Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors on team burning up lot of energy trying to come back, keep up with Mississippi State and didn't have it at end in a close game, despite having brief lead late.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Not the side of the scoreboard you wanted to come out on.
00:02 How tough is it to see your team show so much fight and take the lead like they
00:05 didn't just not come out with the result?
00:07 >> You spend so much energy coming back.
00:10 I mean, it's not just basketball, it's all sports.
00:13 And when you're around it long enough, you know that's the case as it's happening.
00:18 And you're excited when you take the lead, but you know how hard it is to close.
00:23 It's a loose ball here, it's six inches here.
00:28 It's did just, but again, it seems to magnify everything in the second half.
00:33 But it was the start of the game that was obviously the only time I thought we
00:36 weren't competitive.
00:37 The first three and a half, four minutes of the game and
00:40 that continues to be a disappointment.
00:42 Something we've tried to talk about.
00:45 There may have to be some changes, not in personnel, not in lineups, but
00:49 how we go about doing things to get off to a little bit better start.
00:53 It's a hard deal because it's a late game.
00:55 And that's an excuse, I'm not making an excuse, but it's a real thing.
00:59 Our crowd is probably thousand off of what it would have been without the threat
01:02 of weather.
01:04 So all those things, it's hard on our kids.
01:08 And we look down and see 66-63, that's a score that sticks in our head.
01:11 We had that score like three times last year.
01:14 Go back and look at it, it's that exact score.
01:16 And we talk all the time about how it can be one possession
01:22 out of any of the 70 or 75, how many it was.
01:24 So your heart breaks for the kids because this group, when you go in there and
01:30 you try to motivate them either at halftime or at timeout,
01:34 all you have is eyes and head nods.
01:36 You don't have anybody disagreeing, you don't have anybody pointing fingers.
01:42 And you just want one more shot to go in for them so badly.
01:45 I thought the second half obviously we took better shots, and
01:49 that was why we made a few more.
01:52 So got to the foul line, I don't think we shot a free throw in the first half.
01:56 We came in and said be more aggressive.
01:58 I probably had them a little too tentative in our preparation.
02:04 We were gonna try to bring Carter away from the basket and
02:07 try to hit some threes with our bigs.
02:09 Which we got a few good looks, and
02:11 we were trying to drive it in there with Carter away from the basket.
02:14 But she's so good, I mean, she should be in the WNBA.
02:18 She should have been playing the WNBA, not in this game.
02:22 She's gonna be a great pro.
02:24 I thought she and Park Lane were in control of the game,
02:28 and Jordan hit some timely shots.
02:30 But it's disappointing, but not discouraged.
02:36 Losing hurts, but there's no discouragement.
02:39 The kids are, y'all know the difference between playing hard and not.
02:44 I don't have to tell you that.
02:44 >> I heard Sam Purcell say after the game,
02:47 the SEC's not getting enough respect cuz everybody's had injuries.
02:51 And of course, you've got a key one right now.
02:53 How's she doing?
02:54 >> She's doing fine.
02:56 It's so, with her being so young, you've gotta be so protective.
03:00 Would love to have had her both of the last two games, but not at the risk of
03:05 potentially lingering the thing out or something that when she's older and
03:09 wanting to play pickup with her own kids, it's no reason to rush it.
03:13 And he's right, I will echo what he has said.
03:19 Our league went out and challenged ourselves.
03:20 All you have to do is look at all the teams that people played in non-conference.
03:24 That didn't happen in every conference in the league.
03:26 So I will take, is umbrage the right word?
03:31 Will y'all correct me if I'm wrong?
03:33 Take umbrage with anybody that's trying to predict
03:37 the NCAA tournament right now without enough information.
03:43 I get it, they gotta have clicks, they gotta have people tuning in, and
03:46 we gotta grow the game and all that.
03:47 But it is way too early to be trying to speculate.
03:51 If Mississippi State is one of the first team, last teams in,
03:53 you're not paying attention.
03:56 And this is a really, really good team.
03:58 And I don't know if we're one of those teams yet.
04:00 I think by the end of the year, we'll know that.
04:01 But our league certainly deserves more than six teams in the field.
