Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors recapping 100-60 win over Louisiana Tech after getting beat by UCLA on Sunday afternoon.
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00:00 Yeah, just start two things.
00:01 One, our volleyball team, what an awesome.
00:03 I saw it walking over here.
00:05 It's the latest I've ever arrived.
00:07 Cause I want to see the end of that.
00:08 Happy, happy for Jason and his whole team is coaches.
00:10 That's amazing.
00:11 And the second thing is, and it's probably going to save Grant the question.
00:15 Just so you know, I had a couple of players tonight that were unavailable.
00:18 They're not injured.
00:19 They're not suspended.
00:20 They're unbelievable kids.
00:21 I can assure you there's no academic issues.
00:23 There's no locker room issues.
00:25 Um, so thus playing B, uh, and taking the technical foul so that we could rest.
00:31 Max Sam Talia for a really big, important game on Sunday.
00:35 So there you go.
00:37 I have nine texts already that I will respond to.
00:41 What was, I mean, why'd they call it technical?
00:43 So he wants to wear a number eight.
00:47 And as y'all know, that's a non-traditional number of people
00:49 just don't have eights laying around.
00:51 So it took us a while.
00:51 We had to get one made.
00:53 So, uh, and I didn't necessarily anticipate maybe playing her for another
00:57 week or two, but she's been unbelievable in practice.
01:00 Um, and when, when the game got where the score got, where it got, you
01:05 know, Mack and Sam are both walking around boot sailors, walking around in a boot.
01:08 We had to get those guys some rest.
01:09 I need to get to leave off the floor just because, um, we've got a big game on Sunday.
01:15 We played a lot of minutes.
01:16 We practiced hard.
01:17 So I made the decision that I thought the technical foul would be worth it.
01:21 Uh, so we put her in the blood Jersey.
01:23 But she'll wear number eight officially.
01:25 Uh, but we haven't got it made yet.
01:27 I know you said leading into this game, just you that Louisiana tech had your
01:33 team's attention from what they've done.
01:34 Just what'd you think about the way they just started the game?
01:38 So great.
01:38 I give Mack, Sam and sailor that credit.
01:40 Like they got the team together.
01:42 We had a couple of flat moments in practice.
01:44 That's why I was concerned.
01:45 Um, there, there wasn't a lot of juice in practice and it's understandable
01:49 coming off the four game stretch that we had been on.
01:52 Um, you know, had been really, really tough.
01:54 So, but I, I give Mack and Sam just an unbelievable amount of credit and
01:58 bringing sailor along there, teaching her those ropes of, we don't want to be
02:02 that team that only plays, you know, to a certain standard based on what
02:06 your opponent is ranked or something.
02:08 I also don't try to fool our kids.
02:10 I mean, I could stand up there and I could tell them, Hey, look at law tech.
02:13 There was an eight point game.
02:14 Against Monroe was an eight point game at Vanderbilt.
02:17 It was, they were at Drake, but they look at the schedules.
02:20 So I try to be as honest with them as I can.
02:23 I knew that there was a potential for a letdown, but those three guys, uh,
02:27 had had them ready to go at practice.
02:28 I wouldn't have said it.
02:29 I have a hundred percent confident because we weren't great in
02:32 practice for the last two days.
02:33 We were okay sometimes, but I thought we were really focused in the pregame.
02:38 And you can usually tell that with our defensive intensity and we were really
02:40 hooked up defensively to start, which led to offense and then Mack and
02:44 Sam, just speaking on both of them.
02:45 They both had really high rebound and assist games.
02:48 Um, I'm sure that's good to see.
02:50 It is, you know, we talked about paint punctures.
02:53 Um, I write the guys a little card every game.
02:56 Uh, Mack and Sam are, they're obviously individual players, but on the back, I
03:00 usually kind of lump Talia Mack and Sam into a little group and we talked about
03:05 getting defensive rebounds, not counting on sailor to get 23 a night.
03:09 Uh, now some of those the other night they were coming to get
03:11 and say, they're just got them first.
03:13 Um, but you know, tonight was say they're only playing the 21 minutes.
03:16 Uh, that puts some opportunities.
03:18 Mack and Sam are unbelievable.
03:20 Good rebounders.
03:21 You know, I've said before, both of those guys, I mean, you had three guys that if
03:24 you play extrapolated out to 40 minutes, it's probably triple doubles.
03:28 The sailor had five steals, Mack and Sam have six and seven assists rebounds.
