Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors with the media after an 81-66 loss to the No. 2 UCLA Bruins on Sunday afternoon in Bud Walton Arena.
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00:00 Off playing a team that good, I'm sure that it's good to see
00:04 the effort wasn't a problem down the end.
00:06 What did you just think of that fourth quarter?
00:08 The effort wasn't the problem at all during the game.
00:09 That's just how good they are.
00:11 I mean, and I know that's easy to say,
00:14 but y'all were here, you watched it.
00:16 That's how hard they are to defend,
00:18 how hard they are to score on, how frustrating it
00:21 can be when they can switch everything on the perimeter
00:23 and still protect around the rim.
00:27 I've known Corrie for a long time, and I just said to her,
00:29 she's always had teams that you really
00:31 worried about offensively.
00:33 This is her team that you worry about on both ends of the floor.
00:36 They can do it on both ends of the floor.
00:37 They're going to win games in the 80s,
00:39 they're going to win games in the 70s,
00:41 they're going to win games in the 60s,
00:42 and they'll win some games in the 50s.
00:45 They have really assembled, not just a--
00:48 they've put together a good team.
00:50 There's a lot of people out there
00:51 that went into the portal and just collected talent.
00:54 They built a team around who they had,
00:57 who they had coming back.
00:58 I think the second that Charisma announced she was coming back,
01:01 that was kind of the moment where we're like,
01:03 I thought she was going in the draft type deal.
01:06 I think that was the point that everybody knew UCLA was--
01:10 then as it continued to fall in there.
01:13 They're deep, they can score inside and out,
01:15 they can defend you, they can keep you from getting
01:17 to the rim.
01:17 We got there late because the fourth quarter,
01:20 it has a tendency to even itself up.
01:22 We did a good job of not quitting and making
01:24 a run and showing fight.
01:25 I was really proud of our kids that
01:26 were there that have been--
01:29 that got us a lot of energy when they came off
01:32 the bench with Jenna and Emory and Carly and Keats
01:35 and then Christina too.
01:36 So like the fight, still a lot of work to do,
01:39 but I'm glad that we went up against a team that's--
01:42 I think a lot of people are picking for the final four.
01:44 Yeah, and you've talked a lot, I mean,
01:46 all preseason about how you built a schedule that will
01:49 prepare you all for SEC play.
01:50 Even just with the turnaround, you're
01:51 all playing Thursday at Florida State
01:53 and then Sunday against them.
01:54 What do you think this has done for the team getting
01:56 ready toward league play?
01:57 Well, last year we had to go to LSU and South Carolina
02:00 back to back.
02:01 So you know that's going to happen
02:03 and we weren't as prepared for it last year.
02:05 So even starting back to that Wisconsin game,
02:07 I don't know if it wasn't on a lot of TV
02:09 so people couldn't probably see it,
02:10 but that game was very physical.
02:12 And the Marquette game was very, very physical.
02:14 So our bodies over this four game, that gives us a chance.
02:19 When you look at the schedule, we've
02:22 got a chance to fix some things now.
02:24 And I'm not degrading any opponent that we have left.
02:26 There's still good teams out there.
02:28 But we get a day off tomorrow, a day to watch film.
02:31 I think we have a chance to improve a lot between now
02:33 and Christmas.
02:34 In the past, sometimes we'd play these games
02:37 and then the next thing you know, we're right in the league.
02:38 And there's not much time to improve.
02:40 So I think we improved that area of our schedule.
02:42 It was intentional.
02:44 And now I'm really anxious to see how we respond.
02:47 I just left the floor out there.
02:48 There's nothing harder than having a signing Sunday,
02:51 signature Sunday after you lost.
02:54 And I saw so many kids out there taking pictures with kids
02:56 and making differences.
02:57 And young kids that stuck around.
02:59 So I'm not worried about how this team will respond.
03:02 I think they have respect for UCLA.
03:04 I think our week was a good week.
03:06 If you would have said during that stretch
03:08 we were going to go two and two, I
03:09 think a lot of people probably would have just said OK.
03:11 Not even know which two they were.
03:14 We learned a lot.
03:14 And I think you'll see it come out in the next five games.
03:17 [AUDIO OUT]
03:25 Coach, just-- I think it was in the fourth quarter
03:27 they had taken more threes than y'all.
03:29 And I know they were kind of creating good offense.
03:31 But is that something that you want easy buckets inside,
03:34 but maybe against the UCLA's of the world
03:37 you need to jack up some more threes?
