Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors with media from his automobile Tuesday morning ahead of key road game with Florida Gators.
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00:00 Alright, we're going to leave this off with Daniel.
00:02 Go ahead and if you have a question,
00:05 use the raise your hand function
00:06 or message me in the chat.
00:08 Hi coach, I snuck out of class for a split second.
00:13 I guess how do you kind of emotionally?
00:16 I guess we invest in the team.
00:18 A high emotional win and you'll
00:20 have another back to back.
00:22 Important bubble game.
00:23 Um, I think they've managed it well all year long,
00:29 so if it was the first time we've been.
00:32 Doing it, I thought I would be more concerned,
00:34 but you know we've kind of been.
00:37 When one lose one lose,
00:38 win two will lose one.
00:40 I just think we've kind of got.
00:43 Uh, I don't want to say we've gotten
00:45 used to it or accustomed to it 'cause
00:47 you don't want that to ever be the case.
00:49 But I do think we understand
00:51 that played in the SEC.
00:54 You know you got Mac and Sam telling
00:55 the kids the story and you tell
00:57 him that it's a marathon.
00:58 You have to treat it like it is so.
01:00 I don't worry about him with that aspect.
01:03 I think they've learned to compartmentalize
01:05 things pretty well and take each game.
01:07 Literally coach speak one game at a time,
01:10 and that's been a quality that we've
01:13 had to have to survive in this league.
01:15 Do you have another one, Daniel?
01:22 And then you know you had gone
01:24 six into that totally first game back.
01:26 Does it kind of take a minute for
01:28 the offense to kind of readjust
01:30 and you know get back up to speed?
01:32 Yeah, absolutely there's you can
01:35 practice it all you want,
01:37 but you can't stimulate.
01:40 4000 you know 4500 people in the stands
01:42 and you can't simulate the opponents
01:44 intensities and things like that.
01:45 So. Yeah, we knew there would
01:47 be a period of adjustment.
01:49 That's why I wanted to kind of
01:51 slowly work her back in in that
01:54 Alabama game shed. You know,
01:55 the three extra days of practice,
01:57 not to mention you know our individual
01:59 times when she comes in and shoots on her own.
02:01 So yeah, you gotta give it time
02:04 and even more time.
02:05 I don't think you can expect.
02:08 That level of success you know,
02:10 even for that she had there in
02:13 the game in the third quarter.
02:16 I think we still give her time to
02:18 and us time to make that adjustment.
02:21 Thanks coach back to regular
02:24 schedule programming. Sorry,
02:25 Ethan for stealing your leadoff spot.
02:27 Why are you lucky class?
02:29 Why are you apologizing to me, Daniel?
02:33 Mike, just how do you feel
02:34 like you match up with Florida?
02:35 Uh, you know, pretty good position
02:40 wise by position you know I like.
02:42 You know there's not a tremendous
02:46 size advantage one way or the other.
02:47 There's not a tremendous speed event.
02:49 Like we're both very transition oriented.
02:51 We play through our guards,
02:53 our big kids compliment that very,
02:55 very well.
02:57 You know, I do think that you know
03:00 Florida has got a depth advantage.
03:04 I don't know the health of Matharu.
03:06 She's kind of played some hasn't played some,
03:08 but if if she's healthy that gives
03:10 him a little bit of a depth advantage.
03:12 And then of course there at home so.
03:15 But I like the personnel matchup.
03:16 Our styles of play.
03:17 They've always produced an entertaining game,
03:21 so I wouldn't anticipate
03:22 anything less than that.
03:24 Yeah, and then the last thing I got is a
03:28 Leilani she's I think leading the SEC in.
03:31 A league play scoring what makes her so tough.
03:34 Size, speed, confidence, you know,
03:39 ability to score it multiple ways.
03:43 You know you can work on.
03:45 You can't keep her from getting shots.
03:47 She's going to be able to create shots
03:48 regardless of what you decided to do.
03:50 You have to really affect the quality
03:52 of the shot that she takes.
03:54 You can't pinpoint one side of the floor
03:57 or one action that they used to get her there,
04:00 and I think the most important thing
04:02 is she's playing loose and free.
04:04 She reminded me of watching Dungy.
