Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement…
“You have to give Georgia credit. They took our best shot in the first half. We played really well, offensively especially, and when they were within range, I know they had to feel really good about it because it should’ve been a double-digit lead in the first half with how well we played offensively. [Yante] Maten and [J.J.] Frazier, the two guys that could beat us, those were the two guys that beat us. I don’t think I developed a good enough game plan to get the ball out of their hands and get them covered. We certainly weren’t able to do it with what we presented them and unfortunately what happens is that you just get exposed, so we got a very young frontline. Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy are freshman, Anfernee [McLemore] is a freshman, Horace Spencer is a sophomore, those guys got a majority of the minutes. Three freshmen and a sophomore couldn’t handle Maten and to an extent [Derek] Ogbeide. On the perimeter, Frazier got to do whatever he wanted to do in ball screens, driving downhill. We did a great job guarding the three ball, but did a terrible job guarding the layup. Disappointing loss, but that’s why they’re picked fifth and we aren’t.”
On their attitude in the second half…
“I think it was a great run by Georgia and us not being able to get any stops. It got us disrupted and we panicked a little bit, but when they’re scoring almost every possession it’s hard not to panic. [A 15-point lead by Auburn and then a 12-point lead by Georgia] that’s a 27-point swing; I don’t care how young or old you are that allows for some panic to set in. We didn’t defend, and that’s why we lost.”
On what changed on the offensive end in the second half…
“We’re taking it out of the net every time and I think we didn’t perhaps trust the process when they got their lead and closed out the gap a little bit. We stopped executing and sometimes that’ll happen.”
On the blown lead…
“This is our first lead that we’ve blown. We didn’t have too many leads in my first two years, so there weren’t many leads blown. I think it’s getting stops. It’s real simple.”
On what they plan to capitalize on before meeting up against Georgia again…
“This is the best that they’ve played. I think Mark [Fox] would admit that this is the best that they’ve played. Almost all of those kids have been there before, and we’re really a new young team, starting four freshmen. It’ll be a good lesson for us.”
Auburn Player Quotes
Mustapha Heron, G, Fr.
On what happened in the second half…
“I think they just kind of went on a little run, and I don’t think we responded well enough to it. But that’s just something the more we get together the more our experience develops we’ll be just fine, I think.”
On what he thinks Auburn can take from the game being such a young team…
“I think that, as a young team, I think we need something like this to move forward and get better. I think going down the stretch when we have leads we need to take better shots. I think my shot selection down the stretch was a little poor. It could definitely be better, and I think, just as a team, just taking care of the ball and all that stuff.”
On if he thinks the shot selection was the biggest thing lacking in the last 15 minutes…
“I think maybe that definitely and our patience. They sped us up a little bit, and that’s just another thing we’ve got to work on, and definitely, defense and rebounding both ends of the floor. We just didn’t have the first half that we had.”
On the difficulties of dealing with J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten…
“Our approach was to try to keep the ball out of their hands. Once they give it up, try to keep it out of their hands. But they’re great players, so great players, of course, find their way to the basketball, and that’s what they did tonight, and they both had great games.”
Georgia Head Coach Mark Fox
“Certainly a very hard fought SEC opening game. We had talked with our team prior to the game about just how hard these would be all season long. Auburn has a very good basketball team. Obviously they were shooting the three extremely well. Give them credit. They made a lot of 3-point shots early, so we had to come from behind. Eventually, we settled down offensively ourselves. We made enough plays to get ourselves back in it, take the lead, and come out of here with a really good win. We beat a very good team.”
On how UGA was able to withstand Auburn’s fast start …
“You know, what I think really helped us is the fact that we’ve had a couple of road games already. We had to play at Clemson, which was a really tough environment. We played up in Detroit the other night in a really tough environment. I thought our team grew up some after those games, even though we lost. That allowed us to hang in there today and make a little bit of a comeback there and win it.”
On what made the difference in the second half to keep Auburn from scoring …
“You have to give Auburn credit for making baskets. They have a good offensive team. We’ve been critical of our own team’s consistency defensively on the 3-point line. We had a couple mental errors. One time we were in the zone and we had a guy run down thinking we were in man-to-man and gave a guy an open three. I thought we eliminated those kind of errors in the second half. They have an explosive team though. They really do. This was a really good win because we beat a really good team.”
