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March 19, 2015
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
UCLA - 60
SMU - 59
COACH BROWN: I never saw a game end like that, but you got to give them credit. We got to the free-throw line late. We turned the ball over late. We had a goaltend late. I thought they had control most of the game, and then with about 12 minutes to go, we started to execute a little better and gave ourselves a chance to win. But that's pretty heart breaking. It's not crying over spilt milk, but why would you have all these TV people and take five seconds and review a goaltending? It might have been goaltending. It probably was. But we've got all these cameras. It happened so fast. But, again, give UCLA credit. Steve's son was tremendous, and they did a lot of good things when it really mattered.
Q. Yanick, can you talk about that play, the goaltending call.
YANICK MOREIRA: I thought I had the ball in my hands. I didn't know the ball hit the rim. So when I jumped, I said, like I hit the ball. It's all my fault. I should have let the ball hit the rim. I take the blame on myself. I shouldn't have made that mistake. As a senior, you can't make those mistakes at the end of the game.
Q. Ryan, how does it feel in your last game to go out the way you guys did?
RYAN MANUEL: It's hard. We fought back to give ourselves a chance to win. To have the feeling of putting the jersey on for the last time, it hurts.
Q. Ryan and Yanick, can you talk about getting behind and making that run? What did you guys do well during that run to get back into it?
YANICK MOREIRA: We just told ourselves that we've been there before. We've just got to get stops. We always said, we get three stops in a row, we're back in the game. So we focused on getting stops. That's what we did, and that's how we got back in the game.
RYAN MANUEL: What Yanick said. We got stops. First half, we weren't playing the way we were capable of playing, and like Coach Brown said, we've been here before plenty of times, and at the end of the day, we give ourselves a chance to win. Stuff happened the wrong way, but we gave ourselves a chance to win.
Q. Last year you guys had a tough, heartbreaking loss like this. How different is this feeling this year from that?
YANICK MOREIRA: I wasn't a senior last year, but I know how Shawn and Nick felt after the game. I'm disappointed. We worked so hard to be here, and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game, and at the last minute, the last second, we lost. I'm just proud of our team. I'm proud of the way we fought till the end of the game.
RYAN MANUEL: Like Yanick said, last year we were juniors. This year it's our last chance to play in a big-time game like this. This is something that's going to sting for a while, but at the end of the day, we made some things, and we made some history for SMU. Hopefully, for years to come, the same thing is going to happen.
Q. In either your college or pro coaching career, have you ever had a game that ended under such a bizarre circumstance, whether it be a goaltending or any other situation like this?
COACH BROWN: I had one ball stick in the rim, but I can't remember anything quite like this one because we put in Cannen at the end. He's a reliable free-throw shooter and a senior, and he turned it over. Yanick is just making an emotional play, but I've never seen a play end like that. Then when you consider these kids and what they've been through and all the neat things they've done to get our program to this point, it's pretty tough any way you look at it. We made a silly foul in transition. We just did some things that good teams don't do down the stretch, and they did some great things.
Q. Everything happened to fast on that goaltending. Did you think about calling a time-out or anything there? Let the refs -- or did they talk to you about it? And were you satisfied with what they told you?
COACH BROWN: No, I didn't want them to have a chance to set up. We got two good shots. Hindsight, yeah, but I still don't get it. I'm not saying it wasn't goaltending. I have no clue. But it was a five-second judgment. It's like they're speeding up baseball. I don't know. I just -- it kind of blew me away. Again, you don't look at one play. We had our chances to win, and it didn't happen. I'm sick for those kids.
Q. Did you get the last shot you wanted? You wanted Nic to take the three? And if so, was there any thought of maybe driving there?
COACH BROWN: I don't think he's going to get to the rim very much. We have a lot of options on that play. I'll take him shooting the ball. Yeah, if we could have got it to the rim, I would have loved it, but I don't -- you take what you get and hope that, if you miss, you get a chance to get a second shot.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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