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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SPOKANEMarch 18, 2016Scott NagyMike DaumDeondre ParksSpokane, Washington Maryland - 79, South Dakota State - 74 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes. COACH NAGY: Really proud of our guys. We just were so bad offensively in the first half. I thought we really competed in the first half and the whole game we competed. We lose by one on the glass, 11 offensive rebounds, shot the ball, obviously, better in the second half. We scored 52 points in the second half. So we clearly played better offensively. But Maryland played well too. They hit timely shots. And I'm really proud of our kids that they didn't give up. If I had the final play over, I would have called a timeout. We go through these things. We know what play we're running, we knew what to do, but we just had personnel in there that we don't normally have in there in those situations. And so, looking back on it, it would have been way better off for me to call a timeout and made sure we knew what to do. I get in that point, and I worry about them changing defenses or doing something and giving them an opportunity. So if we know what we're supposed to do, then we do it. But we just had some personnel in there that aren't normally in there. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Deondre, is there any consolation in the fact that you guys put together such a spirited comeback here? DEONDRE PARKS: Like coach said, I'm real proud of this team, we didn't give up. I'm guessing a lot of people thought the game was over at one point. We kept fighting. I'm just proud of this team. Q. George, how did you guys get that comeback going? It seemed like early in the second half Maryland was making so many 3-pointers, it looked like it was going to be tough to come back. GEORGE MARSHALL: We really just buckled down and got a string of stops together. We were getting stops and obviously, we played a lot better, offensively, in the second half. And it was just a combination of those two things that led to the comeback. Q. Deondre, it looked like this game was really getting away from you guys, down 18 three times, what were you able to do to settle things down that you saw? DEONDRE PARKS: We just reminded ourselves what we went through in the Summit League tournament. To stay focused and just play hard each possession and continue to string together stops. Coach Nagy also reminded us we have been in this position, and we know what we got to do. We almost pulled it off and it was a tough loss and that's it. Q. Mike, did you guys think you were going to -- when you got it to within five, got it within two, and the crowd started getting into it, did you think you were going to pull off the comeback? MIKE DAUM: Of course we did. We had that set in our mind that we can win this game no matter what, no matter who we play. We had that set in our mind that we weren't going to go out losing. It just didn't happen. Q. Mike, obviously, you lose some great seniors on this team, but you'll be back next year, a lot of these guys will be back. What are you going to take from this as you really proved this school's metal and proved that you can compete at this level. MIKE DAUM: Well, yeah, we are going to lose great seniors. The leadership on this team, obviously, was all the seniors. But with us young guys, we're just going to have to come together and work real hard in the off season next year, and we'll be back at it again. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take questions for coach. Q. What changed for you guys to get better offensively in the second half? Did you make adjustments or did you just start making shots? COACH NAGY: We didn't really make any adjustments. Now, we took less threes, which was good. We went inside more. And it wasn't -- we talked about it a little bit, because I thought the three-point shots we got in the first half were good ones. Some of them might have been a little quick, but they were good ones, and we just didn't make them. But our guys, the one thing we talked about was we didn't shoot a free throw in the first half. Too many threes, we weren't aggressive at all. We were much more aggressive off the bounce and throwing the ball inside in the second half. That helped open up the perimeter too, and we shot better in the second half. Q. There were two foul calls at the end. One was at the end of the shot clock and one was Melo driving the lane. Did it look to you that those calls were questionable in terms of how -- the way the game's being called, and then to make those calls in those situations? COACH NAGY: You know, they explained to us at the beginning of the year that they were going to call it tight. Every coach is going to agree and disagree and those calls certainly weren't why we lost the game. So, of all the people in that gym, that's the last job I would want, is to be an official. I think they do a great job, and so I think that we know they're going to call it close. If guys are going to come off the screen, keep your hands off of them and don't count on it just being this time of game, they're not supposed to call a foul. They call it the same way they called it throughout the whole game. So I didn't have any problem with them. Q. When Melo fouled out, I don't think Maryland's been in a situation where he's fouled out this year. In your huddle -- COACH NAGY: We haven't been in a situation where George has fouled out either, so. Q. At that point in your huddle, did you feel like you had backed them into a corner, and you guys were in as good a spot as you could be at that point? COACH NAGY: I don't know. There wasn't any talk about, okay, now he's out now we have them. So I don't know if there was any switch that got flipped in terms of that. But I think that for them, they're so used to him having the ball, we're so used to George having the ball all the time, and it's really what cost us not being able to get a shot there at the end of the game. That's why I say, if I would have had that back, I would have called a timeout just to make sure. But it hurts them, no question about it, when he's not in there. He's a tremendous player. We had a hard time getting him under control off the ball screens. Q. When you're trailing by 18 three times, did you feel like this team was going to have enough gas to come back? I think it as still in double digits with about seven minutes left? COACH NAGY: Yeah, I watched them do it twice in our tournament. That's just what we talk about. We have been here, we know we can do it. It's -- let's face it, those weren't Maryland, and we knew it would be a tough task. But the one thing we knew we couldn't do was just keep trading baskets with them. I couldn't believe, they hit some tough shots. At the end of shot clocks, and Carter hit two tough shots at the end of shot clocks that really hurt us. One running hook and you know, so you got to tip your hat if they make those shots, because I thought our defense was really pretty good tonight. But if you're going to make a comeback, it has to start in the defensive end, not the offensive end. Yeah, you have to make shots, which we didn't in the first half, but we scrapped. Our kids did everything they could possibly do to win that basketball game. Q. In terms of what Jake Layman gives them, it looked like as long as you guys were sort of concentrating on trying to stop Melo, getting him out of the lane, Layman or Nickens was going to have those corner shots most of the day. Was it sort of pick your poison? COACH NAGY: It really is. Let's face it, here we are leaving a 6-9 tremendous shooter, great body, great athlete, we're having to leave him open because the posts are unbelievable, their point guard is unbelievable. So, yeah it is pick your poison. He's the one that probably won the game for them. He hit some big shots and made big plays for them. Q. I know every time you've made the tournament you always referenced back to the players who were there during the 20 loss seasons. What do you think this group will have done for your program going forward, playing this kind of a game, and really further amplifying this program on a national stage? COACH NAGY: Are you talking about the seniors that we have now? Q. The seniors of the team. Yes. COACH NAGY: Well, we have our work to do. We have got some very good young players coming. But I think I still harken back to, hopefully, with George and Deondre and Keaton and Jake will have done for us, is just solidified that if you come here, you're going to have a great opportunity to be successful. But you're also going to play with great teammates. And I always tell kids, this is when we recruit them, here's the deal, college basketball's tough. If you're not tough, don't come here. Because it won't work. You'll leave, you'll end up leaving, and we don't want kids to leave. Kids in Division I basketball are transferring at a rate of 50 percent. We're not interested in that. We want kids to come and commit and stay and be tough and so the kids that like that message, they will be successful at South Dakota State. But these four seniors have been that for us. They have committed to our program, they have given us everything. We talked about it after the game, that this is what living feels like. It's what I talked about last year. When you put your heart into something, sometimes it's so exhilarating that you can't believe it. Like it was a week ago. And when you put your heart into it, it's heart breaking sometimes, like it is today. That he's just the way it is. There's no in between when you really want to live. And these guys are feeling that today. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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