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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: RALEIGHMarch 17, 2016Edward Joyner, Jr.Quinton ChievousReginald Johnson, Jr.Brian DardenRaleigh, North Carolina Hampton - 45, Virginia - 81 THE MODERATOR: At this time, ladies and gentlemen, we will start the press conference for Hampton University. We'll begin with an opening statement from Coach Joyner. EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: First of all, I would like to commend Virginia. They're a tough ballclub. I think they got a seed that's well deserved. I wanted to commend my guys. The toughest part about tonight is I feel it's unfair because I don't think the score shows exactly how hard they played and how hard they played throughout the year to be able to do what they did, but again, Virginia did what they publicized to do. They made it tough on us to make shots. Again, I thought throughout some of the first half, I mean, stats were pretty much even except for us making shots. We had maybe a stretch about the 12:00 mark. Again, that's a credit to their defense and what they do. But I got a group of seniors and some kids in that locker room that, again, I want to commend them because they've done a terrific job all year. That's it THE MODERATOR: Okay. At this time we're going open up the floor for question for the student-athletes. Q. Quinton, you guys were able to give them a fight for the first half of the first half. What happened at the end when they finished on I think a 20-3 run? What was changing or what slipped away there? QUINTON CHIEVOUS: I feel like they knocked down shots and they had more focus than us. We came out with a strong focus for a little bit but we just couldn't hold it through, and of course they came out with the win. Q. Quinton, could you speak to their size advantage inside, and how much that affected what you guys were hoping to do? QUINTON CHIEVOUS: I don't really think their size inside was really a big problem. I feel like them hitting threes was the clutchest thing for them. I mean, I know Perrantes hit like three threes in a row, then that just started a run, when we were inside we were going right back. I feel like their bigness was not a problem for us. I feel like it was shooting from outside. Q. I'm sorry, I meant mostly on the defensive end when you guys were on offense. QUINTON CHIEVOUS: Oh, I don't feel like it bothered me. I don't think it bothered Reg too much. It came down to hitting shots. We weren't hitting shots. I don't know if it was going to the rim that much. We couldn't make anything from beyond the arc or midrange. Q. For Brian and Reg, you were a combined 1-for-12 from three-point range. Did you think you didn't have luck and they weren't going in? What were you guys seeing? BRIAN DARDEN: Definitely we got good looks but just missed. Definitely good shots, though. REGINALD JOHNSON, JR.: Like Brian said, you hate to go out like that, get some good looks and some open shots, to not be able to knock them down in a game like this, where we knew the outside shots were a key factor for us to win. Being most of our outside shots come from me and him to go 1-for-12 it hurts. Q. Reggie, you said yesterday that you thought from what you had seen on TV and film that UVA had the best defense in the country. After you've seen them firsthand are they what you thought? REGINALD JOHNSON, JR.: Yeah, they were what I thought. They did a good job helping the helper. I mean first, we was able to beat them off the dribble but, you know, what was open was the drive-and-kick and we missed shots. The things that was open, we didn't capitalize on them. So good thing for their defense when we didn't make shots. Q. For any of the players you can take this, but was it a distraction at all when UVA's coach had that dehydration issue? Did you notice it or were you kind of doing your own things? QUINTON CHIEVOUS: No, I didn't realize what was going on. I was just focused on the game, I think. It was the same for my teammates, too. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? All right. Gentlemen, you're excused. Thank you very much. Now we'll open the floor up for questions for Coach Joyner. Q. The late run in the first half, where they really got that distance, did they do something different? Did something change or why were they able to pull away at the end of that half? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: They knocked down that three-point ball. I think pretty much statistically we were even. At that point it may have been up a little bit but not really much. Like Quinton said, Perrantes hit two, maybe three straight. Nolte hit one, and they got an and-one on the inside. They knocked down the three-point ball. Again, that was one of the things that we kind of challenged the team, not to shut it down but make them take contested shots because we knew the size advantage on the inside was difficult. We're not necessarily a double-down team. We really haven't done that all year. So, we wanted to challenge to try to make them knock down shots and they did. Again, but I thought that is what caused the separation. They shot the three-point ball well. I think they were 1-for-something at that point and they may have hit three or four straight, and I thought that provided them some separation, so I thought that was the difference. Q. Coach, what's the difference in studying these guys on film and then having to play against them? Does it take a lot of adjustments? