|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2016Fran DunphyObi EnechionyiaJaylen BondOrlando, Florida Temple - 79, USF - 62 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions. FRAN DUNPHY: Very good win for us. And happy to be here sitting here after a good first round victory. I thought we played fairly well throughout. I think McMurray's really a hard guy to guard. I thought Josh Brown did a terrific job on him. Chris Perry, who we didn't play against the first two games really was a very effective player for them today. I thought these two guys played well, I thought Jaylen's pass to Devin Coleman underneath the basket to get us back to 14, I think, was a critical play. I think Jaylen made a lot of really good plays throughout. I would like Obi to play more than 17 minutes, we need him on the court, so -- but he started the second half off very well for us so we need everybody in the next couple of days here. Hopefully we can continue to play okay. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. For Obi, you heard from Coach that you didn't play as many minutes as he was hoping you would play because you got into some early foul trouble. What did you think of your teammate Mark who couldn't miss from three? OBI ENECHIONYIA: Yeah, he definitely stepped up today. Any time I get in foul trouble or make some bad mistakes like that, it's important that he can come in and pick us up and he had three threes today. So that was big for us. I think he kept us in it and provided a spark off the bench. Q. You guys didn't face Chris Perry all year. Was it tough kind of facing him today after the game he had yesterday? JAYLEN BOND: Yeah, like you said, we didn't face him the first couple times, but he's a great player. He's a skilled player. So we had to do the best we could on defense, just make him score over our length. Q. A lot of people look at your points and rebounds numbers, but today you had four steals. Just what went so right for you in that aspect of your game? JAYLEN BOND: Just staying out of foul trouble early. I was able to be more aggressive on the defensive end. I was able to come up with some easy steals by just being in the right place at the right time. Q. You've always had the physical gifts, but especially this season you're so much more polished. Can you talk about how you felt and your relationship with Fran. JAYLEN BOND: Coach Dunphy's a great coach. This offseason I worked well with a lot of the other coaches, I just polished my game for this year. Q. Obviously each team brings something else to the table that makes them effective. What is one thing about your team's DNA that makes you guys special and makes you guys set yourselves apart from everybody else? OBI ENECHIONYIA: I think we have a lot of fight. In the regular season we would have games where we would be down 10, 12, 15 in the second half, and we would be able to come back and win the game. So I think that shows a lot of toughness and a lot of -- just a lot of fight. Being able to come back like that. JAYLEN BOND: I would say our defense. We feed off our defensive energy and that helps us offensively as well. We focus mainly on defense getting three stops to start the games. Q. Talk about the drive you guys have this weekend given what happened last year, not making the tournament and the importance this weekend. JAYLEN BOND: Our main goal is to win this tournament to solidify us being in the NCAA Tournament. So that's our main goal right now. OBI ENECHIONYIA: I think that having that feeling from last year, we all remember it, we all remember how it felt, not making the tournament. So, that's something that we all want to experience getting to the tournament and getting to play late in the season. So, having that feeling in our minds and just remembering that I think it's motivated all of us. Q. You mentioned a little bit last year you guys made it to the semi-finals in this tournament. That's where you guys, your season ended. What did you learn from that experience last year that you can take into these last potential two games of the tournament? OBI ENECHIONYIA: Just how much toughness we need. Last year we didn't show up to the second game like we should have. I think if we came with a little bit more toughness and focused just a little bit more, we could have gone to the tournament. So, I think we're all a lot more focused this year and we know what to expect and we're ready. Q. You got hurt. Going to the SMU game you weren't 100 percent in the semi-finals of last year. Is there an extra chip on your shoulder for this year? JAYLEN BOND: I wouldn't say it's an extra chip. I would say how important it is for my teammates. Our main goal is to make the tournament and to do that, we have to win here. Q. The first half, especially, you seemed like really focused on what was going on. You wanted the ball, especially on the one play the kick out to Obi and then you demanded it right back. And he passed it back to you. Do you remember that play? JAYLEN BOND: Yes. Q. That was kind of significant of how your first half was going. Talk about that a little bit? JAYLEN BOND: I just wanted to be