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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2017

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Illinois State - 80

Evansville - 69

THE MODERATOR: Evansville Aces are with us. David Howard, Jaylon Brown represent the student body. Marty Simmons, the head coach is here.

MARTY SIMMONS: Just really, really proud of our team, not only today, but just all season. We've battled some adversity, like all teams do, but just really proud of the way they hung in there, kept coming to practice every day and getting better, just like today. They hung in there and battled and got beat by a good team.

Illinois State is going to be, in my opinion, an NCAA Tournament team. They're well coached, they're very talented. They're quick, they're athletic. They play extremely hard. And just proud of the fight that our guys had.

Q. For both of you guys, he mentioned you hung in there and kept coming back, and they ended up with 14 blocks, but what did you have to tell yourself to keep going in, trying to compete, and also keep driving the lane and attacking even when it wasn't going so well for a stretch there?
THE MODERATOR: David first please, then Jaylon.

DAVID HOWARD: We tried to make adjustments to try to use our shot fake. At the end of the day, we just tried to stay aggressive. Jaylon did a great job of attacking the paint. He looked for dump downs. I feel like I left some on the board. I should have finished a couple more.

But at the end of the day, you got to give them credit. They've got some athletes down there, and they've got some length.

JAYLON BROWN: Yeah, just the same thing. We just tried to make some adjustments. They got strong bodies down there, and I can't go down there trying to score on those guys. I've got to be smarter and try to change it up. They're a great team. So credit to them. We just had to make adjustments. I thought we did a good job fighting the whole way and just never backing down.

Q. Can you guys -- I know it's just happened, but try to put the season in perspective a little bit. I know you had that bad stretch early in the conference season but finished winning 6 of 9. I mean, how do you feel going out, I guess, as seniors the way the season wrapped up?
JAYLON BROWN: Well, any time you lose in a tournament, conference tournament, I mean, it doesn't feel good. So right now I can't really tell you that I feel good about the season. Right now I just feel bad.

We had ups and downs, but I wouldn't want to fight with any other people in the world. For four years I've been around the same guys. So I wouldn't want to fight with anybody else, and that's what we did.

DAVID HOWARD: As Jaylon said, it's disappointing how we finished today, but overall it's an up and down season. I thought we started the season off pretty good and hit a rough patch in the conference, but I think we responded towards the end of the season, finished pretty strong, handled adversity throughout the season. And as Jaylon said, I couldn't be more proud of my teammates. It's been a blast playing with these guys these past couple years. I couldn't ask for any -- couldn't ask for better teammates.

Q. Jaylon, could you just talk about Tony Wills' defense today and maybe how difficult he makes it for you. Obviously, he's got a couple inches and all that.
JAYLON BROWN: Yeah, me and Tony, we go way back. So he's been guarding me since I was in high school, middle school. We know each other's games pretty well. Any time we play, I know he's going to try to compete against me. He's always been like that. He's a good friend of mine. He's always been real handsy and gets his hands on the ball and does a good job. So I knew what he would do. He's a great competitor.

It's always fun going against him. I think he did a solid job of just making me take tough shots and some shots I shouldn't have took.

Q. Can you speak to Benzon today, 6'4" guy going against that front line and finishes with a double double.
MARTY SIMMONS: Benzon, he's a guy that's been hurt really for three years on and off. Probably hurt more than he's been healthy, but he just -- he's a battler. He's a competitive guy. I know he was frustrated at times today, but he just kept competing. As a staff, you're really proud of that. He just -- he's got a lot of heart, and he played with it today.

Q. Marty, obviously, you came back, 16 hours ago you played a game, and you have a lot of guys log a lot of heavy minutes today. How much fatigue maybe in the middle of the game when they were able to kind of break loose a little bit hurt you guys?
MARTY SIMMONS: We were playing probably our best basketball there towards the end of the game. I wouldn't think any, Jim. I don't know. These guys are 19, 20, 21 years old, and they're playing for something that they've dreamt about since they were young kids.

They may tell you something different, but I thought our guys -- I mean, we were ready to go at the start again, and we finished, I thought, with pretty good energy. So I couldn't think a whole lot.

Q. It seemed like Hawkins took over there at the end of the first half. How much of a matchup issue has he been for you guys? And then Evans as well had a second good game against you. Can you just talk about the impact they made and where it went well for them, where it went wrong for you guys.
MARTY SIMMONS: They've got some really good offensive players. They're not easy to defend. They make at times, I think, really good individual plays, and there were times where we had breakdowns. We certainly did not want to get caught behind Hawkins at any time, but he's a strong, physical guy. He got position, Evans. He played well against us earlier. We were very well aware of him. We just had a hard time keeping him in the front of us. And really Lee caused a lot of problems for us as far as keeping him in front because he created a lot of those opportunities for his teammates.

Q. Coach, I know the result isn't as you desire, but the heart your team showed today, just they left it all out there. Would you mind just speaking about that. J.B., David, and Christian, also what they brought to this program.
MARTY SIMMONS: They're just awesome, awesome young men. I mean, on the court, off the court, in the classroom. If you could be around them every day, the way they treat young people, older people. They're gentlemen, and they represent our program, the university, and our community in a first class -- every one of them. They've all battled adversity at one time or another throughout their career. They've never quit. They've never given in.

Sergej had to go through something you hope nobody ever has to go through. The way those guys came together and gave him support, and then the way he was able to, I mean, suck it up, I thought he played great today.

We certainly had our deficiencies, and the effort and commitment and togetherness wasn't it. These guys, they're men of character. I'm proud of them.

THE MODERATOR: Marty, thank you very much. Best of luck.

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