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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2018

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Southern Illinois - 67, Missouri State - 63

THE MODERATOR: The Bears of Missouri State are with us. And Jarrid Rhodes and Alize Johnson represent the student body. Coach Paul Lusk is in the middle.

PAUL LUSK: Very good game. Southern is very good. They made a run the second half. They're very good defensively. They're very good offensively. We struggled. But we were down 14, and our guys really fought. Very proud of them.

Obviously, at the end you've got to get the ball to the rim, and you've got a chance. You've got a chance. Obviously, we coughed it up. That's the way it goes, but give Southern a lot of credit.

Give these two guys right here as seniors, we got them two years ago, they've done everything we've asked them to do in the program. Wish we would have, obviously, won more games, but they did help us get back to a winning record. Just really proud of the guys for the way they fought back to get in that game because that's hard.

We had a chance. We had a chance. You just can't turn it over there.

Q. Jarrid, could you just talk about that comeback. It was like three times the Bears battled back, and you were kind of in the middle of all that stuff.
JARRID RHODES: We just basically kept believing, even myself. I just told everybody to stay positive. Anything can happen.

You know, mistakes were made down the stretch, but I believe in everybody that's part of our team, the staff, the players, I was just positive the whole time and just believed that, hey, we could really do this.

Q. Alize, can you talk about what these two years have meant to you.
ALIZE JOHNSON: Yes. I'm very thankful to be in this position just because where I was at, I was at junior college. So just to get this opportunity to come here and play Division I basketball, it's been awesome. Like I always tell everybody, Missouri State's program took very good care of me. Like I said, I'm very thankful for my opportunity that I got.

Q. Alize, you scored a couple of baskets early, and then they kind of shut you down for a long time, and then you got a basket in that 10-0 run toward the end. What did they do in the middle of the game to try to get you bottled up?
ALIZE JOHNSON: I think in the beginning of the game, I just got flowing, and then there was a couple calls that I didn't get. You know, it kind of slowed me down. So I just got to keep my head up and keep going. That's something I'll fix later on in life.

Q. Alize, how much has Coach Lusk meant to you in your two years?
ALIZE JOHNSON: Coach Lusk has meant a lot. He's concerned about his players 24/7. He always took good care of me and Jarrid for the two years that I've been here. I've never had any complaints with him, and he stuck by my side when I first got here and helped me grow as a person. He taught me things that I'm going to take for the rest of my life.

Q. Could you talk about that last play, Kreklow coming down. You didn't have a timeout. Were you happy with what he did? No, I mean -- not that, but I mean just trying to get to the rim?
PAUL LUSK: Got to get to the rim, but we turned it over the time before trying to do something that we've talked about that you can't do. But trying to make the right play. Alize kicked it ahead. Probably got to get the ball in someone else's hands, and he's trying to do the right thing.

He did some good things. He played better in the tournament. But you want to get to the rim, but it didn't work out. So, no, I mean, wasn't happy with it. I was happy with our effort. But you'd like to see the ball in J.D.'s hands. We were out of timeouts. Or Alize's. You've got to get it to Rhodes. You asked Rhodes how he -- I mean, Rhodes just absolutely willed us back in that game, he and J.D.

Q. Your thoughts on your future with this team, and where do you think things are going, and what are your thoughts right now?
PAUL LUSK: You know, Dan, I appreciate you asking, and I know you genuinely care. If that came from some other people, I don't know how much they were concerned, but I do know you genuinely care.

I've got a year left on my contract. Obviously, there's been a lot of things written about, as I've told you weeks ago, I'm not focusing on that. I've been trying to focus on the guys, and right now my thoughts are with the team. It's not my decision. I don't control that.

Q. Coach, could you take us inside the locker room, just anything that you maybe said because Alize and Rhodes, those guys, the seniors, they're done now. What do you tell them to move on leaving St. Louis?
PAUL LUSK: You know, those guys, we had some struggles this year with some guys that we thought would help us and that we needed, but those guys have done everything right. They're hard workers. They come to practice. They're coachable. They watch extra film. They go to class. They look you in the eye when you coach them. They've given us everything. I mean, they really have. They've done a great job. I just wish that we could have won some more games and been in a different position. And in particular today, you were right there. We had a chance to tie it, but we didn't do that.

But those guys are going to be successful. They'll both be successful. They'll get their degrees. You know, Jarrid Rhodes was not a big time recruit. Alize really was not a big time recruit. I think they've both improved. Give them a lot of credit. Give our staff a lot of credit. I think they've improved on and off the floor, and they've got bright futures with whatever they do.

Q. Had a quick senior followup: Ronnie getting in the game tonight. He's had quite the journey with Missouri State. Can you tell us a little bit about him coming in late. What he battled through the last couple days.
PAUL LUSK: As he said a couple of weeks ago, we saved his life, but it's been up and down all year. Obviously, a couple weeks ago, you know, as I said, he requested not to play on Senior Night, but he's been having some better practices. You know, we're starting a freshman who did some good things, but that's a high-level game out there.

There was an opportunity for Ronnie to get in there, and he did a good job, and Ronnie's kept a great attitude, and it's going to be very important for him now to finish strong and get his degree because he's a bright young man. Very, very proud of him. There's no doubt. Very proud of him with some of the things that he's been through.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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