Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors on struggles, especially shooting, in road SEC opener against Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Thursday night.
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00:00 [INAUDIBLE]
00:07 Should have been our pregame talk instead of our halftime
00:10 talk.
00:11 I thought their physicality to start the game--
00:14 talking about Kentucky's physicality with us,
00:17 we did not handle very well.
00:19 Here you go.
00:19 There's that back in case you need it.
00:23 We didn't handle their physicality.
00:24 We talked about that.
00:26 Handling their physicality in the third quarter, we did.
00:30 And in the second half, I thought we did.
00:33 But it was frustrating.
00:35 We got frustrated to their credit, to Kentucky's credit.
00:40 They had us well scouted.
00:43 They had our tendencies down.
00:45 They took away our first and second options.
00:47 And we started settling a little bit.
00:50 And then in the second half, we did a better job
00:52 of not doing that.
00:53 [INAUDIBLE]
01:01 No question.
01:02 Yeah, we had plenty of opportunities
01:03 against tough teams.
01:06 I'm not going to make any excuse that it was all Kentucky, just
01:09 being extra physical.
01:11 I can give you some reasons.
01:12 I can sit up here and tell you that we
01:14 haven't had our guys practice team during the break.
01:16 That would be an excuse.
01:19 I could tell you that we have a hard time simulating that
01:21 in practice, that's an excuse.
01:23 And I'm not going to mention them,
01:25 because they are reasons, but they're not excuses.
01:27 We still should have handled it better.
01:30 I think we played enough teams to be physically ready.
01:33 I just think Kentucky amped it up.
01:35 I really do.
01:35 I think we got off to a good start.
01:37 And I think their coaching staff got them together faster
01:41 than I got ours together.
01:43 They made the adjustment quicker.
01:44 And it was just too big of a hole to dig out of.
01:46 We expended so much energy coming back.
01:50 Carly Keats came in and gave us a really big lift
01:53 off the bench, hitting some threes.
01:55 And I think we took the lead at some point.
01:57 Y'all have to go back and look in the third quarter.
01:59 I think we took a lead.
02:00 And then immediately, we don't get back in transition defense.
02:02 And they lay one in on us.
02:03 And that's demoralizing.
02:06 But all credit to Kentucky for doing all that.
02:08 We obviously didn't get maximum minutes out of Miriam
02:12 tonight because of foul trouble.
02:14 Again, that's a credit to them for doing things
02:17 to get her in that situation.
02:19 We're a much better defensive team when she's in the game
02:21 and not.
02:23 I said before the game, y'all go back and check me
02:26 and research it.
02:28 I've been saying I think Petty's the most improved
02:30 player in the SEC.
02:32 I've watched it throughout the non-conference.
02:34 I watch it very closely.
02:35 I'm on the WBCA Awards Committee.
02:38 So I watch individual play.
02:40 And I've just been wowed by what she's done in the offseason
02:43 and how their staff has gotten her focused, how they use her,
02:48 how they play through her to see her 22 and 9.
02:50 And then she just dominated.
02:52 Saylor had to play 40 minutes.
02:53 She had to guard out of position.
02:54 She had to do a lot of things that we don't work on
02:58 and she's never had to do.
02:59 So again, back to just Kentucky taking it to us.
03:04 Coach, Lamar Spencer was big lead on you guys offensively
03:07 tonight.
03:08 How did she try to hide that offense in the second half?
03:11 Yeah, the matchup was in her favor.
03:13 And I thought she did a really good job exploiting it
03:16 and being in attack mode in transition.
03:20 She's a junior now.
03:21 So she's in that spot where she wants to win.
03:25 Freshmen want to play.
03:26 Sophomores want to score.
03:27 Juniors want to win.
03:28 Seniors want to win and get their degree.
03:31 So Sam's there.
03:32 She's really matured in a lot of ways.
03:36 She had good conversations with Miriam about it being one game
03:40 and how don't let one of 16 games get you down.
03:43 This role's new for Miriam as a sophomore,
03:46 even though she played for us some last year, not
03:48 as a starter.
03:50 But Sam's leadership has been amazing.
03:52 And then to go into kind of a takeover mode
03:55 there for the bulk of that third quarter,
03:57 just didn't have a chance to get her enough of a break
04:00 to where she could continue it.
04:01 I certainly heard what you said about Kentucky
04:03 when you guys were playing.
04:05 Can you use the microphone for a second?
04:07 What was your approach to practice
04:08 as you prepare for your next game?
04:10 I'm sorry.
04:10 I heard part of it when you were talking.
