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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2018

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Illinois State - 76, Southern Illinois - 68

THE MODERATOR: The Salukis are here. Sean Lloyd and Armon Fletcher represent the athletes. Head Coach Barry Hinson is in the middle.

BARRY HINSON: The opening statement I'll make, congratulations to Illinois State, and also congratulations to Loyola. You couldn't ask for two better institutions to represent our conference for an opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament. That will be my opening statement.

Q. Armon and Sean, could you just talk about the rebounding and getting that big rebound the last two minutes of regulation and then in overtime.
THE MODERATOR: Sean, go ahead first.

SEAN LLOYD: What rebound are you talking about?

Q. Just why was it so tough to get the big rebound in the last two minutes?
SEAN LLOYD: Foul trouble played a big role in it. We were smaller. They had 6'10" Phil Fayne out there. He did a good job crashing the offensive glass.

ARMON FLETCHER: Pretty much the same thing Sean said. Foul trouble had a lot to do with it. Phil Fayne, he's a force on the inside, and we were so worried about him, we kind of let other guys get in the lane and get a hand on it.

Q. Armon, talk about what you saw there at the end of regulation when you got the block on Yarbrough, and maybe how much confidence that gave you guys as a team heading into that overtime period.
ARMON FLETCHER: I knew he wasn't going to pass the ball at the end of the game. I knew he was going to try to go to the basket. I think Tyler was guarding him. He was playing great defense. So I didn't want the ball to have a chance to even get on the rim. So I just went over help side and blocked it.

You know we had momentum coming into overtime, and we thought we were going to win, and we came up short.

Q. Could both of you talk about what's going through your mind now, after all you guys have been through and to make it to the semifinals and just come up a little bit short in overtime today.
THE MODERATOR: Armon, you're first.

ARMON FLETCHER: It's tough. You lose a game like that, a close game, it hurts a lot. So you just keep thinking about during the game, what plays led to that situation for them to have opportunity to win a game. It just replays in your head the whole time.

We had a great year. I'm proud of everybody, and we got to get back in the gym this summer and come back next year.

SEAN LLOYD: Really what Armon said, just thinking about what you could have done better, what shots you could have took, what pass you could have made.

I'm proud of my teammates. We had a rough season, and we overcame everything that was thrown our way.

Q. What will you guys remember about Jonathan Wiley and Tyler Smithpeters?
SEAN LLOYD: They're both great teammates, and they're both great people off the court. I know they're both going to have -- whatever they do after basketball, they're going to be good at it.

ARMON FLETCHER: Both of those guys are the big brothers on the team. We look to them for a lot of advice on and off the court. They're great players on the court, and they work hard every single day and gave us everything they had. They'll be missed.

Q. Barry, just talk about the struggles, you know, to try to close the game out in regulation. Did you feel like they were tired in overtime and that's one of the reasons?
BARRY HINSON: Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons. I think you also got to give credit to Illinois State. I think they did a great job defensively. We have no excuses. I mean, we just held a team to 36 percent and got beat. That's the best defense we've played all year long. The game was over when K.P. went out. I have no magic wands.

God, I was wanting Harry Potter to show up where I could go, foom! You're bigger. I just looked at the staff on the bench, and I thought, I'm sorry, there's nothing else we can do. It's just one of those deals.

I think there's a difference between losing and getting beat. We got beat today. We played great. I mean, we gave everything. We gave everything we had. And I'm proud of them. I'm proud of them. That's a hell of a ball game, and I hope you guys enjoyed it. I mean, it was a heck of a game. A heck of a game to sit there and watch it. I thought Dan did a great job, his players did a great job, and I thought our guys did a great job. But when Kavion went out, that was it, that was the moment.

Q. Coach, what did you see out of Armon and Sean and Aaron and some of the guys that emerged for you this year that hadn't -- just hadn't risen to that level yet?
BARRY HINSON: Well, I told them in the locker room that the two teams that played today will be picked to be the top of the league next year. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about that, and we're going to be in the top three, both of us. I don't know who's going to be -- I mean, Illinois State will probably be picked first, but we're going to be in the top three.

I asked them to -- and as much as they didn't want to hear it, to use this experience today to propel us for the future, and I also told that group, in that locker room -- specifically, Tyler. Tyler has been a part of turning this program around. When we got here, we were at the bottom, and when I say the bottom, we were tenth. And in six years, this group of young men has got it to the point where in the last two years we've been third, and we've been second. In the last five years, we finished better than when where we've ever been predicted, and that's a testament to those young men that were in that locker room today.

And I said, you leave here and take great pride in that, especially Jonathan and Tyler. And I said, you take that as a great compliment, and we'll use this to vault us into next year.

Q. Coach, your team has now won at least 20 games twice in the last three seasons, but in your opinion, what's the one thing or things that you feel like your program needs to take that final step and win the Valley tournament?
BARRY HINSON: What do we got, six juniors? Where's Tom? We got six juniors. I mean, I'm not mad, but I understand your statement. We played six guys this year. Seven guys. We finished second outright. I mean, we've taken a step. We've got good players. And the majority of them are back next year.

I don't know how to answer that. I'm sorry.

Q. Coach, I know you've talked about it recently, but any thoughts on the possibility of postseason?
BARRY HINSON: Well, here's my thought: I'm going to root for the Redbirds tomorrow, and then I'm going to root like hell that Loyola gets an at-large. And if those two teams go to the NCAA Tournament and you finish second in the eighth-best conference in the country, surely you can get in the NIT.

So that's what we're waiting on. That's what we're waiting on.

Q. Coach, can you elaborate more on what your thought process, what you were thinking when Pippen went out?
BARRY HINSON: Do you really want to know? (Laughter). "Oh, shit." Please paraphrase that for me.

I knew it was going to be difficult. We were going to go zone, but with how they shot the ball today from the perimeter, we just felt like we couldn't do it, and Jonathan battled his butt off. He really did. He did a great job.

I thought the plays that Illinois State made down the stretch with the passes to Fayne, they were -- they were able to get the ball inside. And when we took K.P. out of the game, when K.P. was fouled out, we didn't have that target, and that really caused us some offensive issues, and we just didn't have a guy we could go in there and score.

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