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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 3, 2018Brian WardleNate KennellDwayne Lautier-OgunleyeSt. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness Loyola-Chicago - 62, Bradley - 54 THE MODERATOR: Bradley Braves are here. I'm going to ask Brian Wardle to start off with a statement on the game, and we'll go to questions for the two student-athletes up here. BRIAN WARDLE: I'm just very proud of this group. How resilient we were and how we battled in the second half. We didn't play very well in the first half, but we came out and were the aggressors, and I thought we really put ourselves in a position to win the game. That's what we wanted. We talked about that, getting to the five-minute mark and having it a one-possession game or the lead. We just couldn't get over the hump, obviously. We were down two for a while, and we just missed -- I think we had about three in-and-out threes and layups and some free throws. We had our opportunities. So it's unfortunate. I have a group that's very hurt. We fully expected to win this game. But it was a great season for our program. It was a good step forward. There's more steps to go. I think the foundation we have now and what we've learned this year is really going to help us moving forward. And what Donte Thomas did for our program just by continuing to develop and grow as a man and as a player and the consistency he had as a senior is a great example for all our guys coming up. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Dwayne or Nate. Q. DLO, Coach mentioned the last five minutes you had it within two and several opportunities there to go ahead and came up empty. Can you kind of describe -- did you guys press a little bit? Did they crank up the defense? Or can you describe what was going on during those possessions? DWAYNE LAUTIER-OGUNLEYE: The last five minutes, we were playing to win. We were playing with our heart, and we put everything out there. We got looks that we wanted. And some of them dropped, and some of them didn't, but we laid it all out there. We did what we wanted to do. We wanted to get the game close, like Coach says, and we just couldn't get it tied or go up. We got what we wanted, it was just we couldn't finish it. Q. Nate, kind of a similar situation at halftime to yesterday. You guys are down and then come out with a nice burst to start the second half. Can you describe the halftime environment and what triggered you guys on that early run? NATE KENNELL: We just had a lot of guys at halftime just talk and get on each other. We needed to respond. I think that shows that growth that we can do that and hold each other accountable and continue to just challenge each other to be better. So just credit to all of us trying to come together and make something happen there. Q. Coach, you kind of touched on this a little bit -- THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes right now. Q. I'll address it to both Nate and DLO then: The Coach talked about the steps going back to the program coming up. The guys had a 20-win season now. You got to the semifinals and came awfully close to the championship game. Can you kind of comment and talk to Bradley fans about what's the future of this program. THE MODERATOR: Nate, you're first, then DLO. NATE KENNELL: I think there's a lot to look forward to. We've got a lot of young guys. We're just getting more and more experienced. It hurts to have our senior go, but I think there's going to be a lot of excitement around the off-season. All we can do is get better. I think we have a high ceiling and just keep working hard. I think it will eventually come. DWAYNE LAUTIER-OGUNLEYE: I think it just adds fuel to the fire. We don't want to be in this position feeling like this next year, so it's fuel to the fire because we want to do better next year. We're going to start working really from now. It's just all this preparation. Like Nate said, it hurts not having Donte no more because he's really one of the guys that were here from the beginning of this rebuild. He's put a great example for the freshmen in the incoming class. Myself and the juniors are now going to become seniors. Go try and keep that example up. And with the sophomores becoming juniors and with Eli and Stip, we've got to keep growing and can't be satisfied with this because we have more aspirations and we have a bigger goal in sight. That's what we're looking forward to. Q. The early part of the game, you were kind of trading baskets with them. I know you didn't like how you were defending. You changed up the lineup some. Was that the primary reason you did so? I know you want to give guys breaks in this tournament. Can you kind of describe that change? BRIAN WARDLE: We were going to obviously get subs in the first half and try to give guys some blows in the second half. We knew it was to prepare them for a tough game. Any time you play Loyola, it's going to be a knockdown, drag-it-out fight. We did, we had some breakdowns. We let Ingram get going early. We let Custer hit a three early just on a miscommunication on a ball, on a handoff. Those things, we learned a lot of lessons this year and in this tournament. I think our guys realized every team is good in the semis, every team. And the league was so good this year, you can't have a bad half in tournament play. You just can't because it's hard to dig yourselves out of it. But we did enough to dig ourselves out, and we had the right guys shooting the right threes to get ourselves the lead or tie it. Darrell and Nate getting those threes, it's the right people for us, and we just weren't able to make those shots. We tightened things up. We became the aggressors in the second half, played to win, played aggressive. I was proud of our guys. Q. Coach, Donte picked up his fourth foul with over six minutes left. How did his fourth foul change his play? BRIAN WARDLE: It hurt a little bit. He was playing well. Just came off a basket. We went small in the second half just because we had to change some things up. We wanted to pick the pace up, the aggressiveness defensively up, and I thought that helped us. Obviously, Donte was, I thought, playing well at that time. We got him back in, I think, under the four-minute mark. But it was a great team effort. I think the second halves we played in this tournament were some of our better halves we've played all year. To come, to fight and the energy level and the emotion and the passion we played with, we didn't have that in some games in the second half this year. So that's a good step for us. It's really what we do from here that matters, that we learn these lessons. We gain knowledge and wisdom from these experiences and become better. Q. I know you've gotten invitations from other tournaments, postseason tournaments. What are your thoughts now regarding whether you might accept one? BRIAN WARDLE: I don't have any thoughts right now after this game. That's something we'll think about when we get back to Peoria a little bit. It was a good year. I think we won some great games. We let some slip away. There's a lot to improve on. I think using the analogy the other day, you know, we live in a microwave society where you pop it in and you want it out in a minute and it's all perfect and tasty and yummy. Chris Reynolds and I, when we got this thing going, it was going to be we had to go to the grocery store, do some shopping, bought some steaks, cut them up. We're seasoning them right now, and they're not on the grill yet. That's kind of how I look at it. We're still getting there. We're still making the right strides, but it's going to be a huge off-season for us, and I'm looking forward to it. I know those guys are hurting now, but they're already talking in there just about the work we've got to put in. So that's a good sign. Q. Brian, it's widely said about Loyola that it has to win the conference tournament to get into the NCAAs. Do you have any point of view on the worthiness from what you've seen? BRIAN WARDLE: You're asking a guy that's been a head coach at mid-majors his whole career so far. I've had a season like Loyola's had, it's a shame they can't get in to be quite honest. They're a very good team, well coached, disciplined. Smart, very smart. Take care of the ball. They do all the things that win. They take care of the ball, make their free throws. They play unselfish, and they play hard and physical. I would hope that they get in, no matter what, but they definitely deserve that opportunity with the year they have at 27-5. It's been an unbelievable year for them. I thought we were a team that could upset them for sure and win this game, but we felt very confident coming into this game. Unfortunately, we just, again, we couldn't get it done for about a three, four-minute stretch offensively. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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