	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 5, 2016

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Evansville-68, Indiana State-42

THE MODERATOR: Victorious Evansville Aces are with us. D.J. Balentine and Blake Simmons represent the student body. Coach Marty Simmons is in the middle. His team will be in the championship game tomorrow, 1:00 p.m., CBS, nationally. We're going to ask Marty to open up with a statement on this game.

COACH SIMMONS: Just really proud, really happy for our team. Great opportunity. Most young kids grow up dreaming of having this opportunity, and our guys worked really hard. They've done a great job of staying together, and we just feel really fortunate. I'm really, really happy for our team.

Q. For both of you guys, I know you've had a one-track mind toward the NCAA Tournament all year, but to be 40 minutes away, how does it feel right now?
BLAKE SIMMONS: It's still hard to wrap our minds around that tomorrow we're playing for a chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament. This is something I know me and D.J., and the rest of the guys, have dreamed about since we were kids. Having the opportunity tomorrow, it's a lifelong dream we've had. We're excited for it. We can't wait. We're really excited for the opportunity.

D.J. BALENTINE: Just like Blake said, it's pretty special, but it's still 40 more minutes left to play. So we've got to take care of business tomorrow.

Q. D.J., you guys haven't been to the tournament since 1999. Do you remember what you were doing in 1999?
D.J. BALENTINE: I don't. I don't remember what I was doing. That team in '99, we've had some contact with them too. So they reminded us that was the last team to go back. Hopefully, we'll be the next.

Q. D.J., can you talk about your plan of attack offensively against Indiana State's defense today? Especially in the first two media time-outs, what you guys were wanting to do and able to do.
D.J. BALENTINE: Yeah, they were going to be really aggressive. I knew Khristian Smith would guard me, and he's a really good defender. So my teammates did a great job of setting screens and allowing me to get the ball in a position where I could score. Blake, Jaylon, Adam were all ready to shoot. Scoring was really balanced today, and that helped us a lot. We knew they were going to play gaps, and people got to be ready to shoot.

Q. D.J., after the game, you had a long conversation with Khristian Smith. Can you tell us a little bit about that.
D.J. BALENTINE: Yeah, I told him I loved him. We grew up together. We played basically our life together. I told him I was really happy for him and real proud of him. He told me the same and to go get it tomorrow, that he'll be watching, that I deserve one. Hopefully, we'll be ready to play tomorrow.

Q. Blake, what's this one mean to you to play this well in a game this big? I know it's been an up and down year for you shooting-wise, but to have some go in in the most important game of the year?
BLAKE SIMMONS: Every time you play well, it just feels good, but you've got to give the credit to your teammates, especially the guy to my left. He draws more attention than any other player in the country, just being able to see through double-teams, see through guys jumping to the ball, being able to pass it out.

He also gives me a lot of confidence out there. If I pass up one, he's looking at me saying, knock that down. Knock that down. Having a guy out there like D.J. out there on the court, it means a lot.

Q. I saw you guys cutting up a bit on the bench at the end, and then that was before Sergei got the lay-in, but just talk about the bench play, and even when the game was still in the balance, having David give you those minutes and then just seeing the other guys get in for a stretch at the end.
D.J. BALENTINE: Yeah, we always get excited when those guys get a chance to play. They work so hard every day. David really did fantastic. He came in and filled in when we got in foul trouble, and he played great. Especially when Sergei gets in at the end, we all like to go nuts because he's one of our biggest supporters. If you watch him on the bench, he's going nuts for us. So we like to return the favor for him.

BLAKE SIMMONS: Like D.J. said, those guys, they work so hard every single day in practice, out there on the court. When they're able to go in, they give it their all. They give us a lot of lift, being able to come in.

Benzon played great minutes. When Willie came in, he had a lot of energy out there. Them being able to do that gives us a lot of energy, and we enjoy seeing them thrive out there.

Q. For D.J., you guys know you'll play Northern Iowa tomorrow. Have you gone against them this season? What do you have to do to be successful tomorrow? Were you surprised it was Northern Iowa and not Wichita State, which everybody seemed to think was going to be there?
D.J. BALENTINE: Knowing them, I wasn't surprised. Funny thing is, Matt Bohannon told me after our game they beat us in, I would say it's the last time I'll be playing you, but we both know I'll see you Sunday. As he was walking off the floor, he told me, I told you I'll see you Sunday. So I had confidence in them. They're a really good team.

