Game 11 - [E6] Georgia 66, [W2] Arkansas 57
Georgia completed its remarkable run through the Southeastern Conference tournament on Sunday, building a big lead in the first half and holding on to beat Arkansas 66-57 in the championship game, earning its first trip to the NCAAs since 2002.
The Bulldogs (17-16) became just the third team in the tournament's modern era to win four games in four days - actually, two came on the same day, an impromptu bit of scheduling forced by a tornado that slammed into the Georgia Dome.
Georgia cut down the nets on the home court of Georgia Tech, its bitter in-state rival and the replacement venue for the tournament after the dome was damaged Friday night. The Bulldogs then hung around to see where they'd be playing next, watching the NCAA selection show on the video board above the court.
``It's really gratifying,'' said coach Dennis Felton, who had only nine scholarship players remaining after injuries, defections and disciplinary problems. ``Regardless of how much adversity we went through and how much we had to go through as a team, the guys we had left had enough character to keep fighting for another day.''
Arkansas (22-11) beat Vanderbilt and regular-season champion Tennessee on its way to the final, good enough for its third straight NCAA appearance. The Razorbacks, seeded ninth in the East Region, face Indiana at Raleigh, N.C., on Friday.
Who could have envisioned Georgia also being part of March Madness? The Bulldogs, who beat as many SEC teams at the tournament as they did during the entire regular season, are seeded 14th in the West and will face third-seeded Xavier at Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Terrance Woodbury scored 16 points and the Bulldogs headed to the NCAAs for the first time since the scandalous era of former coach Jim Harrick, which landed the program on probation and prompted it to decline a certain postseason trip with a 19-win team in 2003.
Felton took over as coach, with a mandate to clean things up. But when the Bulldogs finished last in the SEC East this season, there was plenty of speculation he would be out of the job as soon as the team made its expected exit from the league tournament.
Nothing went as expected in Atlanta, however.
The devastating tornado, which rumbled over the Georgia Dome and wreaked havoc downtown, forced a postponement of Georgia's quarterfinal game against Kentucky. Not only that, the tournament had to be moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of nearby Georgia Tech.
The revised schedule, which was vehemently opposed by Felton, forced the Georgia-Kentucky winner to play two games on Saturday. Amazingly, the Bulldogs knocked off the Wildcats for the first time ever in the tournament, then came back six hours later to beat SEC West champion Mississippi State.
Never showing any signs of fatigue, Georgia completed the run against Arkansas, racing to a 19-point lead and going on to their easiest victory of the weekend, leading all the way. The Bulldogs won their first three games by a total of 10 points with two of them decided in overtime.
``SEC champions!'' Georgia's Billy Humphrey said. ``Never doubt us again.''
The Bulldogs started quick again, the third straight game in which they built a double-digit lead in the first half. Woodbury hit consecutive 3-pointers and tournament MVP Sundiata Gaines scored with a nifty move through the lane, putting Georgia up 28-9 just past the midway point of the opening half.
``I thought Woodbury was just spectacular,'' said first-year Arkansas coach John Pelphrey.
The Razorbacks cut the margin to 36-26 by halftime and closed to 56-53 - the closest they had been since the opening minutes - when Sonny Weems scored on a drive to the hoop.
Weems and Darian Townes led Arkansas with 17 points apiece.
Georgia, it seemed, was finally running out of gas. But the Bulldogs had come too far to let the second tournament championship in school history slip away.
Albert Jackson went in for a dunk with 2:51 remaining after a wild sequence in which Georgia missed twice but kept coming up with the loose balls. Humphrey sealed it with a 3, getting off the shot after running down most of the shot clock.
``Georgia played those two games yesterday, but I don't think them being tired had anything to do with it,'' Weems said. ``When you're competing for a conference championship, you always have to come out and play good.''
After senior Dave Bliss swatted away Arkansas' final shot, the celebration began in a cozy arena that wasn't even half-filled. Jackson jumped into Bliss' arms. Jeremy Price carried a teammate around the court.
Instead of worrying about his job, Felton was the last to climb the ladder during the net-cutting ceremony. He waved the prized nylon above his head for the cheering Georgia fans.
