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MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 8, 2018Tim DuryeaSam MerrillKoby McEwenLas Vegas, Nevada Utah State - 78, Boise State - 75 TIM DURYEA: Proud of our guys. Didn't get off to a great start. I thought Boise State was tremendous to start the game and was sharp as a tack. And we kind of came to our senses. We weren't very good defensively. I thought offensively we did a lot of good things and got a lot of good shots. Sam made a big three before the half to give us a little momentum going into the locker room and came out the second half, got a bucket the first possession. And then it was just back and forth. But proud of our guys for hanging in there, staying together. And Boise State is tough. They are hard to guard. And probably the most effective zone that we've seen this year. I thought the one area where we were as bad as I've seen us is in our press breaker. Usually we do a fairly good job handling the press, but boy, we were shaky tonight. So it's good to get past that one and not play your best and come away with a win. So proud of these guys. Q. Can you talk about you had a slow start yesterday but really you turned it around today. What was the big difference for you? SAM MERRILL: Like you say, I didn't shoot the ball very well yesterday but I'm confident in the work that I've put in and I knew I had to play better today for us to be able to win. I missed a few in and out in the first half. So fortunately they were able to fall in the second half and throughout the game and we were able to get the win. Q. In both games you guys have had big games, Sam, you had a big game tonight and Koby had a big game the last game. What's it like for sophomores to be playing such great basketball on such a big stage? KOBY McEWEN: Like Sam said, we put in a lot of work in the off season, and we trust the work that we put in and it's showing in the tournament. The best players have to play the best when it comes to surviving the event. I thought Sam did a tremendous job today scoring the ball and defending well. Just going back to the work we put in in the off season. Q. Can you talk a little bit about that stretch where you scored ten straight points and the big three that ended up being the game winner. SAM MERRILL: I didn't know I scored ten straight in a row. Koby does a great job of finding me when he feels like I am making shots, and I try to do the same with him when he's hot. So we feed off each other well. That last shot, I've taken that shot a million times, made it quite a few times. We hadn't run it yet all game so I had a feeling it would be open. And it came up and shot it confidently. Q. In the first half you were two of seven. What did you need to do to stay in your game and find a rhythm there late? KOBY McEWEN: Yeah, in the first half I was getting good looks and a lot of them were going in and out as well. But it's survive and advance, I knew that I had to keep shooting. I was getting good looks. The second half, I had to be more aggressive getting in the paint. Try to free up myself by getting guys open shots. Once they start hitting shots the lane started to open up for me. So I had to just stick with it. And it worked out for us. Q. You grew up watching this game. You dream about being a part of this stuff and here you are as a sophomore, one of our local boys doing it now for real. How exciting is it? SAM MERRILL: It's exciting. It's only the quarterfinals. We just talked about it as a team, this is an opportunity to move on to the semifinals, and I didn't grow up wanting to win quarterfinal games. I grew up wanting to play in the tournament. We're one step closer and we have to bring it tomorrow. Q. Boise State starts that game just shooting lights out. You cut the deficit several times and they extend it out a couple of times. How were you able to keep composure throughout all that? Looked like Boise State might kind of run away with it. KOBY McEWEN: It just started off with stops, one possession at a time. Once we did that we kind of brought the game down, get one stop, get a bucket and get another stop. Once we broke the game down like that the game started to slow down for us and we slowly caught back up. Once we got the game in arm's length, we were really confident that we could win the game, and that's what we did. Q. What did coach say to you about getting to the free throw line at the halftime? You go to it 18 times in the second half. SAM MERRILL: We just had to continue to be aggressive. They fouled us on, what, two or three 3s, maybe two. But I don't think offensively there was any different level of aggression from half to half. But we were able to channel our aggression better and play smarter, and that's why we were able to shoot all those free throws. Q. Both games you have been down at the half and have outscored your opponents by double digits in the second half. What has it been that you've been able to outscore your opponents in the second half? KOBY McEWEN: Both games we were getting good shots, they weren't just falling. The second half they just happened to fall. But in both games, the first half we weren't defending. Once we got defensive confidence and our offense started to flow, we got in the paint and easy buckets. Then the basket started opening up for us and then we stepped out and made our 3s. And that's what we've got to do to start the game. We've got to start inside out. Like coach says, you have to play accordion basketball, go in and out, in and out. And that's what we did in both games in the second half. And we've got to do that in the first half. If we do that we'll be in good shape. Q. The last 24 seconds it was like three turnovers. That was kind of crazy. What was the range of emotions going on? SAM MERRILL: I was disappointed, I told the coaches that I wanted to take the ball out to secure inbounds, then I go and turn it over. That was frustrating. We were able to get the ball back and then they had the jump ball. And then Koby gets a free throw. And our coaches did a really good job of keeping us calm and knew that we had the lead. All we had to do was buckle down and get a stop and fortunately we were able to. Q. You said best players need to play their best. But obviously that wasn't the case on the Boise side. Chandler looked like he was pretty uncomfortable, had a rough game. What did you do to disrupt him a little bit? KOBY McEWEN: We played his drive first. We knew that he wasn't a great 3-point shooter. He could hit a couple. So we played to his weaknesses, try