03:33 So, um, you know, and then Talia shot the ball tonight, like we've seen in practice.
03:38 She's going to be so mad about the free throws.
03:42 Um, but we've made shots.
03:44 We've shot 14 for 28 in practice.
03:46 I've been telling you all that.
03:47 I know nobody believes it, but I've been at practice every day
03:49 and we are capable of that.
03:51 I'm a little disappointed to look over there and see that we shot about the
03:54 same from the free throw line as we did the three point line, but we'll
03:58 focus on that a little bit tomorrow.
03:59 Yeah.
04:00 Last thing I'll ask.
04:01 It's kind of bouncing right off that I saw after Talia missed a free throw,
04:05 Mac kind of walk over and just.
04:06 Patter on the back and talk to her.
04:08 How have you seen that relationship develop over the, I guess,
04:11 y'all are 10 games deep.
04:12 Yeah, it started over in, in, uh, on our foreign trip and it's going to continue
04:16 to grow, I really challenged Mac.
04:18 Uh, that, you know, as, as much of her legacy is already a sealed, like her,
04:23 her legacy here is going to be sealed for a lot of, a lot of things she's already
04:26 done, but the one that I think she can really separate herself from other people
04:31 that have played here is how she leaves this place, you know, taking advantage
04:36 of that last year and, um, how she leaves it, you know, so that Sam's ready to
04:41 take this team over next year until he is able to help her like Sam has helped Mac.
04:46 Uh, I think it's really important in our development and she has been amazing.
04:50 I think she gets frustrated with me at certain times about certain things,
04:53 the way we're going about doing it.
04:54 Uh, but she's been absolutely amazing.
04:57 And, uh, I think it's, you know, how a kid should take advantage of their fifth
05:01 year.
05:01 So I'm going to continue to sing her praises.
05:03 Um, she's been, um, everything we could have hoped for since she's been here.
05:08 I mean, you look at the kids, she started every game since she's been here and, uh,
05:13 just continues to do different things and leave that legacy.
05:16 You'll have an asterisk beside it and that's okay.
05:21 You know, cause of the fifth year, that's, that's going to be one of those things,
05:25 but, um, that's, um, um, that's a great accomplishment and she still started
05:31 every game, right?
05:31 I think I can't remember.
05:33 Uh, I guess going back to be for a second, is there, I know you said
05:39 she looks great in practice.
05:40 Is there anything, I guess, throughout your coaching career that you can draw
05:43 parallels to the situation that's kind of helping you go through it?
05:46 I, you know, I had a walk on, uh, joining our team in Washington, uh, and she ended
05:51 up being a starter for us in the final four.
05:53 So I've seen it happen before.
05:55 Uh, but again, this unfolded over three years and it wasn't just
05:59 kind of a last minute thing.
06:00 This was going to happen.
06:01 You know, whether we had 15 people on the roster or nobody, she wanted to
06:05 come out and be a practice player.
06:06 That was all she said.
06:07 She never said one thing about playing.
06:10 She said, coach, I just want to come out and help.
06:11 I love basketball.
06:13 I love being around it.
06:14 I love being a Razorback.
06:15 I like your girls.
06:17 And so it, it, it's just happened that, um, you know, the way she is in practice,
06:23 her teammates have been become very, very fond of her, um, bubbly energy.
06:29 Uh, she's a good player too.
06:31 Yeah.
06:31 It's like you saw her cross kids.
06:32 She's got good handles.
06:33 She's tough.
06:34 Um, she's smart.
06:36 So, uh, I'm not putting any seasons on her, but no.
06:39 I really haven't had a kid, not an, I mean, sec midfielder of the year wanting
06:43 to come out and volunteer to help, man, that just speaks to the type of kid that
06:48 she is and, you know, her family.
06:50 And, um, but I think her championship mentality from soccer can certainly
06:55 be something that can help us.
06:56 I know we ask about it just about every day, but you know, this is her, I think
07:01 it's her 10th game and the lowest that Talia scored is like 17 and she's got.
07:05 What seventh, this is her seventh 20 plus point game, I guess.
07:09 Yeah.
07:09 But a little bit of a two-parter one, is she getting enough national
07:14 attention that she deserves?
07:15 And two, how can you kind of contextualize what she's done?
07:18 It's an unbelievable freshman class and every freshman in the country that's
07:23 getting the recognition that's out there.
07:24 They deserve it, but it should be one bigger.
