Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors with the media after getting a 74-72 win over the Auburn Tigers on Sunday evening at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 I got them too tight to start.
00:05 And we got a little bit loose after that start again.
00:11 Two wound up, learned some things.
00:15 And I thought after halftime that third quarter
00:17 was about as responsive as I've seen our team.
00:21 And it wasn't, it was them talking to each other.
00:24 It was a few coaching things here and there.
00:26 The transition to the zone, the kind of moving,
00:30 you know, the ball around,
00:31 moving Taliyah to some different spots.
00:33 And then, you know, she kind of goes scorched earth
00:35 there in the third quarter.
00:37 And to see her team rally around that
00:39 and start, you know, calling plays
00:41 that I wasn't even calling, trying to get her the ball,
00:43 that's the stuff that I'm really proud of
00:45 because it could have gone a lot of different ways.
00:47 So.
00:48 Yeah.
00:55 (silence)
00:57 Yeah.
01:02 Recognizing that, you know,
01:03 and then that improved our defense too.
01:05 That was not, I don't think it's coincidence
01:06 that that was our best defensive quarter as well.
01:09 We are very offensive sensitive,
01:11 but that can also be a positive when you get going
01:14 and you're making shots.
01:16 To beat them on the rebounds, 44-41.
01:19 The thing I thought we, the biggest difference
01:21 was we cleaned, they had 10 steals in the first half.
01:25 Not just us having turnovers,
01:27 but they were just like taking it from us.
01:29 And going down, and I'm glad we weren't at Auburn,
01:31 I'd have gotten sick of the fight song.
01:33 'Cause it was just lay up city there for a while.
01:35 So, I thought we cleaned that up
01:37 and that was a toughness thing.
01:39 And they were talking about it.
01:41 We've got to be the aggressor,
01:42 and got to be a little tougher.
01:43 And I thought that was big.
01:44 Emery Ellis coming in and giving us a plus 12
01:46 in eight minutes, you know,
01:47 and Miriam and Saylor's foul trouble.
01:50 Carly Johnson played four positions tonight.
01:53 You know, those 18 minutes when we're in foul trouble,
01:57 really valuable, but you know,
01:58 with the leadership of our Miriam, double-double,
02:02 played through foul trouble.
02:05 I never took her out one time because of fouls.
02:08 Took her out just to rest her a little bit,
02:10 but you know, we've had one possession games with Auburn
02:15 the last three games we've played.
02:16 So, we got up 15 and I thought,
02:19 man, if we could just find a way to get it over 20,
02:22 but we never could, and then they came roaring back.
02:25 I got us a little bit passive.
02:26 I started trying to do too much math
02:28 on how many possessions were left in the game,
02:31 and we got a little passive, and they got hot.
02:33 But I was proud of our effort
02:35 to come up with a stop there at the end.
02:37 I felt like they were going to try to get something
02:47 going to the rim.
02:48 I just felt like the way it was,
02:50 had been going in the fourth quarter.
02:51 We put Miriam on the ball.
02:54 They kind of decided that,
02:56 and talking with Coach Todd over there a little bit,
02:58 and I thought that made a difference on the pass.
03:01 You know, we had the opportunity there to get a rebound,
03:06 and we didn't come up with a big one,
03:08 and we could have folded, but we came back
03:09 and really contested Taylin's tip there.
03:11 Was it Taylin at the buzzer?
03:13 But I felt like, we felt like there was going to be a lob
03:17 and a quick curl for Scott Grayson.
03:20 Mac did a good job.
03:20 They kind of, what we call pro switch,
03:22 Mac and Sam did a good job on that.
03:24 You know, we're fortunate that maybe she missed it.
03:28 I haven't seen how close it was.
03:30 I just was relieved to hear that horn go off.
03:32 Mac, I asked her how tough it is to guard honesty.
03:37 She's got a lot of respect.
03:40 What do you think of her?
03:41 Oh, she's phenomenal, and has continued to improve.
03:44 I think Johnny's done an unbelievable job with her
03:47 in her time there, getting her to that confidence level
03:51 that she's at.
03:52 You know, Mac's got some of the best perimeter players
03:54 in this league, and for her to say that,
03:55 that's an ultimate compliment.
03:58 You know, the fact that she's shooting a three so well now
04:00 just makes her, I mean, we all know she's a pro.
04:03 It's just a matter of what level,
04:06 but I'll be glad to see that kid graduate, that's for sure.
04:09 Mac will be, too.
04:11 Thanks.
04:12 Yeah.
04:17 I thought all the boxes that we hoped to check got checked.
04:24 Like, the things that they brought up all got checked.
04:28 The things we talked about all got checked.
04:31 You know, we had a team meal last night,
04:36 and just to see them,
04:37 you could tell we were going to be better.
04:40 And I go back now, and I wonder if we could have done something
04:43 prior to the Alabama game, or if that was what we needed
04:47 so that it doesn't happen again.
04:49 I don't know.
04:51 But it took a lot out of us tonight to make a comeback
04:53 when we could have been dead in the water again,
04:57 and we could have reverted back to some of those things.
04:59 So I really liked their response.
05:03 Yeah.
05:04 Yeah, it was a game that we knew we were playing
05:16 against somebody that was going to be around us
05:17 in the standings at the end.
05:20 We had a -- you know, last game
05:22 was halfway through the conference,
05:23 so I brought the board out.
05:25 I only do it, like, one time a year.
05:27 Brought the board out, showed everybody where we were at
05:29 and the games we had left.
