Post-game Quotes
Arkansas vs. Tennessee Quotes2-4-09
Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey
“I think Tennessee is outstanding. Their two front-court guys are a great tandem, maybe the best in the league.”
“We all know the scenario, that when we block out on rebounding we’ve got a chance to win the basketball game. I think we can do better than that.”
“If you look at the stats, we outrebounded them, scored more field goals, had the same number of threes, but not as many free throws.”
“When you get inside 2 minutes [to play], you get plays you can’t recover from.”
“I thought that we stayed away from a lot of bad shots. Rotnei (Clarke) got some great looks from the three-point line, but he just couldn’t convert.”
Stefan Welsh
"I’d trade all 22 [points] for a win."
"We should have rebounded better and got more second looks."
"They hit a difficult shot to win it."
Courtney Fortson
"[The game was] what I expected from Tennessee."
"It came down to one shot and they made it. It was good basketball."
"[Wayne] Chism and those guys were a force inside. Team rebounds killed us."
Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl
“We’re very fortunate to come out of here with a win. They’ve got four guys they can count on, and that gave us a little bit of an advantage. We had more points off of the bench, and took good care of the ball.”
“[Courtney] Fortson’s a good player. He’s a nightmare to cover. I tried to keep him as far away from the basket as possible. At the end of the game, I would have done the same thing. I would have given the ball to Fortson instead, that’s his shot.”
“It was huge for Bobby and his teammates. It wasn’t lucky, he just drove down and picked a good spot. During the first half, he kept us in the game with his three’s.”
“This is a big step for us. Beating Arkansas is significant. They knocked us out of first place last year. Two years ago they were our first road win. That game catapulted us and this win may do that for us this year. These wins are the ones that make a team a championship team.”
Wayne Chism
"The win means a lot to us. We’re tied for first [in the east] now, so we’re back in the title chase."
"Playing 10 to 11 guys allowed us to be a little more fresh and I think that was the difference down the stretch."
Tyler Smith
"They double-teamed us a lot, so we were able to kick it out for some open three-point looks."
“It’s huge to get a win on the road like this. Anytime you can win a close one in a buiding like this it helps, but we need to keep up the intensity."
