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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTON

March 16, 2016

Dayton, Ohio

Holy Cross - 59, Southern - 55

THE MODERATOR: We're now being joined by the head coach of the Southern Jaguars, Roman Banks, as well as student-athletes Adrian Rodgers and Christopher Hyder. Coach, an opening statement.

ROMAN BANKS: Well, I thought that congratulations, first, to Holy Cross. They did a real good job. They're well-coached. And I thought early on that they set the tone. I thought they came out of the gates with a lot of energy and executed very well. I thought that it took us a little time to find our rhythm in the zone, that 1-3-1 that they play. And I thought as the game would go, I anticipated that as the game would go that I was relying on our defense to kind of keep us close to the game and hopefully that we make a run and could sustain ourselves. But obviously one thing they do they shoot the basketball very well and they proved that tonight. And they made some timely baskets that hurt us and ultimately I think separate the game from us.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Christopher and Adrian only at this point.

Q. A-Rod, you all had a difficult offensive time in the first half. You came out scored seven quick points to start the second half. What made the difference there early in the second half for you?
ADRIAN RODGERS: Started attacking the gaps. We felt we weren't doing that enough in the first half. So start attacking the gaps and that just really opened up the zone. They started respected that. When we started attacking the gaps and kicking it out we started getting better looks at the rim.

Q. C-Bo I know it's so difficult so soon after the game, but can you put the season in perspective. A week ago you all had lost four out of five games, and you won through the conference tournament, you get back to the NCAAs. Can you try and sum up the season?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: It was just a lot of ups and down. Like tonight we lost the game on small things, and the games we lost before the conference tournament was small things which is rebounding. So the small things really hurt us this season. Like tonight they hit two big 3s on what was our mistakes, not on what they done. It was our mistakes that cost us the game.

Q. On the other side y'all's zone seemed to give them problems, too, on occasion tonight. Did it feel like a heavyweight battle out there? What did it feel like in the midst of it there in the last five minutes?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: Kinda sorta. We've got good coaches, so they felt like, and then they was in a good rhythm, so we kind of threw them off and went zone for a couple of seconds during the shot clock and went man and kind of just changed up the game and the pace of the game, and kind of get it moving the way we wanted to. And that's kind of where we made our run.

Q. C-Bo, you kind of triggered that run midway through the second half. I think you had two steals and a layup and assist -- you made a jumper and assisted on a basket. What did it feel like at that point? Did you feel like the game maybe was turning in your favor when you went up four?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: It absolutely did. It turned in our favor. I kind of got us going on the defensive end and kind of got us in the open court where we wanted to play. So that's more of our game. And then, like I said, we made a mistake and then they started their run. And it was just going backwards and forth from there.

Q. Could you put a bow on the season from this point?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: What do you mean by that?

Q. The season as a whole, what are your thoughts on the season as a whole?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: It was a good season. I mean, it's always a good season when you make the NCAA Tournament. But we feel like we fell short because we feel like we were a better team. But they was a better team today. So you only get one chance in this tournament. Tonight we came up short. And we wish we could have kept playing and went to Washington and played Oregon. But unfortunately we lost and Holy Cross deserves it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, one of the things coming into the game is that 1-3-1 defensive scheme that they implemented. It seems like every telecast was talking about the 1-3-1 defense. What was so difficult about it for your team?
ROMAN BANKS: I think the short turnaround, especially, to prepare for that is pretty hard, the way that they play it. They rotate a little differently. But we expected that. We thought that playing in the first half and that we could do better in the second half. And I think we did. You know, we start and the guys start understanding the key, too, was attacking on the baseline, and they were filling the gaps up front, so we started moving to the ball to the baseline and we got some pretty good looks and when we got into rotation, started moving the basketball. I thought in the second half, kind of my mindset, what I thought would happen, because you can't practice against it. And so we got a feel for it. And I thought we made some timely baskets.

I just think that we came short on the other end that we had to do a pretty good job at. I think the timely scores hurt us tonight.

Q. The second half you went primarily with Shawn and Chris instead of D'Adrian and Tony. Was that because you wanted to utilize them on the baseline and try and attack the zone with the quickness rather than having the bigs in there?
ROMAN BANKS: I think it was twofold. I think if the bigs are not -- I didn't think that they really understood how to get their position in the zone. And I thought that -- I went with some of the guys that understand how to play a little bit more. But also did that for the other end, the defensive end, because in the first half we had a tough time stepping out guarding their bigs that shoot the basketball. All bigs traditionally, they like staying by the rim. So the only one that we have that kind of understands that is Sam. And so we just went with a small lineup where we can get out there, because at the end of the day I thought that Chris Thomas can play big enough and so could Prudhomme, to get out there and guard their bigs. And I think that it showed us a little success. But it kind of, on the other end, it gave us a matchup problem where they was able to get two timely 3s that I think that we talked about but we didn't execute.

Q. Talk about Rodgers getting those two quick fouls early in the game, Trelun Banks kind of struggling to find his shot tonight, talk about how that kind of put you guys in the hole early?
ROMAN BANKS: Well, we knew that anytime you come to this contest, you know, neutral-site gym and some anxieties, that it's proven that you don't shoot the ball as well. And I think that you had to better shoot the ball pretty decent against the zone because we did not -- we weren't able to attack it on the inside like I thought we were capable of. So I think down in the second half that we made timely shots to give ourselves the opportunity, and I think we went up probably by four. And so I don't think, at the end of the day, it's kind of what I thought in my mind about how it would play out on the offensive end. But it was disappointing the way it played out on the defensive end, because that's where I thought we would have our advantage.

Q. Y'all were 3-for-20 on 3-pointers. Obviously the zone had something to do with that. But shot selection and just not making shots, how much did that factor into that number?
ROMAN BANKS: Well, because you're playing against the zone, you know, I like to give the other team all the credit. I thought we had some pretty good looks. And I just think that they put enough pressure on us where we didn't shoot the ball well, and which I think that against the zone we -- early on we settled for shots. And then when we wasn't able to kind of throw the ball into our bigs, then we had to go all perimeter. And so you would like to try to get some baskets where they have to play close attention to the inside where they couldn't rotate so fast. But that wasn't the case. So I think we took some challenge 3s as well but playing small eventually, we started getting in the gaps. And I think the second half we took a lot more 2s.

Q. Despite the coming up short tonight, to get back to the NCAA Tournament in the first year that you were eligible to do so, can you kind of put the season as a whole in perspective?
ROMAN BANKS: Yeah. Though I'm disappointed, and we don't want to never get used to accepting losing, I have to be a realist to myself and say that this group went far and beyond where we thought we would be at this time. And we're fortunate enough that Southern, under my tenure, we've only been able to go to postseason twice. And we made it. So I gotta give my hats to those guys, my players in the locker room that stuck it out and made it and stayed with us and stayed with Southern University and to push through and get us back to this point. And now hopefully we can go forward with our program.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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