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ATLANTIC-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2015Patricio GarinoJohn KoprivaMike LonerganBROOKLYN, NEW YORK RHODE ISLAND – 71 COACH LONERGAN: A tough loss for us. Thought we were in pretty good position, like ten or 11 minutes left, we had a little bit of a lead, not too much foul trouble. Then we struggled to score, one for 16 from threes. Thought we missed some easy shots. They did a great job of taking away our inside game. A lot of our missed shots led to run‑outs and baskets by them; and huge momentum swings, we tried to take a charge and they got a three‑point play. So give them credit. They are a very good defensive team. They played very hard. Just couldn't put the ball in the basket the last ten minutes. Q. You had the lone three today, and after a big game yesterday, what wasn't working for you guys? JOHN KOPRIVA: A couple of them rimmed in and out. I thought we were getting good looks still. Unfortunately we were 1‑for‑16 or something like that. Like I said, I don't think that was 16 bad shots. I thought we got some good looks. They just didn't go down. Q. You guys clearly had pieces that could do damage moving forward. What positives to you take from a game like this? PATRICIO GARINO: I think we play hard and we never give up. We didn't make the shots we were supposed to make, but we're still won the rebound battle. We just try to fight every possession we can, and maybe today wasn't enough. JOHN KOPRIVA: I'm excited for these guys. Wish next year I could play with them again. They have a lot of talent and not just the junior class. The junior class is one of the best classes to come through GW and they are a great group of guys that they have some talent behind them, as well. Yeah, wish I could play with them next year. Q. Foul trouble hurt you guys a lot. How did it affect your style of play, especially in the second half? PATRICIO GARINO: I think in the first half when Joe has twoand Yuta, I think it kills our momentum. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities then, and at the end, we just had to foul. But definitely at the beginning, it was very necessary to have him on the court. JOHN KOPRIVA: Yeah, it's tough when you have to sub with fouls in mind and try to manage a game with guys in foul trouble early. We knew it was going to be a game that was going to be a tough fight, playing fouls, however the refs were going to call, it was going to be tough and a battle and unfortunately we got a couple guys in foul trouble. Q. Do you feel any pressure on yourself to play more safe defense with the rest of the guys having foul trouble? PATRICIO GARINO: No, I was still trying to play tough defense. Matthews was a tough matchup. I was still trying to do my own thing. I knew that we had players in foul trouble, but at the beginning of the day with the scout, I knew I didn't need to be that aggressive and go for the steal. I think the last game I got a couple, but I was still trying to play tough defense. Q. With 44 free throws, how did that affect your guys and the style of play you were trying to play? COACH LONERGAN: You know, ten of them, we fouled at the end, but our game plan was to don't foul. We were at the free throw line way too much. They have some strength and Yuta gave up two three‑point plays early. They were smart; they just went right at him; he's not strong enough yet. But we have to give harder fouls, so we allowed him to get ‑‑ three‑point play. We couldn't get to the line. Every blocked call seemed like it went the other way. I thought the technical really hurt us. It gave us a couple free throws, but I thought it hurt us as far as with the whistle. So I guess it was a good technical. But give them credit. They were tougher than us and mental toughness, too, hurt us. We had veteran players that kept getting silly fouls, running, offensive rebound. And we don't have a bench with too much depth. So we can't afford to have our veteran players getting silly fouls that keeps them out of the game. Q. Even though you didn't get the result that you wanted, how great was it to have the support to come up from D.C., to make the short trip up to New York and cheer on your team? COACH LONERGAN: We got terrific fan support. A lot of the people that are here are alums from GW, they have undergrad degrees, masters degrees. There's a lot in the New York area‑‑ I should know that, but they are terrific. Last night they had a reception at the 40/40 Club, sold out, I think 500, 600 people. So I really appreciate them and our players do, too. We're disappointed. We came here to win four games and we came short. I'm hoping we go to NIT. I don't know how all that stuff works, but 20‑something games, 21 games, we beat some pretty good teams this year and we definitely struggled in February. So I'm hoping for John that we can make the NIT and if not, going to really try to work hard on our weaknesses hopefully we have a really strong year. Hopefully our juniors bounce back and really be committed this off‑season as a group. We had some guys that had bad years, and I had a bad year. So we have to do a better job coaching and our juniors have to be really motivated. Teams are made in the off‑season. Got to be in better shape. I thought they were in better shape; tired legs. Q. Speaking of tired legs, how do you think yesterday's game affected today's in terms of jump shooting? COACH LONERGAN: I don't. Stakes where are a little higher today, whether we were tight or whatever. Going five games in a row, I think‑‑ (inaudible) ‑‑ really become a three‑point shooting team. Tonight, we didn't have it. Layups short. I don't know, I just think our mental toughness kind of got‑‑ some of it's our defense. We definitely, we had a wide open look at the top of the key, really good play, cut it to five. We just didn't make plays. I thought our guys put themselves in position to try to make the right plays but didn't. Separation just became too great. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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