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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Hayden GrahamZach KocurDave PilipovichLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Boise State – 80 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Air Force. Coach, some thoughts on today's game. COACH PILIPOVICH: What a really good Boise State team. We knew coming in how talented they are and how well they shoot the basketball. They didn't disappoint. They shot the ball really well. So proud of our guys. Our effort. We struggled at times early, but fought through, finished the half down four. Identical score we had yesterday. Talked about coming out the second half, limiting our turnovers because that bothered us early in the game. Then they got a great start to the beginning of the half. That kind of separated us and kept their distance. We were able to manufacture some momentum, some runs. We cut it to I believe six, 62‑68 if I'm correct, then couldn't get any deeper than that. So proud of our guys. Our seniors have been along my whole time here as the head coach. They've meant so much to me and this program. They've taken us to another level. Now it's these guys that carry the torch on from that. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Nine of the ten teams here are going to leave with a loss. To leave with a loss like this, does that at least lessen that blow for a competitor? ZACH KOCUR: We came into the game thinking we were going to win. We fought. I think just the fact that we fought till the end, I don't think it matters what team we were playing, we were just going to fight till the end. They had a great game. So give credit to them. We just came up a little short. I'm proud we fought till the end. HAYDEN GRAHAM: I feel the same way as Zach. I wouldn't want to choose a loss. But, I mean, Boise State's a really good team. They got high‑quality players. They execute really well. I mean, I just hope they go all the way. If they're going to knock us out, I hope they finish the thing right. Q. Is it frustrating with Nick Duncan where he keeps getting open? ZACH KOCUR: We knew coming in that he was a good shooter. He did the same thing to us at home in the game. I mean, we knew we had to get out and contest him. I mean, give credit to him. He made difficult shots. I think maybe we just thought we were up on him, and he was still knocking them down. We needed to get up on him a little bit more. But give credit to him. HAYDEN GRAHAM: Boise State's a really complete team. We had to focus on everybody. Most teams you don't have to really do that. You can kind of isolate your defense and figure out the two people you really want to stop, let the other people on the team beat you. Boise State you can't focus on one person because somebody else will kill you. You can't focus on Marks because Duncan is going to get open, or Webb. It's hard to balance it, honestly. He found his looks and he took 'em. Q. Is it possible for young guys like yourselves to realize what you have leading now into next year, there's so many young pieces coming back, or is that something you don't think about? HAYDEN GRAHAM: Absolutely. We realize how much potential we have as a team 'cause we're young. This year wasn't supposed to really happen like this. We had a senior‑oriented team coming into the year. Due to injuries, whatever else, we've had guys step up, step into roles, new roles that they didn't think they were going to experience this year. It just set us up, it allowed everybody to become more mature. There's not going to be a shock next year when we go into SanDiego State or whatever else, a hostile environment. There's no excuses. Q. Hayden, how much was this tournament important to establish new things in your game? HAYDEN GRAHAM: I mean, this year was kind of frustrating for me because usually I rely on my three‑point shot, and it was not here this year, for whatever reason it was. I had to find other ways to help this team out, just become more aggressive, attack the basket, get more rebounds. I mean, it just helped me grow as a player. Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe next year when my three ball comes back, I'll be a more dimensional player. Q. What was said in the locker room afterwards? ZACH KOCUR: I mean, we wouldn't have wanted to play with any other group of seniors. They definitely laid the foundation for us, really led us throughout the year, which is going to help us in the next couple years. It really was really sad. A couple of them were dealing with injuries throughout the year. Obviously Kam and Ethan, they couldn't play the rest of the season. They had season‑ending injuries, sad, unfortunate for our team. Yeah, Hayden definitely stepped up, picking up the rebounds for Kam. I think it was great that we could get some experience with the younger guys. But they really led us. Q. Did you realize coming in the way Boise defends the three that your points were going to have to come at the hoop or different places? ZACH KOCUR: I'm going to shoot it if I'm open. I think I got 1‑3 today. I definitely was thinking about driving a little bit more, getting them with the shot fake. But, yeah, I don't really plan on it. However they play me, that's how I'll react. