Courtesy ASAP Transcripts
. What's going through your mind right now? Big picture...
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, I'm just going through those last two possessions more than anything else. Incomprehensible in that situation we couldn't get a shot, couldn't get a shot. We're down two, and obviously we didn't need a three. But with Emanuel, we were struggling to score the entire second half. We got good looks. But Florida was doing a good job running us off the line and forcing us to score it. We just didn't do a very good job of finishing some shots.
Guys that have been in the paint scoring all year... L.J. developed a really good runner, floater. I didn't go very much tonight. Milos. Give Florida credit, too. I'm not going to sit up here and poor mouth, pity mouth us. We held that team to 65 points. Clayton and Martin combined to go 5 for 20. If you would have told me we would hold those two guys 5 for 20...
We had a good plan. We just didn't score it well enough to win. Scored it well enough to be in a position to win. At the end you've got to get a shot. Got to do better than that.
Q. What were you hoping to get out of that last play?
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, we have a set where it's a staggered gait. We thought if we could get Emanuel to shot fake and get downhill -- I have to look back at the film. I don't know if the ball slipped out of his hands.
Q. Clayton.
KELVIN SAMPSON: Probably should have shot faked that. Both those guys, Richard and Martin, both really good defensively. Clayton made a great play on that.
That's why you got to shot fake and get in the paint. Two is fine. J'Wan has been awesome all year. Tonight was not his night. Florida was really physical with the way they were chucking and bumping when he was going in. He had a lot of balls that just fell right off the rim, seems like.
So at the end of the day they scored 65, we scored 63. They struggled scoring on us and we struggled scoring on them. When it gets down to the two best teams left, it's not going to be easy for either team.
Q. Tonight you only had five assists. The fewest you've had in a game since 2020.
KELVIN SAMPSON: What's your first name?
Q. Evan Miyakawa.
KELVIN SAMPSON: Let me explain how an assist works, Evan. I'm not sure...
When you throw the ball to somebody, and they score, that's an assist, right? We threw the ball a lot to J'Wan in the post, and he missed some shots that he normally makes. So those were possible potential assists that we had a lot. We just didn't make a lot of shots.
I don't know. Certainly Florida, let's give them credit for being a good defensive team. But we threw the ball and passed the ball enough to get more assists. We just didn't make enough shots. That's what I would say right off the bat.
You're the stat guy, right?
Q. As good as your guards are, as many turnovers as you have forced all year long, how rare is it that the turnover bug bit you the last four minutes?
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, the last four minutes. Our defense was so good the first half. Of course, a big part of our defense was Clayton, because he's elite. He really is. We missed an assignment when he came off. Our goal was to not give him a full-court layup. He gets that a lot. Watching the SEC games. So we took that away.
We didn't want him to get a shot going to his left. If he was going to shoot a three, we wanted it going right. We did an awesome job on that except for one. He made a big one late. I don't remember how much time it was, but...
I'm proud of our guys for how they guarded tonight. That was a tough ballgame. Two tough teams. Florida's tough. Martin is a tough defender. He gave L.J. some problems. The big kid, Condon at 6'11", and Chinyelu, those guys are all big, strong, physical guys, just like our guys are.
We got an offensive rebound, chance to get a kick-out three, and JoJo did the one thing that we really emphasized, don't bring the ball down. Turned into a turnover. Probably put him on the line a little too much, and they made their free throws.
But the way we looked tonight, we've won a lot of games like that. Some nights we struggle offensively. But we usually find ways to win. Tonight we didn't.
. What's going through your mind right now? Big picture...
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, I'm just going through those last two possessions more than anything else. Incomprehensible in that situation we couldn't get a shot, couldn't get a shot. We're down two, and obviously we didn't need a three. But with Emanuel, we were struggling to score the entire second half. We got good looks. But Florida was doing a good job running us off the line and forcing us to score it. We just didn't do a very good job of finishing some shots.
Guys that have been in the paint scoring all year... L.J. developed a really good runner, floater. I didn't go very much tonight. Milos. Give Florida credit, too. I'm not going to sit up here and poor mouth, pity mouth us. We held that team to 65 points. Clayton and Martin combined to go 5 for 20. If you would have told me we would hold those two guys 5 for 20...
We had a good plan. We just didn't score it well enough to win. Scored it well enough to be in a position to win. At the end you've got to get a shot. Got to do better than that.
Q. What were you hoping to get out of that last play?
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, we have a set where it's a staggered gait. We thought if we could get Emanuel to shot fake and get downhill -- I have to look back at the film. I don't know if the ball slipped out of his hands.
Q. Clayton.
KELVIN SAMPSON: Probably should have shot faked that. Both those guys, Richard and Martin, both really good defensively. Clayton made a great play on that.
That's why you got to shot fake and get in the paint. Two is fine. J'Wan has been awesome all year. Tonight was not his night. Florida was really physical with the way they were chucking and bumping when he was going in. He had a lot of balls that just fell right off the rim, seems like.
So at the end of the day they scored 65, we scored 63. They struggled scoring on us and we struggled scoring on them. When it gets down to the two best teams left, it's not going to be easy for either team.
Q. Tonight you only had five assists. The fewest you've had in a game since 2020.
KELVIN SAMPSON: What's your first name?
Q. Evan Miyakawa.
KELVIN SAMPSON: Let me explain how an assist works, Evan. I'm not sure...
When you throw the ball to somebody, and they score, that's an assist, right? We threw the ball a lot to J'Wan in the post, and he missed some shots that he normally makes. So those were possible potential assists that we had a lot. We just didn't make a lot of shots.
I don't know. Certainly Florida, let's give them credit for being a good defensive team. But we threw the ball and passed the ball enough to get more assists. We just didn't make enough shots. That's what I would say right off the bat.
You're the stat guy, right?
Q. As good as your guards are, as many turnovers as you have forced all year long, how rare is it that the turnover bug bit you the last four minutes?
KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, the last four minutes. Our defense was so good the first half. Of course, a big part of our defense was Clayton, because he's elite. He really is. We missed an assignment when he came off. Our goal was to not give him a full-court layup. He gets that a lot. Watching the SEC games. So we took that away.
We didn't want him to get a shot going to his left. If he was going to shoot a three, we wanted it going right. We did an awesome job on that except for one. He made a big one late. I don't remember how much time it was, but...
I'm proud of our guys for how they guarded tonight. That was a tough ballgame. Two tough teams. Florida's tough. Martin is a tough defender. He gave L.J. some problems. The big kid, Condon at 6'11", and Chinyelu, those guys are all big, strong, physical guys, just like our guys are.
We got an offensive rebound, chance to get a kick-out three, and JoJo did the one thing that we really emphasized, don't bring the ball down. Turned into a turnover. Probably put him on the line a little too much, and they made their free throws.
But the way we looked tonight, we've won a lot of games like that. Some nights we struggle offensively. But we usually find ways to win. Tonight we didn't.