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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: ST. LOUIS

March 18, 2016

St. Louis, Missouri

Xavier - 71, Weber State - 53

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Weber State head coach Randy Rahe and student-athletes Joel Bolomboy and McKay Cannon. Coach, an opening statement.

RANDY RAHE: Well, first of all, I can't be more proud of our team and for what they've accomplished this year and how they've represented themselves on and off the court. These guys -- we've got really good players, but these guys and everybody on our team they're much better people than they are players. And that's probably what I'm most proud of, the character they display and how they handle themselves and who they are.

We battled. We battled. We fought. That's what we've done all year. I felt like we got to the point where we're right there in the game, second half, I believe it was a seven-point game. We got a couple of stops and then we had two or three shots, they were in and they came out. Had a couple of those gone down, I think we could have grabbed the momentum a little bit and really made it exciting coming down the stretch. But overall, couldn't be more proud of these guys and their effort and how they represent Weber State.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Coach, you talked yesterday about Xavier's physicality. Were Reynolds and Farr, in the post, what you expected they would be?
RANDY RAHE: Yeah, they're big, strong boys. They're strong. They're just big and strong. Our guys battled them. But they are. Yeah, they were kind of what I thought they would be. They're maybe a little bigger in person than I thought they were in film. But they're very good players. What they do it's hard to double team them. And it's hard to give help because they shoot the ball so well in the perimeter. And we tried to go down there a few times and help out our bigs, but they kind of made us pay a couple times when we did that.

But they're a physical team. But I didn't feel like they out-physicaled us out of our game. I didn't think we backed away from that at all. I think they had a couple bigger, stronger bodies. But they got a great team. They got a great team. They have all the ingredients to be special and that's why they are special. And the part of it is they're a physical, tough team.

Q. Randy, what was it about their defense, especially in that first half, that was making it so tough for Jeremy and your other shooters to get good looks?
RANDY RAHE: They weren't going to let Jeremy breathe. I mean, they were everywhere he went. If his defender was a little late, they jumped somebody else out at him. They weren't going to let Jeremy beat them. And they did a great job on him. You've got to tip your hat to them and we had a hard time getting Jeremy free, and then we decided to throw the ball in the post a little bit more. I thought Joel did a real nice job in the post. But they would push us out a little bit with their pressure, I thought, in the first seven to eight minutes. We were catching the ball way too far from where we normally catch the ball.

But we started to get it under control. I thought in the second half we played much better offense and we played deeper. We played a little bit of offense with more force. We ended up shooting a pretty good percentage in the second half. But they're a good defensive team. They just are. And they've got a lot of bodies they can keep throwing at you, too.

Q. Joel, as you've played your last game at Weber State, what emotions go through your head as the buzzer sounds and you wear that jersey for the last time?
JOEL BOLOMBOY: Just that it's not a good feeling to lose. But looking back, it's been a great career. I've been on many great teams and I've just embraced all of it. I've enjoyed everything. To be able to be in this position, to be at the NCAA Tournament twice out of my four years, that's really good. I just don't really have anything negative to say.

Q. Coach, along those lines, could you try to summarize maybe what Joel's meant to your program over the last four years?
RANDY RAHE: Yeah, as I told him in the locker room, I don't have the words. I mean, I just don't. For what he's meant to our program and meant to our university. I remember the first day he walked into our campus and he's 6'8", 200 pounds. And he's kind of a kid. Four years later he's walking out of here and he's a man. He's going to be successful at whatever he ends up doing, he's going to be very, very successful, because he's a great person. He's a hard worker. He's got tremendous character.

One thing we hope when we bring kids into our program, and I think that should be one of our main missions, is when they leave our program, they need to be ready to be successful in whatever they do. They need to be successful in life. They need to be good parents, good husbands. We hope that we can help them become that. Well, this is one guy I'll never worry about. I know what he's going to end up being great. So he's meant a tremendous amount to our program in so many ways and to our university and the city of Ogden. He's first-class and he's a poster child for what we want in our program.

Q. McKay, it's your first experience here, obviously nobody wants to see it end in a loss. How has this experience been for you for your first time?
MCKAY CANNON: It's been great just to be with my teammates. I've just been trying to soak in everything during this year. I love my teammates and I've really enjoyed the experience being out here. It's just been fun. I just wish it would have gone the other way, obviously, but that's what happens.

Q. Coach, what does an experience like this do for the guys like McKay and the guys who haven't been here yet for the future? Still a lot of young kids on this team that will be there for a while?
RANDY RAHE: It's a great experience. It really is. And I think when Joel, Jeremy, Chaud and Kendall, they went two years ago, I think it really helped them for this. I thought they played pretty calm. I think the more you experience it the better chance you have to be successful the next time you come back.

We've got everybody back except for obviously Joel. He's a big piece. But I just told these guys, remember what this feels like because we're going to get back here and we're going to find a way to win a game. That's what we're going to end up doing. I really believe that. It's a great experience. You've got to go through it one time and the next time you come back you just feel more comfortable. I think guys will perform better once they do come back with a year under their belt. So McKay did a great job tonight. Tough little guy. Man, he's tough. And I told these kids they've done something that I don't think a lot of teams in the country can say they've done this year and that's win three championships. We won the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament, we won the regular season Big Sky and we won the Big Sky Tournament. I don't know how many countries in the country can say that. They've had one hell of a year. Take tonight out of it, they've had one hell of a season, and they've earned every bit of it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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