Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors after buzzer-beater win in Florida over Illinois at West Palm Beach Tournament.
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00:00 Wish you guys were here.
00:01 That was a hell of a game.
00:02 Hell of a game.
00:03 It's a good team.
00:04 Permit team from last year.
00:05 Everybody back.
00:06 I know we started right out preseason ranked.
00:11 Waste a lot of adversity with foul trouble early.
00:13 Not being able to knock down free throws when we needed them,
00:16 but really battle.
00:17 I thought defensively we really locked in when we needed to,
00:20 to start the game and to finish the game.
00:22 Happy for our Florida kids to come home again.
00:26 Sam making the right basketball play,
00:28 and Miriam being ready with her hands up, ready to catch it.
00:30 And I lay that thing in at the buzzer.
00:32 It was really exciting.
00:34 All right.
00:35 Any questions, just raise your hand.
00:36 By the way, that was Miriam's first buzzer beater.
00:38 So--
00:39 Oh.
00:41 Ethan, go ahead.
00:43 Yeah, Mike, it was just a game of a lot of runs.
00:46 Just back and forth, and your team down the final stretch
00:50 made some really big defensive stops in that final minute.
00:53 I know Miriam had a swat before she got the layup.
00:55 Just what do you think of, I guess, the defense there?
00:59 Well, the fact that we had to go to plan B and C
01:02 with our foul trouble, that speaks to the job
01:04 Coach Todd's done with our defense.
01:07 It doesn't just have to be plan A.
01:08 We went to plan B, plan C. We made some little adjustments
01:11 that made a big difference.
01:13 To hold those guys to four points in a quarter,
01:16 it was necessary because we only got a whopping seven.
01:19 But I thought defensively we really locked in.
01:23 They made some nice adjustments at halftime.
01:25 Shana's a hell of a coach.
01:26 I've known her for a long time.
01:28 I would have bet that this game was going to probably come down
01:30 to a buzzer beater.
01:31 I'm glad it ended up our way.
01:32 But yeah, defensively, we won that game with defense tonight.
01:36 Coach Todd, preparation was very good with our kids.
01:39 It was very specific.
01:40 We worked on the things we needed to work on.
01:43 It felt like taking a test that you already
01:44 had the answers to.
01:47 So sometimes you do that, and they
01:48 change the questions on you.
01:50 But I thought tonight the plan was spot on.
01:52 Our whole defensive side of the ball did a great job.
01:54 And our kids did an amazing job making adjustments
01:57 without troubles.
01:59 You said going into the game that defensive rebounding just
02:02 needed to be a big thing.
02:04 I know Saylor and y'all's too, because non-conference
02:06 went so far as she had another 19 rebound performance.
02:09 Just how big was that?
02:12 It's unbelievable.
02:12 I don't have a final box.
02:13 I'm looking at a 55-55 box.
02:16 Listen, let's not take for granted.
02:18 And let's not get used to seeing plus 15 rebounding nights.
02:22 I mean, they're so rare.
02:24 Let's none of us get accustomed to having that.
02:28 She's mad that she didn't get the one before it.
02:30 And I told her, I said, hey, that just worked out
02:31 just like we needed to.
02:33 We gave up an offensive rebound.
02:34 It was just bad luck.
02:36 She had the kid hit.
02:36 It just bounced the wrong way.
02:38 And that happens sometimes.
02:39 But the reliability factor that we can count on her and Miriam
02:47 and then the guards to get the ones that are tipped around.
02:49 Her and Jenna lost-- they had a turnover
02:51 because we were fighting over one for a change.
02:53 So we're going to get her some help in there.
02:55 We're going to get her some help.
02:56 But unbelievable, another unbelievable performance.
03:00 And then last thing I'm going to ask a lot of those others
03:03 ask questions is just the last sequence for Sam
03:06 to kind of have that vision to dump it off to Miriam.
03:10 I guess, what do you think of that final look?
03:14 In my head, I said, if we get a stop
03:17 and the ball ends up in anybody's hands
03:19 from the state of Florida, I'm going to let it go.
03:22 So if Talia got it or Sam got it,
03:24 we weren't going to call a timeout and advance it
03:26 or run a play and give them a chance to get set up.
03:28 I felt like we'd been good all day
03:30 against their backpedal defense.
03:32 So when it gets into Sam's hands,
03:34 I felt really good about it.
03:37 I just think it speaks to Sam's maturity
03:40 to know to trust her teammate.
03:42 Miriam has missed a layup or two.
03:44 She'll tell you that.
03:45 She missed one tonight.
03:46 But Sam trusted her.
03:48 And she threw it right at her chin,
03:50 which we've been talking about.
03:51 Miriam ain't going to miss it.
03:52 She doesn't want to get hit in the face.
03:53 Caught it and just nicely laid that thing in there.
03:56 And to hear that it's her first buzzer beater,
03:58 we're elated for everybody in the locker room.
04:02 Miriam has got the biggest heart, biggest smile,
04:05 the best words for anybody when they're struggling.
04:07 So it was everybody, though.
04:09 It was everybody.
04:10 And Miriam was quickly to deflect that.
04:12 But happy that she's going to get that feeling of hitting one
04:17 at the buzzer for her teammates.
