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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: BROOKLYNMarch 18, 2016Bob HugginsDevin WilliamsEsa AhmadBrooklyn, New York Stephen F. Austin - 70, West Virginia - 56 Q. Devin, early turnover problems and turnovers throughout. Did you anticipate any of that coming into this game? DEVIN WILLIAMS: Not really. I just got to give my hats off to Stephen F. Austin. They did what they were supposed to do. Their play showed how focused and prepared they were, and we just didn't take it serious. That's what happens in this tournament when you don't take people serious. They just scouted well and soaked in what the coaching staff was giving. Q. I assume you guys expected to go much further in the tournament. How stunning is it to come to an end here in the second round? ESA AHMAD: It hurts. We thought we could take it all the way, but just like Dev said, we didn't take it serious, and that's what happens. DEVIN WILLIAMS: I guess it's reality. When you don't prepare the right way, not individually, but as a team, if we're not dialed in as a team, that's what happens. That's pretty much it. Q. Guys, for both of you, it just seemed like they were so much quicker tonight. What was it like out there tonight facing their quickness? ESA AHMAD: We knew it was going to be a tough game. They just wanted it more. We were late on rotations. They wanted every 50-50 ball, and they just wanted it more. DEVIN WILLIAMS: From the beginning of the game, we were up for about ten minutes or whatever. And after that, they just did a great job of controlling the tempo. They didn't allow us to speed them up. And it was vice versa. They sped us up, made us do things that was uncharacteristic, and they just followed the game plan, and they just wanted it more. Q. Coach, you obviously have a great group of kids. How do you feel about seeing them go right now? BOB HUGGINS: Well, they've worked so hard to make a run at this deal, and I feel bad for them. I feel bad I didn't do a good enough job getting them ready to go. Q. Do you agree with your players' assessment that perhaps they didn't take their opponent seriously enough? What evidence did you see of that in the game? BOB HUGGINS: We didn't have the greatest of practices, but all you can kind of do is tell them. We just couldn't -- we just didn't have that -- we kind of had that -- I thought we had the edge a little bit. We had that edge in the Big 12 tournament, and we just didn't get it back. Q. Where does this rank among your -- in terms of your losses, where does this rank among your worst losses as a coach? BOB HUGGINS: You realize I've had about 300 of them, 300 and some. I can't think about that right now. I don't like any of them, to be honest with you. I didn't like one of them. Q. Coach, I'm just wondering, when you see a team like Stephen F. Austin, you know, mid-major, be able to come out and be able to go toe to toe with you guys athletically. It seems like there are more mid-majors to be able to do that. Is that your impression as well? And it seems like there's a greater depth of not just talent, but athleticism as well right now? BOB HUGGINS: Brad's got a great group. He's got five seniors guys, I think and guys that have been with him for three years. They run their stuff really well, and they've seen a lot of things, and they've made great adjustments. They kind of kept the ball out of areas where we wanted to get the ball. We helped. Don't get me wrong, we helped, and we made some horrible decisions. But I think that's what happens. I think, when you can keep a group together like that, you know. I think the good thing about being at a mid-major is you're not losing guys every year. Q. Bob, a lot of times it's said that the best way to go up against a pressing team is to press them. I mean, did you feel like throughout the game -- it just seemed like you guys couldn't really compose your -- BOB HUGGINS: I don't know why anybody would waste energy pressing us. We'll throw it to you regardless. That would be a waste of energy really. We're very charitable. We're one of the most charitable groups in college basketball. The second straight game we've turned it over 20 times. Q. Was there a particular moment in this game where you knew that it was really getting away from you and that your team was really in trouble? BOB HUGGINS: Well, I think the technical foul didn't help any. The dead ball technical foul, where they made two free throws and took it out of bounds. That didn't help any. I don't know. It was -- we were on 20 forever. We kind of scored in transition, and then we were in 20 forever. You can't turn it over the way we turned it over. You just can't. I mean, I've told them and told them and told them, and honestly, I think they've tried. We just -- you know, we're taking guys trying to make them point guards that haven't been point guards, and this is really their first year playing point guard. We just didn't do a very good job. I mean, it's not just the point guards. Our guys didn't get open. We just didn't do a very good job. Q. Bob, you've talked about those turnovers from day one of this season. You've sort of explained a little bit, but can you expand upon it? Why has this team had so much trouble with turnovers? BOB HUGGINS: We can't pass. But we haven't been able to pass all year. We've start the game and we have guys pinned and we throw it arms high. We had a guy open on an out-of-bounds play and we threw the ball right in their hands. I think -- you know, I'm starting to think anyways that, when we spend a lot of time trying to teach guys how to pass, I think sometimes you better go recruit some guys that can pass because I'm not sure that it's something -- it's kind of like shooting. If you're a bad shooter, you can become a little better, but you're never really going to be a good shooter. I think, if you're a bad passer, you can get better, but you're never going to be a good passer. It's a skill thing. We've done it all year. This isn't a new deal for us. It's just we've made up for it in other ways that we didn't make up for either. We didn't make a shot today either. We didn't make free throws. If you wrote down how to lose a game, you could probably check off just about everything that you wrote down, and that's not taking anything away from Stephen F. Austin. I love Brad to death, and Brad's done a great job with that bunch, and they played their butts off. But you could probably make a list and check it off and say, yeah, they did all those things. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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