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ATLANTIC-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Jim FerryMicah MasonDominique McKoyBROOKLYN, NEW YORK GEORGE WASHINGTON – 73 COACH JIM FERRY: Give a lot of credit to George Washington. Really thought they came out and were locked in today. They really came out aggressively. They were hitting on all cylinders offensively early, hitting threes. They were shredding us at the basket. They really hurt us on the offensive glass when they did miss. I thought we made some pretty good adjustments at halftime, and I thought our guys really, really played hard and fought back and played with a lot of pride and passion. Big play, I think we cut it to four and then they made an end one (ph) which changed momentum a little bit. I thought these guys really fought to the end. It's been a really resilient group. We've gotten significantly better from the beginning of the season to the end. I was telling these guys, I wish we had two more weeks left prior; the tournament started a little bit later, I think we would have been a better team. I'm proud of my guys. The guy sitting to my right, I'm just extremely proud of what he's become as a basketball player, as a leader and as a person. He'll be a part of this program forever. Micah, obviously he's really improved. He's the leader of this group for next year. We have a lot of guys coming back. Obviously wanted to win this basketball game, and I think we gained a lot of experience from this trip. Q. Can you talk about when you first came to Duquesne up until now, how you've changed not only as a student but as an athlete? DOMINIQUE McKOY: Pretty much when I first came, I was not called upon to be a leader as much because there was already a senior on the team, OB (ph) last year, he was really our senior. So we listened to him and went to him on a lot of stuff. But this year, just stepping up and being a leader and sharing my experience with the young guys and just being there for everybody. Q. Can you talk about the way you were having to work so hard to get some open looks tonight and maybe just the returning around wearing you guys out later in the second half. MICAH MASON: Yeah, definitely, George Washington is a good team. First half I was rushed a couple times. That's why I kind of missed a couple shots. Like I said, they are a tough defensive team, and couldn't really get what we had to do. Q. Actually it's funny because last night we talked about how you all being like in the Pittsburgh area bring that toughness and that scrappiness each and every night that you play. Basically, how do you go forward, tell your team, like even though you didn't come away with a victory‑‑ I guess you would be happy as long as you left it on the floor. COACH FERRY: Yeah, we spoke about that as a team in the locker room. We were down 13 at the half and obviously getting out‑played, and we just talked about playing with toughness and passion the second half. And if they can do it, we can do it. That's why I said, I give these guys a lot of credit. They have been resilient all year. We struggled to play on the road this year. At home, we were dynamic at times. I thought we came in here this in tournament, we really fought. I thought last night's game was a real physical battle against a real big, physical team and so was today. I thought some of them (were) fatigued. But that's what happens when you don't finish tenth; you finish at 11th, you have to play an extra night. But the biggest thing with this group right now is actually starting to look forward after this game. Okay, we are disappointed but we got a lot of guys back for next year. I think we have some of the best backcourt guys in this conference to build on so we just have to improve from this point. Q. In the second half it seemed like you really picked it up after your halftime talk. You were down I think by four at one point. What do you think happens with your team, like what changed and then what caused you to lose that lead? COACH FERRY: Again, there's always two teams on the basketball court, and sometimes fans don't understand that; why are you down‑‑ well, there's two teams playing. They came out and they jumped us. They did a really good job of it. I think our guys kept their composure, it was only 13 at the half but kept their composure. We made a couple adjustments within the zone and offensively, and I thought the guys really executed. They really believed in each other and trusted each other. Played really hard. Our time‑outs, our huddles were great. Guys believed in each other, even when they went back up, and then we still came back and cut it down again. But then it gets to a point where cut it to four, they get an N1 (ph). We struggled scoring around the basket. We missed a bunch of layups, and then it gets to ten or 11, and now we have to press and they finished off the game like a good team does. Again, I thought that was really more of a 10‑point game than it was an 18‑point game. Just they executed down the stretch and they made their plays. I thought our guys fought to the end. Disappointed getting beat on the glass like that, but some of it was having to play last night. But again, that's part of not finishing in the Top‑10. And we missed that by a free throw, a buzzer shot, things like that. We could have been a ten seed and not have to play the night before. But we did, we came in, we won a game, and then we got beat in a hard‑fought game tonight. Q. What were your expectations of GW's 3‑point shooting? COACH FERRY: You know what they are not a team‑‑ they are good shooters. They are just guys that take the three‑point shot secondary. Not like Micah who can fire threes, you know. They are very disciplined what they do. They try to get the ball inside but they do have capable 3‑point shooters. Over the last two and a half weeks, they have been shooting the ball fantastic. But, when you are a good team like that, you have to choose our poison. They scored 70 percent of their baskets are scored inside the paint, okay. So going into the game, statistically, and all you analytical guys out there, you've got to try to take away the paint. Understanding what we did at our place, we took away the paint and was able to contest the threes better. They made the proper adjustments. Again, the second half, they only made one and then they banked one in obviously with seconds to go. So I think in our adjustments, we did a decent job with that. But take it away‑‑ that's a good team when you have a team that can beat you from inside and out, that's a good team and that's why they have 21 wins. Q. When you were here in October, you said one of your goals was a national postseason tournament. What has to change for you guys next year to get to that point? COACH FERRY: Well, we've got to get better. We've got to get better. We have to add a couple more recruiting classes. This is only our really true second recruiting class. We got here and took the program over, it was empty. There wasn't many players here. I am disappointed. I thought we should have winning record this year. We lost so many games: Rhode Island by one; overtime at Saint Joe's; missed 21 free throws on the road and lost a close game; lost a close game at home where we got a 3‑pointer blocked at the end and could have won. What changes winning seasons and losing seasons are close games like that; I think so. We have to get better. Everybody has to get better. Our better players have to get better. Our younger players have to get mature. We have a really young front court this year. Domo was the only senior in our group. We had nine players in our program that were either freshmen, sophomore or new to the program, and that's a lot. That's a lot, and it took us awhile to really figure out our identity of what we are and who we are. Now we have a lot of these guys back and I think we know what our identity is going to be going forward. Hopefully we can take the proper steps and improve. Q. Do you see any other comparisons in trying to rebuild here? COACH FERRY: I see a lot of comparisons. It takes time. It takes time. When you're in a monster league like the Atlantic 10 and you see the type of players other people have and the facilities what you're up against and coaches and great players, it takes time. Recruiting classes, we have had two legit recruiting classes, and we are going to need two more to really solidify the program and what we are going to be. We. Are absolutely heading in the right direction. Our players are getting better. We are getting better as a team. Obviously like we talked about, we need to continue to get better but it's a process. If you're going to do it right and you're going to build a program, you have to have some patience and do it the right way. We're not going to quick fix it here. I'm not one of those guys that's just taking a bunch transfers every years and a bunch of JuCo guys every year. We are going to do it the right way. Now we have a foundation set and you build it from this foundation up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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