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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: BROOKLYNMarch 18, 2016Nick McDevittDwayne SuttonSam HughesBrooklyn, New York Villanova - 86, UNC Asheville - 56 NICK MCDEVITT: First of all, I'd like to congratulate Villanova. They're a good basketball team, really good. I told our team before the game that I didn't think we had to play perfect to win the game, but we had to play really, really good. Really good. And close to perfect. And we didn't. Again, hats off to them for the job they did. They really do a fantastic job of sharing the basketball. You look at 21 assists on 33 made baskets. That's a great percentage. So any time a team shares the ball like that and can spread you out by the way they shoot it and good enough to put the ball on the deck and get by you, it makes them difficult to defend. Certainly, again, hats off to them. Disappointed in the outcome of the game today, but very proud of our team for the season they had. Q. Sam, not the result you guys wanted today, but when you think about this season as a whole, how proud are you guys of what you accomplished in getting here to the NCAA Tournament? SAM HUGHES: It means a lot to us. One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to win a conference, and that's one of the things we did. So we're really happy about that. We're happy to be here. This is a great experience. It's not the outcome that we wanted, but it's still a day that we all will remember. We all are happy about it. Not happy about today, but happy about what we accomplished and look forward to the future. Q. You played two top 25 teams this year. Can you just make the comparison between this team and Texas A&M? SAM HUGHES: I mean, both teams are really good. Like you said, both teams top 25. They have long athletes, a lot of guys that have just bought into the system. When you have a lot of guys that are disciplined and can shoot the ball, it's tough to match up against. So it's difficult to adjust to playing against the size and things like that. DWYANE SUTTON: Yeah, Texas A&M and Villanova have a lot of similarities, especially the size. They have some 7-footers down low, which we didn't have. But they have some players that bought into the system and shared a ball and bought into the coach's ways, and it's working for them. Q. Dwyane, just kind of talk about what Villanova did defensively that kind of disrupted your guys' offense today. DWYANE SUTTON: Villanova kind of pressured us a lot more than we're accustomed to. Teams in our league don't press that much, and they have long athletes in every position which kind of threw us off. The outcome wasn't what we wanted. We could have played a lot better. Credit to Villanova for pressuring us and making us a little bit uncomfortable. Villanova is a great team to play. Q. For both players, Dwyane, if you could start. It was a two-point game there was a time-out. Their head coach was want to stay in the box. They came out and went on a 14-4 run or 14-2 run. What did you see different about Villanova in the final few minutes of the first half? DWYANE SUTTON: Villanova cranked it up the last three minutes. They started pressuring us and got some turnovers, which led to easy threes by Ryan in the final minutes. That led to momentum going into halftime. They came out quick to hustle in the second half and just kind of threw us off. SAM HUGHES: We kind of went on a run right before that segment happened. I guess it was just them trying to answer. They tried to hike the energy up a little bit, and it was our job to do the same. I guess we just didn't come with it at that moment. Q. Gentlemen, you guys have a relatively young roster. So what can we expect from you guys for next year, and what are you looking forward to? SAM HUGHES: Well, I'm one of the guys that's not young on that roster. I'll be gone next year, but a lot of the guys are young that came in and picked up really quick, Dwyane being one of them, Dylan as well. I just wish the best for them. I think, as long as they stick together and continue to work hard and get the new guys coming in into the system and keep going, they'll be right back here next year. DWYANE SUTTON: I think we can come back next year. We've got a young team willing to learn. Probably take a few days off and get back to work. But, yeah, it's been a great season for us. I came in not really experienced, but my coaches instilled some confidence in me, and it kind of worked. I'm just happy to be here. Next year, hopefully, I'll be back here. Q. Guys, when you think about from the beginning of this season until now and just the things you guys accomplished, how much did this team improve from the beginning of the year until now? SAM HUGHES: Like I just said, with four or five freshmen coming in, we were kind of raw in the beginning of the season, but with the work that the coaches give us day in and day out, the guys became -- blossomed into great players. So I think we've come a long way, to have so many young guys and