On Jordan Harris’ performance …
“I wish something could rattle Jordan. I can’t rattle him. He just kind of rolls. He plays great on the road because he is very composed and a very laid back kid. He made some key plays for us.”
On Yante Maten …
“Yante got in some foul trouble in the first half. We gambled by sitting him. We played him some still with those two fouls. He’s been in a little bit of a funk. I didn’t think he played well at Georgia Tech, and I didn’t think he played well when we went back home. I didn’t think he was great in the first half. He was due to come back. Certainly in the second half, he came back to the Yante Maten we’ve seen most of the year. We’re fortunate that he did.”
On whether this is a character game that the team can build on …
“We hope. It was a hard fought win. There are going to be a lot of these. There are a lot of really good teams in this league. We hope that we can build off this because like I said before, we beat a very good team.”
On what changed in the second half …
“We challenged our team. I wasn’t pleased with our defense in the first half. Auburn was making some big time plays. They started the second half just as hot. We eventually found a formula. Really our effort improved defensively in the second half. That allowed us to get a few stops and build a little momentum as we came back.”
On the importance of winning their first SEC game …
“I’ll tell you what, this league is better than it was last year. There are a lot of really good teams. Every game is going to be hard. As emotional and hard fought as this game was for both us and Auburn, we’re both going to have one just as hard here in a few days. When you win one you have to take advantage of it because they are so hard to get.”
Georgia Player Quotes
J.J. Frazier, G, Sr.
On overcoming Auburn’s early success…
“Our character and toughness has been challenged all week. We know what type of team we are. We just haven’t shown it. Coach challenged us, and it started with me. We answered the call. You have to give Auburn credit. They’re a good team. We just had to play uphill for the most part. Once we got it down to where we could get in striking distance, we made a run.”
On how his experience prepared him for the latter part of the game…
“I think it was helpful because the coaches called the plays, and sometimes I felt another play would be better. I didn’t want to force a shot. Coach and I were on the same page. I think with the way the game was flowing, the tempo were playing with and with Yante (Maten) and Jordan Harris were playing, I just wanted to get the ball to the right guys in each situation.”
On Jordan Harris’ growth throughout the season…
“Jordan’s willingness to listen and pay attention to detail is incredible. It’s only a matter of time before he gets comfortable and understands how to play the game of basketball at this level. You saw a couple of defensive stops, great defense, layups and big shots tonight. He’s coming along.”
On stopping Auburn’s offense in the second half…
“We played harder. We played with the determination to win. We knew what kind of three point capabilities they had, so we wanted to take that away early. We didn’t, but we started to early in the second half and the game changed in our favor.”
On winning the SEC opener…
“We always say that the first win is always the hardest one. For us, getting the first one is always key. We always say, ‘At midnight, we have to flush it and move on.’ We never dwell on a win or a loss. We just have to move on and play well.”
Yante Maten, F, Jr.
On how Georgia overcame the first half deficit…
“We weren’t playing too much defense at the beginning of the game. Coach Fox told us we needed to guard the 3-point line coming into the game. We came into the game, and we didn’t do that. The first three was actually on me. Coach told us, ‘If we don’t play any defense, we’re not going to win.’ We tried to step it up on defense and make sure that we were making plays on offense. We ended up coming out with a win.”
On bouncing back from a previous rough game…
“I still think I’m a good player. Even good players have bad games. I flushed it. I made sure that I wasn’t thinking about it anymore. I tried to focus my best efforts on this game.”
On tightening up their defense beyond the arc in the second half…
“We got more pressure on the ball. They were making passes by our heads and 3-point shots. All that is from not being close enough to the ball and being lackadaisical. We made sure that we came out in the second half and pressured the ball because that stops a lot of offense.”
On making consistent plays offensively down the stretch…
“We practice it day in and day out. We knew what the defense was giving us. We knew the weaknesses of their defense. We just tried our best to exploit it.”
