Anthony Grant Press Conference Transcript - Feb. 16
2/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2010
Opening comments on facing Georgia this Saturday:
"Well for us coming off of this weekend's game against Arkansas with a bye week it was good to get a win and give the guys a couple of days to recuperate. It's been our first break in quite a while. They had Sunday off and Monday off. We'll get back to the court today. Our focus will mainly be on ourselves right now for the next couple of days, and then later in the week we'll start to prepare for Georgia."
On Georgia defeating three ranked teams at home this season:
"Georgia is a good team. I think when you look at their size and physicality, they've done a great job coaching them and they believe every time they step on the floor, whether it's home or away, that they can win. They're very impressive when you watch them on film with the things that they do on both ends of the floor. They're impressive."
On Georgia's size:
"I think outside of Kentucky they may be the biggest team in the league. With (Albert) Jackson and (Trey) Thompkins leading up front, and then coming off the bench they've got I think four legitimate, physical front-court players. Then on the perimeter, (Travis) Leslie may be one of the elite athletes in the league at 6-4. His speed and athleticism at the small forward spot really give them a front court that is as good as any in our league. Then obviously on the perimeter when you look at (Ricky) McPhee and the way he shoots the basketball, the ability to have an inside out combination with McPhee and then you look at (Dustin) Ware and then Thompkins also steps out and stretches the defense. They're so big and physical up front in the low post; it's a really good combination. They've done a very good job mixing up their defenses and giving you different looks and different things that you have to prepare for."
On whether having former Alabama interim head coach and long-time assistant Philip Pearson on its staff gives UGA an advantage:
"Obviously Philip is very familiar with all the players here. He either recruited, or coached, or both a lot of the guys on our roster so I think certainly there's a level of familiarity that he'll have personnel wise however you want to look at that."
On his emphasis in practice this week:
"For us, it's a routine that we go through in terms of things that have to work on defensively, the emphasis that we try to put in terms of our style of play and then offensively fine tuning what we're doing, some things that we've kind of tweaked that we need to work on - getting our timing and execution down a lot better from an offensive standpoint."
On if he follows the SEC Western division race:
"I know Arkansas was leading the West coming into our game last weekend. I don't know where we were. I will probably take a glance at it sometime this week and see where things are, but for us it's really day-to-day, control the one in front of us. I feel like if we do that then everything else will take care of itself."
On continuing to get to the free throw line:
"I'd like to think that we could. We need to. I think when you look at what we scored against Arkansas; 73 points may have been the most points that we've had in an SEC game this year. I think a lot of that is attributed to the fact that we were able to get to the free throw line. We were able to do some things offensively that we haven't done in previous games, so hopefully that's something that we'll continue to be able to do. JaMychal (Green) took half of our free throws. I think it's important for him obviously to get himself to the free throw line, for us to be able to get the ball to him in areas where he can be effective and for our other guys to really step up and try to provide some of that as well."
On having a low points per game average despite playing an 'up-tempo' style:
"I certainly would love to be a team that scores a lot more points. I think defensively we've done a good job and it's allowed us to have an opportunity to be in games, but from an offensive standpoint we've had a tough time finding consistency. I've talked about several times where we've gone through stretches where we don't score. In both halves we'll get four or five-minute stretches, multiple stretches where we have a difficult time putting the ball in the hole. You've got to find a way to get some easy baskets whether it be in transition, maybe your defense creating some offense for you or getting to the free throw line. Offensively not settling for jump shots or not settling for things that don't give you high percentage opportunity to get some points on the board."
On if there's a specific point total that is ideal:
"We talk more in terms of field goal percentage. Obviously for us we'd like to be a team that could shoot somewhere around 45 percent or higher from the field, 35 or higher from the three-point line and those types of things, getting to the free throw line more than our opponent - those types of things from an offensive standpoint. Some of it we are limited in terms of the options that we have from an offensive standpoint, but I think we can try to take advantage of what we do have a little bit better."
On the difference in getting to the free throw line more in non-conference games versus SEC play:
"I think the big thing is that once you get into conference play you're so well scouted. Teams have an idea in terms of how they want to attack you and what they need to try to take away. From there it's matter of just trying to make adjustments and doing the things that you can to try to be more effective. I think scouting has a big part to do with that."