aggressive. Starting off early, I know my teammates have confidence in me just like I have confidence in them. So they were able to get me some easy buckets, I just try to play as hard as I can for 40 minutes. Q. You've had three of your best games right in a row right now. Talk about -- is there any more urgency and what your feeling is being a senior in this? JAYLEN BOND: Definitely I know my time here is winding down. So I'm trying to give them 100 percent effort to finish out my season strong for me and my teammates. Q. You guys had five players in double figures for the third time this season. Talk about like kind of how much of a team effort this was. Just having everybody chip in like that. OBI ENECHIONYIA: Yeah, I think again that says a lot about our team. We have a lot of players that can step up and make an impact on the game. We can have that many players in double figures. Obviously it's going to help us and we're probably going to win the game. So, just having so many people that can step up and play like that, it means a lot for the team. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse the student-athletes and take questions for coach. Q. Is it fair to guess that maybe the last 30 seconds there where Josh sat were probably the only time he's going to sit down here this weekend? FRAN DUNPHY: We talked about it a little bit in the locker room. We need to protect him a little bit. I wish I could have done it sooner, but he's a very, very valuable commodity for us. It's a good observation. I think we -- he's so valuable to us. Q. How about the performance today by Mark Williams? FRAN DUNPHY: Mark was great. I think he felt it early, he made that big jumper, his first big jumper was great in the first half. Then I thought he made another one in the second half that really again gave us that separation. So, it's nice when you have that ability coming off the bench, and there are some games where he's feeling it pretty good and obviously we were benefiting greatly by it today. Q. How do you feel knowing that Quenton DeCosey really didn't have a big game today. Like how comfortable do you feel going to games like later on in this tournament without him providing that much offensive production for you guys? FRAN DUNPHY: He had 14 points and eight rebounds. We'll take that. He can shoot it better probably, and he can shot-select a little bit better, but Q is so important for what it is that we do. He's that reliable guy that we know we can go to him to get points. I thought even late when he missed a lay up and got the rebound back and got fouled and made two foul shots, those are important plays for us to have from him. But he's obviously going to play a lot of minutes, going to have a lot of responsibility, and I think he'll be okay. Q. Same question I asked Jaylen earlier. He certainly had the physical gifts when he arrived, but he now looks as polished as he's ever looked. Would you agree with that assessment and how has his game developed in your eyes? FRAN DUNPHY: Well, I think as Mark noted, his last number of games have been very good. I think he's really in a comfort zone now, and I hope that it stays that way. He's rebounding it pretty well, he had a couple of stick backs today. And then I thought he -- his pass, as I said, to Coleman late -- as I see the score, it was 14 back to 16, but it was an important play for us to stop momentum by the other team. So, if he can add that piece to it and get assists and no turnovers, that will be a great opportunity for us to be even better. His teams have won a lot of games over the last couple years and I think his leadership is showing through as well. Q. I know this is probably something you don't want to think about, but are you guys in, do you think at this point right now? FRAN DUNPHY: We got UCONN or Cincinnati tomorrow and that's what we're thinking about. Q. Even in Obi's 17 minutes, he got off about a dozen shots. Is that a really good thing for your team for him to be able to always get those looks? FRAN DUNPHY: For sure. When he is guarded like he is, oftentimes there are games where he doesn't get -- like he got 10 shots today -- there are games where he plays more minutes and has less shots. That's because he is a focused -- he is the focus of -- the opposition is on him. And that's when his ability to make plays for his teammates has to kick in. But he's a threat and he's a four man who other four men have to go out and guard and that's not easy for those guys to do. So we would like to get him that many shots, for sure. Q. Being the regular season conference champions, do you feel like there's a little bit of a target on your back, and how important was it to get this first game out of the way and get some confidence heading into tomorrow? FRAN DUNPHY: I think it's a really good win for us, just as it was last year when we beat Memphis in the first game. But we played a really good SMU team in the second game, we'll play a really good team tomorrow in the second game. So, we have to be really focused and ready to go. So, it's important. Each game is critical. I don't know that it has anything to do with where