04:09 You know, I think just some of the
04:11 ways that she gets to the foul line.
04:13 The way that you can think you're in
04:15 good defense position yet she can draw fouls.
04:18 Can shoot the three can drive it.
04:20 I mean, I just shoot like 59% from the
04:23 three point line in our last five games,
04:24 which I mean you don't do that
04:26 in an empty gym a lot of times so.
04:30 But the thing that's concerning is that
04:32 there's not just one thing or one person.
04:34 You can't just say OK Mac, you got her or hey,
04:36 we gotta take away her left hand or we gotta
04:39 do this when the ball is on the right side of the floor.
04:43 She can hurt you a lot of different ways,
04:45 and it's if you start spending too much time
04:47 focusing on her, then Matharu has a big game
04:50 or Rimdahl or Saugus or Newt or somebody comes in there
04:55 and you know next thing you know you've done
04:57 a good job on her, but you look up
04:58 and you're losing the battle.
05:00 You know you might be winning the battle,
05:01 but losing the war so.
05:02 They've been in every game they've played.
05:06 So I don't think their records very good indicator
05:11 of how good of a team they are or how dangerous they are.
05:17 - Dudley.
05:19 - The difference in five and four and four and five
05:21 is just one game in the standings,
05:22 but how much is it in mentality and you know,
05:25 practice and harder and things like that?
05:28 - A lot.
05:31 Above 500 is a rare place for us to be.
05:34 Callie will appreciate it.
05:35 I've been going back through her work in the record books
05:38 trying to determine exactly how many days
05:42 we've actually been above 500.
05:44 You know, during a calendar year.
05:46 And through the first few years, it's not very many.
05:48 So I think it's huge, Dudley.
05:51 I think just looking up and seeing where you're at
05:54 in that standings when you pull it up on,
05:56 and I know it's not the end of the year,
05:57 but I do think there's a mental shot of adrenaline you get.
06:02 You know, our film session today is gonna be highlighting
06:05 all the high fives and back pats and chest bumps
06:09 and helping each other up off the floor
06:11 as opposed to the other day when it was
06:14 literally turning our backs on teammates
06:16 when something bad would happen.
06:17 So, I mean, my mood's better.
06:20 And I think, you know, when the coach's mood's better,
06:23 I'm sure our kids' moods are better too.
06:25 - Appreciate it.
06:28 - Yep.
06:29 - Anyone else?
06:30 Oh, Jacob, sorry, I didn't see you.
06:32 Go ahead.
06:33 - You're fine.
06:34 Hey, coach, I just wanted to ask you,
06:35 how impressed were you with Talia's mental toughness?
06:38 You know, obviously she's been working her way back
06:41 into the rotation, into the game,
06:42 but starting three at 12 and then obviously
06:44 having the second half that she did,
06:46 what does that say about her mental toughness
06:48 and I guess just shooters' mentality as a whole?
06:51 - You know, again, she never stopped playing defense.
06:56 I told y'all before the game,
06:57 that's what I was gonna gauge it on.
06:58 She was taking charges, she was guarding the ball.
07:02 So as long as she kept doing that,
07:03 I knew the shots would fall.
07:05 I mean, it's the law of large numbers a little bit.
07:08 You know, she is gonna be a near 45 to 50% from the field,
07:13 a near 35 to 45% shooter from the three.
07:17 So, I mean, to me, when it started out one for nine,
07:20 I literally looked across at our bench and I said,
07:22 it's coming 'cause, you know, it's gonna happen.
07:25 I don't know when, I hope sooner than later,
07:27 but I think that speaks to her confidence.
07:32 I think that speaks to her teammates' confidence in her,
07:35 our coaches' confidence in her.
07:36 And it's come, and everybody says,
07:40 oh, she's blessed with that.
07:41 And I just don't agree with that.
07:42 That's something that's developed
07:44 from having had games like that in the past,
07:46 whether it was her scholastic team
07:48 or her summer league team.
07:49 And, you know, she played for coaches at both places
07:52 that don't get reactive to,
07:54 I don't judge the quality of a shot,
07:56 whether it goes in or not.
07:58 I try to judge it as soon as it leaves their hand,
08:01 you know, 'cause sometimes you can take a bad shot
08:02 and it goes in and it looks good on the stat sheet,
08:05 but in all actuality, it wasn't.