Opening statement…
“You have to give Georgia credit. They took our best shot in the first half. We played really well, offensively especially, and when they were within range, I know they had to feel really good about it because it should’ve been a double-digit lead in the first half with how well we played offensively. [Yante] Maten and [J.J.] Frazier, the two guys that could beat us, those were the two guys that beat us. I don’t think I developed a good enough game plan to get the ball out of their hands and get them covered. We certainly weren’t able to do it with what we presented them and unfortunately what happens is that you just get exposed, so we got a very young frontline. Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy are freshman, Anfernee [McLemore] is a freshman, Horace Spencer is a sophomore, those guys got a majority of the minutes. Three freshmen and a sophomore couldn’t handle Maten and to an extent [Derek] Ogbeide. On the perimeter, Frazier got to do whatever he wanted to do in ball screens, driving downhill. We did a great job guarding the three ball, but did a terrible job guarding the layup. Disappointing loss, but that’s why they’re picked fifth and we aren’t.”
On their attitude in the second half…
“I think it was a great run by Georgia and us not being able to get any stops. It got us disrupted and we panicked a little bit, but when they’re scoring almost every possession it’s hard not to panic. [A 15-point lead by Auburn and then a 12-point lead by Georgia] that’s a 27-point swing; I don’t care how young or old you are that allows for some panic to set in. We didn’t defend, and that’s why we lost.”
On what changed on the offensive end in the second half…
“We’re taking it out of the net every time and I think we didn’t perhaps trust the process when they got their lead and closed out the gap a little bit. We stopped executing and sometimes that’ll happen.”
On the blown lead…
“This is our first lead that we’ve blown. We didn’t have too many leads in my first two years, so there weren’t many leads blown. I think it’s getting stops. It’s real simple.”
On what they plan to capitalize on before meeting up against Georgia again…
“This is the best that they’ve played. I think Mark [Fox] would admit that this is the best that they’ve played. Almost all of those kids have been there before, and we’re really a new young team, starting four freshmen. It’ll be a good lesson for us.”
Auburn Player Quotes
Mustapha Heron, G, Fr.
On what happened in the second half…
“I think they just kind of went on a little run, and I don’t think we responded well enough to it. But that’s just something the more we get together the more our experience develops we’ll be just fine, I think.”
On what he thinks Auburn can take from the game being such a young team…
“I think that, as a young team, I think we need something like this to move forward and get better. I think going down the stretch when we have leads we need to take better shots. I think my shot selection down the stretch was a little poor. It could definitely be better, and I think, just as a team, just taking care of the ball and all that stuff.”
On if he thinks the shot selection was the biggest thing lacking in the last 15 minutes…
“I think maybe that definitely and our patience. They sped us up a little bit, and that’s just another thing we’ve got to work on, and definitely, defense and rebounding both ends of the floor. We just didn’t have the first half that we had.”
On the difficulties of dealing with J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten…
“Our approach was to try to keep the ball out of their hands. Once they give it up, try to keep it out of their hands. But they’re great players, so great players, of course, find their way to the basketball, and that’s what they did tonight, and they both had great games.”
Georgia Head Coach Mark Fox
“Certainly a very hard fought SEC opening game. We had talked with our team prior to the game about just how hard these would be all season long. Auburn has a very good basketball team. Obviously they were shooting the three extremely well. Give them credit. They made a lot of 3-point shots early, so we had to come from behind. Eventually, we settled down offensively ourselves. We made enough plays to get ourselves back in it, take the lead, and come out of here with a really good win. We beat a very good team.”
On how UGA was able to withstand Auburn’s fast start …
“You know, what I think really helped us is the fact that we’ve had a couple of road games already. We had to play at Clemson, which was a really tough environment. We played up in Detroit the other night in a really tough environment. I thought our team grew up some after those games, even though we lost. That allowed us to hang in there today and make a little bit of a comeback there and win it.”
On what made the difference in the second half to keep Auburn from scoring …
“You have to give Auburn credit for making baskets. They have a good offensive team. We’ve been critical of our own team’s consistency defensively on the 3-point line. We had a couple mental errors. One time we were in the zone and we had a guy run down thinking we were in man-to-man and gave a guy an open three. I thought we eliminated those kind of errors in the second half. They have an explosive team though. They really do. This was a really good win because we beat a really good team.”
