter of guys knocking shots down more than anything. If you go back and watch film, we had some pretty good looks in the Auburn game from the perimeter. It's just having the confidence and knocking them down. I don't think you continue to try to add different plays, because I don't think it's the plays. It's just knocking shots down - especially when they're open. Now if you don't have open looks and the team is playing great defense, that's one thing. But your bigs are getting doubled on the blocks and you have the opportunity to score the ball it's just really, simply, knocking them down."
On Jordan McRae getting more minutes
"If he continues to work hard, yes."
On learning about Kentucky from the first meeting
"Watching them on film, they made plays when they needed - it was one of those games where both team played hard, both teams defended. But when they needed plays to be made on both sides of the ball, they made the plays necessary to win the game.
"(Michael Kidd-) Gilchrist got a big rebound, got a big dunk, made a big three. Anthony Davis made a big jump-hook. And on the other end, we had some opportunities. Got the ball knocked out of our hands in certain areas and got some great looks from the 3-point line and didn't capitalize. It was just a game of players making plays down the stretch.
On if Tennessee has faced a better defender than Kentucky's Anthony Davis
"Not at all. He's the best in the land. You have to give credit where it's due, because he can change the game completely with the way he defends. And the thing that's most impressive about him is he does it without fouling. He does a great job of playing extended minutes without fouling, and he's so even-keeled. And then you're talking about a guy with his frame - kind of a slight frame - but he takes hits, he's very physical, he doesn't back down from challenges.
"But a very impressive defender, one of the best I've seen in a very long time because he does it without fouling. And that's not an easy thing to do when you know teams are constantly coming at you. You scheme for him like he's an offensive player when he's on defense."
On talking to the team about the challenges inside Rupp Arena
"Just go play, have some fun and compete. Once again, as a ballplayer, you embrace that type of atmosphere. Going on the road, you want a hostile environment. It's just going and competing, doing the things necessary to win the game, carrying out the necessary assignments on both ends of the floor. The great ones love that environment."
On McRae bouncing back to earn more playing time
"He has done a good job with that. He's a guy who was built to score and shoot a lot of balls. The key for him is understanding that in order for him to be successful and our team to be successful, there are things he has to do on both sides of the ball. And he did a great job of stepping up and taking a charge in the Auburn game. He has good length on the perimeter; he has good athleticism. It's just using all those necessary tools to be successful, because he can help us."
On the impact Terrance Jones brings to Kentucky
"Well, he's talented. He's the one guy they go to most of the time on the blocks. First play of the game is normally him on the post making a play. He's a physical presence around the rim, he can make threes, he can take it off the dribble - he does a lot of things for their team. A talented player."
On the definition of `staying ugly'
"It's just really playing hard and not really consumed or worrying about how you look. It's more about how you play, and really from a toughness standpoint - being physical, being aggressive, being assertive. In college, I had different color shoes. Our uniforms were gold and black and I had red and black shoes on. It didn't bother me. I played in them because I was just playing basketball. One time I had different shoestrings in because the other ones broke. I didn't care about all that stuff. I was just playing basketball.
"When you consume yourself with the effort on the floor, you don't worry about all that stuff on the periphery."
On guys possibly losing offensive production because of increased defensive intensity
"You would have to ask those guys, but you also gauge the offensive performance against the competition and how they played. The good ones perform at a high level - and the game's been played on both ends of the floor since these guys were born. You have to be able to do it at both levels."
On if defensive demands affected Coach Martin's offensive performance when he played
"Good question. For me as a freshman, because I couldn't play on the perimeter it was all defense anyway just to get on the floor. Once my offensive skills developed, I was able to play on both ends of the floor. I do understand that. I became a better 3-point shooter and I was still a really good defender. You're a ballplayer and you play at that level. Defense more than anything is having pride in what you're doing, and offensive is spending time working on your shot.
On Jarnell Stokes' growth since joining the team
"He's grown because he's spent time with it, and it's still going to take him a lot of time. You go from the time we started in the spring with all the returning guys, to workouts in the fall up until, really, SEC play when we became a better defensive team. Now you're talking about a young guy fresh out of high school, with four or five months of knowledge he didn't from this program. He obviously came from a great high school program.
"I played on a high school team and we played a 1-2-1-1 press back to a 2-3 zone. Gene Keady was all man-to-man, so there's an adjustment you have to make just at the different levels and the different programs. For him, he's put so much time and he's trying to gain so much knowledge, he will be good at it faster than probably others because he wants to be so good at it. And he takes pride in what he's doing."
On Kentucky's differences since the first meeting
"It's more tweaks than anything. When you look at the good teams, when you're No. 1 in the country there's not a lot of change. The competition changes more than anything. You watch their offense, they tweak here and there. But when you're the best in the land, I don't know how much change you try to do because they are good at what they do. You see it coming. You have to find ways to defend it and guard it more than anything."
