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March 20, 2015
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
DUKE - 85
ROBERT MORRIS - 56
COACH TOOLE: Obviously we want to congratulate Duke on their win. They're a terrific team obviously, and made the night uncomfortable for us. I thought our guys continued to battle regardless of score and I'm very proud of that. Would have liked to have made a couple more shots or been a little more poised offensively at times, but I thought we competed the way we wanted to compete. But it wasn't enough.
MODERATOR: Questions first for Rodney and Lucky.
Q. For either one of the players, when you made the run there in the second half, two part question, what did you do to be able to come that close and what were you not able to sustain?
LUCKY JONES: The way we played during that stretch, that's how we were supposed to play for 40 minutes. We couldn't withstand that run. But hats off to our team for pushing and still staying with it, still having the courage to fight back and make the simple plays and the right plays. We did a great job during that run.
RODNEY PRYOR: We started to hit shots more in the second half, I think that gave us energy on the defensive side. We were able to get stops, get out on the break and make plays to get the run to, I think it was we got it down to 10 and we just didn't capitalize on the defensive end. When they went back on their run we gambled a few times, I think, and they got out on a break and got a few 3s, so we weren't able to get stops when we needed them.
Q. Lucky, Robert Morris fans kind of gave you a nice round of applause when you went out in the game for the final time. What were your emotions in that moment going to the bench and you hear that? And also your thoughts on Jahlil Okafor and what it's like playing him, you don't see guys like him in your league.
LUCKY JONES: Hats off to our fans. They're some of the most dedicated fans you'll ever meet, thick or thin, win or lose, they're always there. I had a great run at Robert Morris. I played as hard as I can for as long as I can. And going off of Jahlil Okafor, he's a great player, one heck of a freshman and I hope he do well at the next level.
Q. For either of the players, the idea of coming in playing Duke in Carolina has to be tough, but how does your expectations compare to what the actual game felt like?
RODNEY PRYOR: Obviously we expected to come in and compete, give ourselves a chance to win the game. They had the home crowd advantage, but the energy in the building just gives both teams energy, I believe, and we tried our best to feed off their energy, stay poised, stay calm and things like that. So it was fun playing out there.
LUCKY JONES: I know my team enjoyed, you know, just being able to get this far in the tournament. Winning that first game really gave us momentum and confidence to come in here, give it our best. Win or lose, Robert Morris really played hard this whole season to get to this point. Going off this loss, it doesn't really define our season. We have some incredible guys in the locker room and they're going to be back next year to do it again.
Q. For either player, Duke came out, hit the first seven shots and nine of the first 10, a really fast start. How difficult was it to maybe hold composure there when they're seemingly making everything?
LUCKY JONES: It wasn't that difficult. We just didn't finish when we needed to finish. They had some wide open good looks and given those type of shooters, especially Quinn Cook, who's one of their best 3-point shooters, those are easy shots for him.
RODNEY PRYOR: I think when the team get hot like that, you just make sure you stay together, stay composed and try to get stops in a row and try to make place on the offensive end to give ourselves a chance to get back in the ballgame.
MODERATOR: Thanks guys. Questions for Coach?
Q. Coach, you guys didn't pull the ball out and try to grind the clock down to five seconds on the shot clock or anything, you went ahead and played it looked like. What were you trying -- what did you want your guys to do as just play like you normally want to play?
COACH TOOLE: They do such a great job of pressuring you. It's hard to hold the ball. You can see at times where we were and trying to execute maybe some sets or certain actions. They would take you out, all that stuff, so you have to be able to make basketball plays. I really thought to start the game we got some excellent looks. We missed four or five layups early in the game, that if those go, it might be a little bit of a different game. I think it was 7-5 and then it was 22-9 and I think we missed three or four layups in that span. If you're looking at 22-15 or 22-17 maybe you're feeling a little bit better about yourself but sometimes playing against guys that make you play faster than you want, make you a little bit uncomfortable, you rush some of those layups you normally would finish, that's why they're the 1 seed.
Q. What does this situation coming in do as a teaching moment for some of the younger guys going forward?
COACH TOOLE: We just talked about that in the locker room. I said to them especially some of our new guys, none of the guys on our roster had played an NCAA game before Wednesday and some of our guys this is their first college basketball season. What I tried to explain to them was one of the reasons that we push so hard and we demand so much and hold you to such a high standard is because these are the games that we want to compete it in, these are the games we want to be in and we want to play better than we played tonight. And sometimes players want to practice to prepare for the worst team on your schedule and coaches want to practice like you're playing Duke. And so that's the mentality and that's what we talked about, that these are the games that we work so hard for in December because when you find yourself in this situation you can't have any cracks, you can't have any chinks in your armor because that's what they take advantage of, and you have to be so strong in your plan and you have to be so together and so detailed that if you want to be in these games you have got to be working at this year round and that's what we try to explain to our guys who are coming back because that starts the next two weeks when we get back to workouts and preparing for next season.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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