04:11 Then you got the microphone.
04:12 I couldn't hear you.
04:13 Sorry about that.
04:13 That's all right.
04:13 It's not your fault.
04:14 Considering how you got what you said about Kentucky
04:16 and how well your women played tonight,
04:19 what would your approach be to practice
04:21 as you prepare for your next game?
04:22 Yeah, that's the hard thing about this league,
04:24 is you expend all this energy tonight,
04:26 you got a quick turnaround.
04:27 And guess who we got on Sunday?
04:28 We got Georgia, who's one of the more physical teams
04:30 in the country and in our league.
04:32 So you know it's going to be-- you don't have a lot of time.
04:35 It's all recovery.
04:36 There'll be very little prep.
04:39 It'll be heavy in recovery, a lot of film work on Georgia.
04:43 We got to flush this one.
04:44 I told the kids, we can think about it on the plane
04:47 ride home tonight.
04:47 But as soon as our feet hit the ground back in Fayetteville,
04:51 we've got to turn our focus to Georgia,
04:52 learn from our lessons, and be ready.
04:54 And I do think we handled it better in the second half.
04:56 I think you look at that and know
04:58 we're capable of doing it.
04:59 I think we can-- it's going to be a hard job for us
05:02 as coaches to go find enough positives to have
05:05 a really energetic-- because you can't use a lot of energy
05:08 tomorrow because you just expended a lot.
05:11 But Georgia plays a little bit more zone.
05:14 So we'll get back to work tomorrow afternoon.
05:17 And we'll have tomorrow and Saturday
05:18 to get prepared for them.
05:20 Coach, you've got one of the best freshmen in the nation
05:23 on your roster, a real contributor for this team.
05:26 In your perspective, how did Kentucky
05:28 do a good job of containing Talia Scott tonight?
05:31 I thought they had multiple bodies around her.
05:33 Really forced her to play with a lack of space.
05:37 She is so good when you get her into space.
05:40 And some of the things that we've
05:42 been able to do early in the season to get her to space,
05:45 Kentucky took away from us.
05:47 I mean, I'll say this.
05:48 I think Kyra has put together a staff over there.
05:52 Look how many head coaches are sitting over there.
05:55 We've talked about that.
05:56 She's put together a group of coaches
05:57 that knows they've been there.
05:59 They know what to suggest.
06:00 They know how to make adjustments.
06:01 They know how to scout.
06:03 And I thought they did a really good job
06:04 of making Talia play crowded.
06:07 And Talia will learn from it.
06:08 I mean, we're going to keep letting her learn on the fly.
06:11 That's what we do here.
06:13 We brought her here for a reason, to play aggressive
06:16 and make plays.
06:20 So I thought Kentucky did a good job, though,
06:22 of making it hard for her to do what she's been doing.
06:25 So we'll see some growth in her.
06:27 Coach, how do you feel about your shot selection
06:29 in that first half?
06:30 Yeah, if you don't watch us practice,
06:32 you can kind of scratch your head a little bit.
06:34 Yeah, I mean, there was a few times
06:37 that I thought we had drives to the basket that we passed it.
06:41 And then there were times I thought we had an open three
06:44 and we turned it down.
06:46 That tells me there's a little bit of indecision
06:48 in our shot selection.
06:51 And it was OK, though.
06:53 It's not-- come watch us practice.
06:55 We make those shots.
06:57 So sometimes it does look like--
06:59 especially when you go for 3 for 15, 2 for 15,
07:02 or whatever it was, they're all shots.
07:04 For the most part, we missed five layups, too,
07:07 in the first quarter.
07:08 Saylor missed two, Miriam missed two,
07:10 and I think Talia-- or Sam missed one
07:12 that you saw her make the rest of the game.
07:15 So I honestly-- and I'm hopeful of this, and I might be wrong.
07:19 As coaches, sometimes it's really hard
07:20 to come in here right after because you don't
07:22 have the advantage of the film.
07:24 I hope that A, it was a little bit of nerves.
07:29 We do play a lot of freshmen.
07:31 I do play two sophomores.
07:33 I hope that it was a lot-- Rupp Arena is a big deal.
07:38 I know it's not their home court,
07:39 but it's a huge home court advantage
07:41 because our kids grow up hearing about Rupp.
07:43 We came in, we took pictures, and that's
07:46 always worth a few points.
07:48 So I thought the crowd got into it when they needed to.
07:50 So I thought it was OK, but it could have probably
07:54 been a little bit better.
07:56 [INAUDIBLE]
07:58 Oh, OK.
07:59 Thank you.
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