we are in terms of our seed. I think any one of a number of teams can win this tournament. It's a terrific league. Very balanced. Q. Devontae Watson got in the final 45 seconds of the game, just what does he do for you guys in practice, because obviously his minutes have diminished this year a lot. FRAN DUNPHY: I think what we need from Devontae always is a terrific attitude, and he's been great, absolutely been great. He works hard at practice, he's not down because he's not playing significant minutes. I'm sure he's frustrated and disappointed he's not playing those minutes, but it's never affected us as a team and I value that greatly. Q. Obi was looking back to last year and said they didn't show up for that second game. FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, I would disagree with that. Q. Okay. FRAN DUNPHY: I thought that SMU was really a good team last year and was a really good team this year. I'm not sure he thought that much about the answer that he gave. But I thought we played -- and we had a lead in the second half against them. So I'm not sure if he meant we didn't show up early, or we didn't show up late, or we didn't show up at halftime or whatever, but Obi and I will have a discussion about that. (Laughter.) Q. That said, how much of an emphasis are you putting on them that they need to control their own fate? FRAN DUNPHY: Well, we talk about the next opportunity for us and that's tomorrow. That's going to be against either one of two very good basketball teams. So, these guys understand. They understand how hard the game is going to be and we have to play our best basketball. Q. You talked about how good this league is. Does -- outside the league, does the league get that much credit nationally, enough credit? FRAN DUNPHY: I think many of the people in our profession respect our league and the teams that are in it. So, I think that's the No. 1 idea we want to get across. I hope that people are paying more attention to us and giving us some really good credit. We have some really good teams, very well-coached teams, a lot of really good players, some really good programs as well, who have had a lot of success over the years. Q. How much does having Ernest Aflakpui this year help when your big men get into foul trouble? He didn't play big minutes tonight but how much does that help having him? FRAN DUNPHY: Well his future is extremely bright. He works very, very hard and his time is going to come. I thought he did what he could do today. He got a rebound and he did talk to him a little bit at halftime. Took a bad route to get Cousins on a stop that we needed to make. But Ayan was tremendous and a fine attitude and one of the finest young men that I ever had a chance to coach. Q. Even though you swept both Cincinnati and UCONN in the regular season, how do you prepare your team to face them for a third time when you know it's going to be an emotional game? FRAN DUNPHY: Well, they're really good basketball teams, and we need to play our best basketball game. Our guys know that. All four of those games were very, very close, and a shot at one end and a miss at the other is what those games came down to. I'm very impressed with both those teams and we better be ready to go. Q. Both of those teams have freshmen who are playing pretty significant roles more so than earlier, are those some names you're going to have to reintroduce to your players who played them? FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, we'll watch a ton of film. Actually most of us will watch this game now, and so luckily we only have to concentrate our efforts on one team in a couple of hours from now. But yeah -- but our guys have watched a lot of film, we have seen both of these teams on film when we played other teams as well, so they're pretty bright about looking at what's going to face them tomorrow. So they will know. Q. When you're coming down the stretch, you have a big lead like that, how do you make sure your guys keep their edge knowing that they have a tough opponent tomorrow? FRAN DUNPHY: Again, I thought USF had no quit in them. McMurray made some tough shots down the stretch. So we knew that this wasn't going to be a significant gap. So I thought our guys did a pretty good job of that. I thought we made some big shots down the stretch. I thought Daniel Dingle made a great foul just to keep that space between us and them. I thought Daniel Dingle made a great read on an out-of-bounds play for a three-point play too which was really critical for our success as well. So I think these guys understand. Q. Do you think this has been the best 40 minutes you played continually all season? FRAN DUNPHY: I would like to see the film first. I would like to have turned it a few less times than we turned it. I thought we made a couple of mistakes in that second half. I thought we played well. I thought we did a good job and I think USF has made great strides throughout the year. They're going to be a tough, tough out in the coming years. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FRAN DUNPHY: All right. Thanks. 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
|