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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 8, 2017Jim FerryTarin SmithMike Lewis IIPittsburgh, Pennsylvania SAINT LOUIS 72, Duquesne 71 JIM FERRY: I thought our kids played extremely hard tonight ask really left everything they had on the court. I don't think I've really ever been involved in a more devastating loss, especially at the end of the season, like what just transpired. But we've had about ten games this year like this, and it still comes down to turnovers, free throws and rebounds. I've got to give Saint Louis credit. They really fought back. They had nine offensive rebounds in the second half, forced eight turnovers. I thought we did almost, almost everything we had to do to win the game. We just didn't win the game. And that's been our last five games, but it's probably been about ten games this season that have ended like this. I thought these kids played really hard. They showed a lot of character, being able to fight through and come back day after day after day, practiced really hard, and then go out tonight and really battle. So I just wish I could have done more for them as a coach. I take full responsibility with all these close games, but we just came up one play short again. That's pretty much it. Q. Obviously you guys started off smiling, having fun, making baskets, go up ten. When did the smiles turn to frustrations in the second half, and how did you guys handle that? Seemed to be a little better than usual. MIKE LEWIS II: I don't think our smiles really turned to frustration. You know, coming down the stretch of the game, in our huddles, telling each other what we normally do, look, okay, we knew they were going to go on a run. So let's just come out here and get another stop and another score and just go on from there. I don't really think we got frustrated at all. Q. You guys in your last game here, you had only three threes in the whole game and you had four in the first ten minutes of the game and then you guys kind of went cold from three during that long stretch run after you guys went up 18. Do you wish you guys would have took more efficient shots down the stretch? TARIN SMITH: Yeah, for sure, I think their press put us up into taking some quick shots. Thought we moved the ball and we got what we wanted. Looking back on it, it's easy to say we should have take some more efficient shots. So yeah, pretty much. Q. For Mike and Tarin, for you guys to come back next year, what can you do different in this off-season to really propel these guys into a better start for next year? You guys have been through so much this year already. How do you use that to move forward? TARIN SMITH: I was just talking to Mike in the locker room. We got to learn how to close games a lot better. Clearly that's been a theme this year. We've got to watch a lot of film, figure it out and just learn how to close games a lot better. Me and him, I know we're competitors, so we take a lot of responsibility for not being able to close those games. Obviously that's one thing we really need to improve on for next year. Q. Conversely, obviously choosing Duquesne, you could have chose anywhere as a grad student. What made that decision for you, and what's going through your mind knowing now that your career with the 000s is now over? EMILE BLACKMAN: First off, I just want to thank Coach Ferry for giving me this opportunity to be able to play my last year of college basketball at Duquesne. I mean, it's come to an end. We all know that that point comes at some time. So I just hope that this year that I had is very impactful and I hope that they can be better going forward. I hope that I set a good example and I hope that these two guys here learned -- everyone else in the locker room, I hope that they learned everything that I was trying to convey to them, just how to be a leader, just how to show up every day, and you know, work hard, try to get the most out of not just yourself but everyone around you each day. I mean, there's some positives out of this situation, and just looking at those right now. Q. You mentioned you had a lot of games like this one. We know you've got a lot of young guys. What do you have to do now to take that next step as a unit, as a team, all that stuff, so that you can close these games? With this group, obviously you're close, but what do you have to do now? JIM FERRY: Yeah, we're close in every game. It's an issue of execution. We have across our locker room above the board, and I brought this with me from LIU: It's turnovers, free throws and rebounds. That's what it says, turnovers, free throws and rebounds. If we make our free throws late in our last two games, we win. If we do a better job rebounding the basketball, we win. If we don't turn the ball over, we win. Those were extreme weaknesses this year, and it just kept coming over and over and over. Guys we were playing, decisions we were making -- I mean down the stretch in this basketball game, we get one or two, or not even two; even just one, any of those sequences where they got those four offensive rebounds late in the game, we win the game. We don't turn the ball over at the end of the game, we win the game. If you make two three throws at the end of the game, you win the game. It's something that with a young group, you've got to just keep working, you've got to keep working and you've got to keep pounding at these guys, teaching