Anthony Grant Press Conference Transcript - Feb. 3
2/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2010
Opening statement on facing Florida and Mississippi this week:
"We've got two very tough opponents this week, obviously starting with Florida tomorrow. It should be a very challenging game and a very exciting game. With my relationship with the University of Florida and specifically Coach (Billy) Donovan, I know there is a lot of interest in our first meeting. Certainly from my perspective I'm not really looking forward to competing against someone who is as dear a friend as Coach, but obviously we're in the middle of the SEC season and it'd be great to have a big win with this game. We're looking forward to getting a chance to get back on the court. Saturday we head to Ole Miss. They're obviously a Western Division opponent who's having a very good season, one of the top-25 teams in the county and coming off a loss in their last game as we are, so it should be another very competitive and highly-contested game."
On reinforcing the mindset of always improving and not taking a step back after the loss to Auburn:
"We continue to do the things we've always done. It's one game. Obviously you never want to lose a game in the fashion that we lost that one. I felt like we didn't do the things that we needed to do as a team that would have allowed us to win. But again, I think for our guys it's a matter of trying to learn and grow. In this league you've got to be able to move on. You can't dwell on success or defeat. The challenge for our team is to move on. We've got a very challenging game ahead of us so we've got to be prepared for that."
On defending Florida's perimeter shooters:
"I think Florida is a team that has good balance. When they're playing their best basketball, you see guys like (Erving) Walker, (Kenny) Boynton and (Chandler) Parsons on the perimeter being very effective. Then also inside (Alex) Tyus and (Vernon) Macklin have done a very good job for them rebounding and providing some interior scoring. So we've got to do a great job all around in this game I think from the defensive standpoint trying to limit their ability to hurt you from the perimeter, and also guard the basketball, contain the ball and compete up front with their front court."
On the difficulty of competing against one of his close friends in Billy Donovan as he did earlier in the season against Kansas State's Frank Martin:
"As I've mentioned before, I don't like it. Obviously my relationship with Coach Donovan and Frank Martin at Kansas State is much bigger than basketball, but when the game starts it's a basketball game and it's the guys on the court that really make the difference. What you try to do is control things that you can control while you're in the middle of a game. That's what we'll try to do."
On how he would describe his relationship with Billy Donovan:
"A very dear friend, one of my closest friends. Every day working for Coach I would describe it as good friends going to the office and just hanging out. I think we had a great staff with what we were able to put together. Our staff from Marshall University with myself, Donnie Jones, John Pelphrey, Coach Donovan and several other guys that have moved on and are in the profession now, we had great chemistry. It was very enjoyable every day to come to work. I think what my memories are is all of us being friends that just happened to love the game of basketball and have great motivation and passion to try to be successful in what we did."
On what he learned from Billy Donovan in his 12 years as an assistant:
"I was with Billy for 12 years, two as an assistant at Marshall and 10 at the University of Florida, and probably the thing that is most consistent is just the work ethic and the passion with which approaches what he does. I think anybody that's successful tries to emulate those qualities. It's I guess motivational to see his drive and his passion and to have been a part of the success that he was able to build because of it."
On the importance of keeping JaMychal Green out of foul trouble:
"We're a better basketball team with JaMychal on the floor. I think I've said that several times. I think what we've got to understand as a team is how to help that, and JaMychal's got to understand how to help that as well. I think when you look at - and I don't remember past the last game, obviously he fouled out with around four minutes left in the last game - I don't remember before that him necessarily being in a lot of foul trouble. I think he's done a pretty good job there, and obviously every game is different. We've just got to do a good job as a team of taking care of what we need to do to try to keep our best guys on the court."
On how low scoring output might be improved:
"I think our defense has given us a chance in every game that we've played. At the same time, I thought that we had defensive lapses that cost us the game in our last outing. The thing that we try to emphasize is that in order to have a chance, we've got to defend and rebound and do the things that we need to do. Then on the other end of the floor, we've got to be able to execute and take care of the basketball. I think when you look at the result from our last game, we didn't' take care of the basketball, we didn't do a very good job of executing and sharing the ball and then our defense had breakdowns that cost us the game. For us to have a chance to win - we are what we are as a team and we've talked about that throughout the year. We've got to put ourselves in a position where we have a chance."
