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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2018

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Loyola-Chicago - 62, Bradley - 54

THE MODERATOR: The Loyola Ramblers are here, the Number 1 seed. Head Coach Porter Moser. Student body is represented by Donte Ingram and Clayton Custer. We're going to ask the head coach to give a statement on the game. Then we'll go to questions for just the two student-athletes for the Ramblers.

PORTER MOSER: Got to give so much credit actually to both teams, how hard they played. To Bradley, we 100 percent knew they wouldn't quit coming in at halftime. They got a little momentum at the half making the free throws, and they just get it. We watched them last night, they've got tremendous heart. Brian has these kids believing and playing hard.

So with that said, I would say I love our guys' mentality. They just refused to quit. They refused to quit. You look at how many grind-out games we've had, especially the last several weeks. And we just find ways to win. Different guys, different nights. That's what's special about this group. In a time when they had cut it and they had it to two and we were missing some shots, I think they had five chances to stop it, and we had five straight stops. And then Marques got a little separation with that three.

That's one of the things, if you're going to win a championship, you've got to defend, even when your shot's not going in. We were on a little drought, but we got, I think, five straight stops to not let them try it, and then Marques hit the big three to get five and then got the separation.

Q. Donte, you guys opened up a cushion there in the first half. You hit some early threes. I know you hit a couple of them. Can you kind of describe the looks you were getting on those early shots.
DONTE INGRAM: I mean, honestly, everybody wants to come out aggressive and be assertive, take shots when they're there. And for me, if I see an extra space and I'm confident taking a shot, then I try to take it. That's what I try to come out and do early.

Q. Your coach mentioned the mentality you guys had. It seemed like each time they'd get a little closer or pull within a few points, that you guys would hit a big three or get some kind of shot or momentum going again. What is it about the team or what was your mindset to be able to do that.
DONTE INGRAM: I mean, I feel like this team all year has done a great job of not getting rattled. There's going to be games where this person and that person might not be making shots, and the other team might go on a run. But we know we have to just stay the course, stay with each other, get stops, and the rest of it will take care of itself.

Q. Donte, just to follow up on what Dave said, Bradley had that 7-2 lead, and you hit a couple early threes. Then did they -- did you find they tweaked their defense to kind of slow you down from getting those looks on the outside?
DONTE INGRAM: I mean, it was there some of the time, but I feel like I still got some looks, open looks. I just didn't make it in the second half. I got some open looks that went in and out. That was that. But honestly, they were making it a point to stay up on me and not have much help.

But it is what it is. If I have an off-day, Clay or Marques or any of those guys will pick me up. So that's how this team operates.

Q. For both players, you're now 40 minutes away from the NCAA Tournament. That's something that's new for you guys and new for this program, at least for a number of years. What's that feeling like right now?
THE MODERATOR: Clayton, you're first, please.

CLAYTON CUSTER: I mean, obviously, that's an exciting idea, but hopefully our team can -- we've done a good job of staying focused and staying with the process and staying one game at a time. So we're going to enjoy this one for an hour here probably, and then get right back on scouting the next game and just getting ready to do whatever we've got to do to win.

Q. Donte, same question.
DONTE INGRAM: Obviously, it's a great feeling. You know, this team for a while has had a motto of "No finish line." We just want to stay focused and stay the course and do whatever we can do today is watching film, getting in all the small things that it's going to take to win tomorrow.

Q. Clayton, they beat you in Peoria. What adjustments did you guys make today based off that game?
CLAYTON CUSTER: I mean, we turned the ball over a lot in Peoria. That was one of the biggest things. We turned it over 20 times in Peoria. And then we made some defensive mistakes that we usually don't make as well when we were there. We kind of just preached like don't beat ourselves and don't make -- don't turn it over, and don't make defensive mistakes. We kind of cleaned some of that up. It was obviously a grind-it-out game today. So every stop was huge.

Q. I know winning is a lot more fun than losing. You guys look like you have fun all game long. Is that really right? Do you guys enjoy the journey together?
DONTE INGRAM: Yeah, I think this team, obviously, there's been a great vibe all year. We love being around each other. We love playing with each other. You got to have fun with it. Obviously, we all have a laser-like focus. But at the end of the day, we know, if we're out there playing with intensity, playing hard, doing what we need to do, it's fun winning. That's what we've done all year.

Q. A different question for you: The last two games, what were those like for you? Obviously, the numbers didn't look -- don't look very good.
CLAYTON CUSTER: Yeah, I appreciate that. No, I mean, like Donte said, I mean, it can be any guy any night for our team. I struggled yesterday. I thought I came back and played a little bit better today. But the thing is that our team picks each other up so well, and we're set -- that's what we are. We're a team. Everybody picks each other up, and we move the ball, we share the ball, and we're so balanced. I think that's what makes us a good team.