With no way to accommodate all those with tickets once the tournament moved from the 26,000-seat dome to the 9,191-seat coliseum, the SEC only let in those with working credentials, the bands and cheerleaders, and family and friends of the players.
Georgia had hardly any support at its first two games, but there must have been at least 2,000 wearing red and black on Sunday - more than half of the 3,700 in attendance.
``SEC! SEC! SEC!'' they chanted as the final seconds ticked away.
Game/Tournament Notes
1. MEAC 4.9 (5) 2. SEC 5.1 (6) 3. Patriot 5.7 (4) 4. Big Ten 6.3 (4) 5. Southland 7.3 (3) 6. MAAC 7.8 (3) 7. A-10 8.0 (4) 8. West Coast 8.1 (3) 9. SWAC 8.3 (2) 10. MWC 8.8 (3) 11. Big 12 8.9 (4) 12. America East 9.0 (2) 13. WAC 9.8 (2) 14. Pac-10 9.9 (4) 15. OVC 9.9 (2) 16. Horizon 10.0 (1) 17. Big West 10.0 (1) 18. Sun Belt 10.3 (1) 18. Colonial 10.3 (2) 20. MAC 10.5 (4) 21. Big East 10.6 (0) 22. A-Sun 10.7 (1) 23. ACC 11.5 (3) 24. NEC 11.9 (0) 25. Big Sky 12.0 (1) 26. Summit 12.6 (2) 27. C-USA 12.8 (3) 28. MVC 12.8 (2) 29. Big South 15.3 (0) 30. SoCon 17.0 (1)
Georgia Notes
Arkansas Notes
Georgia Postgame Quotes
THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Felton for some overall comments on the game and then we'll take your questions just for the four student athletes and then finish up with Coach.
COACH FELTON: I can't hardly find the words to describe how happy I am for our players and how grateful I am to them for showing all the perseverance they've shown and see it culminate this weekend. Just extremely proud of them for the way they persevered throughout the tournament. There was nothing easy about it, playing against great teams, great competition, and just very, very just proud of them and happy to see especially for Sundiata and David, just can't hardly put into words how I feel, especially for those two guys.
Q. This is for David and Sundiata. Can you talk about where you guys started this year with Coach having to kick two guys off the team? What were your feelings at that point, and can you contrast that with now and how you've gotten from there to here?
DAVID BLISS: Yeah, it was kind of a big disappointment at first, obviously with those guys not meeting the expectations of our team. But we moved on, and we kind of took it on ourselves to keep the team together and keep fighting, and we've wanted to make the tournament ever since we came in as freshmen. Kind of a roundabout way of getting there, but we did it.
SUNDIATA GAINES: It was kind of disappointing, as Dave said. But at the same time, we had to believe as a team. You know, sometimes media and different other people may think just because you lose your two best players you don't have a chance, and they kind of counted us out. It definitely was a tough year because we had to fight through a lot of adversity, but that's what makes winning this SEC so special, just the overall team effort, and we just built good team chemistry, especially coming down the stretch. If we didn't believe in ourselves, we would have never had a chance.
Q. Sundiata, how are you today? I know your hip hurt last night.
COACH FELTON: My hip is fine. It was all right I mean, it was kind of bruised last night, but I knew that was the last thing I wanted to worry about was my hip. My team was more important. I could fight through a little hip injury. We just had to win one more game. That's what I did, and I'm going to rest on it now. But I'm just happy we won the game.
Q. For any of you guys, what do you think about your draw in the NCAA Tournament, Xavier? I know you don't know a lot about them yet, but what do you think about your draw?
DAVID BLISS: I mean, we're just excited to have a chance to play in the tournament. Don't know a whole lot about Xavier yet, but I'm sure we'll do a thorough scouting report on them. I know they had a lot of success this year, so definitely it will be another challenge for us and one we're looking forward to.
BILLY HUMPHREY: We were just really looking for our ticket to get into the NCAA. I think I speak for everybody in saying we didn't really care who they matched us up against, we just knew we were going to take it by the hands and walk with each other and try to advance like we did in this tournament. Hopefully we can play for another championship.
Q. For Dave and Billy, adrenaline is part of it, but at any point during the course of the game did fatigue become a factor in light of the games you've played back to back to back?