On Jordan Harris’ performance …
“I wish something could rattle Jordan. I can’t rattle him. He just kind of rolls. He plays great on the road because he is very composed and a very laid back kid. He made some key plays for us.”
On Yante Maten …
“Yante got in some foul trouble in the first half. We gambled by sitting him. We played him some still with those two fouls. He’s been in a little bit of a funk. I didn’t think he played well at Georgia Tech, and I didn’t think he played well when we went back home. I didn’t think he was great in the first half. He was due to come back. Certainly in the second half, he came back to the Yante Maten we’ve seen most of the year. We’re fortunate that he did.”
On whether this is a character game that the team can build on …
“We hope. It was a hard fought win. There are going to be a lot of these. There are a lot of really good teams in this league. We hope that we can build off this because like I said before, we beat a very good team.”
On what changed in the second half …
“We challenged our team. I wasn’t pleased with our defense in the first half. Auburn was making some big time plays. They started the second half just as hot. We eventually found a formula. Really our effort improved defensively in the second half. That allowed us to get a few stops and build a little momentum as we came back.”
On the importance of winning their first SEC game …
“I’ll tell you what, this league is better than it was last year. There are a lot of really good teams. Every game is going to be hard. As emotional and hard fought as this game was for both us and Auburn, we’re both going to have one just as hard here in a few days. When you win one you have to take advantage of it because they are so hard to get.”
Georgia Player Quotes
J.J. Frazier, G, Sr.
On overcoming Auburn’s early success…
“Our character and toughness has been challenged all week. We know what type of team we are. We just haven’t shown it. Coach challenged us, and it started with me. We answered the call. You have to give Auburn credit. They’re a good team. We just had to play uphill for the most part. Once we got it down to where we could get in striking distance, we made a run.”
On how his experience prepared him for the latter part of the game…
“I think it was helpful because the coaches called the plays, and sometimes I felt another play would be better. I didn’t want to force a shot. Coach and I were on the same page. I think with the way the game was flowing, the tempo were playing with and with Yante (Maten) and Jordan Harris were playing, I just wanted to get the ball to the right guys in each situation.”
On Jordan Harris’ growth throughout the season…
“Jordan’s willingness to listen and pay attention to detail is incredible. It’s only a matter of time before he gets comfortable and understands how to play the game of basketball at this level. You saw a couple of defensive stops, great defense, layups and big shots tonight. He’s coming along.”
On stopping Auburn’s offense in the second half…
“We played harder. We played with the determination to win. We knew what kind of three point capabilities they had, so we wanted to take that away early. We didn’t, but we started to early in the second half and the game changed in our favor.”
On winning the SEC opener…
“We always say that the first win is always the hardest one. For us, getting the first one is always key. We always say, ‘At midnight, we have to flush it and move on.’ We never dwell on a win or a loss. We just have to move on and play well.”
Yante Maten, F, Jr.
On how Georgia overcame the first half deficit…
“We weren’t playing too much defense at the beginning of the game. Coach Fox told us we needed to guard the 3-point line coming into the game. We came into the game, and we didn’t do that. The first three was actually on me. Coach told us, ‘If we don’t play any defense, we’re not going to win.’ We tried to step it up on defense and make sure that we were making plays on offense. We ended up coming out with a win.”
On bouncing back from a previous rough game…
“I still think I’m a good player. Even good players have bad games. I flushed it. I made sure that I wasn’t thinking about it anymore. I tried to focus my best efforts on this game.”
On tightening up their defense beyond the arc in the second half…
“We got more pressure on the ball. They were making passes by our heads and 3-point shots. All that is from not being close enough to the ball and being lackadaisical. We made sure that we came out in the second half and pressured the ball because that stops a lot of offense.”
On making consistent plays offensively down the stretch…
“We practice it day in and day out. We knew what the defense was giving us. We knew the weaknesses of their defense. We just tried our best to exploit it.”