Q. Guys, so first half you had, I think, ten assists, two turnovers. It's just a very well played. Makes me want to know, you've been around the program, especially you, Donte, for the full long time. How has your coach improved? I'm sure you guys have improved as players. What have you seen in your coach that has impressed you, ways in which maybe he's hitting his prime?
DONTE INGRAM: Well, obviously, Coach puts a big emphasis on taking care of the ball. We didn't really used to do this my last two years, but I think this year we had a motto of doing things we've never done before. This year we started doing a lot game goals, lie over 15 assists and less than 10 turnovers. If we do that, we know there's a high percentage that we come out with the win.

Just taking care of the ball, and obviously we're going to turn the ball over. That's part of the game. We just want to limit those numbers and get as many possessions as we can.

Q. Where did the "No finish line" motto come from, and when did you guys start saying that?
DONTE INGRAM: I think it was a month or two ago. Coach came up with it. This team, we've done a great job of putting wins in the bank and even putting the losses in the bank. But I think that we've just had a laser-like focus that's helped us realize that we don't have a finish line. We don't have a limit that we can get to. We think we can go as far as this team, this coaching staff will take us. So we just want to keep winning, keep going. We don't feel like tomorrow is going to be the last game for us or the game after that. We feel like, if we do what we need to do, we can play and beat anybody.

Q. Donte, you're from Chicago. When you look at where this program is now, one game away from the NCAA Tournament, think back to when you were a youngster, even younger than now, was Loyola basketball a factor? Was it something that anyone ever thought about in Chicago then?
DONTE INGRAM: I mean, obviously, when you're a small kid, you see all those teams like Duke and North Carolina on TV, but, you know, as you get older, you start seeing programs. For me, I seen Loyola, and I see myself fitting in the system, seeing coaching philosophy, and I loved it with the spacing and everything.

I think that we've done a great job of just getting better every year. And just improving the culture and getting things better. So I think for kids now, they're starting to take notice on that, especially Chicago-area kids. They're starting to take notice. And I think more city kids are going to start coming in. Just last year, our freshmen group, we got Lucas Williamson, Krutwig and Christian. More Chicago kids are starting to come in. So I think they're starting to take notice.

Q. You built a pretty good cushion by halftime. What message did you give your kids to kind of keep them settled and not looking too far ahead?
PORTER MOSER: Just from the night before, Bradley came out smoking in the second half. We knew they wouldn't quit, that it's 20 more minutes, that the offensive glass -- we had a game goal. We know they had 14 last night; we wanted to keep them 6 or under, and we kept them at 6. Those guys were talking about it in the locker room. The unfortunate part of it, 4 of the 6 came off of free throws. But we held them to 6 offensive rebounds when they had 14 the night before.

So the message was they're not going to quit. They're going to come. We've got to string it together and grind it out for another 20 minutes. And I wanted to go to Krutwig. He's been so huge for us, and he felt awful. It was just one of those pin-in-the-balloon plays, when we had a great possession the entire possession, and the kid's ready to launch up a 25-footer at the halftime, and he fouls them with point whatever seconds. So it was one of those moments that it was kind of a little bit of -- so we were kind of coming, hey, that's why I wanted to go right to him second half. First play, we went right to him, drew a foul, missed an and-one. We wanted to give him that confidence we were going in.

I just knew that Bradley wouldn't quit. Just too well coached, too tough of kids.

Q. Coach, I just want to ask you about the "No finish line" motto that the players talked about. What made you want to implement that, how it came about, and what effect do you think it's had?
PORTER MOSER: I think it was just about a month or so ago when we were starting to take first place in the league. The crazy thing about it, we started out this league 1-2. Then when we finally got the lead, all the questions I was getting from radios, media, and TV was about what's it feel like now everyone's chasing you? And I just was like, we're chasing. So the other thing we've been talking about, we're chasing. We're the ones that's chasing. There's no finish line. And then when we won the championship and got a share of it at Evansville, we were like "No finish line." It kept on mounting that there was no end of how much we can improve and where we want to go.

It was just -- and it happens. You know, we've been down for so many years, and all of a sudden, we're in a spot we're in first place, and I just wanted to mentally get the guys to the point where we're like, hey, this isn't what our finish line is to be in first place with eight games left. Or the first place -- I guess, you know what it was? It was right at the turn after nine games. We were heading into the second nine, and everyone's like, what's it feel like you being chased in the second nine? And I'm like, I don't feel like -- we don't have any championship banners in the Missouri Valley. We don't have anything. So we were just telling our guys about we're chasing. This is what we're chasing, and there's no finish line. Being in the first place in the middle of this wasn't what our finish line was.

Q. More of a typical Clayton Custer game?
PORTER MOSER: Yeah, I thought he had a great game. I mean, 12 points on nine shots, four assists, got us into a ton of things, and didn't let his ankle bother him. We didn't even talk about it with him during the game. He had a confident -- confident, I mean, we went right at him in the beginning of the game too. He had a nice look at a three.

