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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: CHICAGOMarch 25, 2016Mark FewDomantas SabonisKyle WiltjerChicago, Illinois Syracuse - 63, Gonzaga - 60 MARK FEW: Well, hey, that was a tough one to lose, especially when we battled our hearts out, man. These guys played so unbelievably hard, and I thought we did a great job attacking the zone for the most part. That thing is really, really difficult to simulate in practice, and then, you know, we just -- there was a couple offensive rebounds we gave up down the stretch and we had a couple costly turnovers against the press, but probably just more than that, we needed one or two more baskets there just to kind of keep them at bay, and they did a great job. Going into it we were a little bit worried. When they do get down, they're really long and athletic on that press and we got stuck with two spot inbounds where you can't move, and that makes it even more difficult. But man oh man, did these guys -- showed us the most toughness, the most courage I've ever seen a team show in the 18 years I've been at GU. Just amazing, from where we were, to get to this point, ahead in a Sweet 16 game down the stretch, I've never had a team go through that and show that much courage and that much perseverance and toughness. Obviously it hurts, but we're really, really proud of what happened. Q. Coach, just wondering if you could quickly comment about Kyle this year and how important he's been to your team. MARK FEW: Both these guys? I was just watching with them down the hallway, and I said -- I mean, I literally can't believe what these guys were able to do this year when Przemek went down, literally we rode these guys as hard as anybody has ever been, and they stayed out of foul trouble for the most part. They stayed healthy. They kept fresh legs. I mean, we didn't even have enough guys to practice. They were getting all the reps in practice, on defense, on offense, on special situations. You get guys sick and all this, we did this for three months, and then you had game night, night in and night out, these guys delivered through double-teams, through triple-teams, through face-guarding. The most amazing year I've seen two guys deliver, especially under the circumstances when you take everything into account, health and longevity and foul trouble and just big-time shot makers and rebounders. It's crazy. Q. Kyle, I know it's probably tough right now, but I don't know if you've had a chance to think if you'll talk to your dad tonight and what kind of conversation you'll have with him, if it'll be a reflection on the game or your whole year or your whole time at Gonzaga? KYLE WILTJER: Yeah, it's nice to have family here. That's the toughest thing about sports, you never want to be on this side of the game. We put our heart and soul in it, so it's really tough, so I know any dad and my family, they'll have my back and keep me positive through this. Life goes on. I've got to finish up school here, so we've got a lot to look forward to, but unfortunately this part of my life is over. Q. Coach, if you could take us through that last possession there, what were you hoping for and what did you think of Lydon's block? MARK FEW: Well, again, I think that was the third time we were put into a spot situation, so I mean, in the dead corner, so that's really, really a tough place to get it in, especially what Syracuse does on out-of-bounds unders. They jump you hard and they take away all passes on the strong side and then trap, so we actually did a good job getting the ball in from there. Got it out quickly without the trap, and then Perkins made a nice move to get into the lane, shot what I thought was a pretty good floater, and then the kid made a heck of a play. He didn't really have much time to do -- I don't know if there was anybody there on a dump down or not. I'll have to check the tape. But by and large, the tough thing about that zone, especially in a situation like that, you're not going to run like a set play there, you've just got to play, and we got the ball in and we got it to Perk who's a great little playmaker and he made the right read, and you just live with the results. Q. Domantas, what has Kyle Wiltjer meant to this team and his time here? DOMANTAS SABONIS: Basically he's the best. He's like a brother to me ever since I came. Since day one he had my back, he showed me around. I came from Europe and he's been there always. Having him on the court with me is great. It gives the team a lot of advantages. He opens the court for me. I couldn't have done what I done this season without him. Q. Coach, when you got up nine, Jim went to the press. Normally how does your team generally handle presses, and was Syracuse's any different? MARK FEW: Yeah, I don't know if it was when they were up nine or not when he did it, but we knew it was coming, and again, at least two of the instances we were stuck in a spot where the inbounder can't run. That was tough. We had one situation where there was a collision and somebody fell down, and I think right when Kyle Dranginis was throwing the ball in, and that's how they ended up getting a lay-up, which is obviously not what we do, but we've been really, really good against presses this year, and then the one mistake we made was we got it in successfully, we started breaking it, and for whatever reason we threw back, and they stayed in it and we got that 10-second count. That was just a mental error by one of our guys. We should have attacked. The other time we attacked, and that's what we do at the end of presses, and Wilt had a nice little shot that we all would have taken, especially rather than facing the zone, and he just missed a little runner that he always makes and is a fantastic shot, and it was a great play by him to attack there, and it just didn't happen. The thing that really stings, though, and hurts, is that we gave up three offensive rebounds there, and six over the last two minutes, because you look at these -- we hold them to 36 percent overall, we really played great defense this entire time in this tournament, and we out-rebound them, which isn't easy, and shoot 44 against the zone. You know, too many turnovers, and then just those darned offensive rebounds there at the end. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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