Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors' complete press conference previewing Thursday night's game with Mississippi State and Tahlia Scott's injury.
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00:00 Yes, go for it.
00:01 Suddenly, where's the backdrop from?
00:04 Pebble Beach.
00:06 It looks like a baseball field more than--
00:08 It is.
00:08 It is.
00:09 Let me move out the way.
00:10 It is, but it's nearby Pebble Beach.
00:13 No kidding.
00:14 Yeah.
00:15 So it's on the Monterey Peninsula?
00:17 Something like that.
00:19 Maybe the best baseball field ever.
00:22 Yeah, you know, you could lose a few balls, though.
00:25 Be all right.
00:26 I'd be willing to go help them fetch them.
00:29 OK, now we can start.
00:30 Sorry, I was distracted.
00:32 All good.
00:33 Ethan, you want to go ahead?
00:36 Sure.
00:38 Hey, Mike, just talking about Sunday a little bit,
00:41 not just the fact that y'all bounced back with a win,
00:43 but just kind of the way that y'all played doing so.
00:46 What'd you think about that?
00:49 It's sports, man.
00:51 I mean, I wish I could explain it.
00:53 I'd like to sit up here and take credit and tell you
00:55 we changed all these big things and did
00:57 all these different things.
00:58 There was a few little small things,
01:00 but it's a crazy thing with sports when you travel
01:04 and you're dealing with human beings.
01:08 But I would have never predicted a 40-point win over a Georgia
01:12 team.
01:12 It's hard to score 40 points against them, much less
01:15 have that differential.
01:16 So not going to sit here and tell you I saw it coming.
01:19 I will tell you we had two really good days of practice.
01:22 I do think sometimes there is a tendency
01:25 to rally around when somebody is going
01:27 to be out like Taliyah was.
01:29 It wasn't like it sprung on us.
01:30 We knew on Friday--
01:33 we didn't know she would be out, but she
01:35 didn't practice on Friday, and then she
01:36 didn't practice Saturday.
01:37 So we had two really good days, and then it just carried over.
01:42 I thought our start was phenomenal, which kind of,
01:46 I think, spooked Georgia a little bit
01:49 and was never able to recover.
01:51 And we played-- you go back and you look at it.
01:54 Like I said, I don't ever get up there and try to beat--
01:56 we only shot 37%.
01:57 We could have done more.
02:00 We did not take a bad shot in the first half, not one.
02:03 We didn't take one bad shot, and we only had one turnover.
02:05 And it was with about a minute to go
02:09 after the TV announcer jinxed us and said
02:12 we hadn't turned it over yet as we were literally
02:14 turning it over.
02:16 And it was a dead ball turnover.
02:17 So when you take great shots, you get to the foul line,
02:20 play great defense, which we did the entire game.
02:23 Something like that's capable of happening.
02:25 I think it's a good thing for us to all go through,
02:30 because it's really hard to explain and be honest about it.
02:36 There's some randomness involved,
02:38 but I do think our kids responded.
02:39 They did not panic after Kentucky.
02:42 I think the way they handled the two day--
02:46 the trip home and the days in between was very professional,
02:49 very mature.
02:50 And I think as a result, we were able to bounce back.
02:53 I think you have to be able to do that.
02:54 I think part of that, again, I want to think,
02:57 I hope, that what we did in the non-conference
02:59 prepared us for that.
03:01 I don't know that for a fact yet,
03:03 but I hope it helped that we did have some tough moments
03:06 and some tough games.
03:07 And we bounced back, and we won at Florida State.
03:09 So we were able to draw from some of those things.
03:12 But all in all, nothing we could have--
03:15 I don't think any of us would feel very comfortable saying
03:17 we all predicted that would be the case on Sunday,
03:20 the way we played and the result.
03:24 And has Talia been able to return to practice any kind of--
03:26 what's the update there?
03:28 She has not.
03:30 It's an informational thing at this point.
03:33 Just the time that we can get and find out
03:35 exactly what's going on and make a good plan.
03:38 So we haven't had that time.
03:39 So she didn't practice again today.
03:41 We have practice tomorrow at 11, and then we'll
03:44 have a game day shoot around.
03:45 So it's literally going to be once we get all the information
03:49 and we can just make the best decision for her,
03:52 short-term and long-term.
03:54 And then last thing I'll ask is just, obviously,
03:57 a really talented Mississippi State team.
04:00 What are your thoughts on them?
04:01 What stands out?
04:03 Well, I sit on a committee for the WBCA
04:06 where we look at the positional awards,
04:09 and they've got like five of them.
04:11 They got somebody in every position,
04:13 multiples and a couple, and some kids that
04:15 will play their way onto that.
04:17 So we've known that there is a talented team.
04:20 The thing that scares me most is their 0 and 2.
04:24 They've played two good teams, so you can't--
04:26 but there will be, I'm sure, they
04:28 will have their full attention coming in here.
04:32 There's not just one player you can key on.