It's going to be a grind-it-out game. Every game they play is always tough. Very well coached, very well defensive minded. So we're going to take our best shot, and we'll be really prepared, and we'll be ready to go.

Q. Again, looking forward to tomorrow. Can you guys just talk about the game plan for guarding Washpun.
BLAKE SIMMONS: You know, just I think having Washpun seeing two or three guys at all times, whether it's coming off ball screens, whether it's just an iso. Having him see two or three guys, making him not being able to see open lanes to the rim, just jabbing at him and getting back to the shooters because they've got great shooters on their team. But having him see two or three purple jerseys or white jerseys at all times, trying to discourage him from attacking the rim.

D.J. BALENTINE: Yeah, he's so fast it's going to take, not just one guy, it's going to take a team defense. Just have to discourage him, discourage the drive, and make him take tough shots. But he's a good player, so it's going to be tough.

Q. Marty, it looked to me like offensively you were able to break Indiana State down. You drove baseline quite a bit, reversed the ball. Of course you made shots, but talk about the plan of attack today against the defense.
COACH SIMMONS: They're hard to play against. We've struggled against them a lot. I think the biggest key for us, we were able to get some stops, get out in transition. A lot of times on makes, they really do a great job of getting set, getting locked in on you. But I thought we had some good rhythm, like you said. I thought we drove the basketball. I thought we really shared it. But I thought we were fortunate too because they missed shots that they're going to make. So we were certainly fortunate there.

Q. You obviously go back a ways in this program, but can you put in perspective getting to the championship for the first time since '99?
COACH SIMMONS: Oh, I'm not going to give you a very good answer on that probably. I'm not sure. I've got so much respect for Coach Jacobson and Northern Iowa. All of our focus is on them. We're just trying to stay in the moment. It's a great opportunity. We've got to prepare to the best of our abilities, and then hopefully we'll go out and play the best 40 minutes we've ever played.

Q. You guys mentioned that '99 team and how they maybe had some conversations with them. Is that something you introduced, or can you tell us about why that was important they know that history and why it happened?
COACH SIMMONS: Evansville is a unique place in that, it really is, we're a small, private institution. The players at Evansville, a lot of them go back to the 1950s, and they stay in touch. They come to a lot of games. They e-mail. They write. That's, I think, pretty unique. And those guys like to see our guys be successful. They're our biggest cheerleaders. I know all those guys. I was very, very fortunate to be an assistant coach on that '99 team, and they certainly were a lot of fun to be around.

Q. Coach, considering that D.J.'s season low came at UNI and the Panthers also frustrated him last Saturday, what differently could we do to get D.J. open and for him to have more success?
COACH SIMMONS: Well, we'll have to go back and study it a little bit harder, but they're a great -- a lot of teams have a hard time scoring against Northern Iowa. They're just really good. They're fundamentally sound. They've got smart, tough, competitive guys. They've got athletic guys. I mean, they know their system, and they buy into it.

I know one area is we've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. That's something I thought was a real key today. We didn't shoot a high percentage, but Indiana State scored a lot off of Illinois State's turnovers. That will be a big key for us is to execute better and not turn the basketball over.

Q. Seemed to keep Scott from getting going like he does and also just their shooters in general, how much of it was staying glued to them better and how much of it was them missing?
COACH SIMMONS: Oh, I thought our guys gave a lot of effort, but, I mean, that young man can shoot as good as anybody in the country. He lit us up there at Terre Haute, and he's lit a lot of people up. So it was a combination. I think we did a better job in transition. I think up at Terre Haute, he got two or three right out of the gate in transition. We had some communication breakdowns. I think we were a little bit more solid there. I'm not going to tell you that he doesn't make some of the shots because he does. He's a great shooter.

Q. Are there any additional challenges, Coach, with the short prep in facing Northern Iowa that maybe exist if you would have maybe the standard preparation during the regular season?
COACH SIMMONS: Well, us coaches, we'd like to have about three weeks to prepare for Northern Iowa, but the players, I'm sure they're exactly where they want to be. They're like the NBA guys. They hate practice, and they just want to play the games. We're just blessed to have the opportunity. We're going to do the best we can. Both teams don't have a lot of time. We just played each other not too long ago. Both teams will probably make some adjustments. We'll see what happens.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297