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March 18, 2015
DAYTON, OHIO
DAYTON - 56
BOISE STATE - 55
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the head coach of Boise State, Leon Rice, as well as student-athletes James Webb, Montigo Alford and Derrick Marks. Coach, an opening statement.
COACH RICE: That was a great, hard-fought ballgame. They made a few shoots down the stretch that were back-breakers. We had trouble stopping them in the second half. But comes down to one or two possessions. Great basketball game.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Derrick, just kind of walk us through kind of what happened on the last possession, what you saw out there?
DERRICK MARKS: I caught in the corner and I saw number 24 coming to double, so I held it for a couple of seconds. Then when he went away, I made a move, and I missed a shot.
Q. Looked like there was some contact there. Do you think you were fouled?
DERRICK MARKS: I mean, the ref didn't call it, so I guess not.
Q. Derrick, just talk about how frenzied it was out there, y'all playing on their home floor, there's 12,000. Their coach said it's the loudest he's ever heard it how frenzied was it out there trying to play in that?
DERRICK MARKS: I don't think their home court advantage mattered too much, but it was a good atmosphere. It was loud at certain points in the game. So they had a good crowd tonight.
Q. James, would you agree with what Derrick said, that home court advantage didn't matter too much, or did you notice it out there?
JAMES WEBB: I mean, everybody notices it when they had their little runs and things like that. But it didn't matter to us, really. We came out there and played our game. The ball just happened to bounce their way this time.
Q. Derrick, just what are your emotions sitting up here now, just that this game's over and your season's over and your career at Boise State is over and just the way it ended?
DERRICK MARKS: It didn't end the way I expected it to. But it's going to be pretty hard to take off the jersey for the last time. These past four years have been the best experience of my life. And I won't ever forget it now, carry it throughout the rest of my life.
Q. Montigo, I know obviously lately haven't been able to score a ton. But got involved in the first half. How much did you put on your shoulders to give this team a spark?
MONTIGO ALFORD: I just wanted to come out and put it on the floor for my teammates and just be a leader, that second leader, and just try to help my teammates as much as possible. And I just was feeling pretty good tonight.
Q. James, just how tough is it for the season to end like this, you're up by seven, I think, with like four minutes left and for them to come back and for it to end on a play like that, just how tough is it for it to end like that?
JAMES WEBB: I mean, it's very tough. You don't want to lose by one point especially in the game to get into the tournament. So it was just a learning tool.
Q. Derrick, seemed like you guys were for the most part be able to weather the storm and they would come back and you guys would get nice runs going. What was it about this team being able to do that and seemed like you did that all year especially on the road just being able to handle that and make some nice runs?
DERRICK MARKS: Well, going back to last year and that's something we weren't able to do. And this year we took a big step forward in being able to close out the games. And for this to happen, I mean, it hurts. But I know everybody in my locker room did everything they could for us to win.
Q. Derrick, these guys next to you will be back next season. Looking ahead how good is Boise State going to be even without you there?
DERRICK MARKS: Well, if they work as hard as I did, they'll get in the Final Four.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.
Q. I know wasn't trying to be too much made of this being in Dayton's arena. But could you feel it? Was it really noticeable? Did it have much of an effect on your team?
COACH RICE: Well, I'll start by saying this that the focus shouldn't be on that. The focus should be on Dayton made some big plays down the stretch, made some big shots down the stretch. Now, it's definitely a tough environment to play in, but I'm proud of my guys. They don't lean on that as an excuse. They just took it as competition and that's how we took it and that's how we approached it. That place is loud, and it has an effect on the game, no question, as far as what a good home court advantage it is. I mean, I was yelling trying to get a timeout at the end on the last possession, it couldn't be heard. So that kind of stuff does affect you. But again like I said, I'm proud of our guys and credit should be given to Dayton. They made big, big shots in the last four minutes. And we just couldn't get a stop. And that's a sign of a good team and at this point in the season there's all good teams around. There's a lot of them. That was two good teams going at it, and they made a few more plays down the stretch than we did.
Q. Talk a little bit about you held them to 29 percent in the first half. It seemed like Dayton, to get back in, had to take it inside, play more of a physical game. The second half was very physical. Talk about that, the physicality of the game and how it got physical late, because I know you seemed to be pretty aggressive about some of the calls late. It seemed like the physicality of the game came down to Dayton took it inside and made some plays on the inside.
