Alabama - Mississippi Postgame Quotes
1/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Jan. 21, 2009
Alabama Quotes
Head coach Mark Gottfried
Opening statement ...
"First let me say thanks to our fans. I appreciate their effort. They gave us a push tonight a couple of times. I am proud of our players. That was a gutsy, tough and hard win. They played extremely hard and I am proud of them. We stepped up and made some big plays at key times. Alonzo (Gee)'s shots and a couple of big rebounds, Senario (Hillman) made a tough shot down there under the basket. A lot of guys did some things tremendously well, but our effort was off the chart and I'm proud of them for that."
On the play of Mikhail Torrance ...
"I am so proud of him. He has taken advantage of a great opportunity. He is learning every game a little bit more of how to incorporate everything we've been doing prior to this point and getting other players involved. He stepped up and made some big three-point shots. He made five threes tonight and made some huge ones in the second half. He's got great courage and he's not afraid. I'm really proud of him. He is learning. We've had some other players that he's played behind and now he's getting his chance."
On the play of Andrew Steele ...
"I thought his defense was really good. Huertas had 20 at the half and only got six in the second half. I think between Senario and Andrew, we did a much better job defending him in the second half."
On the momentum of the game ...
"It seemed like every time we could make a run and do something well they would step and make some pretty tough, deep shots. We had a pretty good start to the half and it stretched out to a five point lead pretty quick and the next thing you know I think we were down by four. We had some opportunities. We had a six or seven point lead a couple of times and had some turnovers at times when we needed to make a shot on that possession. You have to give those guys credit. Mississippi came in here and made some shots."
On the overall play of the Tide ...
"It (turnovers) has been a concern. The things we've had to improve on and we still have to keep working on is our defense at times. They made 10 three-point shots and a few of them were tough ones too. I think in the second half we did a better job of guarding them. Offensively we shot 63 percent in the second half and 54 or 55 for the game. Offensively we are getting better with who we are playing. We just have to make sure we continue to improve."
Junior Mikhail Torrance
Importance of tonight's win ...
"It was very important, we're 2-2 now in the SEC and we really needed these wins, so we just wanted to get better from here and get ready for Kentucky."
On his game ...
"Well, I try to stay in the gym as much as I can to get better. I really wanted to go out and try to get my team mates more involved and I'm going to try to keep doing that."
"I think I'm getting more confident game by game, Coach Gottfried gave me great confidence right now. He just tells his team to stay aggressive, so that's what I'm going to try to do."
Sophomore Senario Hillman
On the team's play ...
"Mikhail, he's doing a great job, and we've just got to take one game at a time and just move on and get better every day. We've got to move on and stay together and get close. Keep playing hard."
On his free throws to seal the win ...
"I wasn't nervous or anything, I just knew I needed to make my shot. I knew I was going to make them, I just took my time."
Senior Alonzo Gee
On scoring off a steal to start the second half ...
"Yeah, that got me going big, just getting a steal and getting a fast break. It's been a while, so it got me going It boosts the whole team up. It got the crowd going. It helped out a lot."
On the final series of the game ...
"Coach (Mark Gottfried) just told us to make sure we finish it out. Make sure they only get one shot, and that's basically what we did."
On the importance of the win ...
"This is a good win for us, it only counts as one win though. We've got to stay focused and get ready for Kentucky."
Mississippi Quotes
Head Coach Andy Kennedy
On the next to last possession ...
"We got a couple of good looks. We tried to run something off of a couple of baseline screens for David, but Alabama did a good job of defending that. They did a good job of not giving him too many touches in the second half, which obviously was a good idea. I thought Terrico got a pretty good look at it from my vantage point. I wish he would have turned the corner a little bit more, but it's a pretty good look to have to win the game on the road. Our kids gave great effort, but they just left way too many plays on the table."
On Alabama's play ...
"They (Alabama) are really big and athletic. (Alonzo) Gee obviously speaks for himself. Tonight he had another very good game with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Seems like he has been doing that forever as a pivotal part of this program as a four-year starter. He is a monster athlete that is difficult to cover because of his ability to get to the basket. Then you bring in Mikhail Torrance, who is shooting the ball with great confidence and has been very efficient. He is long and athletic."
On the effort of his team ...
"I thought our effort was pretty good tonight. That wasn't the reason I felt we came up short. It sounds simple, but our inability to finish around the basket at critical times was. When you come into a place like this or any venue in the SEC, you have to make the plays at the end if you are going to leave victorious. I thought the effort was good, but our execution just came up a little short."
Guard Terrico White
On how good of a look he had at the potential game-winning basket ...
"I drove and I had a good look. As I went up, my arm was hit and the ball just went straight up. I had a good look, and I should have dunked it like Coach (Andy Kennedy) said."
On how the team played tonight ...
"Coach just stressed that when you are on the road, you have to come out with great rhythm. We did that, but you just have to finish the deal."
Guard David Huertas
On what made it more difficult for him to score in the second half ...
"The first half my teammates did a great job of setting screen for me. In the second half, Alabama made some adjustments. They tried to switch on the screens, so it was tough to score."
On the defensive breakdowns with the shot clock running down ...
"We have to guard. They drove like three or four times, and we can't allow that. We have to make them shoot jumpshots."