to take the conference like we did and be here today, I think it says a lot. DWYANE SUTTON: Coming in, we didn't really have a face for the program. The first few games, we didn't really have the defense we wanted. After like midway through the season, we started picking up defense, and that became like our thing. That kind of worked. And hopefully, it will work next year. Q. Nick, their big guy played 45 or 46 minutes total in the Big East. He had a big game today. How much did you game plan for him? NICK MCDEVITT: Yeah, we knew he was a load. He's really good, and you look at -- I think the extra day, I saw some of the quotes from their coaching staff and things like that, that extra day of playing on Friday, Sunday as opposed to Thursday, Saturday, was going to be big for him, and he looked like it. He was really good, really efficient. 17 and 10 on nine shots. We just didn't have a whole lot for him down there. Early, I thought we kept him off balance. We were -- in terms of showing him different looks, from doubling down from our guards to digging hard from our guards. Our posts were trying to do a nice job of playing behind and then trying to side front him, giving him different looks. He looked uncomfortable for a while, but like all great players, he recognized what we were doing and had a heck of a game. Q. Nick, as a coach, you understand how great it is to make it into this thing, how hard it is to make it into this thing, for the last three, four years, all Villanova's heard is that you can't get to the Sweet 16. Can you wrap your head around that, what it must be like to hear that day in and day out? NICK MCDEVITT: Difficult. Difficult. I think they played like a team that is probably tired of hearing it, for one, for the upper classmen. But you also have a lot of players in their locker room that are significant contributors for them that haven't been there for that. They've heard about it, but that happened for the Villanova program but not them. And so for them, you look at Brunson and Bridges and those kinds of guys that are freshmen that are significant contributors for them. So I think probably the upper classmen are tired of hearing it, but I thought, looking at some of Coach Wright's comments, they kind of addressed it head on early, as far back as last year. Looking at some of his comments, we haven't made it out of the first weekend, and as soon as the NC State game was over last year, they started addressing it. I thought they looked awfully comfortable out there today. Q. Nick, I've been to Asheville, beautiful city. I'm curious about recruiting. There's so many well-known basketball colleges in North Carolina. How difficult has that been? It's also kind of hard to get to Asheville, not far from the University of Tennessee. I'm just kind of curious, has that been a battle? Will it make your life easier down the road? NICK MCDEVITT: I hope it does. Fortunately, we're excited about the men that are coming in next year to join our program. It is difficult because you look at leagues like ours, there are two very like leagues around us in the Atlantic Sun and the Southern Conference. So a lot of Big South, Southern Conference, and A-SUN programs going after the same guys. You can probably head to other areas of the country where perhaps there aren't leagues like ours. They're only the high major leagues or kind of the mid-major plus guys. And schools like ourselves can go into those kinds of areas and certainly steal players. But at the same time, we want to continue doing a good job of recruiting our area and playing in the NCAA Tournament in New York City certainly has to help. Q. I asked the players this and Sam. From the beginning of the season until now, these guys really improved a lot, and you guys proved that throughout the year. When you kind of think back to the whole year, how proud are you of what this team has been able to accomplish getting here? NICK MCDEVITT: I addressed the team as soon as the game was over, kind of touching on that. We're certainly disappointed in the outcome of the game. But to start the season with a lot of freshmen, not knowing -- we really didn't even know who might start, who might play, how we were going to play, who was going to step up. Will Weeks, a gentleman that played a lot for us tonight, has been out really two years with a knee injury. So you add him. John Cannon is eligible as a transfer. So you're looking at us, we've got so many newcomers. We were picked to finish seventh in our league. So to be able to win our league with two freshmen and two sophomores starting takes a lot of toughness, sticking together. Early, you face teams like Tennessee and Georgetown and A&M with a bunch of rookies, that can be tough. But even through the tough times, they stuck together, fought through those kinds of things, and here we are. Happy of where we are right now but really looking forward to the future as well with this team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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