DAVID BLISS: It was a little bit of a factor. I had to signal Coach a few times to give me a blow. But I kind of do that anyway (laughter). I don't know, I guess I've got a lot of experience (laughing), but I don't know, it was definitely tiring. We were just so determined at that point that we just kept saying, we made it this far, we might as well go ahead and finish this thing.
BILLY HUMPHREY: Like Dave said, we had nothing to lose, and nothing was worth being an excuse, the injuries, the fatigue, any of that. At any given point in time it didn't matter. We just knew we had 20 more minutes, 15 more minutes, 10 minutes to play and win this championship and shock the world, and that was on our mind, and we did it.
Q. Can you put into words what it means after four years for you and Yata to get this kind of payoff that you didn't know you weren't sure was going to come?
DAVID BLISS: I mean, it's been unbelievable. All the things that we've been through over four years, it's been really trying on both of us. But we've kind of stuck together no matter what happened and kind of known that at least one person was going to be there no matter what happened. You know, it's just so rewarding for us I think after all we put into this. I'm sure Yata feels the same way. But just taking a stake in this program and being proud of it and just having that all pay off this weekend was just tremendous for us.
THE MODERATOR: Fellows, you can be excused back to the locker room. Thanks for coming. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Felton if you will raise your hand.
Q. Terrance is a guy who you have been very high on for a long time now, and in this tournament it seemed to really come together for him. Can you talk about what he's meant to you and perhaps why that has come together for him?
Coach Felton: Well, in this tournament he really started to play with a good degree of confidence offensively, and he hit some timely shots starting with the Mississippi game. He hit some really, really timely shots down the stretch of that game, which was seesawing down to the wire.
That probably did a lot for Wood with his own confidence. I also think he along with all of his teammates benefitted from some more patience and presence for teamwork as a team offensively in the first place. I think there were a lot of stats that went in our favor in this game, but probably the biggest one is the fact that out of 23 field goals, we assisted on 18. You know, so Sundiata struck a really good balance of creating for himself and his teammates and started moving the ball better and better. But Wood, really he made some big shots. He raised up and made some big threes in this tournament. Of course he was four for five from three today, and a couple in the first half were momentous, and a couple in the second half were back breakers. They were all very, very big baskets for us.
Q. They cut it to three and you guys still everything that could have gone wrong it seems like the last two days, with Sundiata fouling out, they get momentum going. Was there ever a point where you thought about the wall that we all talk about, or worried about the wall and thought it might pop up?
Coach Felton: Well, as a coach you worry about things turning against you all the time, and that's your job as a coach. So you're always trying to think ahead and stay ahead of that wall with having something that can be helpful to your team, whether it's just what you say to them, how you say it, and/or strategy, finding a way to change things to turn the momentum around. So that is an absolute constant worry. When you're running up a 17, 19 point lead in the first half I'm worried about when they're going to make their run and cut it to 10 and thinking about what may be the best response to that adversity when it comes because you know it's going to come. You don't ever count on a team not responding against you, not competing, and letting the momentum continue to fall your way. So that's constantly what you're doing as a coach. You're trying to you're worried about what's the next thing that can move against us and how to counter it.
Q. How important do you think it was that you got the delay on the tipoff from the original 1:00 p.m.? You got to come back at 3:30. Was that valuable to you for rest?
Coach Felton: Well, I know personally I couldn't stay awake last night trying to watch tape and get ready to get our team ready for Arkansas this morning. So as hard as I tried, I just kept dozing off, dozing off, until finally at 4:30 I gave in and went to bed. When I got back up sometime between 8:00 and 9:00, I didn't feel very good. The shower helped.
At that moment I did think to myself that we were blessed that the tipoff was put off a couple of hours, and I was thinking to myself how much a difference just that couple of hours makes because if we're playing at 1:00 versus 3:30, it's a huge difference in how early you have to get up in the morning to start your process of getting ready for that tipoff.
So I was very, very thankful for the fact that we got that two and a half hour delay.
Q. With the mental and physical fatigue of the weekend, do you think that will alter how you prepare this week? Will you maybe try to take it easy and get some rest this week as you go into the NCAA Tournament, maybe different than you would have otherwise?
