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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTONMarch 13, 2018Mark SchmidtJaylen AdamsCourtney StockardDayton, Ohio St. Bonaventure - 65, UCLA - 58 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by St. Bonaventure student-athletes Jaylen Adams and Courtney Stockard and head coach Coach Schmidt. Mark, an opening statement. COACH SCHMIDT: What a game. You know we've got great tradition at Bonaventure. We heard all week -- and when I got the job here 11 years ago, we hear the stories about 1970 and how disappointing it was that Lanier got hurt and they didn't have a chance to have a full team and going to play Jacksonville. And everybody talks about if Lanier was healthy they would have taken on UCLA. And this victory is for those guys. They didn't get an opportunity to show their talent. Just really proud of our guys. They played extremely hard. This guy next to me was a huge part of it. Just proud of our effort. I'm thankful for the Dayton fans for what they did. I said in the press conference yesterday, it will be the first time they didn't boo me, boo the Bonnies. It felt like the Reilly Center all over again. We had great support from the Bonaventure people that came down. Great support from the community of Dayton. And we just beat UCLA. How much prouder can I be? Q. You've waited over two years for this. Now going out there, biggest game of your career and really leading the team when other offensive performances weren't quite where they wanted to be, what does that mean for you in this spotlight? COURTNEY STOCKARD: Without this guy next to me it wouldn't even have been possible. They kind of keyed in on him early in the game. We really knew they would. I got some good looks early. Jay did a good job of finding me and I'm thankful for that. Q. Courtney, it was a thought you could play against Davidson, and obviously you sat out. How did you feel physically tonight? COURTNEY STOCKARD: I still wasn't 100 percent yet, but I'm feeling way better than when I did when I left the Richmond game. So I can't really let an opportunity like this pass. So I'm just out here playing. Q. Jaylen, kind of a two-part question. When was the last time you had a game like this for 39 minutes, if you ever have? And I noticed the first bit of frustration on your face after you missed the drive around the seven or eight-minute mark, and what kept you going down the stretch? JAYLEN ADAMS: First of all, it was a great game. Glad to be a part of it. Going in, I missed some shots early that I thought was supposed to drop. I hung my head a little bit, but my teammates picked me back up. My coaches told me to keep playing. And it's all up -- this guy right here, he played so well. He picked us up, he picked the whole team up. We rallied behind him. And the win wouldn't have been possible without him. Q. When the game started, looked like you guys were a little bit jittery. Well, looked like everybody else was a little bit jittery but you weren't. Why do you think you were so calm? It seemed like you were on some sort of some a mission in the way you attacked the basket. COURTNEY STOCKARD: I think it goes back to me sitting out the Davidson game. I was really disappointed with the injury that I came down with. And coming out today I wanted to be aggressive, especially knowing they were going to key in on Jay and Matt. And doing that I helped us get a win. Shoutout to my teammates. Q. Jay, you went straight to your mother after the game, gave her a hug after helping Bona to its first NCAA Tournament win in 48 years. You were the driving force behind this thing. What did that feel like for you? JAYLEN ADAMS: It's just a real feeling there. All my friends, they used to tell me how crazy of an experience the NCAA Tournament is. And it's a whole other feeling when you get a win, especially when you get those facts behind you. Coach let us know that teams win games out of Dayton especially when you win here. So she's my biggest supporter. I wanted to go show her love and thank her for supporting me. Q. UCLA came out and they couldn't miss at the beginning of the game. They were making everything -- 3s, 2s, they were 5-for-5 at one point. How did you guys just kind of handle that pressure and come back and go on a run? JAYLEN ADAMS: We understood they were going to make shots. They're a good offensive team. They have a bunch of skilled guys, 1 through 5. I think it's just credit to the coaching and the veteran leadership that we didn't hang our head when they started making shots. We understood it's a game of runs. We knew we would have our turn and we punched back and I'm glad we could get the win today. COURTNEY STOCKARD: Just kind of piggyback off what Jay said, they're a good offensive team. But at the end of the day it's a 40-minute game. Can't hang our heads on the shots they hit early. We just wanted to keep our defensive principles and try to get stops. Q. Jaylen, specifically, that 18-, 16-, 18-footer you hit put you guys ahead. What did you see there? What did it feel like? What felt different than some of those earlier shots? JAYLEN ADAMS: Early on I just felt like the lane was real crowded. Late in the game I felt like I had a little space. Nobody came and set the ball screen, so I knew they just wanted me to work out. The defense kept backing up and I was able to knock the shot down. Credit to my teammates just for keeping my confidence up throughout the whole game. And I just want to be that guy that makes plays down the stretch for my team and I'm glad I can make that shot. Q. Jay, you were 2-for-16 from the floor. How good of a sign is this, when you go 2-of-16 from the floor and you take down that team? JAYLEN ADAMS: It just shows what kind of team we could beat. We understood that the game would be won on the defensive end. Credit UCLA defense. I couldn't hit shots early. I couldn't get into a rhythm. A lot of nerves going out there in the first game, and I'm glad we could get them out of the way. I look forward to Thursday. Q. Courtney, because you played in that Maryland game obviously earlier in the year, it looked like you guys deployed some of the same defensive strategy