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: It does but, I mean, I don't think that film do them justice, and when I say that because of the caliber of competition that they have to play against every night. What's the young man's name? Isaiah Wilkins, I could name a couple of other guys that when you're looking at on film, because they're playing against a Carolina or Duke, or where those guys are the ones where you're saying, okay, if we lose, we're going to make them beat us or we going to make them do this. You forget they're talented kids. They're ACC-caliber kids for a reason. They actually got the ball in areas where we said, let's go and see if they can hit that, and they hit it. Again, as gifted as they are defensively, when you don't have to see them every night, you kind of forget how well some of them kids can play offensively when given the opportunity. Q. To follow that up a little bit, and you face this any time you go to the Tournament, but after going against MEAC, and not only an ACC team but maybe the best team in the country, is it a really tough thing for the kids to immediately adjust to that kind of difference? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: Well, I don't know. It's not an immediate adjustment. I think we were ready immediately. We were ready for the first 10, 12 minutes of that ballgame. Like I told my assistants at halftime, the tough part is they wear on you. That type of talent wears on you. Now you're talking about some nights facing, a 6'3" guard that we're as strong or stronger than, to a 6'5", 6'6" guard who can do multiple things, post-up, this. I think immediately we were fine. It's over a course of 20-40 minutes that you have to deal with that caliber of talent and size, for one night it becomes tough on you. I think we hit a point where we got tired. And it wasn't because our kids were not in shape or not battle tested. They actually went to their bench and got bigger. When you go from Adams and Quinton Chievous, we get bigger. They got ten times bigger and it's tough to deal with over time. Q. You mentioned hanging in there for ten minutes, you were in there for ten minutes with Kentucky, how do the games compare? And Kentucky went on to the Final Four; how do you see the Virginia team moving forward? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: I think they're very talented. The one thing I can say and be so complimentary with them about, is they pay attention to detail. They don't miss an assignment. You can tell it's something they worked on, talked about. We went inside for a play or two early and actually got a bucket, they begin to double. Reggie Johnson, I think he's right, he beat a couple of them off the dribble a few times, they start hedging real hard. They pay attention to detail and I think that's one thing for any championship-caliber team, when you get here, you know, you need to be able to do that. Now, again, they're going face some different opponents, you know, from now on who have similar size and similar talent than they do one through ten. But again they pay attention to detail and I think they got a strong team that can make it pretty far in this tournament. I would not be shocked if I was at the Final Four in Houston and they were playing. Q. Coach, what was your reaction to Tony Bennett with the collapse and the dehydration? Did you take note of that and what did you think? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: At first, I really didn't know what went on. I didn't even see it. I just know when the guys started coming towards the bench, I had first hoped nothing crazy happened on the court, meaning an elbow or something like that. Then when I saw them tending to him and I asked one of the referees and he told me what happened, then it went to straight concern. Then I became concerned for him to make sure that he was all right. And I think right before the half and after the game, I asked him about him. But then it went from not knowing what happened to concern. And happy to see that he was able to stay out there, and continue to coach that game. Q. You mentioned yesterday that Q has been even better than you could have hoped for over the past couple of years. His performance today in that vein as well; it looked like he absolutely belonged out there? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: Again, Q is a Tennessee transfer; he's seen that type of talent before. One thing I can tell you, night in, night out, he's a warrior. To be honest with you, the bigger the game, the better he plays. I I mean, Quinton is not a three-point shooter by statistics but he understood part of our game plan was for us to stretch them out, he had to make one or two. Early on he did that. I think he fought as hard as he could for 40 minutes. He's a big-time ballplayer. I hope he's able to continue his basketball career all from here, because I think he deserves it. Q. Buck, you just sort of sum up Q and just your whole senior class and what they were able to accomplish with the two titles? EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: Well, I don't know that they truly understand what they did for this athletic program until it's all said and done. For the first couple nights they probably won't. When you're the 16 seed you are want to be the first to beat a 1. We talked about it. We believed in it. We wanted to do it. Even though we fell short of that call goal, I know they're going to be hurt about that. But again this senior class, they didn't do anything that hasn't been done at this university before, but I think what they did, they made you remember it all. You do see the picture where the guy gets picked up and things like that. But this generation of kids don't now why and where, they just know, I saw the car commercial where the guy gets picked up. But from what they've been able to do, being a social media atmosphere, they helped put Hampton back on the map academically, athletically, socially and I'm so proud of them for that. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? All right. Coach, thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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