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00:10 First of all, I gotta be honest with you and tell you,
00:17 I was really nervous about this game coming in because the Georgia Tech team
00:22 that I watched play against Wade Forrest, I knew we wasn't getting that team.
00:27 I don't know what other schools in our conference has beaten Duke,
00:33 Carolina and Clemson, that is a very good basketball team
00:38 that we just beat that fights and they fight.
00:42 So my hat goes off to our guys and this win is about them and
00:47 their determination to fight through and win a game with their defense finishing
00:52 the last eight minutes 32 to 11.
00:55 That goes to show that we are capable of being a pretty good defensive team.
00:59 We made mistakes, but I'm proud of the way they fought.
01:04 It's why with young players and young teams, you never give up.
01:08 You keep pushing them, you keep fighting them to be better.
01:12 KG today, Caleb Glenn was unbelievable.
01:16 15 and 13 rebounds, willed us to win.
01:21 Those rebounds were huge.
01:25 Trey White, struggling to shoot the ball, knew it was gonna come to him.
01:29 Mike James makes a great drive.
01:31 His man sucks in, hits him in the corner, great shot.
01:35 Mike James hadn't been shooting the ball well, really concerned about it in his
01:40 mind, a run of play for him, he comes off and knocks down a three.
01:44 That's what this is about.
01:47 Giving them the confidence and
01:48 allowing them to trust themselves to be the players that they wanna be.
01:53 Questions?
01:53 >> You talked about the game changing run there at the end.
01:58 Just what do you think gave your players that level of confidence after
02:04 they had a slower start to this game in terms of scoring than on the last two?
02:10 And it seemed like they're getting easy buckets.
02:12 >> I don't know how easy the buckets were for them, but
02:17 I do know that they kept with it.
02:20 The team was sagging in initially and we kept moving the ball and
02:24 trying to get them to loosen up.
02:25 And as the game went on, they did loosen up and we got to drive the ball down the
02:30 lane and create fouls and create shots for each other.
02:32 Brandon got them in some foul trouble.
02:35 KG did a good job of posting hard.
02:39 That's what this is, is to keep doing what you're doing until they submit to you.
02:46 >> Kenny, how much does Caleb kinda embody the spirit of what you're trying to
02:50 instill here?
02:51 I mean, I'm assuming you're not even really calling any plays for
02:54 him on offense and he still is just out there scrapping.
02:57 >> Well, I love the fact that I trust him.
03:00 I just need him to continue to grow as a basketball player,
03:05 to be the player that he wants to be.
03:08 And know what his foundation is, toughness, rebounding, defending.
03:14 He made plays that at times Brandon couldn't make or wouldn't make.
03:18 Walling up when somebody's driving and jumping and making sure they miss.
03:22 Snatching rebounds above the rim with two hands.
03:26 Things that you look for players to do, he does it naturally.
03:31 He just has to know and learn that he has to do it more consistently.
03:36 I'm proud of him.
03:37 I'm happy with the way he played.
03:39 I hope he builds on it.
03:40 I told him in the locker room, I told you this a week ago,
03:44 kid, you're no longer a freshman.
03:46 You've earned that right, same with Curtis, same with Tyler.
03:50 You've seen enough basketball now to know that you transferred or
03:54 graduated to sophomore status.
03:57 >> Kenny, coming off an emotional week, and specifically an emotional loss,
04:03 the way that you guys had against Syracuse.
04:05 To watch the way that your team fought today and to close out a game,
04:08 what does that say about this team and the work that they've been putting in?
04:12 And the importance to see that that work is paying off?
04:15 >> I think it's vital.
04:16 I think it's everything, to be honest with you, because we do work hard.
04:20 There are times they question everything I'm doing.
04:23 We're conditioning every day, every day.
04:27 I won't let go of it.
04:28 They don't like it.
04:31 But when I watch them play a game and I see the other team get tired, and
04:35 we're still cruising, and we're still fighting,
04:38 that shows that the conditioning is working regardless if they like it or not.
04:41 I'm proud of them because, look, the game was in the balance, and
04:46 to end the game, we went on a run.
04:49 We got stops, we went on a run.
04:51 We made them miss and we got rebounds.
04:54 That shows that we are still getting better, still got a long way to go.
04:58 We're still trying to perfect some things, but I'm happy and
05:01 pleased with everybody that went into the game, and they contributed.
05:08 >> When you beat Florida State last week,
05:09 you had, I think, four guys in double figures.
05:11 Tonight, you had six.
05:13 Do you think your players are starting to understand that I don't have to do it all
05:16 myself, that other guys can do it too?
05:20 >> I'm hoping that they understand that at times, Rick, to be honest with you,
05:24 they struggle with it.
05:26 They struggle with not being the guy that takes five dribbles and
05:29 sees what's there, and then they take the shot.
05:32 But I think they're learning and getting more comfortable learning that we have
05:36 a good team of good players, that if we can win, we're gonna win.
05:41 A different way of saying it, if we're gonna win,
05:44 we're gonna win with a combination of guys playing well on the same night.
05:48 To have six guys scoring double figures says a lot.
05:50 I think we're trending in the right direction.
05:54 We still got a lot of work to do, but you can see the progress in this team.
05:58 >> Kenny, towards the end of that game, the crowd really seemed into it.
06:02 It might be a little cliche to say that crowds impact on a game, but
06:06 when it goes that long without hearing the crowd get loud like that,
06:09 how much of an impact does it have when they're getting into it?
06:13 >> I think these kids, we live in a generation where they love affirmation.
06:17 And so to see the crowd embrace them and fight through a critical time and
06:23 take a lead and do it decisively, and the fans all supported them and
06:28 cheer for them and it was loud in there, I think they need to hear that.
06:33 To be honest with you, met with a family this morning of one of the players and
06:39 they said, there's so much negativity.
06:43 How do you deal with it?
06:44 How does I get my son to deal with all this negativity from the media,
06:49 from social media, from everywhere we turn,
06:51 there's all this negativity about this program.
06:54 And I just tell them, you have to be like me.
06:56 We come to work every day and I focus on one thing.
06:59 How do I get this team better?
07:01 We win, the negativity will go away.
07:04 We don't, it's gonna stay there.
07:06 It's just what it is, so.
07:08 >> Yeah, I mean, you held Kelly there to just, I think he scored at one point there
07:15 during the final eight minutes.
07:16 Was there anything that you did differently in terms of guarding him,
07:19 putting a different player on him, just to try to slow him down?
07:23 >> I thought Sky Clark was unbelievable down the stretch.
07:26 I thought when we put Sky on him, he denied him,
07:30 denied him the ball and made it hard for him to catch it.
07:33 That's what winning players do.
07:37 They find a way, it's not about scoring the basketball.
07:39 It may be about denying a guy from getting the basketball, Brooks, and
07:43 that may change the course of the game.
07:45 The kid was hot in the first half.
07:47 We had problems with him.
07:49 Down the stretch of the game, we wore him down.
07:51 We put different people on him and
07:53 he didn't have as much success as he did the first half.
07:56 >> Anything else for Coach?
07:58 >> All right, thank you all.
08:00 >> Thanks guys.
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