04:06 >> Back to the 10-0 start, as long ago as Eddie Sutton, he would always talk about
04:10 trying to find the magic level.
04:11 >> Did he? >> At game time.
04:13 How do you find that magic level?
04:15 >> Well, we had it the other day.
04:17 You could say that, but if he ever found it, I would love to know what it was.
04:23 I don't know that it exists.
04:25 I think we're dealing with kids.
04:26 I think we're dealing with so many different variables.
04:29 You can change how you do in warm-ups.
04:32 But if he found it, he would have been one of the guys that might have found it.
04:39 But that is a great way to put it.
04:40 We wring our heads, our hands as coaches, over little things.
04:45 We didn't do anything special the other night.
04:47 We came out and played great.
04:48 So I'm not gonna try to get too high or too low.
04:52 But there does have to be a reason, and I haven't figured it out yet.
04:56 But that maybe won't stop.
04:57 I'll try every single thing.
04:59 I've had slow-starting teams.
05:00 I would rather have a fast-finishing team than a slow-starting team.
05:03 But we gotta do both in this league.
05:05 >> Just kind of reminiscent to the Kentucky game where you struggled
05:09 offensively in the first half.
05:11 Sam, it's like she got really aggressive there in the third quarter,
05:15 kind of got things going by driving.
05:17 >> Yeah.
05:17 >> What'd you think of, I guess, her as an upperclassman?
05:20 It seemed like she kind of got the offense going.
05:22 >> Yeah, and she was the one doing a lot of nodding at half.
05:24 I think she felt like she could do more.
05:26 She was doing a lot of the nodding and a lot of talking, a lot of taking it on
05:29 herself.
05:30 I think the one thing I'm sitting here and I'm looking at,
05:34 when we start to prepare in league, we usually try to put some new things in
05:38 that we saw on film.
05:40 I think maybe getting away from that and going back to what's been working for
05:44 us in the past and then use those if we need to.
05:46 But I was a little bit maybe too focused on the new stuff that we had worked on,
05:53 that we thought would get us off to a good start, and we haven't run it.
05:57 Maybe we should just go back to doing the things that we know are proven winners.
06:01 And if they can stop those, then go to plan B.
06:03 So that'll probably be my switch.
06:05 But just Sam's been amazing all year in her attitude and
06:10 her ability to listen and talk and lead.
06:13 And I think she continues to grow in lots and lots of areas.
06:20 She was extremely frustrated at herself in the first half.
06:23 And I told her, I said, you've gotta let that go,
06:25 cuz your brain does keep scoring.
06:27 It's not gonna be there when you really need it to be.
06:28 So, but that's just her wanting to try.
06:31 If y'all spent any time with that kid off the court,
06:34 you know that she just wants to do well for her teammates and well her for
06:37 her family and the fans that were here.
06:40 It's not, she takes it very, very personally, offensively and defensively.
06:45 I was proud of the way she came back and
06:46 got us going in that third quarter and into the fourth quarter too.
06:49 >> Yeah, coach, you kept the rotation tonight to only seven.
06:53 Was that the game plan going in, keeping the rotation tight?
06:56 >> Pretty much, I mean, we're down to our game.
07:00 We played seven the other night too, pretty much until the end of the game,
07:03 until it was over.
07:04 So we've been not going as long in practice as a result with Taliyah being out.
07:09 Jenna gave us two good minutes, or six good minutes, and
07:13 Emory gave us a couple good minutes.
07:15 But we've been saving Saylor and Carly and Matt, all the starters,
07:19 we've been saving them in practice, so that they can be ready for the game.
07:22 They will be tired, but I don't think there was fatigue.
07:29 >> You've already mentioned Carter just a little bit.
07:30 How do you think Douda fared up against Carter tonight?
07:33 >> I thought for the most part she did great on the initial defense.
07:36 I thought that where Carter is so tough is like you can block her shot and
07:40 she doesn't give up, she goes back and gets the next one.
07:43 And I think we'll go back and look at about three different times when Miriam
07:47 either blocked her shot, altered her shot, changed her shot,
07:50 forced her to take a shot further out, and we didn't get the rebound behind it.
07:54 And Jordan would either stick in there or Carter would get it back.
