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MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2017Rodney TerryPaul WatsonLas Vegas, Nevada Nevada - 83 Fresno State - 72 COACH RODNEY TERRY: Well, I thought it was a hard-fought game from start to finish. I thought that we got off to obviously a great start. Played a really good first half. I thought in the second half we didn't play probably one of our better halves of the year. A lot of things probably attributed to that in terms of us not taking care of the basketball. Some self-inflicted things, giving them an opportunity to get momentum. They're a feel-good team. And we gave them the opportunity to feel good about things down the stretch. And you can't do that this time of year. Q. When you look at the stat sheet, 62 points and nearly 80 percent shooting, do you attribute that to them getting really hot or do you think that your defense dropped or how do you think that went? PAUL WATSON: They made a run, just like any other team would, being down. But you know, we really didn't bring the intensity that we did in the first half to the second. We weren't able to sustain the run that they made. That definitely hurt us, being able to not be there in the right spots at the right time and just being intense the whole second half. Q. Were you surprised at the sudden turn of events there? You were kind of dominating the first half. And the second half was completely different. PAUL WATSON: I wouldn't say surprised. It's basketball. Basketball is a game of runs. It was going to happen. It was bound to happen eventually. Unfortunately we just didn't deal with it the way that we were supposed to and it ended up hurting us in the second half. Q. Rodney, what did you see there in the second half? Do you think it was just making shots? They have the ability to make really difficult shots. And when they got on a roll, that's what they did. Do you see it as them getting hot or your defense slacking off? COACH RODNEY TERRY: I thought we've done a really good job staying the course, even when teams made runs we didn't flinch. We had some self-inflicted things in terms of turnovers, but we gave them some momentum to have that type of run. We've built that six-game winning streak on getting consecutive stops and being able to execute at a high level. And just like everything, in the ebb and flow of the game, they have a few shots, and the next thing it's a different type of ballgame. And we weren't able to get some stops to stop their run. Q. It looked like Deshon, was he cramping up in the second half? COACH RODNEY TERRY: Yeah, I think a little bit down the stretch he had that issue there and was able to come out and finish the ballgame for us. Q. Were you searching for a source of offense for keep pace with Nevada? Bryson, he started off hot, Deshon was on the bench. COACH RODNEY TERRY: We knew where we wanted to put the ball. 42 points in the paint tonight, we had 18 at the half. We wanted the ball inside; they couldn't deal with us inside. And so when we were executing and got the ball in there we got exactly what we wanted. We weren't searching. We wanted to play inside out and when we did that we were very effective against them. Q. What are you hoping for, now, an NIT berth? COACH RODNEY TERRY: It's out of our control right now. You can control obviously when you're playing, and where you stack up. We obviously feel like we've earned an opportunity for postseason play. We've been in the CBI and came up short of winning that championship in that area. It helped our young players grow, it put us on the stage we're on last year, when we got the chance to be in the NCAA tournament. We're going to have some type of postseason, we're excited about another opportunity, because we have young players in our program that will be coming back next year and continue to grow, and grow up tonight. They had to grow up tonight on a main stage and they'll be better going forward. We're going to be excited about an opportunity to continue playing. Q. They switched their defense on you in the second half? PAUL WATSON: I didn't really see any difference. They switched a little bit. But that was the only change they may have made in the second half. Q. You got 12 points in the first half, but took you a little while to get going in the second. Were you looking to get involved offensively in the second half or letting the game flow? PAUL WATSON: Just trying to stay aggressive. I was a little hot going into the second half. Just trying to find a rhythm. It took me a little while getting going. But I was trying to take the right shot, trying not to force anything and when an opportunity comes, be ready to take advantage of it. Q. The closing statement we got from Nevada's coach was they switched their defense on pick and roll in the second half. Is that something that you think contributed? COACH RODNEY TERRY: I don't think they switched their defense. They were still playing the hard heads the whole time. And again, our whole deal was to attack, and pick up a foul on the big fellow. We still got the ball when we wanted it to, inside out. So I don't think they really switched what they were trying to do. Early in the game they tried to come out and mark it up a little bit in terms of making us play a little faster, in terms of trying to get the ball out of our guys' hands, we couldn't get in a set. They got out of that pretty early, because we made shots behind it. I don't think there was that much of an adjustment in the second half. I'll have to go back and look at the tape, but I don't think so. Q. They came in with the three veteran seniors, and you've had a freshman and sophomore emerge. How important do you think their contributions have been, and what a postseason would do for them? COACH RODNEY TERRY: We've got a young team coming back. We're going to be really good again next year. I'm excited how we were able to finish out the season with our older players, Paul Watson and Cullen Russo, Karachi got a chance to do some things for us in terms of their leadership. Those guys have played in a lot of big games and been in a lot of big stages, and helped move our program in another direction. Our young guys have emerged as well. Having an opportunity to play in postseason, where it's one and done, gives them more growth from what we had tonight. Freshmen were out there doing big things. It's a grown man's game this time of year. And Deshon was doing what he did over the latter part of the season. And J.T. and Jaron, all those guys get a chance to grow up and be hungry for a really big run next year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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