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ATLANTIC-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Derek KelloggCady LalanneBROOKLYN, NEW YORK LA SALLE – 76 COACH KELLOGG: Well, that's it. Season's come to a close. I think Cady and Maxie and the team for a good year, one that had some ups and downs. Didn't quite end like we wanted it to, and I thought today was a pretty good college basketball game. Pretty hard fought. A few times I thought we had an opportunity to pull away and didn't make some plays. And then we cut it to, one, when we were playing well, making some shots, and the kid, Lewis, made a huge three in the corner. Again, 22 percent from three once again has been one of our Achilles heels. We hit the boards pretty good, I thought forced some tempo. That's a tough way for us to go out with a team that I thought had a chance to advance here and could make some noise. Q. As well as you started the game what changed that allowed them to sort of get back in and take over? CADY LALANNE: Lot more shots and a lot more aggressive on the offensive end and started taking a lot more shots to the team(Indiscernible). Q. You guys, very physical game, a lot of banging and hard hits. Is that the kind of game you feel you had to play tonight to show a little oomph and push some guys around and try to get in like that? CADY LALANNE: Few times we played like that in a physical game(Inaudible) coming into it. Q. What did they do specifically on Cady after the hot start? I don't think he had a point for ten or 15 minutes. COACH KELLOGG: Like most games this season, it's been just crowd him. The weak side guard, just kind ‑ he wasn't getting in the paint. But I also thought Cady got tired a little bit in that stretch because we got him the ball two or three times right underneath the basket and they were able to take it out of his hands so it was a combination of both things. He probably played a little bit too much there in that first half and I thought they did a better job of getting back on defense and kind of slowed them down some. Q. C.J. played big minutes at point guard; were you happy with the way he handled himself and the composure he had in this came? COACH KELLOGG: Yeah, I thought C.J. showed some great things. Especially in the first half where he exclusively played the point for us and was getting in the paint, making plays. Has good size at his position and can get to his spot on the floor. Some of it was maturity and me trying to play some of those other guys in the second half and maybe he could have played a little bit more there. But he showed some good fight and good toughness in some of the things that I was looking for. Q. The number of plays down the stretch‑‑ did you feel like it's starting to turn‑‑ COACH KELLOGG: I thought we were going to win honestly. And then the play that was kind of a gut‑wrenching punch in the face, stomach, whatever you want to call it was the three in the corner with the shot clock winding down. Some years, those go your way. We've had that happen for us many, many times this year and even in the past, and sometimes when you're on‑‑ when you're not playing, winning as many games as you would like, those seem to be the opposite way. That was a killer and then missing that many free throws down the stretch was tough, too. Q. After the GW game, you talked about whether or not you guys wanted it. Do you feel like the way guys went after rebounds and balls, they came playing like they did want it today? COACH KELLOGG: Yeah, I thought we won hustle points or the toughness points for the most part. We out‑rebounded them. Really killed them on the board for a while. Came up with some loose balls. Both teams are kind of going head‑up, but I thought the plays that were important to me as a coach, we came up with. Now, you know, missed shots and some of those things, we might not have done that. But the toughness plays and the effort plays, I thought we did a good job tonight. The guys came in like they wanted to win a game and tried to win a championship. Q. You lost Jabarie in like 12 seconds of the first half, how much did that take you out of the flow of what you wanted to do with that second unit? COACH KELLOGG: He ended up playing 13 minutes in the second half so normally he would play 13 in that first half. Gave us one more scoring option, some speed and ball pressure, that helps us some. Kind of mixed up our rotation some. But I thought it gave C.J. a chance to play and he did fairly well. Maybe they would have played together, I'm not sure. Didn't really have much time to think about that particular situation, but he's a big part of what we do. And when we've played all at times, he's a guy that's scored the ball and made plays. Q. This was Donte's second 23‑point performance against La Salle this season. Was it a conscious thing to get him more shots than usual against La Salle? COACH KELLOGG: It's been a conscious thing for me for a while to try to get him going, because I think he's a kid that has a good upside and can really score the ball, somebody who should be some double digits most of the time. And he's starting to really get that hunger and that toughness and that desire to do that. You know, today I told him to be really aggressive on the offensive end of the floor and when he does that, you'll see 23 points and six rebounds and things of that nature. Q. Other than the late three, was there a play or maybe a series that you would like to have back? And then second question would be, would you guys accept a bid if an invitation comes from one of the other tournaments? COACH KELLOGG: That's a twofold and a good one. There's a couple runs where we were up seven, one or two in the first half that I would like those particular scenarios back because I thought we kind of‑‑ guys played by themselves for a little while there. We took some tough shots and guys played one‑on‑one and then they got a couple easy baskets. In a tight game, those four‑ or five‑point swings can be killers, and I thought that was kind of the one of the points where we maybe lost the game or could have pulled ahead. I think obviously if the NIT invites us, we would go to that, but I think if not, we'll call it a year and get those other guys ready for the future and help Cady and Maxie get on with their careers. Q. You talked about Donte, but were you happy the way he was getting to the basket and able to get in the lane and get some of those putbacks? COACH KELLOGG: What I was really happy to see was the offensive rebounding in his putbacks. That was something he hasn't done and then some of the drives he made in tough plays was nice to see. He was probably our best offensive player hands down for most of the game. When he plays that way, he's pretty tough on the offensive end of the floor. Q. You crashed on Jerrell; was it a pick your poison thing between him and Price? COACH KELLOGG: Yes, and Jerrell Wright has gotten much better since the last time we played him at passing under the double teams. We left one time, and it was kind of ill‑advised and they got a layup out of it. And actually that scramble where Khalid Lewis hit the three was a broken play a little bit because we had trapped him and the ball bounced all over the place and he picked it up for a three. Yeah, I think when he can score and be effective down there, that gives him like one more option to go with Price. Q. How do you wrap up what Maxie and Cady meant to this program? COACH KELLOGG: I'm positive, although I'm a realist, like I'm a guy, that we would like to have done more and taken advantage of where we were a couple of weeks back. That did not happen. But the one thing I'll say about Cady and Maxie is they will be sorely missed when they are gone, like a lot of players who have come through. Those guys, they have won a lot of games here, 20 games their first three years and almost 20 this year with the seventh‑rated non‑conference schedule in the country in a very tough league that I think is as tough as any out there. Those guys have been special and really become part of our family, the UMASS community. They both graduated. I told the team after the game, although we did not win as many games as I'd have liked and maybe not gone as far as I'd would have liked, because I would like to be in a certain spot every year, because that's what we are as competitors; those guys and the guys on our team are good kids and they have graduated. The other guys are all in line to graduate. They take care of business in the community and the classroom, and I said, now we just have to win a little bit more, and I like you guys, but they are good kids and Cady and Maxie are both great kids that have been great to be around. I'm happy for those guys that they graduated, and now they can go train for the next part of their careers, which I think they will both be able to play somewhere professionally. Q. I think you guys have won four fairly close games in a row against these guys. What happened then that didn't happen today? COACH KELLOGG: That's a good question. I think we made a few of those late shot clock heroics in those other games and today it felt like they made them. We got to the free throw line quite a bit more in the first‑‑ Game1 or Game2 and we forced a few more turnovers in those games. Our Achilles' heel, we go back to the beginning of the year, 4‑for‑18 from three, every time we looked at that, we were either in a dogfight or lost. That's a number that just can't happen. You have to be up around high the 30s, mid 30s to have some success at the level with as many threes as we are taking. They make seven; we make four; that's nine points‑‑ I know, I'm just teasing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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