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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2016Archie MillerCharles CookeDyshawn PierreBrooklyn, New York Dayton - 69, Richmond - 54 ARCHIE MILLER: Well, a really good start for us in Brooklyn. Our goal is to try to advance in any postseason event that we're in, so the job got done. I thought our defense in particular in the first half was as good as it's been. We sort of got our legs back under us compared to playing them a week ago. We were much tougher around the basket, much scrappier on the glass, and our defense carried us for most of the game. That's a really good offensive team. Offensively we've got to keep getting better as we get ready to play in the next round or so, being more efficient. Sixteen turnovers today is one thing, but in the postseason you're not going to be able to do that. We talked about rebounding after our VCU game and happy to see the margin there, 48-30. Keep getting better. We have a great opponent tomorrow, whether it's St. Joe's or GW, and we've got to get off our feet and get ready to go. Q. Dyshawn, what does it feel like to play a complete game like that? DYSHAWN PIERRE: It was nice, especially having us start off on defense the way we did. I think we all took focus to playing hard, and our defense translated to our offense. Q. What was the key to guarding? DYSHAWN PIERRE: Everyone helped out, it wasn't just me guarding. The big men guarding him, I think they did a good job of swiping and helping us out down low. Q. Charles, did it feel like the offense was clicking right from the start today? CHARLES COOKE: Yeah, we got it going pretty early, got some good looks. We put in a lot of work the past two practices just trying to execute our game plan, so it felt like we got some really good looks to start off the game, which got us going for the most part. Q. Archie, you guys seemed focused and fresh. How much was fresh part of it? ARCHIE MILLER: It was part of it. We played late last Saturday and took a couple days in a row off, get our legs back under us, and then I thought Tuesday and Wednesday we had about two of the best practices we've had since probably early January, late December. I mean, we looked the part. Competitive, guys were really working hard. And I thought that carried over as much as anything into our game today was an attitude. We brought what we worked on here, and we've got to get -- we've got to get going a little bit better on offense just in terms of the ball movement, but I was happy with our effort level. We came in ready. Q. Coach, you guys had obviously a lot of defensive intensity coming out of the gate in the first half. Is that something you focused on going into the game or was that just kind of something that happened? ARCHIE MILLER: No, we focused on that. We've been a little lackluster on defense a couple games ago, whatnot, and I thought we were back to ourselves when we played VCU on Saturday, a hard-playing team. At Richmond on Tuesday, they got 84 on us and killed us in transition and killed us inside. We had a heavy emphasis coming into this one, one, eliminating transition, and two, doing a much better job inside, and I thought that was a big key was them not being able to operate in and around the paint in the first half, guys did a good job digging balls out and being physical. Q. You were talking about the ball movement and a couple times you were struggling with it. At times when you weren't scoring it looked like Scoochie was taking over. A lot said about him in the past, but how important is it to have a guy like him be able to do that? ARCHIE MILLER: He's definitely our engine. I've been saying that, and as he goes, we'll go. When we need a big basket or when we need to get organization, he's obviously the key, and I think at this time of year if you have a point guard that's playing that way that the guys look at and know that they trust him, he's going to make guys better, he's doing exactly what he's supposed to do, that gives everybody else confidence. I think him leading us into the tournament was good. I think some other guys were ready, excited to play. Yeah, as we get to the semifinals on Saturday, getting the first one out of your way is the biggest thing. It's always a hard game, in particular playing a team that just won yesterday. Granted, Richmond being down some guys, with our depth and being fresh, we were hoping to get off to a good start defensively. Q. Archie, early in the game you were getting a lot of guys wide open down low. Was there anything in particular you were doing or was it just the flow of the offense? ARCHIE MILLER: Well, we had a lot of defense to offense. We had a lot of transition, and as we fell into transition, our motion and our movement when we played against Richmond starts inside out. We try to get guys moving, interchangeable parts, try to find the mismatches so to speak. I thought we had some good post action going on early. Dyshawn in particular I thought did a good job finding guys out of the post or working for himself. But just in general, trying to play inside-out is always an emphasis for us, especially against Richmond. You don't want to settle for a lot of challenge threes. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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