05:31 You know, at this point in time, we're still too early.
05:33 There's still too many things happening around the league.
05:36 But I do know this.
05:38 If we can just keep stacking wins,
05:41 then, you know, my goal is for somebody in this room
05:44 to not have to have ammunition going into that.
05:47 She can't talk about us there anyway.
05:49 But I just want it to be a no-brainer.
05:51 I don't want there to have to be, you know,
05:53 all these great stories that we try to convince people.
05:55 I want us to be good enough, and I think that we are,
05:57 if we can continue to, you know --
05:59 The timing of Taliyah's injury combined
06:02 with the timing of Saylor's injury
06:04 and the timing of Karlie's injury, Keats' injury,
06:09 we could have gone in the tank. We really could have.
06:11 We could have made a bunch of excuses through that,
06:13 and this group just never has.
06:16 So now that we're starting to get everybody back healthy,
06:18 you know, Saylor's two weeks into her plan,
06:20 and she feels better than she's felt.
06:23 Taliyah, obviously, is as close back to 100% as she can be.
06:28 And then we'll get Keats back sooner than we hoped, I think.
06:31 Her surgery went well,
06:33 and hopefully we'll be full strength down the stretch.
06:36 Yeah.
06:47 I think so, and getting the right people up there,
06:53 putting the -- you know, getting in the right people's hands.
06:55 I do think our group has a good focus
06:57 when they get to the foul line.
06:58 It helps when your bigs are good free-throw shooters.
07:00 You know, Miriam -- I'm surprised every time
07:02 Miriam misses her shot, her shot is so pretty.
07:05 It's those big hands and that follow-through
07:06 and that release, so, you know,
07:08 that's the difference of the game.
07:09 You look at it, and, you know, they go 13 for 24,
07:13 and we're 19 for 27.
07:15 Mack will be mad a little bit, but I don't think she'll --
07:19 And the first two were my fault.
07:21 First two were my fault that she missed
07:23 because she likes to have somebody up
07:24 on the free-throw line with her,
07:26 and I knew that, and I forgot it.
07:28 And then the last two, those were on her
07:30 because I put them up there, but I don't think --
07:33 I mean, she made up for it.
07:35 She said, "I got us. I got us," and she did.
07:37 Yeah, you know, it's always a great game
07:45 when we do our paint game and see India's family here.
07:49 I got to talk to her mom and her dad.
07:52 Her sister's wearing her jersey, but for not just India,
07:55 but for all the fighters and survivors,
07:57 this is one we have a lot of fun with and honor,
07:59 and what did we end up with?
08:02 4,400. Boy, it was a loud 4,400.
08:05 Ended a 5 o'clock game.
08:06 Just continue to appreciate our fans and our community.
08:10 There's lots of things you could be doing,
08:12 and we appreciate them coming out.
08:13 Our kids noticed, too.
08:25 It wasn't something we really talked about.
08:27 We talked about getting the pace going.
08:29 I just felt like, you know,
08:31 some of the shots we were having to take,
08:33 they got us deep in the shot clock
08:34 because we were perfectly content
08:36 just to walk the ball up the floor and pick it up and hold it.
08:39 And we talked about it, and as a coach,
08:43 it makes you feel bad because when you talk about something
08:46 and it doesn't get done, it makes you a bad coach.
08:50 You know, if you stand up and say, "I just told y'all,"
08:53 like the first play of the game, we turn it over.
08:56 And, you know, you say, "Well, I warned y'all."
08:58 That makes me -- I didn't have them prepared if I say that.
09:01 So I was glad that we made the adjustments,
09:04 but there was never a talk about,
09:06 "Hey, we got to get Taliyah touches right off the bat."
09:09 But when she makes one or two, then I don't have to say a word.
09:15 Like, it just finds her,
09:16 and that's what I want her to learn is that just be patient.
09:20 Over the course of the game,
09:21 the ball's going to continue to find you.
09:22 It doesn't matter where you line up.
09:23 It doesn't matter whether you start with it in your hands.
09:27 We've got a veteran team that can recognize
09:30 when somebody's, you know, in the zone or heating up.
09:34 What was that old video game, NBA Jam?
09:36 She's heating up. I kept hearing that in the back of my head
09:39 every time she'd make one.
09:40 But we did not do anything.
09:42 I didn't have a coach come to me and say,
09:44 "Hey, we got to --" None of that.
09:45 It just kind of organically happened.
09:47 And then, obviously, once it gets going,
09:49 you make a few play calls to get her,
09:50 but there wasn't anything talked about.
09:55 Yeah.
09:56 All right.
09:58 Drove it in there.
10:04 Barry. Yeah, Barry.
10:06 Especially late, you know.
10:08 She made the game-winning decision,
10:11 passing it to Miriam the other time.
10:14 You know, and to me, the longer the game goes along --
10:18 I wish we had Sam's stats broken down to first quarter,
10:21 second quarter, fourth quarter, last four minutes, whatever,
10:24 because she wants it in her hands.
10:27 Mack's a kid that wants to come to her late.
10:29 She doesn't necessarily want to be the first option,
10:32 but Sam's okay with that.
10:34 She's got broad shoulders,
10:37 and she's willing to know that it is in her hands.
10:40 Five assists, two turnovers today against a team
10:42 that tried to take it from us every single time.
10:45 It was really good, but very confident.
10:47 We cleared one side out for her,
10:49 and thought she got a great matchup,
10:51 and that and one was big.
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