On Tennessee's status since the first meeting
"I definitely think we're better at home, and now you have to go on the road and prove it more than anything. Are we a better team? Yes, we're a better team. But you have to go on the road in a hostile environment and prove it."
On the play of Kentucky's Darius Miller the last few games
"I had a chance with the World University team to coach Darius and I really like him. He probably was the most complete player on that team because you could put him at any position on the floor and he was very effective. He does a lot of things well. He can make shots from the perimeter, play from the two through the five (all positions except point guard), really - they play him at the 2, 3 and 4 (shooting guard, small forward, power forward). A lot of times it depends on the mismatch. He can take a smaller guy on the post; a bigger guy he takes on the perimeter.
"I really like the way he plays and he has such composure to him. He's a guy who as a senior coming was off the bench and accepted that role and embraced it. Now he's starting. It's just a credit to him as a ballplayer to stay ready."
On the reason for Trae Golden's recent shooting struggles
"To be exact, you'd have to ask him. The biggest key is getting in the gym and continuing to work on your shot. Whenever your shot isn't falling, it's just getting the reps up and working on it, getting the confidence back to make a couple. He did a great job of getting to the free-throw line the last game and making his free throws. That's the one thing I talked about with him from Day 1: Try to get to the free-throw line to get baskets.
"When you're the key guy offensively, obviously teams key on you. He's rarely going to get open looks consistently - one or two times in a game. So for him, it's pressuring the ball on defense, bringing the ball up the court in transition and making plays, finding guys. Teams identify him, so he will never have easy looks. The key for him is when that double-team comes (in the post), being able to knock that 3-point shot down. When we're in the bonus, get to the free-throw line and gets some free throws that way to try to get as many easy baskets as possible - which is easier said than done."
On thoughts about Rupp Arena
"I've seen it for years. I had an opportunity to play there in the NCAA tournament back in 1994 and it seemed like a nice place to play. Great rims, great atmosphere. But I've never actually coached in that environment and never coached against Kentucky in that gym. So it will be exciting."
On limiting road turnovers
"Really just take care of the ball. It sounds very simple, but just really take care of the ball and make simple plays, make simple passes. No disrespect to Georgia and Vanderbilt, but I don't think it was, `Were they were pressing and running and jumping all over the floor (as to why) you had 20 and 25 turnovers?' It's just really taking care of the ball and making good decisions and playing to your strengths."
On if lack of concentration is a reason
"I would say definitely it's lack of concentration in your mental approach. Because just sticking to the script, doing the simple things, getting the ball where it needs to go, if a guy's open pass to the first open man, jump-stop and make a simple play in transition - it's very simple. It's just a matter of doing it."
On Kentucky's Marquis Teague making significant strides since the first meeting
"He made strides even before we played them. I've known Marquis since he was a little guy and he's done a great job. He's always going to score. He could really score the ball, but he's done a great job of accepting the fact that he has to run that team on offense for those guys to be successful. Because he's a guy who could score 20 a night. I give him credit; he's done a really good job of making sure those guys get shots, make plays. And then when the shot clock goes down, that's when he plays. He's getting to that rim and he's making plays. He's done a good job."
On being able to identify players who embrace playing on the road
"I don't know that it's necessarily easy to identify, because when you recruit guys out of high school you recruit them based on the talent or what you need and you like to assume they have that. There are a lot of different factors that go into it when you get to college up against different competition. You lose confidence, homesick, not playing as much - so a lot of different things go into it.
"There are some guys you don't think have it and they're the best at it. That doesn't have anything to do with being the best player on the floor. That's something inside of you as a competitor more than anything."
On talking to the team about those road issues
"I've talked to them about that since I took the job. That was Day 1. That's just who we are. That's a brand. You don't all of a sudden walk into a game and say, `This is what we're trying to do.' It's too late at that point. That's everyday conversation."
On how Coach Martin got himself prepared to play in hostile environments
"That started back 40 years ago, I would imagine. Growing up in the environment I grew up in, you're not fazed by a basketball game. My biggest fear in college more than anything was Coach Keady. It wasn't the competition. I averaged 25-30 points per game in high school. My first year of college, I sat that bench and I ended up averaging 5.3 points because I did the things necessary late in that freshman year to get on the floor and play. But it wasn't necessarily the competition or the environment I was going against. It was more him (Keady), trying to please him and do the things he needed me to do to be successful. But as far as going in the gym to play a game, it's just a game. I look forward to it."
On if Coach Martin hopes his players fear him the way he feared Coach Keady
"Just respect what I'm saying and how we go about our business. How I walk every day, they understand this is how we walk in the gym. It's not a question of who you're playing against; it's how we're playing. That's just a mentality, and that's developed over time and every day.
"Thank you."
