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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2017Bob McKillopPeyton AldridgeJack GibbsPittsburgh, Pennsylvania DAVIDSON 82, LaSalle 71. BOB McKILLOP: I was hitting the ball well today, made some puts. Helped that a very hard-fought game. I looked at the stats in the first half, I think it was 16 assists and three turnovers. I thought we built a comfort level until La Salle elevated the level of their defense in the second half and forced us into turnovers and sped us up. I think they then got transition baskets, and that put us on our heels. We've been on our heels in several games this year in the last four to five minutes, and I think we've learned some lessons, because we made some big plays at the crunch time that we needed to make. It was just a great learning experience for our guys, to be put in that position again, and to show what they have learned in a short period since the Rhode Island game, since the Dayton game, since the St. Bonaventure game. So I'm very pleased with our victory. Q. You've opened the A10 tournament against LaSalle eight straight times. What effect does that have this time around, as far as familiarity? JACK GIBBS: I wouldn't say it was very familiar. They have a lo of new players, and we just want to treat it like every game we want to come out and play our game no matter who the opponent is. It's no like it's another game. It wasn't really a familiar thing just kind of coming in. Q. What was the key, they cut it to three. What was the key in fighting back at that moment and kind of regaining control? PEYTON ALDRIDGE: Like Coach said, they sped us up a little bit there to cut down the lead. We wanted to stay patient, and I really think it started on the defensive end. We got stops that allowed us to get in transition and flow a little bit and get some open looks. Jack had the breakaway, easy two points. It was just getting stops and just settling down a little bit. Q. And for both of you, can you describe, you had the steal, you ripped it away, you went down, laid it up and he followed with the dunk. Can you describe that play? JACK GIBBS: They tried to throw it in the post and we were taught to get our hands up and make it a difficult pass. I ended up catching it and I moan, I wasn't trying to make the layup. I actually saw him coming so I was really throwing off the backboard. I don't know if you can throw that down as an assist. He followed the play. He didn't give up on it, and he dunked it. That's a big play. Brought some excitement and energy to our team when we needed it and helped us pour through the rest of the game. PEYTON ALDRIDGE: I know Jack is going to be attacking the hoop hard and they are going to be blocking shots so, I just was trying to follow up and just glad it came off. Q. Jon Axel could have been up here for what he did with points and assists. How would you describe he was able to dish the ball so effectively today? JACK GIBBS: He's big part of our team. He's a great guard and he sees the floor very well. When he's shooting the ball, he's very tough to stop. You've just got to keep him out of foul trouble. But he's a good player and he definitely brings another dimension to our team, along with Kishawn, with ball handling and kind of giving them different looks with point guards, rather than me bringing it up every time and I think it makes our team tougher to guard, especially when he's making shots. Q. Quick turnaround, Dayton tomorrow. How do you make sure that you're ready for that challenge, and they haven't played yet. PEYTON ALDRIDGE: Yeah, we're just going to make sure we get back, make sure we're ready. JACK GIBBS: We played them a couple weeks or two ago -- I mean, they are a great team, they are No. 1 in the conference, for a reason, so I mean, it's going to be a tough battle, but we're looking forward to it. That's why we're playing in the A-10. You know it's going to be a tough game no matter who you're playing against on the court. We're excited about it and ready for the challenge. Q. From three, La Salle in the first half especially, seemed to be hitting the two guys, which names I'm blanking on. You guys, from a defensive standpoint, is it more kind of like, they are going to get their shots and you just need to limit them in other ways, or how do you approach that? JACK GIBBS: Ideally they wouldn't make any threes but they are good shooters. We have a lot of great players in this league, and sometimes they are going to make shots. So it's just trying to make it as difficult as they can to find shots, find open looks and try to keep them out of a rhythm so this doesn't snowball into them barraging us with threes. Yeah, just try to make it as difficult as possible. But they hit some tough shots today and I mean, hats off, I think it was Price and Powell, pretty good shooters. Q. Coach, just describe the ball movement in the first half, I mean, 16 assists, that's already more than you average per game. BOB McKILLOP: We had great rhythm and great flow. Credit our assistant coaches with the dress rehearsals that we had on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in terms of, it's like a Broadway production. You practice dance steps and then you put it all together, and the music goes on and the dance looks wonderful. Well, we rehearsed our dance steps on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, in terms of cuts, whether it was slip and a screen, whether it was bowl and a screen, back cutting, front cutting, and there was a natural flow to it. And all of a sudden, they started putting a little bit more pressure on us and elevating their pressure instead of being able to pass the ball, we were dribbling it. And the dribble prevented us from seeing the open cuts of the dance steps that we were making. And that's as simple as it gets. If you want to be a great offensive team, you'd better be able to see the dance steps being danced. Q. How big were Jon Axel's threes in the first half? BOB McKILLOP: Well, two of them were with five seconds or less on the clock. We call those daggers. Those are the kind of things that a defensive team is good for 25 seconds and boom, they play the whole session, and they give up that three; so incredibly big. Q. Jon Axel did have a career-high in 16 points today. Can you talk about what his role was in the offense today and how you'd like to see that develop going forward? BOB McKILLOP: I thought his role offensively was multi-faceted, whether it was handling the ball as a secondary point guard, whether it was hard cuts, which he made a lot of, whether it was making the shots, which he did a superb job of. But let's not look past his defense. I thought his defense was pretty darned good, as well. For a freshman to be charged with the responsibility of defending a scorer like Jordan Price is highly unusual. That's the kind of confidence we have in Jon Axel. Q. For a noon game on a Thursday, it seemed like the atmosphere was pretty solid out there. What can you say about Pittsburgh so far? BOB McKILLOP: The Atlantic 10 is a tremendous conference. Incredible conference. I watched tournaments unfold during this last week, and I stack our conference against any of the power five conferences in terms of organization, in terms of facility, and the City of Pittsburgh, we love it here. Our program loves it here. I can remember back in 1972, I used to work five-star camp over in Coraopolis and I loved coming to Pittsburgh. So it's been a love affair I've had for over 35 years; 45 years. I'm really old (chuckles). Q. It seemed like Aldridge in the first and second half sparked runs for you guys. What allows him to kind of do that? BOB McKILLOP: He's fearless, No. 1. No. 2, he's got great versatility. He has a great basketball IQ. What he makes -- what he lacks in maybe explosive athleticism, he makes up for with pinpoint passing, precise shooting and superb cutting, screening. He has an understanding about where to be at what time and when. Q. You spoke about your offensive flow today. Tomorrow it's a big challenge against Dayton. How confident are you in your team's ability to keep that up tomorrow against the Flyers. BOB McKILLOP: Dayton will speed us up. Arguably between them and Rhode Island, the two best defensive teams man-to-man in the conference. They will make it an adventure to pass and to catch. They will make it an adventure to cut to screen. We have to be as precise as can be. There is no margin for error whatsoever. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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