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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 12, 2016Fran DunphyJaylen BondJosh BrownOrlando, Florida UConn - 77, Temple - 62 THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes. FRAN DUNPHY: Well just want to congratulate UConn. I thought they played very well. They made shots when they needed to. Their defense was very good when it had to be. I thought we did have some open looks, but not our best shooting night. But overall, I thought UConn, their defense was very good. I thought they were understanding what they had to get done today. And we started off well and then we struggled a little bit in that middle facet of the first half, so that hurt us. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Josh, was everything that happened last year sitting at this time last year, do you think this team is a NCAA Tournament team this time around? JOSH BROWN: We hope so, but it's not in our hands. We just pray tomorrow on Selection Sunday that we hear our names called. But like I said, it's not in our hands right now. Q. Josh, they had a lot more dribble penetration than the first two times against you. Adams when he came in made a big difference. Why do you think you guys were giving that up. You typically don't give up, much less UConn or anyone, I don't see that much penetration against you guys. JOSH BROWN: I really don't know, but we just did too much helping, and we didn't recover as well. And when we help and recover, we have to keep the ball out of the middle. When guys get in the middle, our defense kind of collapses. So they did a good job getting to the lane and, yeah, that's it. Q. For either or both of you, you had two games against UConn earlier this year. Did you notice or see anything different about the way the Huskies played today? JAYLEN BOND: It's hard to beat a team three times. Like the previous guy said, they did a lot more dribble and drive this time around. That gave us trouble throughout the game. So they did a good job and were able to come out with a win. JOSH BROWN: What was the question again? Q. If you saw any differences between UConn in this third meeting than in the first two. JOSH BROWN: They kind of played with a little more edge, I guess, coming off that four overtime win. We thought we jumped on them early. But they kind of had a different look coming out of that first timeout. So, they threw the next punch, and we wasn't able to bounce back from that until the second half. So, yeah, they just played with more grit, I guess. Q. Josh, you guys got it back to 55-49 and maybe you remember, you got the next two shots, a jumper that maybe -- and then the next time you got a drive. Can you talk about Brimah wasn't in the game at that point. Can you talk about if you remember those two plays, what you might have had? JOSH BROWN: I had two good opportunities to make those shots. My concentration definitely wasn't there, especially on the second shot. I probably was worried about creating a contact rather than finishing. So I have to do a better job with finishing and making those plays, and maybe we could have came out with a victory, if I would have made those shots. Q. To both you guys, when Brimah came in, he looked like he was altering everything. How much effect did he have on the defensive end against you guys? JOSH BROWN: You definitely think about him, because he's a shot blocker and he's good at what he does. Like he doesn't leave his feet too early. So when you're in the lane, you just are trying to see where he's at and then try to go by him. JAYLEN BOND: He's a great shot blocker, so whenever he's in the game he has the opportunity to alter shots. Q. If you could just describe -- you got a little emotional there with Purvis and got the technical. Haven't seen much of that. Was that just the game was pretty intense at that point? JAYLEN BOND: Yeah, at that point in time, I just lost my focus. Something I can't do for my teammates. I let them down at that time. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Take questions for coach. Q. You mentioned yesterday how much you would need Obi today. Obviously struggled from the field. Kevin mentioned that the plan -- their plan for him was to switch everything on the pick and pop. What specifically went wrong for him and how might that have gone better? FRAN DUNPHY: Well, he started off very well, made his first couple shots. Then I thought he pressed a little bit. There were a couple jump hooks that he shot that he probably shot too quickly. He had a couple of other wide open looks that just didn't go down for him. And they obviously are going to guard him very, very well because he's an outstanding shooter. They ran him off the line a little bit, and he needed to adjust his game probably a little bit more than he did. But he's a pretty big weapon for us. It just wasn't happening for him tonight. Q. Same question as I asked the players. Did you see anything different out of UConn in this third meeting than in the first two? FRAN DUNPHY: You know, not necessarily. They are a drive-it-at you kind of team. I thought they wound up doing a lot of that yesterday versus Cincinnati. I thought Hamilton was absolutely terrific on some of the plays that he made. He made a couple of really tough shots as did Adams. We helped a few times too much, off of their three-point jump shooters, Hamilton in the corner one time, Gibbs up top two times in the second half that really that put some separation. And Adams was tough to keep in front of us as well, I thought he made some really good plays. Q. What went wrong at the free-throw line tonight? FRAN DUNPHY: I wish I had an answer for that. One play I think Q cut it to six or seven, and he missed it. Would have been an and one. We got a chance to set our defense, but we missed it and I think they went down and scored. A couple plays like that early in the first half. Jalen missed a couple of foul shots. But that's the nature of the game. We didn't shoot it well from the foul line. In a game like this, it's going to come down to the end where if we do cut it to six, if we had done a better job at the foul line, maybe we're down two or maybe even tied, if we had done a better job, but we did not. Q. What happened under the basket to Daniel Dingle? I know that he felt some contact. There was some blood. Is there any diagnosis? He played the rest of the game, but didn't exactly play appearing to be a hundred percent. FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, no, I'm sure he was hurting, but he didn't want to come out of the game, and he just drove it to the basket. I didn't see it on the film or anything, so I'm sure he just lost his balance or he got hit pretty hard. He looked like he banged his mouth on the floor, which obviously caused the amount of blood that was there. But Dan's a great guy, and he wanted to be in the game and I thought he gave every ounce of energy he could. Q. How do you rally your players when you're going against UConn and they have such a strong fan base that travels so well? FRAN DUNPHY: I thought UConn crowd was great today. We -- again, I thought we did a really good job of getting it to six. We had the ball, and the game at six. I think we missed a three opportunity, which would have obviously juiced us a little bit more. But they're a very good basketball team, and we knew that because of the first two times we played them. We were fortunate to win the game and knew that we were going to get their best shot today. Q. How tough's the next 24 hours going to be for you and the team? FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, it's hard. It's very hard. So we have been through it. We were through it last year, a very difficult time. But it's the way it is, and we have to pay attention to what other people will say now and that's, we're no longer in control, somebody else is in control. Q. How challenging was it defensively when they, they went a lot with four guards, Hamilton at the four and then Purvis and Adams and Gibbs to win the game. FRAN DUNPHY: It's not easy. Hamilton can play that four spot defensively, and he's got that very good size as a guard. I thought he made some really good plays. He got by us a few times, I thought he made some great penetration. We didn't get killed by the -- I think he's the best lob passer I've ever seen in college basketball. He drives it in the lane and he sees his teammates great. We didn't get hampered by that, I think there was just one or two dunks that they had off of very good passes by Hamilton and maybe Adams as well. So, but he's good. Adams is really good player too. So I thought they both those guys were very difficult for us to keep in front. Q. I know you said it's not in your hands, but in your opinion do you think your team has done enough to be playing in March Madness? FRAN DUNPHY: All I can say is I hope. So that's all. It's, again, in the hands of the committee, and we'll see how other games play out over the next number of hours. And we're proud to have represented our conference as a regular season champion. We won a game in the playoffs, and but now we're subject to a lack of control by us. So it will be somebody else's decision. Q. Same thing, 12 months ago, do you feel, how do you feel inside as compared to how you did 12 months ago? FRAN DUNPHY: I would say similarly. It's a killer number of hours that we're going to have to wait, and it's obviously the goal of every college basketball team when you start the season to get to the NCAA Tournament. So we have some time to wait and we'll see how it goes and we'll probably do similar things, just kind of get together as a team tomorrow night and see what 6 o'clock brings. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FRAN DUNPHY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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