04:35 They're all veterans that play.
04:40 It's funny, ironically, Jorkayla Jordan's one of the players
04:43 not on a watch list, and I'm making a case for them.
04:45 Like, how can that kid not be on a watch list?
04:49 And she's one of their best, so extremely talented, versatile.
04:54 They're hard to prepare for because Sam
04:58 worked for Jeff Walls for a number of years,
05:00 and they tweak and change things game to game.
05:05 So we're going to have to work on concepts,
05:07 be very good at what we do first and foremost.
05:11 I think we got--
05:13 they pressure you.
05:15 It's going to be physical.
05:17 So I think we've played two games that'll have us ready for
05:19 it, but yeah, it's a really, really talented team
05:23 that's got aspirations for not only getting to the tournament
05:26 but going deep.
05:27 So I know they'll play incredibly hard.
05:29 Dudley?
05:34 Yeah, a couple of questions.
05:36 On Taliyah, should we list her as day-to-day,
05:40 questionable, doubtful?
05:41 Yeah, I'd be day-to-day because it's one of these deals,
05:44 Dudley, where it could be like, OK, go.
05:48 Full go.
05:49 There's not going to be an in-between.
05:51 It's either going to be an out or an in deal.
05:52 So that's why I would tell you, make it day-to-day.
05:55 And if you want to even abbreviate that in these
05:57 worlds, it's hour-to-hour.
05:59 I may not know until we put the lineups in.
06:02 So that'd be my recommendation.
06:07 And then obviously, you want to have her back in play.
06:09 But how much appreciation did you
06:12 have for what Carla Keats did the other day?
06:14 Well, just if you know Keats, you
06:17 know nothing faces the kid.
06:19 So it was just a matter of, I've been writing on her cards
06:22 that you don't have to--
06:23 you never have to get ready if you stay ready.
06:25 And she walked by me.
06:27 She said, coach, I've been staying ready.
06:29 That's about all you can get out of her.
06:31 Kylie can probably co-sign with me on that.
06:33 And anybody that listened to the postgame and Phil's interview
06:38 with her knows you're not going to get much out of her.
06:40 But she was able to play 40 minutes
06:44 and play the way she did on both ends of the floor.
06:47 We've known that she's got that in her.
06:50 She did a lot for it at the junior college level.
06:52 And it was kind of fun.
06:53 She is one of those kids that was mad she went 2 for 10
06:56 because she thought every one of them was going in when she let
06:58 it go.
06:59 I promise you, if she gets those 10 shots again,
07:01 she's probably able to make five or six of them.
07:04 But really proud of her and just everybody,
07:07 kind of taking it on themselves to do just a little bit more.
07:10 Nothing out of the ordinary, but maybe one extra rebound
07:13 or one extra defensive stop.
07:15 Or Max, the way she set the pace and Sam handling the point
07:23 against that zone.
07:25 When you got veterans like that, they
07:27 were really very instrumental.
07:31 And with Miriam and Saylor, our two sophomores,
07:34 and with Keats, just tell them, hey, it's OK.
07:36 We got this.
07:37 And then the confidence flowed.
07:39 And it was fun to see them play with some confidence.
07:43 And then y'all are very familiar with one of Mississippi State's
07:46 players.
07:46 So what's that dynamic like going up against her?
07:51 It was funny.
07:52 We did the scout today, and we were like, how weird is this?
07:54 I have to write a scout about her.
07:56 And obviously, tendencies were not something
07:59 that we had to go over.
08:00 They've been with Erin for five years.
08:03 I mean, she was a Razorback for five years.
08:06 I think it's going to be something we all go through
08:08 more and more as our careers go along.
08:11 But this is one of the first times that faced a kid that
08:13 was with us for five years.
08:15 It wasn't-- everybody says, she was with you for four.
08:16 It was the fifth year there, if you go back and look.
08:19 So everybody loves Erin.
08:21 She's a Razorback.
08:22 She says it.
08:23 She's a Razorback.
08:24 But she wanted a little different thing
08:26 for her senior year.
08:26 So we've worked on her hedging ball screens,
08:30 because we know she's good at that.
08:31 We've worked on her driving the basket, getting her boxed out.
08:34 And I'm not going to be yelling for travels
08:36 like all the other coaches have in the past on her,
08:39 because it's not a travel.
08:40 It just looks like it.
08:41 So I saw some quotes that she had in the paper.
08:45 I know she's going to have a lot of emotions about it.
08:48 We won't do anything to tack on to what she's already
08:50 having to deal with.
08:51 But she is one of those great players y'all mentioned.
08:55 So we have to be ready to now defend her and make sure
08:59 that she doesn't make everybody else on her team better
09:03 as well.
09:05 Thanks.
09:05 You got it.
09:07 Anyone else want to jump in?
09:09 I'll jump in with a couple quick ones.