Coach Felton: I think it's always the same for a team that wins their tournament championship. Well, it's always the same. If you even make it to the final game in leagues like the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, where our tournaments end so late and so close to the National Tournament, it's always a concern about the turnaround time and not only getting rested but getting ready.
You know, I've been lucky enough to be involved with three of these before leading into the National Tournament, but those were in the Sun Belt where we finished earlier.
So to answer your question, I don't know that it'll be so different. I mean, we'll do the logical thing from the standpoint of making the best use of our time, of mixing rest with preparation. I know that all of us I'm certain that all of us, we can't wait to get out of here and just have a chance to relax immediately following our responsibilities, obligations here this afternoon, because you can only imagine how exhausted everyone is.
Q. The adversity you went through in the last several days, then winning a championship, in what way can you anticipate how this might impact your basketball program?
Coach Felton: Well, it's going to really help us a lot because we've grown some championship stock through this tournament. The experience of winning, the experience of winning a championship is priceless, and especially when you have to do it in the manner that we did it, where nothing was easy all year long. We fought incredible adversity all season, and continuing through this tournament.
So our returning players for the first time will have that kind of championship experience to draw from moving forward into the future.
Q. What was your reaction to the seeding when they showed you on the big screen it looked like you were thinking you didn't get much respect in the seeding?
Coach Felton: I have no idea what we're seeded. I can't see that far (laughter). I could barely read Xavier. What were we seeded?
Q. 14th.
Coach Felton: 14th? I really couldn't care less. I didn't care where we played, who we played, seeding. We're just eternally grateful to be in the tournament.
Q. How much of a concern was Sundiata's hip coming into today? I mean, was he hurting all the way up until tipoff?
Coach Felton: No, he didn't allow it to be an issue at all. When I got back to the locker room after doing all of this yesterday, you know, he was as happy as he could be, looking forward to playing today and looking forward to finding a way to finish the game after fouling out the two previous games. You know, he's not used to that. He's played all season. I don't know if he's ever fouled out. If he has, it's only been it's been a very, very rare occasion in his career, even though he's been a 35 minute per game guy. So that was a real new experience for him yesterday.
I think he felt you know, he just felt like he was saved by his teammates to be able to get a chance to play another day, and he was determined not to let that happen again today.
Q. For all the oddities and things that happened in the last few days, this being at the site of your big in state rival, was it surreal, this net cutting ceremony at Georgia Tech?
Coach Felton: Not really. Everything about this situation has been bizarre, but where we played, no, it just didn't it didn't strike me as ironic at all. To be honest with you, I'm glad that we were able to use the facility. It was about as convenient as you could get to be able to move just down the street from the Dome to here. I'm glad it was able to be worked out.
You know, I'm glad we were able to come down here. I think it was easier than just about anywhere else we could have gone outside of the Phillips Arena.
Q. Amidst all the back slapping and hand slapping that was going on. Afterwards you got a big bear hug from Damon. Is there anything you can share with us about what he said?
Coach Felton: Obviously he was very excited about winning and winning another Georgia championship.
THE MODERATOR: We'll end on that note. Thank you very much.
Arkansas Postgame Quotes
THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Pelphrey for some overall thoughts on the game, then we'll take questions just for the two student athletes and excuse them back to the locker room and then we'll finish with Coach Pelphrey.
COACH PELPHREY: Congratulations to Georgia. They were just the better basketball team tonight from start to finish. Our guys fought and battled to get themselves back into it. We did that, but Georgia was just better than us tonight. They deserve all the credit, and certainly winning four games in three days, nobody thought was possible except those guys. They deserve all the spoils and we wish them nothing but the best. I've got a lot of respect for Dennis Felton and the job he's done while he's been the head coach. I think he's a wonderful representative of Georgia and our league. Class guy, give them the credit.
We just could not play well enough against them to challenge for a victory.
Q. Obviously you guys have played well here in Atlanta the last two years, but just talk about the thrills of getting to the final and then the disappointment of not being able to win?
SONNY WEEMS: You know, it's great that we got to The Finals both years, but we didn't come away with a win. That's what we wanted the last two years, and we didn't come up with it.
