|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2018Fran DunphyShizz AlstonQuinton RoseOrlando, Florida Wichita State - 89, Temple - 81 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach. FRAN DUNPHY: Well, we had three real good games against Wichita State. I thought we played well in each of them. I think they are a really good basketball team. They're a really good basketball program. A lot of veteran guys out there. They made some veteran plays at the right time. I thought our guys did a really good job. I'm proud of them, proud of how hard they played, proud of the fact that there was no give-up in them and we had our chances. We needed to make another shot. We needed to get a better rebound. We needed to get that loose ball that was out on the court for whatever reason and but I'm proud of our guys. THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Coach, you mentioned there at the end you needed one more shot, one more rebound. Every time you got up to them, you couldn't make the play, is it just one play that is the momentum that puts you over the top in that second half? FRAN DUNPHY: I think there are a number of plays in today's game. Sometimes games change on a play, the momentum totally changes. But we had an opportunity at the rim late, we had a three opportunity late. Some of those things would have maybe given us a better chance to win the game. But we needed stops at the other end as well, and they made the requisite number of shots that they needed. And we probably put them on the foul line a little bit too much as well. I thought we were a little bit too risky on some of our plays in the body of the game, not necessarily at the end. I think we put them on the line too many times. Q. Quinton, you've been in a little bit of a shooting slump for the last couple weeks, and then you broke out of it tonight. Anything that worked, started working? QUINTON ROSE: I think it was just better shot selection. Q. Shizz, every time you did get close it seemed like either Shamet on outside had the answer or you had to deal with Shaq inside. How was the difficulty in just those two guys, what they did from the outside and inside and then setting the other guys up? SHIZZ ALSTON: They're hard to guard. They're good players and Shamet got hot early and Shaq was a beast down low, but we should have denied Shamet early so he couldn't get that hot start. But they're good players, so it was tough to match up against them. Q. Quinton, for long stretches in that second half you were carrying the team. A, did you start feeling it? And B, did you feel that you would have to do that to get this team back in the game? QUINTON ROSE: No, I just saw the opening, like getting to the basket, getting out in transition, and I saw it was helping the team, so I kept doing it. Q. Shizz, I know you guys had only one thought of NCAA, but any thought on thinking you should be in the NIT right now? SHIZZ ALSTON: No, I haven't even thought about NIT, but we lost some tough games, but I feel like when they look at our body of work and see us play our best basketball, we're still one of the top teams out here. So hopefully they can look at our good games and try to forget about our bad ones. Q. Coach, that run by Quinton in the second half, when he had 12 or 14 in a row, something like that, is there anything that you could have done to prolong that? Did they do something to turn it off that quickly? FRAN DUNPHY: Well, obviously they're going to set their defense to try to knock him out of that rhythm that he was in, but he did a great job in that stretch and got us to where we needed to be. Again, we needed probably a little better effort on the defensive end, just a little smarter, a little more understanding of where to be position-wise. But he's a really good player and he's going to be an even better player as the years go on. Q. Shizz and Q, can you guys just talk about how the amount of Wichita State fans impacted the game, if it had an impact on you guys. QUINTON ROSE: Early it had an impact - it felt like we were back at Wichita for a second, but as the game went on I just tuned them out, and I think the team did a good job of tuning them out. SHIZZ ALSTON: Yeah, I agree with that. Q. How tough is it for your guys to keep pace and keep pace but just can't get over the hump there it seemed like the whole game? FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, we're used to that, playing these guys. I thought we were -- when the first game that we played at our place and we got over the hump late, that was terrific and we played -- we had the hump on our side most of the game at Wichita State, we just didn't finish it. Today we obviously got behind a little bit early and but I loved our fight, I loved how we were hanging each and every moment, and got it back to three I think late and just needed another basket. We needed another stop. We just want to play another game, that's all. We just want to not stop playing, and I want that for these guys especially for not these two, I want it for them, too, but more for our seniors who have had great careers and done great work for Temple, and if we can keep on playing that will be great. Q. I was curious about sort of the adjustments defensively. It seemed late you did start doubling maybe Shamet up higher but it took a while for you to make that? FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, we did blast him a little bit more in the second half, but even the last shot of the first half was just a killer shot that we didn't think about that at that time, but that would have been obviously something we might have been able to do as well. But he got some great shots, and we lost him and sometimes we lost him, and it was our poor defensive play. We lost sight of him and the way he started, you can't lose sight of him. But we did make a few changes in the second half. But like a kid like Kelly comes in and does some great, great work for them. He drove the one ball right to the rim and dunked it, and he made the foul shots when he needed to as well. So they have a good team and I thought their team played well. Q. How important would the NIT be for Quinton and the other sophomores and the freshmen? FRAN DUNPHY: I think it's of great importance and we would love to be in it. We would love to be in it. So I think any time you can keep on playing, it's a wonderful thing. These guys' careers go so quick, you want to see them play as many games as possible. Q. There was a period when you took this program to the sixth straight Tournaments, you were knocking off Top-10 teams, unfortunately you missed the Tournament four of the last five years. What would you say has changed in the last five years, and how do you sort of currently evaluate the program and maybe your role moving forward? FRAN DUNPHY: Yeah, I appreciate that, and the last two years we haven't made the Tournament. I didn't think we were the healthiest team last year, I thought we had a couple of injuries to include Josh Brown, to include Trey Lowe, which would have gotten us over the hump a little bit. But I love our freshmen, every one of the four of them is going to be terrific college basketball players. I love where we are that way. So the one year that we went to the NIT and we thought we had done enough in our body of work to get into the NCAA as well. But I think our program is very, very good. We got into a new conference as well. And that's probably as difficult a situation as we find ourselves in, but it's a terrific, terrific conference and we need to play better. THE MODERATOR: Temple, thank you. FRAN DUNPHY: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|