03:39 Well, with them you really are selecting your mode of death.
03:45 I guess everybody says pick your poison.
03:47 But it feels-- are you going to go not double her?
03:50 OK, well then she goes 18 for 18 instead of nine for nine.
03:53 I mean, I don't know what-- she's shooting the high 70s.
03:56 If you don't give those, then she has that type of night.
04:02 But that's why I said they've assembled a great team.
04:04 Because if you do that, then she's
04:05 become a really good passer.
04:07 She used to be a turnover.
04:09 And I think she only had three tonight,
04:11 but we doubled her a whole bunch.
04:12 And she had--
04:13 I don't know if she got any assists,
04:14 but a lot of times it led to the next pass.
04:16 So it really is pick your way to what you have to defend.
04:22 And with their shooters around them now,
04:25 that's why I'm saying I think they can win a lot of ways.
04:27 We had decided that we were going to try to flood and scram
04:30 and keep her guessing.
04:31 I thought she was very poised, played beyond her years.
04:34 You can't speed her up.
04:37 And Kiki Rice is really growing into the type
04:40 of a leader on the floor that gets them in there.
04:43 Stuff I didn't feel like, even though we had turned them--
04:46 I think we turned them over 22 times,
04:47 but that's a little bit misleading.
04:49 That number's a little bit misleading.
04:51 I thought they did a really good job controlling the pace,
04:55 keeping us from running in transition with their defense.
04:58 So I thought it was a really complete effort on their part.
05:01 I'm sure when we look at it, we're
05:02 going to find a lot more good than I feel right now.
05:04 Because we don't like to lose ever.
05:06 But I think there was probably a lot more good in there
05:08 that I'm recalling right now.
05:11 [AUDIO OUT]
05:14 Well, how are we going to score?
05:21 I know I've got to do a better job of finding us
05:24 a few more open shots.
05:26 We've got good shooters.
05:28 We have not shot the ball to the level of shooters
05:32 that we have on our roster.
05:33 And that comes back to me, getting them better shots.
05:36 We keep kind of twisting and tweaking and finding areas.
05:39 And I think from time to time, we find it.
05:41 But there's still just a few too many empty possessions for us.
05:44 So I'll spend a lot of time with film.
05:47 I think now our roles are becoming very, very identifiable.
05:53 We've got a few kids that are starting-- we're sore.
05:55 Saylor's in a boot.
05:56 Sam's in a boot.
05:57 Max got a boot on a lot of times.
05:59 So I was really trying to be conservative of their time
06:01 there.
06:02 And then we made that great run.
06:03 I mean, I was thinking about putting them back in.
06:04 But I was like, that group's doing such a good job.
06:06 I'm not going to do that.
06:07 So hopefully we'll take these four games, recover tomorrow.
06:14 Simone Rush and her team, Jada and Cal and Diane,
06:21 they'll be the most important people in the building
06:23 tomorrow, doing rehab and prehab,
06:25 getting these guys ready for this next little--
06:27 this ends a segment for us.
06:29 Y'all know we talk a lot about segments of the season.
06:31 This was kind of the end of another segment.
06:33 I think we're 7-2.
06:35 I think we're in a good spot.
06:38 I've been updating every morning.
06:39 They said that the net starts to come out in early December.
06:42 So I'm going to look for Noreta to nod at me.
06:44 It's early December.
06:46 I don't know what early means.
06:47 Probably this week, huh?
06:48 I'm anxious to see where we fall on that thing.
06:51 I think we all know that Murray State's been playing good.
06:53 Monroe hadn't lost since they played us.
06:56 I haven't looked to see what the other teams that we've been
06:58 playing scores-wise have been doing.
07:00 But I think through nine games, we
07:03 know an awful lot about this team and our roles.
07:07 Hey, Coach.
07:08 Second quarter, obviously, 15-0 run for them.
07:10 They shoot almost 70%.
07:11 What did you see from UCLA that allowed
07:13 them to open up a little bit?
07:15 What I've been talking about, you get one thing stopped,
07:18 and it's this.
07:19 And you stop that, and then it's this.
07:20 And that's what they do.
07:22 They work at it.
07:23 They've got a really good system.
07:27 You guard one thing, and they get to the next one.
07:29 And they got a player standing there wide open.
07:31 And you guard three actions in a row.
07:32 And we got her to pass it out.
07:34 And we won the first closeout.
07:36 We won the second closeout.
07:38 And then they win the third closeout.
