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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTONMarch 15, 2016Joe DooleyMarc-Eddy NoreliaChristian TerrellDayton, Ohio FGCU - 96, Fairleigh Dickinson - 65 THE MODERATOR: We're now being joined by the head coach of Florida Gulf Coast, Joe Dooley, and student-athletes. JOE DOOLEY: I thought our defense, to begin with, we didn't give up easy baskets. And I thought that Marc and Meech did a great job of changing shots at the baskets, and after that we were able to get out, and Mark and Christian and those guys got us a good start offensively. We played with confidence, even though we didn't necessarily shoot the ball well, especially in the half from the free-throw line. But we didn't let it affect our defense, and we're proud of our guys for their effort tonight. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Christian and Marc-Eddy at this point. Q. Marc-Eddy, obviously you guys had a height advantage going into tonight. Clearly the game plan was to attack them early inside, early and often inside. And just kind of if you would talk to me about how you guys were able to do that tonight? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: We just made sure we stuck to what we've been doing all year because that's what got us here. So coach made the game plan and said we're going to be doing what we've been doing and it worked for us. Q. Both of you guys, how do you feel? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: Feel great. First-round NCAA Tournament win. So it feels great. CHRISTIAN TERRELL: We're very blessed to be here, and we're excited for our next game. And we're just looking to play hard and be ready for that game. Q. When they came at you guys in the second half, did you get nervous at some point? CHRISTIAN TERRELL: We knew they were going to make a run. And we just tried to withstand that and I think we did a pretty good job of handling their run. Q. At the beginning, the ball movement looked like Chris playing pretty decisive. How were the nerves going into the first three minutes of the game? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: It was good. The guys were very focused and we talked about it. We said, look, we know that about the time the game starts you'll be a little uptight, but as soon as the ball goes up you'll be good. Just keep playing and make sure you have fun. Q. Marc-Eddy, especially Morant, the alley-oop at the very beginning, what kind of tone does that set for everybody? Does it kind of send a message? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: Yes, it does. And Coach drew up the play and we just executed just as he drew it. Q. Don't want to get into North Carolina very much. We'll see you tomorrow. But I wanted to ask you, No. 16 has never beaten a No. 1. Do you take any solace at all in the fact that FGCU, as a 15, is the only program to ever beat a No. 2 or to go to the Sweet 16? Are you guys bolstered by that at all, and how do you feel going in as a 16 against a No. 1 on Thursday? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: We're just going to stay confident and believe in ourselves and give it our best effort. Anything can happen. As long as we do what Coach says, I'm pretty sure we can make it happen, if it's possible. CHRISTIAN TERRELL: We're just going to continue to play our style of play and just look to play the right way and hopefully we'll come out with a win. Q. Can you just talk a little bit about that turnaround. I assume you guys are heading out there pretty quick tonight and then practice tomorrow, play Thursday? CHRISTIAN TERRELL: It's a little bit different. We haven't been doing that a lot recently. And it's a fast turnaround but we're going to be ready. MARC-EDDY NORELIA: Coach already has a game plan for us. We're just going to follow it, I'm pretty sure. We believe in him and trust in him that it will work. Q. How would you describe y'all's style if someone's never seen you play before; it looks like energy is the basis of it? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: Yeah, I'm one of the energy guys on the floor. I just make sure full-court active at all time and just energy always finds the ball, that's what Coach tells us in practice. It seemed to work for us all season, so we're going to stick to it. CHRISTIAN TERRELL: Like Marc said, our energy is our main thing. We try to have as much energy on defense as possible. And I'd say our identity is defense and our defense is what makes us go. Q. Just the degree of how dominating you guys were in that first 20 minutes, good game plan and all that stuff all the energy and the things going for you, did you guys expect it to be that severe in your favor that early or that much? CHRISTIAN TERRELL: Well, no. We can't really ever expect that. Gotta come into the game thinking it's going to be a competitive game and right at the beginning. But, yeah, we just stayed focused no matter what the score was and we were ready to play today. MARC-EDDY NORELIA: We just kept playing defense, because that's the only reason the score was the way it was at the beginning of the game because we were playing defense, we was getting stops, and were able to get some baskets on the other end. Q. What do you know about North Carolina, Marc-Eddy, what impresses you about North Carolina, what you've seen of them this year? MARC-EDDY NORELIA: I've watched them all season, actually, because they're always on TV. Their style of play is pretty fast. And they want to get up and down the floor and just fly around and use their length to their advantage. Q. How much did you guys play against Joel Berry in high school? CHRISTIAN TERRELL: I played against him one game. He was a great player. He dominated the whole game. Yeah, he was a great player. Still is. MARC-EDDY NORELIA: Yeah, same thing. I played with him I think it was Kingdom of the Sun. To actually end up beating us by one point. He played pretty well. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Joe, it seemed like almost a perfect scenario for your guys tonight really. You were able to build a good lead with your bigs. Your guards played really well in the second half. You were able to go up against the zone and faired nicely against the zone and you were able to give some guys some minutes and some guys rest. What are your overall thoughts on how this went and how that will impact Thursday? JOE DOOLEY: It's got to give us some confidence. I don't think it has any impact on Thursday. But I thought the guys did a nice job on the quick turnaround of paying attention. We had a few slipups, like you'll always have, but I thought Marc and Meech protected the basket. I thought we didn't give up a ton of ones. And let's cut to the chase -- they missed a couple of chippies too. I think both teams were a little jittery. You could see it in our free-throw shooting, but we just started plugging away, plugging away, and I thought our guys did a good job of using our depth. Q. After failing to break the press two times in a row you called a timeout. What did you tell the guys, because eventually you guys were able to break the press and it seemed with ease? A. All of a sudden we forgot what got us there. We went from having a middleman in the sideline and all of a sudden you dribble up a side someone forgets to cover. We pick up a dribble, we threw a couple of sloppy passes, and then the other thing we weren't being aggressive once we did break the press. We said don't settle, let's drive it downhill if we can and be aggressive. I thought once we did it a little bit later we were much better. But don't be complacent. Q. Was that about as efficient as you've seen Meech and Marc-Eddy? JOE DOOLEY: The big thing is Marc-Eddy's had an unbelievable year, and Meech, when we had him, has had a really good year. We're a different team with him. The sad thing for him is he hasn't even been able to practice virtually at all. And he's improved so much, and I think he's got so much more of a ceiling. So that's good news because we'll have both of those guys back next year. But I thought those guys did a nice job playing. Meech is a presence around the basket. So you have to watch it when you drive it and I thought Marc-Eddy was very efficient, obviously. Q. Texas A&M, Florida, big teams didn't have the same level of success as North Carolina had, but playing those games, big schools, big teams. What does that do to prepare your guys for this game? JOE DOOLEY: I mean, different style. I mean, Florida was such a pressing, transition team. So it's one thing. And Texas A&M is sort of a wind-up and grind-you-out type of team. They can really throw the ball in the post and punish you that way. And they're so effective defensively, just very solid, don't make mistakes. We've played in some big arenas. We've played some teams. But it will be a whole different animal on Thursday. Q. You mentioned the free-throw shooting. Is that something you addressed at halftime, a lot better in the second half? JOE DOOLEY: A lot better in the second half. We addressed it in a couple of timeouts in the first half and it didn't work. I don't know what happened at halftime. Take everything else, sometimes at the start of the game and guys are missing free throws, and sort of everybody does it. And the next thing you know guys start making free throws and everybody starts making it. Christian and Tray, I thought, really got us off to a start in the second half. And guys started seeing the ball go through the basket, especially when they had made a little run to start the half. I thought that sort of got our confidence back a little bit. Q. Back in 2013 you were over with Kansas. This is your first time at a NCAA Tournament with FGCU. What is that like? JOE DOOLEY: It's great. We had some fans travel with us, and the excitement. It was especially hard for our fans because of the quick turnaround. You can't -- finding out at 8:00 at night where you're going the next morning. It was great, the band, the people behind the bench were terrific. And also as people said, the atmosphere in Dayton was terrific. The people here are unbelievably basketball crazy, and it's a great venue. Great, great basketball venue. Q. You mentioned confidence, that this was very important for that. Clearly confidence is -- it will be a huge deal going in to play Carolina in Raleigh. How much confidence do you feel these guys have right now; this is now, what, eight out of 10, five, six in a row? JOE DOOLEY: Well, the young guys, that's been the thing. We've fought at times. They start looking around. They're getting older. They're starting to figure out they've got -- they've played minutes. And now I think they believe in themselves and they believe that if we play the right way and we try to do some things we're supposed to and we take care of the ball and we guard it, we can be a pretty good basketball team. Q. TV guys were giving you hell. They had a close-up of your forehead with all the sweat. Real close-up, beads everywhere. When you guys were up big, what's up with that? JOE DOOLEY: Nothing. I sweat walking down the street. It's even worse in Florida. It was toasty in there. And the other option was to take off my sport coat, then they would have seen how sweaty I really was because I sweat through the shirt, too. It was toasty in there. It was toasty in the locker room, too. Q. What does it mean to you personally to get your team to this point and win this game after all the years you've been in coaching? JOE DOOLEY: I think I can't believe how fortunate -- Dr. Bradshaw and Ken gave me an opportunity to run the program and keep this thing rolling. And I'm fortunate -- I've coached in every round of the NCAA Tournament from the First Four to Final Fours. And I talked to our guys about how hard it is to get here. It's hard. 68 of us. There's a lot of people that have really good teams that aren't playing. And told the guys to be appreciative of playing in this deal. Not everybody gets to do it. And enjoy it and embrace the opportunity. And you know what? It's a pretty cool deal. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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