04:21 Anyone else?
04:22 Oh, Dudley, go ahead.
04:25 Hey, Coach, obviously, you'd love
04:27 to have a 20-point win and all that.
04:28 But how much emotion can you get out of this type of win
04:32 and bonding as a team?
04:33 Well, I don't think it's measurable, Dud.
04:36 I think it's-- we'll see as we get going.
04:39 But if you can see them in the locker room--
04:42 I talked a little bit last week about the sense of relief
04:44 when you win games.
04:45 That was absolute joy and excitement for a teammate
04:47 and for each other.
04:49 I think you can get an awful lot from it.
04:50 Because here's the thing I was just
04:52 saying to Phil on the radio.
04:54 It does not get lost on me that as coaches,
04:58 whether the ball goes in the basket or not,
05:00 completely changes some of our press conferences.
05:02 Had that ball not gone in, I'd have been here talking about
05:05 going 8 out of 16 from the free throw line
05:07 and giving up 13 offensive rebounds.
05:09 And we're still going to talk about those things, Dudley.
05:12 But they're easier to listen to when you win.
05:14 That's just human nature.
05:15 And that's where we're at these days.
05:17 So we have to embrace that.
05:21 Because we did win, it's going to be a little easier
05:23 to look at that film and go, oh, man, I
05:24 should have made that free throw.
05:25 Or, oh, yeah, I should have thrown that pass.
05:27 So I think there's a lot of learning from winning
05:30 when the team can learn that.
05:31 I'm not sure a team that's counting on three freshmen
05:34 and two newcomers to really be at that point yet.
05:38 And especially with a quick turnaround,
05:39 it won't happen until we get back from Christmas.
05:42 But I can tell you this.
05:43 I don't know what happens tomorrow.
05:47 But that right there could be something
05:50 we look back on in March and go, that was a click moment.
05:54 That was when something really clicked for us.
05:56 So stay tuned.
05:57 Put a pin in that, Dudley, and be ready to write about it
05:59 later on if we're right.
06:01 Also, talk a little bit about--
06:02 your bench is a little shortened now
06:04 because of injuries and stuff.
06:05 But you've got good contributions
06:07 off of the ones that came off the bench today.
06:09 Really, really did.
06:10 And I wrote-- and I told you all before I write
06:12 these cards to the kids.
06:14 I wrote on Jenna's that I felt like this was an unbelievably
06:17 great matchup for her because of the personnel, the style
06:21 of play.
06:21 And also, our gym feels a little bit more
06:23 like a high school gym.
06:25 It's a closed in.
06:26 There's not a big galley.
06:27 And she kind of felt back at home.
06:29 She had an unbelievable practice yesterday.
06:31 And for her to give us 13 minutes,
06:32 and Keith to give us 10, and Christina even
06:35 to give us the four in the first half
06:37 when we got in foul trouble.
06:39 I might have to go back and look.
06:40 But I felt like they kept us in the game
06:43 until we could get Miriam and Saylor back with their foul.
06:46 So I'm really confident.
06:48 I've got confidence in eight.
06:50 I'm borderline on a nine.
06:52 And hopefully in the next couple of games,
06:53 we'll get a chance to see if we can go nine deep.
06:55 And if not, we'll just keep practicing the way
06:58 we have been.
06:58 And hopefully it'll show up come game time.
07:01 One last thing.
07:02 Obviously, the shot will be replayed and replayed
07:04 and replayed.
07:05 But the defense in keeping them at 59 those last few trips,
07:10 talk about that and being able to give you the win.
07:13 Well, we have sneakily become a pretty good defensive team.
07:18 We're 13 games now in.
07:21 You give Todd Schaefer enough film, enough practice time,
07:23 enough reps, it's going to come together.
07:27 And with our young kids, we're starting to see it.
07:29 But we made just two or three slight adjustments.
07:32 They were really tortuous on that empty ball screen.
07:34 And we took our time out and used it.
07:36 And I didn't say a word during the timeout.
07:38 It was an all defensive timeout.
07:39 From that point on, I don't think they scored.
07:41 So credit to the defensive side of the ball.
07:43 He works over there.
07:45 And then our kids, to be able to stay focused.
07:48 There was a sense of calm throughout our teammates,
07:51 throughout our team.
07:52 I was trying to--
07:53 I thought Taliyah should have been shooting free throws
07:56 on that foul call.
07:57 I don't know if y'all were watching the game
07:58 or if y'all were following it.
08:00 But there was a loose ball and there was a collision.
08:02 And I thought Taliyah should have gone to the foul line.
08:04 And in that discussion, I was spending a lot of time
08:07 having some discussions with the refs.
08:09 And Mack and Sam just said, hey, come over here.
08:11 Draw what you want up so we can get what
08:14 we need in this last minute.
08:15 Don't worry about that.
08:16 So that's a sign of maturity, a sign
08:18 that a team that's really hooked up and focused and calm.
08:22 So we'll go back and watch this.
08:24 This is going to be fun to watch back.
08:25 Blow sports, baby.
08:27 You got that, baby?
08:28 Yeah, that's worth the time.
08:31 Appreciate it.
08:32 All right, guys.
08:32 Anyone else?
08:33 You're all good?
08:34 Thanks, y'all.