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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2017Mark SchmidtMatt MobleyJaylen AdamsPittsburgh, Pennsylvania ST. BONAVENTURE 73, UMass 60 MARK SCHMIDT: I thought we played well. I thought our zone was really effective. I thought early on, we started man and Massachusetts got us a little bit on the rebounding. But in the end, we out-rebounded them by one. I thought those two guys up here really controlled the game. Played well. Shot the ball well. Distributed the ball well. You know, when we get that third and fourth guy scoring the basketball, good things can happen, and I thought with David coming in and shooting the ball well and Josh, that gives us two more guys that they have to guard. We knew UMASS was going to play that triangle and two, and they did. But I thought our role guys did a very good job of stepping up and making some shots and taking some pressure off of Jay and Matt. I thought we did a great job of defending, getting to the three-point line, and when we get to the foul line, we're a good foul-shooting team most of the time and shooting 88 percent was a big key, as well. You win, and now we look forward to playing Rhode Island, a great team tomorrow. Q. How much did having seen what they did defensively just six days ago help you guys be prepared for facing it today? MATT MOBLEY: Like Coach said, we knew they were going to triangle and two, and there were going to be other people open, and knocked down shots early, forced them to get out of it. Q. Having shot as poorly as you did on Saturday, does this feel like a little bit of a redemption? MATT MOBLEY: Yeah, still didn't shoot that good from the three, for me personally, but yeah, felt we played better than game two. That included you, Nelson, both of you and Nelson, and that group really seemed to do pretty well. R together and sort of extend it where you were able to take that 18-point lead. Just what was it about that lineup, that group, that allowed you to do that? JAYLEN ADAMS: Gave us another ball handler. He was able to stick shots. I think he came in and hit a three. He played well and he just kind of took some of the pressure to handle the ball off of us. Q. Matt, what was it like to get the first couple of shots to go down for you, because Saturday was a bit of a struggle. Confidence builder? MATT MOBLEY: Yeah, I wanted to come out early, knock down a few shots to get me going, get our team going, and I was able to do that early on. So it helped us and it gave us a little momentum. Q. (Off-mic). JAYLEN ADAMS: I mean, it's tough to beat any team three times. They kind of know what we do. We know what they do. Comes down to who is tougher. We came out and we rebounded well today. We defended and when you play a team three times, there's not much X's and O's, because they are going to be on everything that you do. I think we came out, we competed and we fought. Q. You guys, the two of you combined for only three made baskets just a couple days ago against this team. Obviously today you were more closer to what you normally would be. What do you think was the main difference there? JAYLEN ADAMS: I mean, I think we were a little bit more aggressive early. We saw the triangle and two in the past. It kind of slowed us down. But like I said, when you play a team three times, you know what they are going to do. We expected it and worked on it all week and we came out ready to go. Q. You're going to have a stiffer test tomorrow with Rhode Island. You got a little sloppy there; Mark was not thrilled with about six minutes left or whatever it was. What needs to be done to boat a team like Rhode Island? MATT MOBLEY: We've got to take care of the ball, first game, they beat us up on the boards, too. We've just got to take care of the ball, play aggressive, don't get too stagnant; they will be denying halfcourt. We just have to be aggressive and knock down shots. JAYLEN ADAMS: Just more of the same. A team like Rhode Island is really physical. So I think we've got to rebound, make shots and hit free throws, and we should be fine. Q. Kind of saw a little bit of a blueprint today where you had four double digits scorers and close to a fifth with Denzel and played pretty good defense all game. How important is that going to be to see throughout the rest of this tournament here if you guys are going to keep advancing? JAYLEN ADAMS: We understand the most important things is we've got to defend. Shots are not always going to fall for us, but if they are in the going if fall for us, they are not going to fall for the other team. I think we came out in the right energy and we have to have more of the same tomorrow, have to be ready to defend. Q. Mark, the last two games, you held them to their lowest point totals of the season. Do you feel like as much as you preach defense, this is a great time to be doing that? MARK SCHMIDT: Yeah, we're playing much better. You know, we're more committed. I think our zone is helping us. We rebounded the ball well today. We forced 18 turnovers and we had 19 points off of turnovers. So our defense was really a catalyst today, and it has been for a few games and hopefully it needs to be if we're going to beat a team as good as Rhode Island tomorrow. Q. Is it over simplifying that saying beating the two-three -- MARK SCHMIDT: Beating who? Q. The two-three. MARK SCHMIDT: The two-three zone? It's not really a two-three zone. I won't give away too many secrets, but there's a lot of things to it. You know, so it's not -- my former boss, Skip, used to say, two-three zone is a "hands-up, Harry and hope they miss." We don't have a two-three, hope-they-miss-zone. It's a little bit more man-to-man principles. It's like anything, man-to-man or zone, you try to make -- shoot contested shots, keep the ball above the fall line and if the ball goes in, try to get it out of there. It's the same principles but it's a little bit different than the hands-up, Harry. Q. You held UMASS to 60 today and 56 on Saturday. What was it UMASS did that you needed to do to stop them defensively and was there anything that you told your guys, we need to do this in order to stop them? MARK SCHMIDT: One, we have to keep them out of transition. They are a good transition team; keep them out of halfcourt, and you have to take care of the basketball. Bucky was talking about me getting upset a little bit. We got lackadaisical with the ball a couple times, and that's when they got out and had dunks and got some shots. You have to keep them out of transition. And their jump shooters, they are huge. Compared to us, they are mountains. The game can't be played below the foul line. We needed to keep it above the foul line, and I thought for the most part, we did that. Q. You talked about the importance of having your third and fourth guys in there, and today it was third, fourth, add Kaputo, fifth, probably six or seven, where it wasn't just those two guys. If you play that way -- seems to me if you play that way, it's anybody's game. MARK SCHMIDT: Yeah, the more guys that we can get involved in our offense, scoring the basketball, the better it is. You know, as Jay alluded to, it takes some pressure off of them. You know, when we get that -- the third guy is really important. But once we get that fourth guy and then Nelson comes off the bench and hits that big three; you know, and Denzel only had eight, he's usually a double-figure scorer. But I thought the keys today were from an offensive standpoint were Josh and David, they did a really good job of knocking down those mid-range jumpshots. That's what we need to do. Q. Jump shoot in practice -- MARK SCHMIDT: I took over that. My assistants had it the last game, so I took it over and that's why it was so much more effective. No, we got good shooters. Denzel hits the first one and Dave hits the first one, and like anything, once you make that first one, the rim gets a little bit bigger. Once you miss a couple, then it shrinks and becomes a mental game. Q. This ties in with that, but that lineup at the end of the first half really did seem to give you a boost with Nelson, Jaylen and Matt playing together. We haven't seen that a whole lot. How happy were you with that? MARK SCHMIDT: We went there because we had foul trouble. Idris had two and Denzel had two, and he was the other three man, and the concern -- and it worked today but the concern is we have three little guys out there and it's hard. Jay is playing the three and the rebounding part of it, and we didn't get hurt. I thought -- you're right, we made a little run there. But in the long run, if you go to that lineup too much, the rebounding part of it will kill you. But I thought we did it, and Nelson really did a really good job of coming in, not just of hitting that three but he did a good job of controlling the ball and making some good decisions. Q. The other day we were joking a little bit, about who gets the advantage when a team is able to play, and then Rhode Island hasn't played and now you have, but UMASS played yesterday, and it didn't really help them. What do you make of it now? MARK SCHMIDT: I said all the time, when you're 18 to 22 years old, you should never get tired. When you're dead, you can rest. So it's just go out there and play. We'll go back, get hydrated, get a meal in us, walk through some stuff, and come back out and hopefully we can play well. There's no guarantees. Rhode Island hasn't played here, hasn't shot here; they rested. But we've shot here, we're not as rested. Who knows. We made that point against UMASS. Who knows. We're just going to go out there and play our best and see what happens. Q. I've asked this before in some of these rematches with teams throughout the year, but what's the biggest thing, that's what you're probably going into tonight, but the biggest thing that needs to be different from that first meeting with Rhode Island? MARK SCHMIDT: I thought we defended decently. You know, I think they blocked 15 shots against us. You know, we didn't shoot the ball well. They out-physical'ed us I thought. We've got to play better. You know, physically, we have got to play better. We've got to match them more on the backboard. We've got to take care of the basketball. They are polar opposite of what you saw today with UMASS with the zone and triangle and two, and being out in the passing lanes and being aggressive and using their athleticism and their size. So we have to play a little bit differently. But I thought Game 1, they manhandled us at times, and you know, you can't win doing that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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