to force him to his left hand a little bit. And when he got into the paint we started crowding him a little bit, take away his space. And that's what made him uncomfortable. He had to finish over hands and make tough shots. If he made tough shots we'll go back down and shake his hand, that's a good shot. He had to finish over our hand and during the game he didn't make a lot of those baskets and we had to defend him without fouling. And when we did that we were successful. Q. Did you guys notice the Wyoming fans and the New Mexico fans up there to cheer you guys to beat Boise State? KOBY McEWEN: We know why they were doing that. They don't want to see us. That's okay. Q. Same question I asked Sam and Koby, in both games you guys have been down at the half. What has been the main difference between the first half and the second half so far in this tournament? TIM DURYEA: We usually talk about both sides of the ball before the game, at halftime, a couple of things on each side. We did not talk offense before the game. We didn't talk offense at halftime. The question about what I told them to get to the free throw line, we did not discuss offense; we discussed defense or lack thereof in the first half and how that had to change. And a couple of adjustments on the defensive side that I thought helped us in the second half. And then at this level I think there's very few teams that not making shots doesn't affect your defense. Most teams, if you're not making shots or getting hard shots, if you're not scoring, period, it affects you on the other end. And I thought that happened a little bit in the first half. I thought we jumped out to a little bit better start in the second half and that bled over to the defensive side of it. And we just made a few more plays. And then we gave up some easy shots, too. I think we can play better defensively than we did. Obviously they missed some shots in the second half that a lot of times they made. But this game for us was all about defense. The defensive mentality. We talked a lot about the first six seconds and the last six seconds of the shot clock, transition defense against them is huge. If you don't get back, you have no chance to win. And then they are the best rebounding team in the league. So the last six seconds of the possession you have to handle your business and get physical and block out and we did just enough of that. Q. What was it like for you to live through those last 24 seconds? TIM DURYEA: I was in disbelief at how bad we were against the press. We just haven't been that bad. It was not like it was an all-out full-court press. But we were shooting ourselves in the foot right and left. And Sam came over in the last -- and he's as dependable as they come, and he said, Let me throw the ball in. He plays that spot every now and then. So we made a switch and he turned it over. This is Sam Merrill for you. Look who got the steal after he turned it over. He's the same guy that made the defensive play that got us the ball back. That's Sam Merrill. Q. Obviously there was a couple of plays in the game where you really needed a stabilizing force. I think Julion Pearre was that. How big is it to have him back from injury? TIM DURYEA: He has been a real shot in the arm for us. And we were talking as a staff, if you look back every year of his career he's shot the ball really well in this tournament his whole career. And like we talked about yesterday, Julion had a nightmare senior year because of injuries. And it is awesome to see him back. You always want your seniors to have a role, to be able to contribute, to go out on a high note. And I was afraid for Julion and Alex that that may not happen this year, but towards the end of the year they've been really key for us. Q. You mentioned Sam already a little bit, but about the way he carried you at points, and he hit the big three at the end. TIM DURYEA: Yeah, and Sam is a little deceiving with the ball. He's a little bit better driver of the ball and finishes around the rim probably better than what most people think. He's not just a catch-and-shoot player. He has a good midrange game, he can finish at the rim, and obviously he's deadly at three. I thought he had good looks the first half. And we had some shots go in and out. But we had the big possession there at the end of the game and there was no doubt where we were going with the ball. We were going to put the ball in his hands and get a shot there on the play we run or have him turn the corner and drive it and make a play. Q. It was a really rough ending to the regular season, with a four-game losing streak. A lot of fans were not expecting this kind of a run. UNLV, came back against Colorado State yesterday and obviously today the win against Boise State. Can you speak a little bit on how proud of your players for being able to make the turnaround from the low point two weeks ago and be able to get to the semis for the first time in school history? TIM DURYEA: Yeah, we had a rough last couple of weeks of the season for different reasons. And I could tell when I came in Monday after the UNLV game when we had two days to prepare for the tournament, they were in a great frame of mind. Are they done? Are they counting the days? Are they sick of each other or is there another feeling in the room? And I just felt like they were not done. They wanted to play. I've said this a lot of times: They really, really like each other. And those two guys right there enjoy playing with each other a lot and they have the utmost respect for each other. When you have leadership like that and they're bought in, everyone else kind of follows along. We had two great days before we came down here and it's kind of showed up. Really proud of them to answer your question. Q. Sam was saying that this isn't the end goal, quarterfinal win, there's more to be done. What is the mindset moving forward? TIM DURYEA: This is the farthest we've been in our five years in the league in the tournament. It's been a grind for us. And we went into the locker room after the game and basically we've got the days numbered. And the only thing we did -- they were calm. We changed day 2 to day 3, and that's tomorrow. And that's the next step. Like Sam said, the goal for us here is to win the tournament. That's the only way we get to where we want to go. And winning a quarterfinal game is great. It's a step in the process for us being a good team in this league but it's not the end goal. So day 3 tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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