them, spend time on it. For those guys that have been to our practice, you see they are organized, they are detailed, situational. We go over situations over and over and over, but nothing fits a situation like a real situation. And with a young group, Mike Lewis, one heck of a ballgame for a freshman in a tournament situation like this. Got to get that ball in at the end, and it deflected and we turned it over. Big play. Big play. And that's where, you know, the true sense of frustration for coach is just because you know what the problem is, that doesn't mean you can solve it. And that's what the frustration is, and sometimes, guys, it's personnel. Positional personnel stuff. I'm not going to sit here and talk about an individual or individuals but we know what we have coming in next year. We know these guys are going to get older. This isn't going to happen again. I see this group as being a team that can next year take a jump and get right to the middle of the pack in this league because we won't turn the ball over, we will rebound better, and we're going to make our free throws. It's stuff we have to keep working on with these kids. A lot of freshmen, a lot of sophomores trying to make plays out there. That's a tough situation. In that game out there, I think you saw couple seniors, older guys, making plays for Saint Louis. Got to give them credit, too. Q. You just talked about your youth. How do you plan to replace guys like Emile, Kale and Darius leadership-wise next season? JIM FERRY: The maturity of these younger guys, Mike and Isiaha have great leadership skills. They are also great kids. So they took a step back this year. They weren't going to step on anybody's toes. Tarin, as well, I think with Tarin, it was just his year of experience, getting back in the game, and believe it or not, I think all these close losses, it ain't going to get any worse, guys. These were devastating losses, all these close ones. I think we were in ten of them and we only won one. It's going to make them better. It makes us all better. Makes me a better coach and makes these guys better players. Again, you review it, and you're not going to do it now with these guys, but we go over it like we always do and just got to teach them. And then what you're going to see happen is they are going to win one and they are going to win two, and then they are going to win three and four, where we just never got it going; I think they lost some of their confidence in that. Q. Speaking of frustration, is there any temptation to change the way you're doing it or bringing in different type of players? JIM FERRY: Yeah, I mean, we have a really good recruiting class signed again, as this recruiting class was very good. We have a really spectacular point guard but I don't like putting pressure on young kids like that. You know, the first five years you're able to get a certain type of kid and then you have some success which now allows you to recruit another type of kid as you saw with Mike Lewis and Isiaha, now we have another wave coming in like that. But you know, on our side of it, too, it's such a young group, you can look at it either way. You can look at it like, wow, you lost all these close games or you can look at it like, man, we're in a lot of close games with a young group. Yes, we are always going to change stuff as a coach. As soon as the season ends, once you get off the road recruiting, you sit down and you re-evaluate your philosophy. Every year I do it, every year. And what's difficult in a place like this is you're not getting -- you're not always getting a blue collar kid and say, okay, I'm going to be North Carolina, we're playing this way because we get the best in the country. You've also got to make adjustments to the type of kid you get or who you do get in your recruiting class and that gets settled in and start going in the summer. Q. Going into next season, what do Mike and Isiaha have to improve on the most to take the next step in their careers? JIM FERRY: Durability, strength, conditioning. Again, understanding the flow of the game. Sometimes shot selection is an issue. Sometimes Mike not being aggressive enough is an issue. You know, you spend a lot of time with these guys in the summer watching videotape, watching tape of other players that you think that they compare to. Isiaha needs to understand, he's got a whole package, can post up more, can use the mid-range game more. Mike's got to understand decision-making. So that's stuff that we'll work with these guys on, and putting them in the forefront of more of a leadership role. Q. Does that one hurt more, being that the tournament was here this year, or would that have hurt the same -- JIM FERRY: I don't care if this game was played in Tillary Street Park in Brooklyn, man. Something like that is just devastating. You know, I tried to keep the poise, a lot of tiers in the locker room with those guys. They played really hard. Did in a lot of games. We thought Saturday's game was a devastating loss, when we had one of best free throw shooters in the league, 85 percent, down one with two free throws and he missed both. Can't control that. We thought that was devastating. This was extremely devastating, whether it was here, Mars or whenever, that's devastating. Anybody that's played the game, and has worked so hard, understands that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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