But I loved his bounce. I loved his mentality. And you know what else I loved about him? And this is -- I mean, even like Donte. Donte struggled the second half, and he was like -- after the game, everyone was so excited. Last night in the hotel, I mean, all the questions the kid gets is, "What's wrong?" "What's wrong with Clayton?" "What's wrong with that?" And the kid is bouncing around like leading in the film room, leading in -- they were rolling out in the hotel, and he's bouncing around like you would have thought he was 10 for 10 from the field. Awesome.

Q. Porter, your stars did their thing, but I thought Williamson, though his numbers didn't show much of anything, was a big contributor today.
PORTER MOSER: Huge. And even last night, he was 0 for 4, but he got some big things, and he made those two free throws to put us up. I thought -- and the numbers don't show with Bruno Skokna, but he had three big in-traffic rebounds we kind of call them. It wasn't like a free throw or off of a free throw check, and everyone ran back and he's padding the stats. He got three in-traffic rebounds. He had one block, one assist, one steal, and I thought he had eight good minutes.

Now, I wish I would have got him more, but he was able to give Ben Richardson some valuable time when Ben had two fouls. I thought Cam Satterwhite did a nice job. He had a couple of nice plays.

But Lucas, we were just joking, he's Ben's protege. He makes so many tough defensive plays. He'll step up and make a big shot, when it was. Lucas had six big rebounds. He put his nose in there. He really defended well. When I watch Lucas on tape, I see the same things at that age that I saw in Ben -- just gritty, really good feet, and Lucas is a little protege of Ben. I thought he was big too.

Q. Porter, when you're in a tie game or one-possession game late, how confident, how comfortable are you that, if nothing else, you'll at least get good decisions, you'll see good decisions made, that they'll meet the moment, you know, the way you want them to?
PORTER MOSER: I'm very confident. I'm really confident that the guys -- I 100 percent don't think they're scared of the moment. I think they're embracing it. I think they're going to play hard, play tough. So I'm very confident.

We've had a ton of grind-out games in these last eight to ten. That's the way it is in the Valley. It's every night. We just found ways to win in the last five or six minutes. You need to do that.

Q. Coach, you called a time-out on the floor with 6:30 left, and they cut the game to one -- yeah, Bradley only scored one after that time-out. Was there something schematically you changed? You mentioned the five stops, but was it just the players?
PORTER MOSER: I didn't like our defense, and I wanted it to settle them down. I think I said it yesterday up here, one of the things I loved about the beginning of the Northern Iowa game, was we didn't let our offense dictate our defense. I think there was a stretch there -- and that's why I called a time-out -- that we were letting our offense dictate our defense.

I think we wanted to go inside and get a paint touch. I think we got fouled. Krutwig got one of the free throws that kind of just stopped the run, but it was to regroup defensively and just be like, okay, down the stretch, our defense has got to dictate the outcome of this game, got to dictate where we're going. Because they were kind of hanging their head on a couple missed shots, and then we missed a switch on their triple play on the baseline, and I just wanted to regroup them, reload them, and we're going to win this game by guarding and not letting our offense dictate our defense.

Q. Following up what Steve asked you about just kind of guys embracing the moment or not feeling that pressure, and I know you talked about recruiting guys who have won high school championships and being in those moments. Does that kind of tie into it, or is it just kind of the DNA of guys?
PORTER MOSER: Sure, Donte Ingram, he played at Simeon, it was a big stage. He went and played down in Peoria at the state championship on a big stage. He played on UIBL circuit, like the Nike thing, it's a big stage. Clayton, Ben, they've done the same thing. So they've been on that stage before, and they've embraced it.

Donte's played a lot of minutes here. I mean, Donte's played a lot of minutes here. So they're -- I mean, when you've logged in that kind of minutes, and you've logged in and been winners, I think it's something when you recruit kids that have won before. I believe, at least it's been part of my philosophy of building this, is kids that have won -- it might be a loose ball, it might be a rebound off a free throw, which we got a big one at Evansville. Lucas Williamson got an offensive rebound off a free throw that was a huge separation one. We were all yelling "intangibles, intangibles," because winners come up with intangible plays.

I think that is part of it. At least I'm embracing that part of it, and I think it's a big philosophy in our recruiting.

Q. I know you go back and forth between Aundre Jackson and Krutwig all season, but it seemed like, especially tonight, there was back and forth, back and forth. How are you deploying them, especially in the second half?
PORTER MOSER: Some of it is matchups. I think it gives us two different looks. I mean, Aundre can really drive you from the perimeter and everything. Krutwig gives you this big -- I love how -- we've always been small ball here, and all of a sudden, we've got a chance to go big and small.

Let's say it's a media time-out or it's a dead ball and they subbed in, and they were putting Thomas at the five, that's a tough one for Krut. Sometimes it has to do with matchups defensively, and it's a little bit of a chess match. We'll be on offense, and we'll throw him in, and Donte had four fouls. He had four fouls, and it's like let's go in to Krut.

So it's a little bit of a chess match, but I love the flexibility. I love the flexibility of having both of them, and it gives us two different looks.

I thought Dre had some really nice actions in the first half.

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