COACH RICE: I don't think I was very aggressive. No, I think those guys in low block drive a hard bargain. So you're kind of faced with, do you double them, do you not double them? And they do a good job of isolating them in there. So we kind of threw it on and off a little bit. And what helped them, though, is they made some perimeter shots. And just a couple of key rebounds, looked like we had, and they ended up hitting a 3 off one of them when we were up 9. So I thought that was a really big play. It was both. It was both the inside and the outside. And they got us a little more spread out because they were shooting the ball a lot better, too. So that affected the game.
Q. What did you see on the final play there with Derrick? There was obviously contact. Did you see a foul?
COACH RICE: You know, what can you say? It's a tough position. And like I said, I was trying to yell for a timeout right when Iggy was inbounding it still. When Derrick got it, I was still kind of -- that was futile. Nobody could hear me. But you had it in your best guy's hands. And you know, their kid did a good job. They did a good job keeping him from penetrating.
Q. Just considering what this game was, the fact that it's been 28 years since a team like yours was in a position like this, came so close. I mean, what's the emotion like for you guys, all things considered now?
COACH RICE: It's a tough one to swallow, because you know my seniors. And these guys are playing good basketball. And that's the hardest part about the NCAA Tournament, losing a game and it's the last one. It's the last one I get to coach Derrick Marks, I've had him for a long, long time. And special kid. And not just Derrick, all five of my seniors, really special kids. And we were having a lot of fun. And these guys were enjoying themselves and wanted to keep playing. So that's the worst emotion. And that's the hardest part, because I think you never know what this team could have done if you keep going. So that's probably the emotion you struggle with the most.
Q. I don't want to put the focus on the game, but just talking in general, should any team in the NCAA Tournament have to go through what you guys went through tonight, as far as where you played?
COACH RICE: I don't think that's the spirit of the NCAA Tournament, as far as -- I mean, it's supposed to be neutral courts and that kind of thing. Again, I'm not on the committee. I'm not part of that. And it was the hand that we were dealt. My guys, you know, one of things we don't make excuses. And as a coaching staff we don't. As players, we don't. So we played the cards that we were dealt. And we played them well. I mean, I was proud of our effort. I was proud of our weathering the storms, because that place got loud. It's just circumstances that happened. And I'm not -- there's a lot of people that know more about the situation and why it happened and how it can happen. But it's not for me to say.
Q. Next season is far away you lose a guy like Derrick but you get back a lot of these guys that played a big role tonight, too. How excited are you in a way for what might be ahead for your program?
COACH RICE: Well, you know, we're building the program there. And our guys are getting better and better and Derrick was a great role model, like you said. If these guys all work as hard as he did, if Anthony works as hard as he did in the offseason going into his senior year and all these other guys that we've got back, and the guys we have coming in, we'll have a special year next year. We're going to have a special team. It's a long ways down the road. Probably the last thing on my mind. But, again, it goes back to the seniors, though. What a great example. And building a program, you know, these guys are the cornerstone that started building this thing and they went to two NCAA Tournaments and they won 20 games, three out of their four years. So this year we're 25. And it was a season of firsts. All the things that they accomplished. First time hitting the rankings. First time winning all these tough games that we were in at tough places. And winning the Mountain West. So they accomplished some special things. So I'm going to really appreciate that first and then, like I said, we're really excited about the future of what we have.
Q. When you look back what's going to be your lasting memory of this team and just your thoughts five years from now, what this team was able to accomplish?
COACH RICE: When you brought these guys in, this is what we had envisioned for them is the building of a program. And not just a team but a program. And I would say that these seniors certainly did that for us. And they modeled great behavior. You saw them. Like I said, they didn't make excuses. They didn't point fingers. They never came apart. They were great teammates to each other and great representatives of Boise State University. And like probably maybe the most important thing, great role models for these young guys and what needs to happen in our program and what needs to happen for the future for us to be good. So couldn't be more proud of these guys, and I told them that in the locker room, and that's the killer part of the NCAA Tournament, is you're done. And I don't get to coach these guys anymore.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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