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NIT POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTMarch 31, 2015Johnny DawkinsStefan NasticChasson RandleNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Stanford – 67 Q. What do you feel did you tell your team at halftime? COACH DAWKINS: After we lost the lead, I thought we played ten beautiful minutes of basketball, maybe the best ten minutes we have in any first half this season. And then I thought we didn't finish the half as well as we should have, so I talked to them about that. I thought there were some specific things we didn't do as well. I thought one was on the board. I didn't think we rebounded as well. They had a number of offensive rebounds. And two, I thought our communication defensively lapsed. And then, three we turned it over too much. We had ten turnovers in the first half, and we pretty much average ten turnovers for a game. So that's very uncharacteristic. So we had to clean those things up. And I told our guys, look, we still have the lead, even though we have not played our best ten minutes of basketball, let's go back and turn it around when we start the next half. Q. What do you think of Chasson getting the scoring record and to do it tonight at Madison Square Garden? COACH DAWKINS: You know, it's a heck of an honor to become the all‑time leading scorer in Stanford history. It's like, wow. To do it at Madison Square Garden I think it would be‑‑ he'll always remember it for the rest of his life anyway; but having done it at the Garden in front of a terrific crowd and on this stage, I think it means that much more to him. And to his teammates, too. The best thing I could see is when we went to the locker room and we were celebrating the win, and we talked about he broke the record. Just all of the teammates jumped up and hugging him; it was great to see that type of emotion, that kind of shared experience, because they all are a part of it and it just made it really, really neat to see the young guys celebrate like that. Q. Talk about setting that record. CHASSON RANDLE: You know, it's a great honor just to be able to have my name behind it. But at the same time, it's not just me who helped get myself in there. A lot of my teammates, family, coaches, everybody, helped me get there, startingat Rock Island. And once I got to Stanford, I had a lot of help here every single day. I had Coach pushing me, telling me that you practice how you play, and making sure that I was getting after it there and then. My teammates encouraged me every single day. They helped me out a lot. Q. For both seniors, are you kind of keenly aware, we want to extend our career here; is there desperation that you feel inside? STEFAN NASTIC: Definitely, that's how we've been treating every single game. We want to give it everything we have on the court, and we had one of our students (indiscernible). Just taking a game‑by‑game approach, and you know, now we have one more game and that's what we're going to continue to do. Q. What is a pro team going to get when they look at Chasson? COACH DAWKINS: If I had a chance, I would definitely take him. That's for sure. First of all, I think you're getting a great competitor, a guy who has been shouldering the load. When we have been down with injuries and different things that happened to our team throughout the season, he never once raised an eyebrow and said, that's too much for me to handle. He accepted it. And I really respect that. He's a winner. He's shown that through his career here playing for us, and I think he's a guy who can play multiple positions because you can play him on the ball as the lead guard and you also can play him off the ball because he's such a good scorer, as well. He brings versatility to your backcourt and he brings depth to your backcourt. If I had a pick, I'd be taking him. Q. You've had a lot of highlights in some great venues, but to do it here at Madison Square Garden, is that something that's pretty cool? CHASSON RANDLE: Yeah, absolutely. They say this is the world's most famous arena, and I believe it. You walk in here and you see what's happening in the rafters and you kind are in awe. It's a great honor to be able to do it, but with the group of guys; we had no quit in us. You see that when things weren't working well for us today, we persevered and kept fighting. Q. Just for everyone, please. What would an NIT title mean to this group and to the program? COACH DAWKINS: If I start off, we're excited to still be playing, and NIT gave us an opportunity. So we'll always be grateful for that to continue, for these seniors especially, to be going out playing for a championship. I think for our program, it's also a positive thing. It showed coming off Sweet16 last year in the NCAA, to have an opportunity to follow that back up and make a good run in this tournament with our seniors is a positive thing. And so I'm looking at it as something that I'm very proud of our guys because a lot of teams haven't felt the disappointment of maybe not making the NCAAs or would have maybe shut it down, especially seniors and not continuing to compete. These guys showed what they made of. They showed their character. They came to the tournament excited about this opportunity, and I like to see them maximizing it and taking me on a nice ride with them. STEFAN NASTIC: Yeah, and NIT Championship, that's what every team who is in the tournament is playing for; and to have the opportunity to go after it, just really grateful for it. It would mean a lot to all of us, and we're just going to try to give it our all the next game. CHASSON RANDLE: For me to win an NIT Championship, for our seniors, we went out on top and won our last game and that's very special, or would be very special for us. And then for the younger guys, they will have something to hang their hats on for next year going into next season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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