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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Daniel BejaranoLarry EustachyStanton KiddLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Colorado State – 71 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Colorado State. Coach, just some thoughts on tonight's game. COACH EUSTACHY: Well, it was record‑breaking. Our 27th win. No team at Colorado State has ever done that. And how we did it I think was most impressive. We have as much respect for Fresno State as any team in the league. They play hard. They compete. They're really well‑coached. They beat Boise State and they beat San Diego State, and that says enough. It's a blow when you don't expect somebody like one of these three, happened to be J.J. this time, go down. The character, it has been these two and J.J. all year long. I've just been along for the ride. They've shown great character and unbelievable coachability. It's one of my top experiences as a coach, tonight was, in a long career. I'm very proud of these guys. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. What was going through your head when you saw J.J. go down at that point? DANIEL BEJARANO: We were all down, of course. I was concerned. I got up off the bench, just tried to see what was wrong, see if I could do anything to help. But it's just like all year, J.J. was suspended for a game. Gian was out, Tiel was out. We recognize when someone goes down, especially our main player, other guys have to step up. That's exactly what we did. We didn't want to let him down, as well as our other teammates, so... STANTON KIDD: It was shocking basically to see it happen. I had an ankle sprain before. I know how painful it is. He wanted to play so bad. Coach told him, We can win this game, we just need you to chill out on the bench, get healthy for the next game. We took care of business. We did that for him and ourselves. Q. After J.J. went down, you went on a tear. Was that something they did different defensively or... DANIEL BEJARANO: I think every time we play them, I think we have done that, to be honest. Like coach said, we really respect them. It's hard to beat a team twice, alone three times. They beat every team in our league but us. They're just falling in, thank God. We got too trigger happy in the second half. But we just found a way to win. Q. You shot eight of 13 from three‑point range in the first half. What was it like to get the lead in the first half coming into the second? DANIEL BEJARANO: It was good. We were just trying to focus on our defense. We were up big. Obviously a key to that game was getting that stop, Gian Clavell got that stop at the end, which was terrific. It was good. Going into the second half, we were down by that much, so we took care of business second half. Q. Stanton, what can you say about the job you did defensively against Marvelle Harris? STANTON KIDD: We had to go out there, play it the right way, like how we know. Because we played him twice already. We know he's a right‑handed guard. You want to get to his right hand, get to step back jump shot and get to the basket. So we forced him a little left, put him out of his comfort zone. You could slow him down a little bit. He's a great player. First team all‑league guy. We did a great job on him tonight from myself to Gian to Daniel and other guys that guarded him. Q. Do you think this kind of erases any doubt at all about the NCAA tournament? STANTON KIDD: We ain't looking towards that. If it's out there, if it happens, it's out there, we know. We were on the bubble. We had to win this game to get in. We have a big game tomorrow against San Diego State. We're just going to go out there and play basketball and beat those guys. Q. Daniel, do you just have to prepare now like J.J. is not going to play tomorrow? DANIEL BEJARANO: We're going to prepare both ways. That's just the biggest thing. Obviously we have the best coaching staff in the country, so we're going to prepare and come up with a plan. We split with San Diego State, now we're on a neutral court. They took care of business on their court, we took care of business on our court, so now we're on a neutral court. We're going to prepare for J.J. playing and not playing. Right now we feel he is going to play. Q. Stanton, as the competition gets tougher in these tournaments, is it a blow mentally to think you might not have J.J. in a game like you're playing tomorrow? STANTON KIDD: Yeah, not thinking about it like that. Tough guy in the locker room. Done a lot for us this year. Work just as hard as anybody I have known, Daniel, other guys on the team, myself. He's going to do everything in his power to play tomorrow. If he don't, it's a blow, but we adjust. We go to the lineup that coach have for us and I think we be perfectly fine. Q. Daniel, can you win this tournament if J.J. doesn't play again? DANIEL BEJARANO: If we believe. Obviously he's our guy. We got the win at Utah State. That's past. Going into the tournament, we think we should have won the Mountain West. Obviously we didn't. We just take that to heart. We just want to win the whole thing. Obviously we do. If we believe and have heart, we will. Q. Daniel, coach mentioned the program record, 27 wins. What does that mean to you? DANIEL BEJARANO: I think it's terrific. Like I said all year long, all the wars and milestones, that's all good. All I care about is wins and my teammates. I'm just trying to lead this team the best way I can. I've been put in different situations all year, all my career. So I'm just trying to lead. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student‑athletes at this time. Thank you. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Sounds like on the postgame radio show you said J.J. is not going to play tomorrow. That is the case? COACH EUSTACHY: I just listened to these guys and they make all the decisions, so whatever they want to do I'll go along with (smiling). No, I'm really in the dark with what it is. I just knew that he wanted to try it in the second half, and I didn't want him to because I didn't want to risk any permanent injury. We'll get an update afterwards. If it's just a matter of tolerating pain, then he'll play. If it's a matter of it could get worse, he won't play. It's pretty simple. Q. Does two years ago with Dorian's ankle in this tournament and how he came back give you peace of mind moving forward? COACH EUSTACHY: I never thought of that. You never know how a team's going to react until it happens. It was a blow to me when he went down. It's your worst nightmare. Supposedly you're on the bubble. You need to win this game to go to the tournament. Your leading scorer, et cetera, et cetera, first team all‑league guy goes down. I'm just totally, not shocked, not amazed, but this team just continues to prove that they have another level and they're able to win the game. I don't know if I'm answering your question or not. But he's every bit if not more valuable than Dorian was to this team. But we'll figure out a way. Q. They started the second half and cut it down to six. Immediately after that I think you scored eight in a row to pull back away. How important was it to respond as quickly as you did? COACH EUSTACHY: Fresno State's a good team. They're really a good team. I've always praised coach. I thought he's one of the bright young coaches in the country. They play hard. They play physical. They don't play dirty. They just play hard and physical within the rules. So, I mean, for us to withstand them coming to us within six and finding ways to extend it where they had to make four threes at the end to tie it even was amazing. Obviously when we're doing what we do, coach, pick out things we're doing wrong, run certain things, but I was just kind of taking it in, watching some of the greater plays. I mean, blocked shots. Looking at what Stanton really figured out what he does have in the tank. We saw how high he jumped late. They took it to another level. I've always told them the body can take a lot, it's just how far you want to push it. They went to a level that I've never seen before because that is not a stiff team that we just beat. They start over again, they'd be a post‑season tournament team. They were just a victim of their schedule early. Q. How difficult is it to beat a team three times in one season? COACH EUSTACHY: I've been asked that a lot. Bob Huggins said a long time ago, I've always kind of clung to, beat them twice, it's hard to beat somebody three times. He said, If you lose to them twice, does that make it easier? He goes, I think if you can beat them twice, something like that, then you got a great chance to beat them three times, which makes sense to me. Pretty logical. Our guys always show up. I've never had a team like this, including the third‑ranked team in the country at the end, when it was all said and done, be ready to play every game that this team has done. They amaze me. They're always ready to go. So you think the question is, we beat them twice, we got this made. They're not built that way. They're not built that way. They really get themselves ready to play mentally better than any group I've ever had. Q. When J.J. went down, you went small ball. What was the strategy on that? COACH EUSTACHY: We didn't have any tall guys (smiling). When you look at it, we matched up well to them because they're not exactly big. They're not like playing San Diego State where we'll have to depend on J.J. Marcus was a thought. You know, I really thought that we were going to struggle to defend them, we were going to have to out‑score them. So I put the scorers in there. The logical thing would have been to put Marcus, the length, in there and match up. They have to go to the other end and guard us. That's what happened, we out‑scored them. Q. What does it mean when you see a guy like J.J. go down, but he's right there on the sideline cheering them on, coaching them alongside you? COACH EUSTACHY: Well, it really depicts, says it all. He was bawling talking to the team. I didn't say a word at halftime. A couple words. But I had him talk to the team and coach them. I said, Then I want you on the bench. You can sit next to me or where you feel comfortable, but I want you coaching this game. So he's put a lot of time and effort into getting to this moment, and to have it taken away, you know, he struggled at first, then he really took control of himself and told the team exactly what they needed to do. Like I say, it's one of those priceless moments. Yet you never know till you're put in it. Unfortunately, it was an adverse situation, but that's when you find out most about guys and his teammates. I guess in a long answer, it was pretty cool. It was one of the better moments that I've seen as a coach. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH EUSTACHY: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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