08:07 I thought there was only one of those nine shots
08:09 that probably wasn't a shot she makes all the time.
08:12 So as long as all of our kids, not just her,
08:15 as long as they take shots that are ones
08:19 we've made in games and practices,
08:20 I'm not gonna get too,
08:23 and I don't think they don't do that to each other.
08:25 I think when they do react is when somebody takes one
08:28 that maybe we've never seen them make before.
08:30 So I think it does speak to her toughness as long,
08:34 as well as her teammates and her coaches.
08:37 - And then you mentioned, you know,
08:39 you brought the whiteboard out for the first time,
08:42 you know, looking at who you were close to
08:44 in the standings and all of that.
08:45 And how do you continue to kind of approach that
08:48 with the team in terms of SEC standings, the bubble,
08:51 you know, how do you approach that
08:53 for the rest of the season in terms of talking about it
08:55 or not talking about it?
08:57 - Differently with each kid.
08:58 So I don't do anything as a group
09:00 because we do have a certain number of kids
09:02 that don't care about it or don't wanna hear it.
09:04 Not that they don't care about it, but it bothers them.
09:06 They spend too much time,
09:07 they put too much pressure on themselves.
09:09 But there are four or five that wanna know every day
09:12 what our net is and what our strength of schedule is
09:14 and how many mythical quad one wins we have,
09:17 even though we don't have that on the women's side,
09:19 they still wanna know.
09:20 So I do that individually.
09:23 You know, every kid's different,
09:26 but I don't bring the whiteboard out again
09:28 until we go to the SEC tournament.
09:30 So that way they know when we play,
09:32 but it's about, it's not even,
09:36 it's like 33, 33, 33.
09:38 A third of them don't wanna know anything.
09:41 A third of them wanna know just enough,
09:44 but not all the analytics.
09:47 And then a third of them wanna know every single thing.
09:51 And then that point one that's left over
09:53 when you divide by three, I don't know where they fall,
09:56 but I just let them kind of get in where they fit in.
09:59 They probably find out, they probably read Twitter.
10:01 - And then last thing for me,
10:03 any injury updates for Florida, you know, heading in?
10:06 Do you know?
10:07 - We haven't practiced yet today,
10:10 but everybody that played the other night
10:12 should be full strength.
10:13 And Keats is gonna become day to day,
10:17 probably starting today, I hope,
10:19 but I don't know that yet,
10:20 but I think she'll become day to day.
10:21 So I would say possible, but not probable.
10:25 - Gotcha, thanks. - Or for Sunday.
10:28 - Gotcha, thanks coach.
10:29 - You got it.
10:31 - And Ethan, we'll wrap up with you.
10:33 - Yeah, just on Keats real quick again.
10:35 I know you said that she had surgery,
10:37 but I'm not sure if we heard, was it a broken nose?
10:40 - Yeah. - Okay.
10:41 - Yeah, if y'all look closely,
10:44 you probably wouldn't have needed me to confirm that.
10:46 - Yeah.
10:46 - I don't know how tightly the camera zoomed in,
10:49 but yeah, if it did, it wouldn't be news.
10:54 - And then on that note, so whenever she does return,
10:56 will she have to wear a mask for the rest of the year?
11:00 - That's something we will work with.
11:01 It's always a preferential thing.
11:03 Some kids, it makes them feel better,
11:05 other kids, it makes them feel worse.
11:07 So I've seen it go both ways.
11:10 I don't know which way she'll fall.
11:11 They tried to put it on her that day,
11:14 and it wasn't jiving with her that day,
11:16 but if you're dealing with a broken nose,
11:18 touching anything to it probably wouldn't have felt good.
11:19 But now that it's reset and fixed,
11:22 I think we'll let her practice with it,
11:25 see how she feels, but it goes 50/50.
11:31 - Great, that's all I have.
11:32 - Okay.
11:33 - Perfect, thanks everyone.
11:36 I don't know if I'm doing it.
11:37 I'm not sure if I'm doing a zoom or in-person in Florida,
11:39 but I'll let everyone know.
11:41 - Sorry about the delay.
11:43 - All good.
11:45 - All right, see ya.
11:46 Yeah.