|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2016Bob McKillopPeyton AldridgeJack GibbsBrooklyn, New York Davidson - 90, St. Bonaventure - 86 BOB McKILLOP: A terrific college basketball game, tournament play at its best. Both teams emptied their tank. Both teams made big plays at big times, and it just so happened that we made the big ones in the latter stages of the game. Whether it was regulation or overtime I thought our guys made some big, big plays, so just thrilled to have this opportunity to continue. Q. Peyton, when you're on the foul line, they foul you with seconds to go, you had to hit those three free throws to force overtime. What were you thinking when you were stepping to the foul line? PEYTON ALDRIDGE: Just stepped up there and just tried to focus, just three free throws, one at a time, knock them down. We say automatic to make free throws, and everybody just gave me even more confidence to step up to the line, and I just stepped up there, took them one at a time like we were back in the gym, and thankfully, thank God I knocked them down. Q. Jack, obviously a fantastic game, but Brian hits two plus threes at the end. What do you think when those guys in? JACK GIBBS: Brian is one of the best shooters I've ever played with. He has a knack for making big shots in big moments, and he hit two today, two deep threes that not a lot of people can make. It's his senior year and we want him to go out on a high note. He fights hard and makes our team go, and I couldn't be happier for him. Q. Obviously a really heavy St. Bonaventure crowd there. What was it like playing in front of a hostile crowd? JACK GIBBS: I mean, it's fun. That's why we play basketball. Sometimes the crowd is not going to be in your favor, but I think as a unit our guys just fought. We weren't really worried about the crowd, we were just worried about every one of us in the huddle and on the team. We care about each other so much, and you just don't want to let each other down, and I thought we fought hard today. PEYTON ALDRIDGE: Just off what Jack said, that's fun to play against, and I thought our crowd was terrific tonight, as well, especially down the stretch. They really brought us up. We were a little bit tired and they definitely helped get us going. Q. Jack, you guys took a lot of long shots from three-point range in the first half there. Second half what happened to you guys to be able to get back into the game to get your rhythm going? JACK GIBBS: I think it helped a lot having Peyton back in the game. I know early on he was out in foul trouble and getting him touches, him and Jordan played great off the bench. Getting them touches, it kind of collapses the defense, and then we'll get open shots and they'll get open shots and it helps our offense flow a little bit better. Q. Talk about Jordan Barham tonight. He's been limited with his knees a little bit, playing short bursts of minutes. Seemed like he had some big baskets. JACK GIBBS: Yeah, he played great today, and we couldn't be more happy for him. He's been the energy this whole season, most athletic guy on the team, and when we put him in, he knows what he can do and we trust him to do what he does best and he did a great job today. Like I said, we couldn't be more happy for him. Q. Peyton, can you give us a little insight into what a handful Dion Wright is and was? PEYTON ALDRIDGE: He's a great player. He's very shifty, can handle the ball and take it off the dribble. He's an excellent player, and he's a tough kid, and he was just knocking some shots down tonight. Q. Jack, when you're down 12 points in the second half there, what's going through your mind? JACK GIBBS: I mean, that was just a collective thought of we've been here before, we've been down, and just take it one play at a time, one shot at a time and obviously get defensive stops. Everybody on the team believed that we could get back in the game, and we fought as hard as we could, and I think we did a very good job with that. Q. Coach, is it that resolve that your team has, being that even though you were down by not a real large margin but enough of a margin that the game could go back and forth, how proud are you of your guys that they fought their way back to ultimately win the game? BOB McKILLOP: You revisit moments like this as you talk in the huddle, and we had been down last year, people that might have seen the game against La Salle. I think we were down, I exaggerated in the huddle. I said, we were down 14 points to La Salle at this point last year, and I don't remember really. I know we were down 16 points at one point, and it resonated with them, and they felt they could get back in. It was exhilarating for me to hear their conversation on the bench. We came here to play for 40 minutes, and then when it went to overtime, they said, they gave us five more minutes. We've got five more minutes on the clock, that's great. So there was a positive confidence that permeated every player on that bench, and I've got to give credit to our assistant coaches. They made some decisions that I agreed upon. I made the final call, but it was their suggestions that led to us running some of the offensive sets which we don't run very often but we ran them there to get back into the game and then to pull it out and get those two threes. I've got terrific assistant coaches who deserve all the credit for the suggestions they made. Q. What does it say about Peyton being able to hit those three free throws? BOB McKILLOP: You know, 85 percent shooter and I think he had missed three -- really I think he had missed five because when you miss a one-and-one we count it as a two-shot miss. So he had missed five free ones. We called his number on that play. It was a double curl and he flames out and Dion Wright went after him. Of course, ironically, we ran that play on the opposite side last year at home against St. Bonaventure and Peyton made the shot with four seconds to go to put us up by one, and then Posley went down the other end and made a shot at the buzzer to beat us as the buzzer sounded, so we've been in these kind of games with St. Bonaventure and know that experience. Q. Battle of the boards ended up just about even. In the second half you had a number of possessions where you were able to extend possessions for yourself. I think you had 14 offensive boards. Just talk about how much that meant to the team. BOB McKILLOP: We have a great mentality about getting daggers. I'm sure you sense this. We get an offensive rebound, we're shooting a three. People say, what the heck are you doing. Well, in 2008 we beat Gonzaga with 55 seconds, we get an offensive rebound, we're up by -- it's a tie game, and Steph made a three with 50 seconds instead of holding out and running the play, we just banged it in right away. That's what we did tonight. It kind of feeds the rebounders. They get an instant gratification from getting a rebound because their teammate is going to knock down a three. Q. I know it's obviously early, but any initial thoughts on the match-up tomorrow with VCU? BOB McKILLOP: Tough to even think about that right now. I am thrilled with our players' attitude. I'm thrilled with the contribution from Jordan Barham. He was absolutely sensational. He's a kid that has been hurt, has had five knee surgeries. Sometimes you're not sure he's going to be able to practice. He's missed a lot of practices, and for him to come in and give us this lift today, I think Brian and Peyton and Jack made big plays, but Jordan Barham turned the tide for us. 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
|