|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2016Derek KelloggJabarie HindsRashaan HollowayTrey DavisBrooklyn, New York UMass - 67, URI - 62 DEREK KELLOGG: I'm very proud of our guys, the way they came out and played against a team I respect with a coach who I've been good friends with for a long time and respect the job that they do. And for our guys to kind of give up that lead and then make a play immediately and then kind of finish off the game I think shows their character and that they want to try to make a run here. We've got enough seniors that they've been through this, and so we're going to go back to the hotel, get some rest, get something good to eat, and try to get a win tomorrow. Q. What went through your mind when Trey made that three-pointer? DEREK KELLOGG: Well, in my mind it was in, just for one reason. I'm not sure -- I've seen him do it quite a few times this season, and it gave us a nice four-point lead. It was a play that -- we were kind of struggling to score for a while. We started walking the ball up the floor and I think that was the obvious play that ended up giving us the victory. Q. Was he the guy you wanted making a play in that spot? DEREK KELLOGG: Yeah, I thought so. He was doing a good job of getting to the free-throw line, and we've been together for a while now, and I've seen him doing that quite a few times. It was really nice to see and I think fitting for the season he's had and where we've been. Q. Trey, he wasn't taking as many threes. Was that part of the strategy? DEREK KELLOGG: It was a combination. I think the game plan, they tried to take away the three-point line from us because that's something that we're known for, and so it opened up some of the driving lanes. I thought our guys did a nice job of getting into the paint, making some one-on-one plays, and we really tried to space the floor and see if we could take advantage of some different match-ups. Q. You guys pushed tempo quite a bit in the first half when you went off to that lead. What changed in the second half? DEREK KELLOGG: I'm not sure. Maybe we got tired some because I was yelling about as loud as I can in a positive way to push tempo, and walking that thing up for about five or six minutes and that's when we were struggling to score. Quite a few times we've played pretty good defense and never really capitalized. Q. Coach, how important was Jabarie's start at the beginning, had 17 in the first half? DEREK KELLOGG: Yeah, it was huge. Having a 10-point lead, which was at 17, I think, his 17 points kind of gave us a great boost, and I think everybody knows when he scores the ball and does things like that, we're a much, much better team. He kind of held it down for us in the first half, and then a bunch of guys chipped in there in the second half to give us a nice boost. Q. Did you like Rashaan's play, the way he played in the second half? DEREK KELLOGG: Yes, yes, I did. I really liked it because I think that just gives us a different dimension. He's cleaning up space down there, he's moving bodies, he's scoring the basketball, and don't forget, he missed probably two or three point-blank ones that if he can put those in it's a complete game. So I'm hoping he can get his rest tonight and get ready for tomorrow. Q. Trey, you guys hadn't hit a shot in a long time when you went up for that three-pointer. What went through your mind when it went in? TREY DAVIS: When it went in? We was up four, we got a cushion. We was up one. I wanted to get just a cushion for us. Once we got that, I was like, we're good. That was a good stop. Q. Trey, you're playing to extend your season and your career. What does that mean for you to play the way you did in the second half and to make a shot that big? Is that special for you? TREY DAVIS: Yeah, it's special. I'm happy for tonight, but then we've got another game tomorrow and got to come back and get my mind back right and get ready for that game. Q. Jabarie, there have been some times when a guy comes for the homecoming game and maybe shies away a little bit. You were on fire. What were you feeling out there in that first half? JABARIE HINDS: I just wanted to be aggressive and stick to the game plan, what Coach told us to do these past few days, and it worked in the first half. Q. You guys had talked about wanting to push the tempo against them and you were getting the ball up the floor. Was that working the way you guys kind of planned that out in practices coming in? JABARIE HINDS: Yeah, it worked. We wanted to pressure the ball a little bit, make them uncomfortable when they was on offense, and when we got the rebound we just wanted to push it, try to get easy buckets. Q. Jabarie, you guys lost to Rhode Island just a week ago. What was the biggest difference tonight? JABARIE HINDS: I think we fought harder throughout the whole game. Some parts of that game last week was down, they had momentum, and they was home. Like Trey said last week, I remember we was in the media, he said, we're going to be -- it's a neutral site, so it's going to be a whole different game, and that's what it was today. Q. Jabarie, did you have a lot of people at the game tonight, and assuming you did, what was it like to play so well in front of them? JABARIE HINDS: Yes, I did. I have a lot of people, my family, and it was a good feeling, not just for me but for all my teammates and most of all we came out with a win to play another day. Q. Rashaan, the second half you looked comfortable out there and you looked aggressive. Did you feel like -- this is your first postseason game. Did you feel comfortable and confident out there again? RASHAAN HOLLOWAY: Yeah, I felt very comfortable. I was telling my teammates, I felt like I should have been nervous out there, but I just went out there and played it like it was any other game. I had a lot of confidence coming into this game, and I knew what I had to do for us to win. Q. You were a freshman for a lot of the season. Does it not feel like you're a freshman anymore? Do you feel like you're pretty comfortable now? RASHAAN HOLLOWAY: I feel like a freshman. I've just got a lot of confidence in myself. My teammates got a lot of confidence in me, and I'm starting to gain confidence from the coaches. I'm still a freshman. I'm still learning. Still got a lot of things to learn to get better at. Once I do that, we're going to be a great basketball team. Q. Trey, you guys were up 18 and they came back. You guys had another situation like that against St. Bonaventure where you weren't able to get over the hump. You guys took that and punched back and finished it out in the final moments today. TREY DAVIS: What you asking? Q. You had a similar situation against St. Bonaventure where you gave up a big lead. Tonight you came back and took that punch and finished it out. What does that say about you? TREY DAVIS: That we've matured from that, just found a way to win. Now we know we can do that. We've always known we can do that, but we really did it this time, so that's going to lead down the stretch to the next game. Q. As a team it seemed like you were struggling down the stretch of the regular season. What gives you some confidence that you can make a run in this tournament? Do you feel that you can make a run? RASHAAN HOLLOWAY: I feel like we had our downfalls in the season, but once we played confident, we played like we're supposed to be playing, nobody can beat us. It's as simple as we have confidence in ourselves, we're going to make shots. When we play defense, we're going to win games. JABARIE HINDS: You know, it's tournament time. Every team got to bring their best basketball. Anybody can lose on any given night and we're just staying together as a team and just keep fighting, and we're just going to go with the outcome. We're going to keep fighting, though. Q. Jabarie, did you see Holy Cross's run at all or at least know what they did? Is that inspiring where you say, hey, there's a team that did that, let's be the next one? JABARIE HINDS: That was crazy. Earlier I was in the room and Donte told me, they're going to the tournament. They won their conference, and they said, I think they didn't win a game in the conference or something like that. We're not Holy Cross, but I'm saying we can make a run. We're good enough, we've just got to play smart and listen to the coaches' game plan throughout the whole game and play for 40 minutes, and we can make something happen. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|