Q. For both guys, why do you think you guys got off to a slow start? Just maybe explain that.
SONNY WEEMS: I don't think we was I think Georgia was more ready to play than we were. They came out with the intensity. And I think tonight they just wanted it more than we did.
GARY ERVIN: They just came out aggressive. That was something that we was hoping was going to happen on our end. From the tip, they got easy baskets, came down after a transition after a miss and got a three point shot, got a foul point lead. You've got to tip your hats off to them because they played good for 40 minutes.
Q. Do you think subconsciously, you know you had NCAA Tournament bid wrapped up, but you played a team knowing they didn't have a tomorrow if they lost this game, and that's why they made all the extra plays because they knew they had to win?
SONNY WEEMS: Tip your hats off to them. They wanted the NCAA Championship. We wanted it, too. We wasn't worried about the NCAA Tournament or what was on down the road. We just wanted to get this victory.
GARY ERVIN: I don't think we was worried about the NCAA Tournament, not for a second. There's no excuses just to come out and say that they were just playing for that last game and they was trying to get into the NCAA Tournament. We was trying to win a championship. That's what we were trying to do, and we fell short here this afternoon.
Q. I think you guys were 2 of 17 on threes. Just talk about that. Do you think you were getting good looks or do you think you were overanxious? What do you think about the three point shooting?
GARY ERVIN: You know, Georgia is a great defensive team. Throughout the tournament they've been holding opponents to low three point shooting, under 30, and field goal percentage under 40. So you've got to tip your hats to them. But at the same time those are shots that we usually make, penetrating to the lane and kicking out to wide open shooters. Those are some of the shots that we usually make, and they didn't fall this afternoon.
SONNY WEEMS: We had great looks, and I think we just needed a man to get up there and knock them down.
Q. Sonny, this is your first game in double figures in five games. You were hot in the first half. Why do you think you were able to kind of produce offensively today why you haven't the last couple games?
SONNY WEEMS: I don't think I was rushing anything, but I'm not worried about individual stats. I just wanted to get this championship.
Q. For both you guys, I know it's tough right now, but can you already look forward for motivation knowing that you got a chance to go to the tournament and you have something to prove there because you haven't won there in the last two years?
SONNY WEEMS: We can't get this game back. It's over with. We've got to concentrate on what we have in the future.
GARY ERVIN: In all honesty, I think it's going to soak in. This is not an easy game to just put behind us. We had a chance, an opportunity to win a championship and cut down Nets. You don't get the opportunity all the time. At the same time it's going to take a while, but we have to put this behind us because we're preparing for something else. Next time we step on the court and something like this happens, we're hanging our jerseys up, especially six seniors. For our career we'll never put this jersey on again, so we've got to make the best of this opportunity.
Q. You guys were playing from behind the whole game, but you cut it from 19 I think to five. Knowing Georgia was playing their third game in 28 hours were you kind of waiting for them to hit a wall, or what did you think of that?
GARY ERVIN: Not at all. We just were trying to go out there and pressure. In a situation like that when a team is hungry and they've got a lead and a team is fighting back, I didn't think Georgia was going to step back for one second. We just couldn't make our shots and get the defensive stuff that we needed towards the end of the game. Offensive rebounds hurt us.
SONNY WEEMS: Georgia played those two games yesterday, and I don't think them being tired was anything about this. You're competing for an SEC Championship, and you've always got to come out and play for that.
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Pelphrey if you'll raise your hand.
Q. You said the other day you didn't really like the term wanting it more, that kind of thing, and Sonny kind of said that. Do you feel like it was a case of that early in the game or anything?
COACH PELPHREY: No, I kind of feel like that's an easy answer for those guys. A lot of times they say a million things that probably aren't quite close to the truth.
Q. What do you think the slow start was due to?
COACH PELPHREY: I think it was Georgia. They played really well. They came out there and we weren't secure with the ball on the tip. We did a good job and got it, and then they said, well, Gaines saw an opportunity to make a play, did, and next time down I can't remember what the shot we got a pretty good look from Darian inside and didn't make it. I thought Georgia played spectacular tonight. I just think that they just played really well early, man. I don't think we were dogging it. I think we were trying. We understood what was at stake. Georgia was just better than us tonight.