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, men. We'll continue with questions for Coach Pilipovich. Q. Did you feel like this game epitomized the whole season for you guys? COACH PILIPOVICH: I think it shows the fight in our team. Really proud of them, how they kept coming back, coming back, coming back. Again, Boise State is a very talented team. We knew we'd be challenged by them. Nick Duncan has done that to many people in the league. He can really shoot the basketball. Derrick Marks, he's a second‑half guy. We talked about that. Isolated him early in the second half, but he was able to get us down low, take advantage of his size or strength. But our guys kept fighting, fighting. When we cut the lead back late in the game, you know, we had nothing to lose. Just keep play, keep play, keep play. As we kept saying to keep push play, we'll get after them. So proud of them. As you mentioned, our younger guys, the second half of the season, they've been our focal point and been our leading scorers, our leaders of this team. As Hayden said, we came in with a senior group, expecting these guys to play some support roles off the bench. Come January, they were our major players. They grew so much. Trevor Lyons, Zach Kocur, Matt Mooney, just to name a few. So excited about what we got. Really, it's going to be hard not to go to practice and not have those guys. Those six have been so much, a good group. Q. That spurt at the start of the second half, do you wish you called timeout sooner? COACH PILIPOVICH: Weather the storm, call a timeout, get a stop... You can look at it different ways. We knew they would attack. We made some adjustments. We just didn't execute the way we talked about doing it. That was in large part to them. They're a veteran team and very good. They took advantage of that. We got through it. We got through it. With us being down six, I think we hit a layup at the rim and missed. Another possession we missed a layup. What if we make that layup and cut it to four? Things start to tighten up maybe a little bit differently. But we battled. Really, our guys grew so much. That game yesterday winning was so important for this program, for us to move forward, get to this point now. Now we got to take another step. This senior group has been around us that we've beaten three top‑25 teams, got to post‑season play, won a game here in Vegas. So we're growing. We like where we're trending right now. Q. Did you sense with Marks out for so long in that first half that was your chance? COACH PILIPOVICH: Yeah, because you knew he was lurking around the fence. He's that dog that's barking, he's going to come out there. I have so much respect for him. He's talented. I said before the game, they were warming up down at our end, I said, I was hoping I wouldn't see you again. But here we go. He's a really good player. He's going to play somewhere. He's going to continue to play. Then you throw in a Webb and a Duncan and Igor runs the team. They're really good. I was wondering, when they were 0‑3, they lose Drmic, I think Coach Rice has done an unbelievable job of regrouping that team, putting them at the forefront of the Mountain West. I wouldn't want to play them in the NCAA tournament, I'll tell you that. Q. It's a balancing act as a coach. You come in with Marks, one of the best scorers in the country, you're doing a great job on him. There's another guy draining threes from everywhere. When do you shift your defensive focus? COACH PILIPOVICH: We talked about that. We talked about our preparation, as Hayden mentioned, we said Derrick can score in different ways. He can drive it, shoot it, get to the free‑throw line. Duncan, you can't help off anybody, because they kick it in, he can shoot it. James Webb can stretch and make threes, but then he can offensive rebound. Rob Heyer plays so hard and strong when he comes in. Then Igor is a left‑handed driver and can get to the rim. Where do you pick your poison? Yesterday and maybe some other games we were able to maybe isolate some things. That's why Boise is so good, because you can't make mistakes. You can't because they can score in a variety of ways and they're really good at what they do. Q. Is there almost a sigh of relief now? COACH PILIPOVICH: You know, it will take a while. You're sad it's over. I'm not sad it's over. I'm happy it happened because I had a chance to be with this group. At the end of the year when you have some teams that go through adversity, they either pack it in, count the days, cross the calendar off. Our guys worked every day. Even 8:15 this morning in the banquet room of the hotel. They brought it. They love being with each other. I'm going to miss this group. But excited about the ones coming back. Q. Curious to the mindset at halftime. Were you encouraged by the score or were you thinking Marks is going to get going here? COACH PILIPOVICH: Both. First of all, encouraged by the score because the numbers were a bit in our favor, because it was 32‑28, a low‑scoring game. That was good for us. Also we talked first and foremost, Derrick, we've seen it so many times where he's gotten 18, 20 points in the second half. He can score in a hurry. So excited about where we were at. We didn't play extremely well, but we were able to manage the game. It was important our first four or five minutes would dictate probably the outcome of the game. It did, in their favor. We had it. We knew what to do. They were just a little bit better in doing it than we did. Q. Coach Rice said Marks' performance was that of a conference Player of the Year. COACH PILIPOVICH: Guys do that. He's the Player of the Year. He took the team on his shoulders to start the second half, gave them the opportunity to have that cushion to finish the game. He's so, so good. He's going to have two more good games out here, I guarantee you that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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