in this one tonight against a bigger UCLA team. Was that the case? And how about the effort for you guys to hold one of the highest scoring teams in the country at 80 points a game to 58? COURTNEY STOCKARD: We kind of played like the same defense with not just them but we played the same defense all year. Like you say, UCLA is a good offensive team, high-scoring team. But the guys, I think we did a good job taking away their knowns, making them take contested shots and just a credit to the rest of the team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. Questions for Coach. Q. You always talk about limiting your turnovers to less than 10 every game. You had six tonight. You forced 20. Can you talk about the defensive aggressiveness? COACH SCHMIDT: You look at -- I always talk about the five columns in the bottom right-hand corner. And you want to -- if you can win those columns you have a chance to win. And we scored 30 points off of turnovers. They score three. We outscored them by 27. That's the difference. Our zone was really effective. Our guys did a really good job of getting out on Holiday, keeping the ball in front of us. They were really active. And our half-court offense wasn't great. They have great size. But we got stuff off of turnovers and that was a huge key -- 30 points, plus-27 points off turnovers. That's the difference. And as big as they were, we outscored them by 10 in the paint. So those two categories -- going into the game you're always concerned, they were so fast, they advanced the ball, they're big, they have great skill. But our zone, you know going into the game you have your game plan, but you just don't know how effective the zone is going to be. It was effective. We were active in it. UCLA is a heck of a team with good talent. We were active, got deflections and points off turnovers. That was the difference in the game. Q. Slow starts for Jay and Matt. And here Courtney is playing hurt. And just talk a little bit about how important it was for him to carry you guys? COACH SCHMIDT: We didn't have him against Davidson, and Courtney had been averaging I think 24 points in the last four games. And give credit to him. For two years he didn't play one second of basketball and for him to come back and have a day like today, it's a credit to him, but he's the reason why we won. He scored the ball. Jay and Matt, UCLA did a real good job on those guys. They freed up Courtney. And we thought going into the game with the size at UCLA, we thought Courtney could do stuff off the bounce. We thought the mismatch -- and Courtney made some plays and got some stuff in the open court. But, like I said, the difference was points off turnovers. To be able to outscore UCLA by 27 with the talent that they have, that's a credit to our guys. Q. You mentioned it off the top but when did the history of this matchup in the 1970s hit home for you? COACH SCHMIDT: You know, when we found out we were playing UCLA -- and I had known about it when I first got the job -- but when we first got to know that we were going to play UCLA, everybody talks about it. And Bonaventure is a unique special place. It's a special place and it has great basketball tradition. And that was the greatest team that's ever played. And so they talked about that. And I talked to the team about it. Because I think that's really important, legacies and tradition. And for our guys to be able to go out and play a great UCLA team and beat them, to me, hopefully that helps the disappointment back in 1970. Q. In all the years that you've had Jaylen, have you seen a game from him like that where he might not have it for, at least shooting? COACH SCHMIDT: Yeah, he struggled. He struggled shooting-wise. I thought he did a really good job defending, did a good job handling the ball. But he struggled. But I've always said it going into the season, they talked about our two guards and our two guards are really good, Matt and Jay. But basketball is a five-man game, and you need other guys. And we're not a team that just relies on those two guys it shows today when our best player can have an offensive performance like he had and we can beat a UCLA team. That's a credit to the other guys, those role guys. And that's how you win basketball games. Your stars have to play well, but your role guys, they've got to pick it up and play well and fill those roles and they did, Courtney did an extremely good job today. Like I said, we wouldn't have won without him. Q. I know you said in your press conference yesterday that you guys were waiting until after the season to sort of reflect on your accomplishments from this year. But to have led this program to its first NCAA Tournament win in 48 years, how does that feel right now? COACH SCHMIDT: It's great. And it's a credit to everybody at the university, from the administration to the athletic department, to our players. I'm proud. I'm proud to be the head coach at St. Bonaventure. I'm proud of our team and the accomplishments that they've had. But we're not done. We can look at all those records that we've had once this is finished. And we know we're having a heck of a year. But we want to continue. And that 2.00 a.m. flight is going to be the best flight I've ever taken. Q. Did it take you a couple of minutes to gather yourself before you walked in here? I saw tears when you came in there, which I've never seen from you. COACH SCHMIDT: Yeah, it's a special moment to -- where we came 11 years ago, when I walked into a locker room we had three players. They had won in 24 games in four years. Some people said I shouldn't take the job. For us to go from having three players to beating UCLA in 11 years, it's something I'm really proud of. And believe me it's not me. I got great assistance, great players and kids that really strive to be good. Our guys, we always talk about we're a bunch of misfits. No one wanted us. We come to Bonaventure, we just work our tails off. And it's good that when you work to have some success and that's what I'm most proud of. And it is emotional because we know how much we've put into this. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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