Q. Just talk about the three point shooting, 2 for 17. Did you think you guys were getting good looks or do you think maybe you were rushing some shots?
COACH PELPHREY: I thought some of them were rushed. I thought maybe a couple of them were bad, bad from the standpoint that not that they weren't open because I think they were. Michael Washington is obviously capable of making that shot every now and then, and Stef had one early there and he's made some big, big shots for us in this tournament. I thought they were early. They were bad for maybe not giving ourselves a chance to go inside and attack with some of that first. But you're going to get some open looks, and it's tough against them because they make it so hard even around the basket. If you don't make if you make primitive shots it sort of loosens things up. Unfortunately for us tonight, that was the difference in the game. Free throws, ballpark being the same, they just shot it better from the three point line. Woodbury was a good from the start, and he made one late. We got hurt there with the offensive rebounding, too. They had six, seven second chances on two possessions. That was a little bit disappointing. One of those type of situations where we got back into a scenario where we couldn't be tough when we needed to be.
Q. The way your inside game has played in this tournament, are you hopeful that if you can get some perimeter offense that you could advance in the tournament because it seems like your inside game has really, really come on the last few weeks.
COACH PELPHREY: Well, we're always hopeful. This is not the end of the world. Nobody died tonight. We're always hopeful. We're at the University of Arkansas where great things can happen, is going to happen. Our guys have made shots from the perimeter. I have tremendous confidence in Patrick and Sonny, Gary and Stef. We wouldn't be playing for the SEC Championship today if it wasn't for those young men. Our front court has played better, scored it well. We need to continue to defend and rebound a little better without fouling, but there's always things that a basketball team can work on, but we're always hopeful.
Q. You obviously watched these guys on tape a lot getting ready for this game. Is there any way to explain how this team won four conference games and then four in a row here, a simple explanation that us sports writers can't figure out?
COACH PELPHREY: It's a game. You know, obviously what you guys do is all on paper and it's very you can look at numbers and stuff and make projections, but it's a game. Last night, I mean, a bunch of people telling me congratulations, great call having Steve shoot the ball at the end of the game. I know he's your No. 1 option. As good as that was for us last night, we were disappointed today. But I think you've got to give credit to Dennis Felton. That's where it goes, not just for these four games in three days, but what they've been doing for a season. Dennis certainly doesn't need me to get on his band wagon, but the guy knows what he's doing. I've got tremendous respect for him and what he's done at both places he's been as a head coach, and he's a class act. The kids handle themselves in the right way, and if you play for him, you're going to be like this. You're going to be tough and hard nosed and you're going to battle until the very end. I think that's a credit to those guys.
That's what happened. It's a long season. All of us have been given up for dead several times, maybe with the exception of Tennessee (laughter).
Q. For you, how much does it hurt to be so close to a championship and not get it?
COACH PELPHREY: You know, for the moment we got the opportunity last night. I was very happy for our basketball team, but I certainly wanted to back it up. Yeah, you know it. It's hard to get to this point in time. You never take that for granted. You know, I wanted to win this championship. It makes you part of Arkansas history. It puts you in the record books. That may be some flaws on my character that I need to work on, but yeah, we missed an opportunity.
Q. You guys were out rebounded. How surprised were you that they got 13 offensive boards. You guys missed a lot of shots, but
COACH PELPHREY: If you understand Georgia, big, huge, physical bodies. Those guys aren't going to wow you with their speed, they're not going to wow you with athleticism, they're not going to wow you with low post play. But they're going to be big, strong, and physical on you're not going to score a basket on them. And whan a game gets close like it did today they can get you extra possessions because of their physical size. That's what happened.
Q. Georgia, I guess they've actually won four games in four days, but it probably was three days hours wise. Just how unbelievable they beat four really good teams, too. How impressive is what they did?
COACH PELPHREY: Very much so. I think Dennis Felton and his basketball program deserves a lot of credit. Again, I don't think that happened just overnight. I don't think they got all fired up just because they had a chance to win four games in however many days. I think there's a belief system there that they've had all season long.
THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you very much.