09:11 Mike, when you're down a body, what's the conversation
09:14 like as far as not getting into early foul trouble
09:16 and not wanting to talk about not getting into foul trouble
09:19 and risking really being shorthanded?
09:22 Yeah, a lot of that-- well, and even, too,
09:24 how we prepped those two days, making sure we had our legs,
09:26 the number of reps that we did.
09:28 But I will be honest with you.
09:30 I was really glad that Georgia came out in a zone.
09:33 We knew they were going to play zone to start.
09:35 But that means there's a far less chance of Miriam
09:37 and Saylor getting a moving screen in the offense.
09:42 I thought that without having to talk about it, because of how
09:45 we felt like they were going to play,
09:47 we didn't really have to mention it too much.
09:49 But yeah, I was holding my breath
09:51 every time a whistle got blown and seeing
09:54 Matt getting involved and Miriam specifically.
09:57 Because our defense changes a lot when those two kids are
10:00 out, not to say that we could play without them.
10:04 The other kids, but those two kids really, really impacted.
10:07 So I was glad that Georgia played zone.
10:09 I was glad we didn't have to set a lot of screens.
10:11 But then I thought our discipline was better.
10:14 We pointed out to Miriam the amount, the number of feet
10:18 between her and the basket that her fouls occurred at Kentucky.
10:23 She needs to commit four fouls a game
10:25 within about two feet of our defensive goal, not
10:28 our offensive goal.
10:30 So I think it was a valuable lesson we learned there.
10:32 Because obviously, without her at Kentucky,
10:34 defense wasn't the same.
10:35 But to see them carry that over, part of it
10:38 was game plan on Georgia's part.
10:40 Part of it was game plan on our part, I think, Brett.
10:43 And then last year, to me, the comparison
10:45 I had from last year to this game the other day
10:47 was your Florida game a year ago,
10:49 where you scored 100 points and it felt like just everything
10:52 went well.
10:52 And you played really well after that at Missouri.
10:54 You got a win.
10:55 And then you got the Vanderbilt buzzer beater.
10:57 More than hope, is there the thought
10:59 that this will have a direct carryover with just
11:02 the excitement of playing well with everybody?
11:04 Or is it still the randomness of game to game in the SEC?
11:08 I mean, you can fool yourself if you want to and say
11:10 that there's a hot streak or believe in hot streaks.
11:14 I think it does give you confidence
11:15 to try some things and do some things probably
11:18 a little bit better.
11:19 But I do think, because we live in reality world,
11:22 we talk to our kids about that.
11:25 Our point to them was you can lose it just as quickly.
11:29 That's that razor edge, narrow margin
11:33 that exists in what is the SEC.
11:37 It is not these big, huge, boulder things.
11:41 It's these little tiny pebble things to me
11:44 that make the difference between a 40 point win and a 10 point
11:47 loss or whatever.
11:49 It's not these big, big things.
11:51 A lot of times it's a lot of little things that pile up.
11:54 So I want us to be aware of them.
11:57 I want us to ride the energy.
11:59 But I do think, because we live in reality worlds,
12:02 our kids flush wins just like they do losses.
12:06 And I think to be consistent, we have to allow that.
12:08 Otherwise, we're kind of out of alignment
12:10 with what we're saying.
12:11 And I would rather live in reality world
12:15 and have our kids understand that it was a great thing
12:18 that they did.
12:18 We should have celebrated it as much as we could.
12:21 But now you got to go back to work.
12:23 And it kind of shows what we're capable of too.
12:26 It raises that bar of execution, that bar of every--
12:31 the amount of energy we played with.
12:32 We weren't tired, but that's another thing
12:35 I pointed out to them.
12:37 It was our-- we talked about that number
12:39 that we get from Tyler, our strength coach.
12:42 It was our highest effort game.
12:46 Our highest effort game.
12:49 But we weren't tired.
12:50 But somehow with the less effort,
12:51 we acted like we were tired in the past.
12:53 So that was a really good thing for me
12:55 to point out to them.
12:56 You weren't tired because you were playing good
12:59 and you had adrenaline and you're picking each other up
13:02 and you weren't down on each other or whatever.
13:04 But there's no reason you should have felt less tired
13:07 because you exerted more energy.
13:09 So of course, they came back to me and said,
13:11 well, you did a better job in practice the two days ahead.
13:14 They've always got an answer for me.
13:16 But I think we continue to learn.
13:18 And that's what all that stuff does for us.
13:22 It helps us make better decisions.
13:23 But I do think each game is independent, Brad.
13:25 I think you got to--
13:27 I wish we could bottle it up.
13:28 Man, it would have been a fun one to bottle up
13:30 because I mean, nobody expected that.
13:34 George is too good of a team to ever anticipate
13:37 scoring 83 points on, much less hold them
13:39 to 43 in that same game.
13:41 So I'm glad we did it.
13:42 But we've got to move past it just like a bad game.
13:45 You've got to move on past it and be ready for that next one
13:48 that's on the schedule.