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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2015Porter MoserEarl PetersonChristian ThomasST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Up next, 2:45. 2 seeded Loyola Ramblers. They will play in the 3‑6 game against Indiana State. 8:30 game on Friday. We'll ask Porter to make a statement first. COACH MOSER: I'm proud of our guys. They've withstood some adversity this year with some injuries. They just‑‑ especially these two right here have played really well, really hard. We got great chemistry. I think these guys have been focused and just really proud of these guys they moved up our program a step. We have a lot of steps to go, we know that. In terms of where you want your attitude, your character, your chemistry, we're pleased to be here. Q. Porter, could you reflect on the games against them in year. They've kind of had your number the past couple of years. What is it they do so well? COACH MOSER: I think Indiana State has got a good balance of size‑‑ Gant and Kitchell are very, very physical. And then their guards, Brown and Scott, have been very, very athletic. We haven't been able to defend those two really well. We've had great games in our arena. What they've done is they've shared the ball. They strike you off the dribble, and they can shoot it. I was talking to Greg about it, and one of the big differences for his team from nonconference to now is to make the shots. You look at how much they're making threes, and they've got a number of guys who can make threes. Then you've got to make a decision. Do you pack it in the paint to stop their drive? Or do you extend and stop their three? I like their balance of their size inside and their athletic guards. Q. Coach, the Sycamores have managed to win a game‑‑ at least a game here at this tournament for four years in a row. I know you talked about Greg's consistency before the season. Could you just comment on the difficulty of winning a game, even when you're not at your best, for four years in a row here by the Sycamores? COACH MOSER: That's a great run by Greg because, to do the consistency, like you said, but that is. You've got to have‑‑ when you get a taste of it, they've had a lot of players‑‑ they've done it the right way. Gant's a senior. Kitchell is a senior. Last year they had Odum, who played a lot of games for them. That's one benefit for us. We have five guys in Christian, Jeff White, Devon Turk, Joe Crisman, and Doyle, who won a game here last year. That's a plus. You get the confidence. You know you can come in here and get a win and hopefully advance.  Your goal is not just to win one. You've got to give Greg and his staff and his players credit for coming in here year offer year and at least getting one. Q. Porter, what are your expectations for Milton tomorrow? As a coach, are you worried about maybe his return kind of throwing things out of whack a little bit since he's not played for ten games or so? COACH MOSER: Our expectation, he's going to play. He played last game, got in the middle of a close game and played well. Our chemistry's really good. I think some teams, you might worry about that. I don't with these guys. These two right here have been a key part of it. Everybody's welcomed him back. Milton was like a coach every day in practice. Sometimes, when guys get injured, they migrate to the training room, and you don't see them for a while. Milton was out there on the bench. There were some times in the 11 games he missed he'd be poking my sport coat during a media time‑out, hey, look what's open out there. He's been staying involved. The guys on the team have great chemistry. There's going to be no awkwardness. There wasn't last game against Missouri State. As a matter of fact, I think it's the opposite. These guys are confident. I really think we can do something here, and they want all hands on deck. I think that's the way our whole team's approached it and the way these guys approached it. Q. Porter, in the previous two games, you got a good game in Terre Haute out of Montel and a good game out of Earl in Chicago. How do you get a couple more guys involved, and how does Milton's return kind of influence that? COACH MOSER: It's a great question. We've been consistent with our effort, but we've had different guys step up at different times. That's what exciting to me because I know we have great guys that are capable. No matter how you spin things certain years, do you really have the guns in your holster, guys capable to help you do this? I feel like we do. Earl's had some big games. Christian's had some big games. Devon Turk has. The key to running three games in the tournament is to get everybody playing well. I think our effort, our attitude, our focus are there. Guys are going to play well. I really do. Just getting‑‑ I think we haven't been at our best, but I think we're playing well right now as the season ended. Like you said, Montel played really well there. Earl played well here. I think the guys are‑‑ they beat us twice. Hopefully, that's sticking in our guys' gut. Q. Christian, how special do you feel now in four years getting to come back home and play St. Louis? CHRISTIAN THOMAS: It seems like almost a surreal feeling just because, when I was growing up, my family would always come to Arch Madness. Now being on the other side of it, it's just really special for me. Getting a chance for a lot of my family members and maybe friends from high school, things like that, just to come see me play and haven't gotten an opportunity to come to Chicago is also great. Q. For you, Coach Moser, what sort of impact has Rick Majerus had on your coaching career? Anything you take from the process in St. Louis as an assistant that you've applied here with Loyola? COACH MOSER: Coach has meant the world to me. It was a blessing for me to land here with him. I thought we did a lot of work here. I think about him a lot. So much of what he was about and talking‑‑ so many late night meals talking ball. He truly was a savant. I miss him as a friend. I miss him as a mentor. There's a lot of his footprint on what we're trying to do here. Rick was big on‑‑ I remember my first year or two at Loyola, him calling me, don't try to go too fast. Don't try to go too fast. Don't skip steps. We felt like we didn't do that at St. Louis, and I feel like we're doing that right now. For us, it's very hard to jump conferences, like we did, when you take over something that was down in one conference. We feel like our arrow is going up. These guys, I reference Coach Majerus all the time with these guys. They didn't know him. Actually, Christian did know him. But there's a lot of references we try to do with the culture that he impacted my life as a coach and as a man. Q. Christian, could you just kind of reflect on last season's tournament here and some of your memories of winning your first game over Bradley and what that meant to you. Did that help you guys really get accustomed to what this tournament was all about? CHRISTIAN THOMAS: I think so because, leading up to it, only Coach Moser had any inside knowledge on it, having played here and coached here. Last year, going up against a team that had beaten us twice before, coming down to a last second shot, and then Milton, obviously, hitting the game winner, I think it was really special for us. I think it showed that we can come into this environment and win, and that kind of set up the expectation going forward. Q. Coach, just to follow up, you said that you tell your players some of the things that Coach Majerus told you. What are some of those things? COACH MOSER: Rick has a lot of little sayings, that we actually have a wall of culture in our locker room. There's probably a hundred little sayings on there. There's a lot of them from Rick, Coach Majerus. Like threw you to the rim. So many of them, so many little things, teaching points. That was one of the special things about Coach Majerus is his attention to detail. It was off the chain. Rick has a lot of those‑‑ these guys know what those little things are. Q.  Christian, what did you know about Coach Majerus? What was your relationship and interaction with him? CHRISTIAN THOMAS: I first met Coach Majerus as a junior in high school. He came to an open gym at Clayton High School where I went. The first thing is I remember him telling me just different pointers about how to play the game and things like that. And also from going to different open gyms at St. Louis U, talking to the players and getting their take on him. He seemed like an outstanding person, always willing to give a helping hand, always giving the guys life advice and things like that. He seemed like a great person. Q. Earl, how much did that‑‑ was it a blessing, perhaps, in disguise that players like yourself were called on to have a little bit different role when Milton went down? Is a little bit more of a scoring role, a little bit‑‑ and you can elaborate on what that would be. How much do you think that's helped you at this point in the season to have taken on some different roles that maybe you wouldn't have had otherwise? EARL PETERSON: I think it's helped me a lot, and it's given me a lot of confidence because some of my teammates, they were looking to me to create shots for myself and them as well, and I was able to do so and help the team get a couple‑‑ get some wins. It boosted my confidence. THE MODERATOR: Best of luck. See you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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