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MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2017Rodney TerryDeshon TaylorJaron HopkinsLas Vegas, Nevada Fresno State - 65 New Mexico - 60 COACH RODNEY TERRY: First off I'd like to congratulate New Mexico for a good year. Extremely well coached team. Very difficult team to play against. We've had three really good games with them this year. A lot of respect for Tim Williams and the career that he's had in the Mountain West conference, one of the better scorers in Elijah Brown, who puts a lot of pressure on you. I give my guys a lot of credit for hanging tough and working the game for 40 minutes at a very high level. Q. You guys watching this run, what did you learn from that run for this season? JARON HOPKINS: We took a lot from that crew last year, we knew they were a poised group, calm and confident in situations like this. Just learning from them and actually getting to watch Marvelle and Cezar and them guys. That was great for us. We learned a lot from them. DESHON TAYLOR: I learned a lot from the seniors and the coaching staff, I asked a lot of questions, stuff like that so I could do better as a player and help this team. Those were great leaders last year, and helped us. Q. You are well aware they're a team that relies on free throws, and you guys are a physical defense that sometimes fouls a lot. 15 free throw attempts by them in the first half, all your bigs in foul trouble, one even fouls out. And yet they only get 7 free throw attempts in that half. What did your guards do, if anything, to help the bigs stay out of foul trouble down the stretch and keep them off the line down the stretch? JARON HOPKINS: I would say just ball pressure on the perimeter. It helps our big guys down low, especially when they have to guard Tim Williams or Aget down low, at the perimeter it's hard to post, you don't have to worry about fouling something like that. DESHON TAYLOR: I say our defense picked up, guarding ball screens. We let their guards get to the paint a lot and that drew a lot of fouls. We have to focus in on that aspect. Q. That late three that you hit that tied the game, was that a shot you were going to take no matter what? Did you decide to shoot that before you went through your ball handling there? DESHON TAYLOR: No, not really. I had to shoot it. Q. Were you confident that was going to go in? DESHON TAYLOR: Yeah. Q. What were you seeing on that final play when you passed to Cullen there for the dunk, did you see him coming open or was that planned in advance? JARON HOPKINS: No, I think I got a steal on that possession. I was trying to get the ball past half court, so we could kill the clock a little bit. But I seen a man open so I gave it to him and he finished the play, so that was good for us. Q. The success you've had against Nevada this season, how valuable is that going into tomorrow? JARON HOPKINS: Very valuable. We got out and made the right plays toward the end of the game. Hopefully we can continue on and make those type of plays down the stretch because we know it will be a hard-fought game. Q. Was this a typical Fresno State game lately that it was physical, there were a lot of fouls, there were parts of it where you guys maybe weren't scoring as much as you wanted to, but in the end you find enough plays to make a win? Is that the recipe that you have been following lately? DESHON TAYLOR: Focusing on defense, that's what we've been harping on, defensive rebounding, because they're a good offense rebounding team with Aget and Tim Williams. So I felt our defense was really good today. Q. Obviously a very different team with Tim Williams there. You guys a couple of weeks ago were able to really clamp down on Elijah. Tim Williams is back, and you still had success on Elijah. First I want to ask about what you did to keep Tim Williams in check, but how you were able with both of them to keep Elijah in check? COACH RODNEY TERRY: He's a great scorer, you're not going to stop him. You try to do the job containing him. And the thing that we really tried to wall up and not give him a second opportunity. If he missed the shot, we couldn't give him a quick stick-back. It was going to be by committee. No one guy was going to be in charge of doing that. And we tried to throw the kitchen sink at him. Karachi hadn't played in three weeks. Had to dig deep. He's a very difficult matchup, and he has been the whole time he's been in this league. We have a lot of respect for him and their program in terms of how they play. And offensive rebounding is a big part of what they do, free throw shooting is a lot of what they do as well, and I thought our guys clamped down the latter part of the game. Q. How did it affect with him back, the defense on Elijah Brown who was 6 of 21? COACH RODNEY TERRY: Another player you're not going to stop. Again, you're trying to contain. The last two ballgames we worked really hard at not trying to foul him in the act of shooting. We were talking to our perimeter players about walling up like we do with our big guys, and just holding your ground in a vertical position, so we don't give him those extra opportunities at the free throw line that he's so accustomed to getting. I thought our guys tried to stay to the game plan in doing that. We did a good job in Fresno the last time out, and I thought we did a good job here. Q. Down the stretch, they had no free throws in the final 6:50 of the game. And it's a team they need to get to the line to get a lot of their offense. The last 6:50 with a guy fouled out, three other bigs with four fouls. Did you change anything? COACH RODNEY TERRY: Actually, there was a lot of dialogue on the bench whether or not they have a change-up defense, whether to go to the zone, protect some guys, or try to stay who we are and finish this thing in terms of defensively, man to man. We decided we're going to do a better ball on our ball screen defense, we change our ball screen coverage. I thought we did a better job. And the guys were trying to get their hands back and play without fouling. We're an aggressive, defensive team, but on the contrary, we led the league in free throws attempts ourselves. We shot a lot of free throws, and we made the third most. So I like the balance between the two of those in terms of us being an aggressive defensive team. But we also found ways to put fouls on other teams, as well. Tonight we did a really good job at the foul line, as well. Q. What did you say to your team so they didn't get over-frustrated or lose their head, when all the fouls were being called and you had almost half the team with three or four fouls early? COACH RODNEY TERRY: We have a veteran officiating crew out here, they've been calling NCAA tournaments for a long time. Keep working the game, keep your composure, keep playing, and don't worry about calls. You just play the game. These guys, they'll do their job, they're high-level guys, and keep working the game. And we've done that over the last month of the season, really. But we hadn't let, whether the team was on the run, whether we had some empty possessions, we haven't let that get to us to where we couldn't execute where we needed to execute in terms of trying to get a stop or trying to execute offensively. Q. How did the run last season influence what you're doing this season and what are the similarities there? COACH RODNEY TERRY: Well, we've predicated everything over the last month of the season of working hard defensively. And you win games this time of year with your defense. I thought our guys the last month of the season really tried to make a really good effort to be a better defensive team. And Coach Wainwright and my staff, they've done a great job with preparation all year. But I think our guys have really bought into it in terms of executing our defensive plan, ball screen defense, we've got to keep guys off the glass, and our guards got to help us rebound. But they bought into the defense, and that helps you advance this time of year. And we haven't looked back from that point. We've done a pretty good job of playing against some really good offensive teams and doing a good job of holding the field goal percentages down and trying to play without fouling them. They've done a good job of that down the stretch. Q. You guys obviously get Nevada next, and obviously they've been a difficult team all season. You guys had some success against them. What brings out the best in your team and how much confidence do you have going into it? COACH RODNEY TERRY: Very difficult matchup. I've got a lot of respect for their program. A lot of respect for their coach and how hard they play and how well they execute what they do. They've got five starters out there as good as anybody in the country. And they put a lot of pressure on you defensively, because they can score at every position. You talk about Caroline, the big fellow inside, Marshall can score. They put a lot of pressure on your defensively, they caused a lot of fits in this league this year, and rightfully so, they won our league. A lot of respect for them. We've got to come out and play a game where we defend hard without fouling, and again, trying to play for 40 minutes. And it's going to be a big task for us, but we're excited about the opportunity to play our best team in our league under these circumstances. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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