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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2015Daishon KnightParis LeeDan MullerST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Northern Iowa – 69 THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Tournament runner‑ups Illinois State Redbirds are with us. Paris Lee, Daishon Knight are surrounding Coach Dan Muller. We're going to ask Dan to make a statement about the game, and we'll go to questions for the two student‑athletes of Illinois State. COACH MULLER: First of all, congratulations to Ben and his team. They're a great champion to represent our league. They have a terrific team, and we're happy for them. It's a tale of two halves. We played great in the first half, and they came out and hit us in the mouth. We missed some shots around the rim during that stretch, where we could have kept the lead, and just never could get going the second half. But proud of my team, really, really proud of my team, their efforts the last three weeks. They just got us in the second half. Q. For both of you guys, could you just talk about the start of the second half, the first seven minutes. What was different about that from the first half? PARIS LEE: I felt like we got comfortable. We had a big lead‑‑ I mean, the first half, we knew it was 0‑0 and we had to build our laid, but the second half, I feel like we just came out comfortable and took our foot off the gas. DAISHON KNIGHT: I think our energy wasn't as great as it was the first half. Like Paris said, we got a little comfortable. They got back in it, and they made a run. Unfortunately, we lost. Q. Daishon, what made it‑‑ what did they do to make it so difficult on you in the second half? You didn't get your first shot until there were like three minutes left. DAISHON KNIGHT: It wasn't too difficult. It was just a game of basketball. If I couldn't find my shot, I knew I could find my teammates and get an open shot. We got great looks. We just missed some and made a couple. Q. Paris, you guys did come back and tied the game there at 47. At that point, was the energy back on your guys' side? What allowed them to get kind‑‑ get back the lead there? PARIS LEE: I would say we picked it back up. Coach Muller did a good job getting us all together and telling us to calm down, man. We good, you know. But like Daishon said, we still missed a couple of easy shots. We turned the ball over a couple of times at crucial moments. Q. Could both of you guys‑‑ I mean, can you process this yet? You're 20 minutes away from the NCAA Tournament and have it snatched away from you like that. Can you just kind of put that into words? PARIS LEE: Me being a point guard, I should have brought everybody together and brought everybody in and told them that the game was nowhere near done and just told them to keep fighting. But I wasn't vocal. I kind of‑‑ I kind of just fell back and didn't say too much. By the time I started saying stuff, it was too late. DAISHON KNIGHT: It was tough, 20 minutes away from an NCAA Tournament. I think nobody likes to lose in that situation. Man, you got to learn from those situations for anybody. I know I'm a senior. I'm moving on, but I know the players, they'll definitely learn from the situation. Q. The first half, you guys really ran all over them, got a lot of quick baskets. In the second half, did fatigue factor into it at all? PARIS LEE: I would say we just didn't have the same energy on offense, just going in transition. The first half offense transition, we were just going so fast. Second half, we‑‑ I mean, we couldn't‑‑ we got to stop them first in order to get rebounds and start transition. They got a lot of shots up and a lot of shots failed. So we couldn't get out in transition as fast. THE MODERATOR: Daishon, same question. Was there fatigue? DAISHON KNIGHT: No, I don't think it was fatigue. We didn't attack the same after we seen them make a couple shots, which will happen in basketball. We didn't still keep pushing, just keep playing. We kind of like backed up and probably was a little bit hesitant about taking our shots that we were shooting in the first half. Q. Paris, you just mentioned about being vocal. Is that one of those learning experiences that you're going to look to take forward and be more vocal, be more of a leader as you progress in your career? PARIS LEE: Yes, sir. As a point guard, period, I just feel like, if the team hear my voice a lot‑‑ if they hear me giving them good encouragement and just saying the right things at the right times, I think they'll be right behind me. So to answer your question, yes, I plan on being more vocal in my career. Q. Daishon, as a senior, you talked a little bit about it already, I know it might be tough to look this far ahead, but there's a possible NIT berth for you guys out there or possible postseason basketball. As a senior, yes, this game might be a little difficult to get by, but you might still have more basketball to play. DAISHON KNIGHT: If there's more basketball to play, that's great. I'm looking forward to it. But this game‑‑ you know, we lost. I got to think about it for a minute, and then I got to put it past me. Hopefully, we go to NIT, and I start worrying about the NIT. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time here. Congratulations to Daishon Knight, who's part of the All‑Tournament team. Q. Dan, could you just talk about maybe what they did differently in the second half that you guys weren't able to adjust to. COACH MULLER: They got the ball into Tuttle, and he really exerted his will a couple baskets early. I said at the start we missed three layups in the first four minutes that, if we make those, we keep the lead even though they're scoring some. We couldn't get in transition because they were scoring so much. Morgan made some shots. It really started with getting the ball inside to Tuttle. The zone got into Tuttle, man, they got into Tuttle, and he was terrific in the second half. Q. Just kind of piggy‑backing on that, in the first half, you guys were really effective and swarming and maybe even frustrating Tuttle, taking the ball away from him, et cetera. Did you play him the same way, did you feel like, in the second half? Did you feel like it was just his sheer determination? COACH MULLER: He got a couple of deeper touches in the second half. We wanted to play him physically. We sent some guys at him at times. Honestly, I think he just came out and said‑‑ I'm sure he'll tell you. He wasn't very good in the first half. That wasn't the normal Seth Tuttle. I'm sure Coach got on him possibly, but he came out‑‑ he was a different player. We didn't do anything differently, no. He got closer to the rim, dribbled a couple of baskets, made some tough shots, and that got him going. Once that happened‑‑ we didn't send double‑teams much in the first half. Once that happened, we had to start sending guys. It opened some shots for some three‑point shooters. And Morgan shot unbelievably well this weekend. Q. Dan, the players talked about not coming out with enough energy there in the second half. Why is that, I guess? This is the championship game, and you would think the energy would be there. COACH MULLER: It's got nothing to do with the championship game, Jim. It's just a matter of maturity. They didn't sit in there and think, hey, let's not play hard the second half. We don't want to be here. I mean, it's human nature. We tried to talk about it, just like you do any other halftime. I don't think we came out relaxed. I think they made a couple baskets, we missed some layups, and then we got tentative. But I think the mindset coming out of halftime was probably good until they hit us in the mouth and we didn't finish. Reggie misses a layup, Devon misses a couple shots at the rim, Teddy misses a wide‑open three. I think that took the wind out of our sails a little bit, and we didn't respond. I wish I could have done a better job of helping them at that moment, but it took us a little bit too long to respond. Q. Dan, I understand what Daishon was saying about, when his shot's not there, he was looking for open teammates, and the shots weren't going, but he didn't get any shots. From your vantage point, what was different? Was he not moving as well, or was it due to the defensive changes they made on him? COACH MULLER: A lot of it was we weren't getting stops. We were scoring so much in transition in the first half because of our defensive intensity. We didn't turn it over at all, but we were getting stops and pushing it out. A lot of guys were playing well. When they got to set their defense, they just kind of swarmed him a little bit on ball screens. Most of our looks came because of our speed in transition. Even if we didn't score in transition in the first half, we got them on our heels, and then our plays were working better. Second half, it was set defense the whole time. They give up 38 percent on the year. We shot 51 and then 33. Their set defense, they're going to‑‑ that's really what it was, just a great team and individual efforts once their defense was set, on Daishon. Q. Kind of lit into it here about there's still a season to play. Do you worry about this game even lingering on to the next one? Or is there obviously enough time that this team will kind of reenergize? COACH MULLER: It's so far away we don't know what will happen. Of course, we certainly hope we get an NIT bid. You never know. I feel confident about it, but two weeks, they may not remember who we played in two weeks. They're kids. They'll be okay. THE MODERATOR: Dan, thank you very much. Good luck in your next tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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