Vanderbilt 79, Texas A&M 68
THE MODERATOR: We have Emanuel Miller.
Q. There's a lot of emotion going on right now. What's the biggest emotion going through you?
EMANUEL MILLER: I'm not going to play with my seniors again (tearing up). It was our last home game. Not a home game, but just game in general. I know what they've done for this program. Savion, Jay Jay, those two have been here from the start. Two that came all the way from California. Marfo that traveled across -- it's just playing with the seniors. That's the biggest takeaway.
Q. You made two runs in the second half, the second one tied it up. How confident were you at that point that you were going to come back and win the game?
EMANUEL MILLER: We were confident. We had great momentum. We had spurts that we had, a little run that we had, brought us back from that 10-point deficit at halftime that we had. I think they were up by 13, somewhere around there, and we went on a 13-0 run. That was a great run, great momentum. We just did a bad job of continuing that momentum into the next media.
Q. It seems like every time you got there, they'd come down and hit a couple of threes.
EMANUEL MILLER: Yeah. It's just us executing our defensive principles. We got to locate shooters, Trey, he hit a couple big shots for them when he went on a run. Seems like every time we went on a run, he hit a big shot. Kudos to Vanderbilt.
It's hard. It's hard doing this right now just because of what's going on. But just kudos to Vanderbilt for playing a great game.
Q. How tough was Pippen to guard?
EMANUEL MILLER: Pippen is a really good player. He's in this league for a reason. He's a starting point guard with Vanderbilt for a reason. I think no matter who you are, no matter what player you are, if you play in this league, I think you're a pretty good player.
Q. When you think back on everything that's gone on this season, what is going to be the thing or things that sticks out the most or comes to mind first?
EMANUEL MILLER: Every game is life or death. Every single game, non-conference, conference, tournament, every single game is do or die. That's how we have to play.
We have to play as if that could be our last game because we took for granted the games we played previous to this game. We didn't realize the importance of each possession. Now it's over. The season is done. I wish we could take it back, but we can't. We got to move forward.
Next year, it's going to be scary.
Q. This is your first SEC tournament. Did you get a good feel? Is there an amount of knowledge that you gained from this that you can take into the next season and the next year that maybe you didn't have coming into this one?
EMANUEL MILLER: Yeah. A lot of knowledge I can take away. Just the flow of the games, how the officiating is going to be. Not saying they're bad, not saying they're good. Great refs. They've been in this league. Just the flow of the game. Now I have a better understanding of what you can do, things you can just do on the court. I just have a better understanding.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about just getting off to the slow start. Were you surprised by that, with how you guys played against Mississippi State and Arkansas?
EMANUEL MILLER: Yeah, at the end of the day we could only control what we could control. I think our effort, our discipline and our mindset, we just weren't there in the first half.
I think against any SEC team that plays in this league, it's going to be difficult to come back from, especially when you're down 10 at the half.
It was a long game. We went on runs, did everything we could to fight back. But being down and trying to fight back from the beginning, we're only digging our grave.
As soon as the tipoff starts, that's when collectively as a group we all have to be together. I think moving on to next year, that's what our focus has to be.
Q. You've always been one to go up there and tell us the truth. You're going to lose the seniors, Buzz incorporated a new offense and defense without time to get it going. Is it easy still to get excited about the future?
EMANUEL MILLER: It's always exciting. Talking to you right now, it's a blessing. Being here in this moment is a blessing. There's millions of kids in this world that wish they could be where I am right now. Playing through this pandemic is a blessing. Everything that's led and transpired through my life is a blessing.
I think having the chance to play again next year, why not be excited? This moment right now sucks, it kills, it hurts. But that pain, the emotions I'm feeling right now, that's just me getting ready and being excited for next year.
It sucks. Not having the chance to play with my seniors, knowing it's their last game, wish I could have done more. I wish collectively as a group we could have done more. But this program, I can promise you guys for one thing, we're going to come back, we're going to bounce back and we're going to be a way better team next year.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports