Talking Tigers: Barrett Carter and Jalyn Phillips

Barrett Carter:

On watching game film: “Losing any game is super hard. I give all the credit to Duke, they had a great game plan, just a very well coached team, but any game that you lose and any game that you don’t come out on top is always tough to watch. We know what we need to do to move forward now, we figured out the mistakes and what went wrong on our side. It is always tough to watch a loss like that”

On what he needs to focus on: “Any game that we don’t win, and I put a lot on myself, I feel like I left a lot on the field and I watched even more film than we did as a team, figuring out what I need to do to be better myself, be a better teammate, and be a better leader for these guys. At the end of the day it all comes down to execution and players making plays and we didn’t do that and that is why we didn’t win.”

On getting in better shape: “I have to get in better shape… I think game shape is just different, you go through practice and there is really no way to replicate the speed of a game, so for me, I just need to get some extra running in and make sure that my condition is where it needs to be to play four quarters or however long the game will take, but I realized that really early in the game that I need to get in better shape.”

Jalyn Phillips

On the shock of losing Monday night: “It’s a very disappointing loss for us, the goal for us is to win, but you have to give credit where it’s due, they were prepared and we made multiple mistakes that we just have to learn from. In this program we are known for flushing games and having that windshield mentality, just flushing it and moving on to the next so that is the main focus right now.”

On facing adversity and how it impacts the team: “I feel like there is no perfect team, there is no perfect person in life, everyone is going to go through some adversity and that is all it is here, going through a little adversity. It maybe happened a little earlier than we expected, but it’s always something that you can learn from and going through adversity helps this team, it helps build chemistry, and it shows who the real leaders are and shows who the real dogs are on the team and helps us build the team and see who is gonna be ready for a long season.”

On what excited him: “We stuck together on the sideline when things didn’t go our way, I didn’t see anybody quit and that is the main thing, just going out there and giving your effort no matter what the score is, we don’t play to a scoreboard, we play to a standard and that is the big thing Coach Swinney wants, no matter what the scoreboard is we go out there and play to a standard and I didn’t see any quit in anyone's eyes and that is what I was most proud of.”