07:27 It should be one more kid added on there.
07:29 Uh, you know, I've, I've seen some people say, well, they haven't played anybody.
07:33 Okay.
07:33 Look at our schedule at the end of the year.
07:35 Let me know how you, what you think of Monroe.
07:37 That same, the, some of the same people just listed Monroe is one of the
07:40 top mid major teams to watch, but until, you know, and I promise y'all
07:44 Talia doesn't care about, she wants to win.
07:46 She wants to do anything she can do to help us win.
07:49 But yeah, to answer your question, she's not on every list and she should be.
07:53 Uh, Kylie does an amazing job pumping it out there.
07:56 I mean, she's been the sec player freshman of the week three times, and there are
08:00 still some national publications that will, you know, maybe have kids that are
08:04 playing three or four minutes a game ahead of her, but she'll let that, that
08:08 her, her end game play and big games will take care of itself.
08:12 You know, I have obviously coach plum and I don't know where the number
08:17 stands now through 10 games, but I know it's ahead of pace of where that's at.
08:22 And, um, you know, 12 of 16, five of eight, and she's going to look at
08:27 that Oh, and four and be really mad.
08:29 Um, but she's starting what she's starting to learn is she's eliminating
08:34 hard shots.
08:34 Have y'all noticed that she's taking, she's taking those out and she's set.
08:39 She's getting to the foul line still, and she's settling for open mid Rangers
08:44 and we're starting to find her in the right spot.
08:46 So I think it's her understanding of shot selection and understanding too,
08:50 that the ball's going to find her.
08:52 We've got good passers.
08:53 We've got multiple people that can find her.
08:56 Um, but I think she'll settle into that.
08:58 I answer both parts or did I talk around one part?
09:01 I got them both.
09:02 Okay.
09:03 Yeah.
09:03 Coach.
09:04 Have you heard yet from a Colby health, a soccer coach about B, have you guys
09:07 talked at all?
09:07 Um, since you know, she started tonight practicing if you've heard from him
09:11 tonight, I probably doubt it, but,
09:13 Oh, we talk all the time.
09:15 Colby and I talk all the time.
09:17 Um, and we talked about it extensively before it happened.
09:20 Like after their season was over, I wasn't certainly going to mention it
09:23 until they were done, but he's, he's our biggest fan and was the biggest coach.
09:27 You're going, she's, he told me some things that I quite honestly kind of went.
09:30 Yeah.
09:31 Right.
09:31 Yeah.
09:32 Whatever.
09:32 Yeah.
09:33 No, nobody's that likable.
09:35 Nobody's that good, man.
09:37 He under, he underestimated how good of a kid she is.
09:41 So we've talked about it.
09:42 I know he's really, really proud and, uh, everything he told me
09:46 confidentially and privately.
09:48 Uh, like I said, she's, she's exceeded all that, but yeah, we'll keep talking
09:52 about it, but I'm sure he'll be asking for part of my paycheck pretty soon.
09:55 So he ain't getting it.
09:57 Did you see her play any in high school?
09:59 No, she was recruited out there.
10:02 I, she came to our games, you know, obviously the com, you know, the
10:05 comparison with her and plum both in lefties and coming around and, uh, I'm
10:09 learning more and more about her, you know, her, her dad is, um, I'm jealous
10:14 cause her dad is getting to see a viewing of boys in the boat tonight.
10:17 Uh, I've been waiting for that movie to come out for seven years now.
10:23 The book that was written about the Washington road and team and her dad is
10:26 at one of the premieres of it.
10:28 Cause he's a member of the board out there on the, of the crew team at Washington.
10:31 So, um, we've, um, we've talked about it a lot.
10:35 Is that what we're still talking about?
10:37 Yeah.
10:38 Would you ask me something about the death?
10:39 Yeah.
10:42 Yeah.
10:42 We saw her.
10:42 Yeah.
10:43 I mean, I knew she was, and, um, I had a couple of people ask me, she
10:47 played right there in town, Seattle, uh, and I had some D two friends.
10:52 I had some small college friends.
10:53 I kept giving her name too.
10:54 And they would call and she'd say she was going to go play soccer at Notre
10:57 Dame, which by the way, is pretty good gig.
10:59 And then obviously we're fortunate to get her back here.
11:01 Was she two time sec midfielder of the year or one time one, and just one time
11:05 all American, just one.
11:07 Yeah.
11:08 But yeah, I knew of her.
11:09 Uh, and I think we met a time or two, we've talked about it, but we've got a
11:13 lot of, a lot of common things.
11:15 She's, she's fun to talk to.
11:17 And obviously tonight, a big one over, you know, an opponent you won't face
11:21 probably the rest of the year.
11:22 How do you take, you know, things from this game and apply that as
11:25 the sec play is approaching?
11:26 Um, I challenged our kids to get some good film tonight.
11:31 I said, don't we we've been having to be really hard on them to improve.
11:35 I said, make it really easy tonight to find evidence of excellence and clips.
11:40 Uh, I thought our bench was very, very good.
11:43 I thought our celebrations were good.
11:44 I thought our ball movement was good.
11:47 I thought our press looked as good as it's looked all year.
11:49 Um, this game can help us a lot.
11:51 We were able to rest.
11:53 Talia, Sam, Saylor, those people walking around and Talia is not walking around
11:57 in a boot, but those kids that are walking around in boots and we've had
12:00 to limit in practice, we we've nobody played until he played one minute over 30.
12:04 Uh, we need to get Jenna Lawrence more at bats.
12:07 She's going to be a good hitter.
12:09 We just got to get her at bats.
12:11 And yeah, I'm quoting money ball.
12:12 Um, it's just a matter of reps.
12:15 You see the touch that she has, she gets 10 points and, you know, 12 minutes.
12:19 And, um, after she led us in scoring on the road trip, you know, you know, it's
12:23 coming, it's just a matter of getting comfortable and getting confident and
12:27 you can't give kids confidence.
12:28 They have to earn it, but I hope Emory's okay.
12:30 She maybe, maybe kind of re-injured her elbow.
12:33 We'll get some word on that.
12:34 Christina got extended minutes.
12:35 Carly played two positions for us tonight, so much needed because of the game on
12:40 Sunday, it's a really, really good UAPB team coming in here.
12:43 And if, um, you know, with the quick turnaround, it's going to be very
12:48 beneficial that we were able to, and a lot of Texas story program.
12:51 I mean, they've got national championship banners hanging up down there.
12:54 It's a program that anybody that's followed women's basketball for a number
12:57 of years knows, um, the quality of, of team Brooks, Brooks going to have a good
13:02 year, she's played an unbelievable schedule.
13:04 Uh, she's got a kid that was not here tonight.
13:07 That's been a starter and she's got another kid.
13:09 She'll get back around Christmas.
13:10 So I expect La Tech to, they play at Arkansas state, I think next.
13:14 So, um, they'll have a good, they're going to have a good season.
13:17 And you talked a little bit about a couple of days ago about Robertson
13:21 who put up 27 on Vanderbilt.
13:23 How did you feel your team handled her, uh, down low and, you
13:26 know, outside with the ball?
13:27 I mean, I think for the most part, there was a couple of times I felt like we
13:30 could have probably contested it a little bit better.
13:32 She got a clean look at the basket, but you know, to hold her just to seven
13:35 attempts is, is a good thing.
13:37 That means she wasn't getting to her spots.
13:39 Uh, when she did try to dribble, we forced her to turn it over three times.
13:43 Our guards did an unbelievable job, Miriam, uh, and Emory Mariam's, you
13:47 know, confidence and just continues to.
13:49 Uh, play.
13:50 I think she gained a lot of confidence playing against some I bets.
13:53 So we were able to get her some rest as well, cause she's got her hands full on
13:57 Sunday, but, um, you know, we've been, we've been doing a really good job of
14:01 taking away most teams, leading scorers.
14:04 Uh, for the most part.
14:05 So, um, it was, I thought it very, very important that we not let her have a 25
14:10 plus night.
14:11 Yeah.
14:13 We just, we know Emory's really tough, sorry.
14:15 And a lot of pain, uh, any update on that?
14:17 No, not yet.
14:18 I don't think we'll know till tomorrow, but yeah, if you see tears in that kid's
14:21 eyes, it hurts because she is as tough as they come.
14:25 And, um, you know, she tried to play through it, you can, but you could tell
14:29 it went numb on her.
14:30 So we're hopeful that it'll be a good news.
14:32 Uh, she's really valuable part for not only on the court, but off, but you can
14:36 tell how our kids all reacted when it happened.
14:38 Um, so we'll see tomorrow and get y'all an update when we know.
14:43 Um, and then I think we're going ahead and asking about UAPB.
14:47 I know Zay Green is having an outstanding year.