07:40 So maybe there's some things.
07:43 I don't know that we could have played any harder.
07:45 Maybe we could have played a little smarter.
07:47 I think we'll look at that.
07:48 That's the 15 minute.
07:49 That's probably the 15 points we'll watch.
07:51 That's the type of team I have now.
07:53 They don't want to watch the good stuff.
07:54 They want to watch the worst of the worst.
07:56 So that's probably what we'll watch.
07:57 And I'm terrible at setting up here and remembering
08:00 some of those things.
08:01 So I'm probably not giving you a very good answer.
08:04 But to me, it felt like we would do three things right,
08:08 and they'd make us wrong on the fifth.
08:10 Or they'd get an offensive rebound,
08:11 and kick it out, and hit a three, or draw a foul.
08:14 It just felt like during that run--
08:16 and probably should have taken a timeout looking back at it.
08:20 I am learning with this team that they can be
08:22 coached through a timeout.
08:23 That run probably got away from us a little bit.
08:26 And that was the separation.
08:27 That was where the separation really occurred.
08:30 And then you touched a little bit on my next question.
08:32 But we know, obviously, you like to break the season up
08:35 into segments.
08:36 And we asked you after the first segment what you've
08:38 learned about this team.
08:39 What's new that you've learned after this last segment?
08:41 Well, that they are very, very coachable.
08:44 They want to be coached.
08:45 And that hasn't been true of all of our teams.
08:47 They truly have learned to talk to each other in a manner--
08:50 I give Lacey Gowar a bunch of credit for-- we
08:53 did some Eni and Graham stuff.
08:55 And anybody that knows me knows me.
08:56 I'm not into some of that personality stuff.
09:00 But it's really helped us.
09:01 I think our kids are listening in film.
09:04 I think they're watching in film.
09:06 I think some of our adversity has pulled us together
09:10 as a unit more than ever.
09:12 I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the job
09:14 that Mac has done as a leader.
09:17 She's kind of felt like her team a lot last year.
09:20 But there were times that she wasn't maybe ready to do--
09:23 this is her team.
09:24 And she's been able to lead us through the rough times.
09:28 When we talked from day one that we
09:31 knew that this wasn't going to be the smoothest of missions
09:33 because of how we challenged them with it.
09:36 And I've learned that they have taken from losses and wins
09:40 and learned from it.
09:41 We are improving.
09:42 And I'm not sure I've had a team through nine games
09:44 that I could have honestly sat up here
09:45 and been honest with you about and said
09:47 we've improved since day one.
09:48 I think we have.
09:49 Yeah.
09:58 Yeah.
09:58 Yeah.
10:08 You learn.
10:09 You find your one on your team.
10:11 And if that one is tired, then they're all tired.
10:13 And I know who my one is.
10:14 She's a little tired.
10:15 So rest will be very important the next day and a half.
10:21 And we've gotten good.
10:23 We've gotten good at using our time the day and a half
10:26 that we'll use to prepare.
10:28 But in basketball, because of the quickness of the turnaround,
10:32 I think rested is important.
10:35 Even if we're a little rusty in the execution,
10:38 I need them to be rested.
10:39 So we will take tomorrow.
10:41 And then Tuesday will be very, very light.
10:42 We'll get after it again on Wednesday.
10:45 I didn't even see what four teams got in.
10:49 Who got left out?
10:50 Yeah.
10:54 Well, I'll take-- I owe her one on that.
10:58 So Alabama.
11:03 So Texas plays Michigan.
11:05 No, plays Washington.
11:07 Oh, Alabama, Michigan.
11:08 Yeah, they're pretty good.
11:17 Interesting.
11:18 To your point, yeah, I think it's very important.
11:21 Very, very important.
11:23 And it's not so much game minutes.
11:24 It's how we practice.
11:25 Like, it's up to me and practice how hard we go.
11:28 I need them to be ready to play 30 to 35 minutes,
11:31 those starters, and then everybody else 10 to 15,
11:33 whatever they're doing.
11:34 So it's not what we do in the games.
11:36 It's what we do in the practice and the recovery
11:38 the next two days.
11:39 So that's why I was saying, I think, Simone's group.
11:41 And then what Tyler does with them
11:43 will be real important, because we'll
11:44 have to do a lot of film work to be ready for LaTeX.
11:48 I think they won tonight.
11:49 I think that's-- or they played somebody really close.
11:51 They lost the Vanderbilt close, right?
11:53 Yeah.