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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2015Josh AdamsJason McManamenLarry ShyattLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Wyoming – 71 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Wyoming. Coach, your thoughts on tonight's game. COACH SHYATT: Well, the first thing that comes to mind was it sounded, audio‑wise, like a game in Laramie. Really pleased our fans came out. I'm really happy for these guys. There's never been a game this year I've ever questioned their try. They have great try. When they're up, when they're down. So I'm happy for them. I think they're happy to be in the championship, but I don't think they're ready to settle for anything less than a championship victory. THE MODERATOR: We'll now take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Jason, did you call bank? JASON McMANAMEN: I did not call bank, but I heard a couple guys on the bench call bank after I shot it. Q. That counts? JASON McMANAMEN: That counts. Q. Josh, that first half, going on to score 27, how satisfying was this for you? JOSH ADAMS: Well, I said this a couple times in some postgame interviews. I'm just happy for these five guys that are a year ahead of me that I've had a chance and privilege to spend three years with. I know they've wanted this for a long time, worked their tails off for it. I'm glad to be a part of it and I'm glad I could do something to propel them to that spot and help out a little bit. Q. How good are you feeling right now? JOSH ADAMS: I'm feeling pretty good. But the best stat is 2‑0 in the Mountain West tournament. Not many people had faith we could do anything here. Now we're winding up in the championship game. It's just a credit to this team and how hard we've worked, how we stuck to our principles, stuck together as a team. It's just a really gratifying feeling. Q. It's obvious what's on the line tomorrow. What would that mean to get the tournament title and the berth to the NCAA tournament? JOSH ADAMS: Everything. Just like I said, we've taken this program, especially these five guys ahead of me and Jason, from a 10‑21 season to three plus 21 season. It's a credit to this guy on my right, Coach Shy, everybody that wears the brown and gold. It's a tight‑knit family. We've worked hard to get here and we've built this program up. That would be the cherry on top if we could make this dream come true. Q. Jason, take me through the shot. Did you just try to put it up? What was your reaction when you saw it go in? JASON McMANAMEN: I just saw the shot clock winding down. I had a little space, so I shot it. I mean, a little too hard I guess. I guess I got a little lucky with the bank. I was pretty surprised, as everybody else was. Q. Larry, Josh, when you saw that go in, what went through your minds? LARRY NANCE, JR.: CSU. JOSH ADAMS: Exactly. He's done it two times before, CSU and Nevada. When he has the ball, the clock is winding down, I figured it would go in somehow. Q. When you're in a game like this that's so back and forth, what did it feel like in the middle of this game? How fun was it to be a part of something like this? LARRY NANCE, JR.: These conference games are always a blast. But in terms of the close game nature, back and forth, I mean, we have five seniors, including Josh, experience‑wise he's a senior, too. Just the resiliency, stick‑to‑itiveness. We executed what we wanted to do on defense and the rest took care of itself. Q. Josh, you have gone to overtime a bunch of times this season. When you go to overtime, how much confidence was there still that you could get that back and finish the right way? JOSH ADAMS: A lot of confidence. Just like Larry said, that's a credit to the upperclassmen and the experience we have. We have been in overtime quite a bit, against New Mexico, one game at Fresno probably sums up half of our overtimes with three. We have that experience. It's really just another five minutes. It really comes down to who wanted it more. Q. You took on a big challenge with the scoring, but defended Marks a lot in this game. Talk about that challenge. JOSH ADAMS: First of all, Marks is a heck of a player, a heck of a program. It takes its toll when you try to stop him. You look at his numbers, 17, a pretty decent game. It was definitely a challenge for me and this team. It's very difficult to guard Marks one‑on‑one. So it's a credit to the help side. Got beat a couple times. My teammates had my back, so... Q. Larry, they scored 38 in the first half. After that, pretty stellar defensively. What changed there? LARRY NANCE, JR.: I mean, we went into halftime, after Josh made one of his many outstanding runs in the game, down two. The momentum was swinging. We could feel it swinging. I think they were, what, seven for 13 from three in the first half. That's what needed to change and it did. That was the major change in the game. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student‑athletes at this time. Thank you. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. The focus is always defensive with this team. What had to change defensively in the second half? COACH SHYATT: Too many threes. Too many open threes the first half. The game was probably being played too fast. We get a little greedy. We want to run the ball when we can get it in Josh's hand and get it down the floor. We don't want the other team to. Unfortunately it was going back and forth probably quicker than we really want. The tempo slowed down a little bit the second half. It may have been getting a little boring for some, but that's more to our liking against a team like Boise. They're just too poised on offense. Q. How good was Josh tonight? COACH SHYATT: I've said this before, and the only guy that ever comes to mind is Joakim Noah. He's the one guy we had to rein in, like, Slow down. I think it was his leadership today as much as anything else listening to him in the huddle, on the floor and at halftime. That's where he has had a great growth. He really knows how to inspire the players in a positive way. Q. You had a good first half, but it seems like there was some frustration there. Did anything change for him in the second half that you noticed? COACH SHYATT: No. Larry and Al have battled, as you well know, mono. It's a pretty tough virus. I'm so proud that they didn't do what a lot of big‑time athletes do do and say, I don't want to play until I'm 100%. Those guys came out two weeks ago, three weeks ago. They weren't a shadow of what they once were. You know what, they're both coming back now, but I don't think they're 100%. Q. Two really emotional games. Now you're going into one more. How do you feel the guys are going to be physically going into tomorrow? COACH SHYATT: I think they're going to have a little bounce in their step. This is an opportunity that they want to seize. Neither came easy. They trailed. They had to come back. Their connectiveness is something that still excites me. We'll give it our best shot. I have no question that at 3:00 tomorrow they'll have pretty good try and they'll have pretty good focus. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH SHYATT: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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