07:57 Aaron had one of those in the first half, so we've got to do a better job of,
08:02 I've talked to Jason Watson a lot about in volleyball when they go to block shots,
08:07 how everybody comes in behind it and gets the digs.
08:11 We've got to do a better job of that.
08:12 I really think there's something that we can learn from what they do in volleyball.
08:16 And I thought Miriam's been amazing all year long, but
08:20 that was by far, again, against a kid that's a pro, should be a pro, will be a pro.
08:26 I think we should all be excited about that we have her.
08:31 >> Saylor towards the end of the first half was coming off holding her wrist.
08:34 Anything about that or I mean she played- >> No, she just got banged, yeah.
08:37 She just got banged a little bit and it was sore.
08:41 Mac was not well tonight either at all from about the four minute game,
08:45 minute on just sick, just sick to her stomach, no injuries.
08:48 So yeah, Saylor's good, she'll get recovery.
08:53 We're supposed to practice at 11 tomorrow, but campus is already closed.
08:55 We got, I guess, some really bad weather coming in.
08:58 Plus we need the time to sleep in.
09:00 So she'll get in and get some rehab, but I just talked to her walking down the hall.
09:03 She seemed fine.
09:05 >> Last question for you, Aaron Barnum coming back here.
09:06 What was it like seeing her on the opposite team?
09:09 >> It was hard to do the scouting report, cuz she was here for five years.
09:14 Helped us win a lot of big games.
09:16 Saw her on the handshake line.
09:17 She first thing she did was ask about the boys.
09:19 I was really proud of our fans.
09:21 We talked about it in our chalk talk before the game.
09:24 And we have about, I don't know, 50 or 60 people in here.
09:28 And I said, I think it would be a disservice if we didn't give her a big
09:31 cheer, she helped us win a lot of games.
09:33 We had her scouted pretty good.
09:35 I think she was very active early in the game.
09:40 But you're always, she did it the right way.
09:44 She wanted to do something after five years at one place.
09:46 And that's pretty common these days.
09:49 But there's no hard feelings between any of our kids or her.
09:52 We'll pull for the rest of the year unless we happen to draw them in the SEC
09:56 tournament.
09:57 >> Thanks, Coach.
09:58 >> You got it.
09:59 >> And then just this last time we'll have you before y'all go on the road to
10:02 Alabama.
10:03 I know, I guess, kind of y'all's look alike in the league was shooting a three
10:07 ball.
10:07 What are your thoughts kind of going into that one?
10:10 >> I wanna get and see how they did against George.
10:12 I know they won pretty handily.
10:13 Alabama's a difficult guard always for everybody.
10:21 I do think we match up really well.
10:23 I mean, it's gotta be a fun game to watch.
10:25 We've played traditionally, we played pretty well down there.
10:28 I hope we have the legs.
10:29 I hope we have the travel, a smooth travel getting down there.
10:32 So that if they won tonight, that means there'll be two and one.
10:38 Is that right?
10:39 I don't know.
10:40 Anyway, they're coming off a big win, so they'll be, but I do know one thing.
10:44 I do know this team has bounced back in them, our team.
10:47 So and we did it after a quick recovery and we had to travel.
10:51 So we'll travel, get down there.
10:52 But Alabama with Sarah Ashley Barker's playing at a really,
10:58 really high level, Nia's shooting 50%, I think, or was.
11:03 I don't know what she did tonight, but she made seven threes the other night
11:06 against Missouri, I think.
11:08 And I watched a little bit, I saw her make two or three again tonight.
11:12 As the Cody kid inside is a true low post presence.
11:16 Again, we'll have Loil McQueen, who's a really quick guard.
11:21 It's a team we've played a lot.
11:22 We're in that time of the year where scouts, you're so familiar with these people.
11:30 You're so, so familiar.
11:31 A lot of these kids have played against each other now for four or five years.
11:34 So I don't anticipate anything but Wild Sunday and Tuscaloosa.
11:38 I'm anxious to get down there and be all around the football stuff that's happening.
11:41 I'll be watching planes.
11:43 We'll give you all a report on who's landing, when we're landing,
11:46 tail numbers, we'll send you all back some tail numbers.
11:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]