14:50 Um, just thoughts on her and on their team.
14:52 Well, I mean, she's obviously an sec player.
14:54 Uh, that's, you know, Don's done an absolutely unbelievable job down there.
14:59 I talked on their radio the other day, a little prematurely ahead of time about
15:03 them, but you know, she's, she's put a roster together down there that rivals,
15:08 you know, some teams, uh, in the, the bigger conferences.
15:12 So, um, but Zay is she's multidimensional, she's explosive.
15:18 Uh, she can get her shot whenever she wants it.
15:20 She can change the game on both ends.
15:22 Uh, you know, there's a reason everybody in the country wanted her
15:24 coming out of high school, you know, and now they've got, may already down
15:28 there with them and Cori Beck does an unbelievable job filling her role.
15:32 Um, they've got a player setting out and I I'm just figuring it's going to be our
15:36 luck.
15:36 She's going to come eligible star.
15:37 Jacobs was a two time OVC player of the year down there in their league.
15:41 She's getting ready to play too.
15:43 Um, but just look at who they've played.
15:45 You know, they had Mississippi state into the last minute at
15:49 Oregon state on the ropes.
15:50 Um, so they are no stranger to these games.
15:55 Uh, I really had a lot of respect for, you know, what, what she's done
15:58 down there and how she does it.
16:00 Uh, it'll be a scary game preparing.
16:02 It's, it's not any fun playing these in-state games.
16:04 I love doing it after the games are over.
16:07 I hate it during preparation.
16:08 Um, but it'll be a good matchup.
16:10 It'll be, you know, I don't want to compare them to our other in-state
16:14 games, but it's probably going to be our biggest challenge that we've had in the
16:17 in-state game since we've started playing.
16:19 How much more comfortable are you with?
16:21 I mean, the team just looked really good tonight after that stretch that
16:25 y'all went through though, um, that I know you break it up into parts.
16:28 Yeah.
16:28 Stages.
16:29 Yeah.
16:30 This is starting stage three for us.
16:32 We, a lot of NASA themes stage three for us, obviously got off to a good start.
16:36 I hope it gives us confidence that we've, we've been talking about how that
16:39 struggle should, should have made us better.
16:41 I think it did, but it's, you know, we got to start back over again.
16:44 It's one game, uh, you know, again, sticking with some baseball stuff.
16:49 One game's not a streak.
16:51 You got to do it back to back nights to even consider calling it a streak.
16:54 So we have some confidence.
16:56 I have confidence.
16:57 I've always had confidence in these kids, but hopefully now they've got as much
16:59 confidence in themselves as we've had in his coaches.
17:02 Yeah.
17:06 It's the most recent update on like the space theme stuff.
17:11 I'm just, yeah.
17:12 Uh, we've, I've gotten way better at our, our patches.
17:16 Don't you think my, my, my creativity, uh, I have.
17:20 Uh, put a lot of, uh, time and effort into learning, uh, Microsoft publisher,
17:25 how to take a, a patch from a, a mission patch that I find online and making it
17:30 into our own, and we do a different one for every game I have, we have 59 people
17:35 on our crew that get a patch, uh, for every mission that we're on.
17:39 Um, I just had it.
17:41 We've got an empty wall in our locker room and we've been sitting around
17:45 talking about what are we gonna put in there?
17:46 What are we gonna put in there?
17:46 What are we gonna put in there?
17:47 And at halftime tonight, I don't know why it hit me at halftime, but coach
17:50 Todd was talking about defense.
17:51 Obviously didn't say a word about our offense because it was rolling good.
17:55 And he didn't really have much to say about the defense, but there was some
17:58 couple of things he wanted to talk about.
18:00 So I was standing over there and it hit me.
18:01 We're going to make like a moonscape.
18:03 We're going to make like a moon landing, uh, shadow box.
18:08 Like you might see at a science fair or something.
18:10 It's going to be really craftsy, but we're going to do it.
18:14 It's not gonna cost very much money, but I'll take y'all in there and show it to
18:18 you, but we just have fun with it.
18:19 It's something new every time I will watch.
18:21 I'm watching all for all mankind on Apple TV.
18:25 I never watched it when it came out, but it's a series and it's a Scott.
18:29 So they'll say something in that series or that show that'll spark something in me.
18:33 I think our kids laugh at me.
18:35 Uh, it's okay.
18:36 I can take it, but I like to think they're laughing with me, but
18:39 I think they're laughing at me.