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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTON

March 14, 2018

Dayton, Ohio

Texas Southern - 64, NC Central - 46

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by NC Central coach LeVelle Moton as well as student-athletes Raasean Davis and Jordan Perkins.

COACH MOTON: Hats off to Texas Southern and Mike. We knew what we were facing. They've been here before. They're a more talented team than us; they're older than us. And we knew, regardless of our effort, we were going to have to play old tonight. Despite our inexperience we're going to have to play very experienced tonight.

And my concern initially was I'm just hoping this moment is not too big for these guys. And I've been around the game since I was 5 years old and you can tell a lot the moment you look in a player's eyes. And the first timeout, I didn't feel as if anyone had that look in their eyes except for Raasean. And I was trying to get that look out of everyone else's eyes. It looked like they were in awe, the moment was too big.

And I wanted them to calm down and put the responsibility on me. But we had some mental breakdowns and we didn't follow the scout. We were closing out on nonshooters. Not closing out on shooters.

When you do that, that just means that things are just running in your mind too fast. And Trae, you know, he was outstanding. I thought he settled that group down. And I thought another thing that affected our guards were when we got paint touches, trying to finish over Bruce was, that was a difficult challenge for us, because he's seven feet, 7'2" to be exact, looked like eight feet out from the coach's box. It was difficult for our guys to finish, his length and athleticism definitely bothered us.

We didn't give our best shot. We knew our freshmen would have to play like seniors and walk-on would have to play like a scholarship junior.

We fell short tonight; we were outplayed, outcoached, out-toughed. And they've been here before. They're a veteran group, older group, and they're a really good basketball team. And Mike does an incredible job with those young men.

So personnel-wise, I thought they have three or four kids that's high-major kids, or upper mid-major kids that were supposed to be at the mid-major level. And it was going to take a phenomenal experience and effort on our behalf. And blame me. I just didn't get it done for our guys. I should have had a better game plan of execution to get them out of those situations.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Raasean started the game 8 for 10 first half, only got one field goal attempt in the second. Coach Davis said coming to the game he thought you may fatigue or wear down. Did you get tired in the second half, is that why you only took one shot in the second half?
RAASEAN DAVIS: No, that didn't have anything to do with it, I didn't know what it was, but that wasn't it.

Q. Going to the half, trailing, you did that three times during the conference tournament. What was the mood in the locker room knowing you were able to overcome the deficit?
JORDAN PERKINS: I made sure I told the guys to stay calm, stay under control and stay poised. Felt like just because they had the lead didn't mean the game was over. It's a game of runs. I felt like if we came out with better energy the second half it would have been a better result.

Q. As a point guard, Raasean as hot as he was in the first half, other guys struggling from the field a little bit, was your mindset to keep feeding him even though the defense was trying to focus on him getting everybody involved there in the second half?
JORDAN PERKINS: I always tried to make a conscious effort to give Raasean the ball, along with my teammates. We didn't hit shots first or second half, which was a big effect on the game. We shot a pretty low percentage. We shot a pretty low percentage, which was the reason we only scored 46 points. I always try to make a effort to give him the ball, scores the ball well two, three feet away from the basket, make sure I make the effort to give him the rock.

Q. You like to focus on people's scouting reports all through the MEAC, you're used to double teams. But sometimes they were sending three guys at you. Have you faced anything like that this year, and what was your reaction how you handled it this year in the post?
RAASEAN DAVIS: I've seen it a few times. My reaction is I just have to pass it back out and hit the open guy and then that's pretty much it.

Q. Obviously your first time here, didn't end like you wanted to, but what can you take from the overall experience of being here in a year where you kind of surprised people who didn't expect you guys to get here?
JORDAN PERKINS: Just getting better, Coach Moton told me it's all about getting better. So next year we plan to be back, me and Raasean, with a better mindset, coming to win games. I feel like we're here to win games, but we didn't deliver like we're supposed to. Next year will be a different story.

RAASEAN DAVIS: To piggyback on what Jordan said. This start was like in the beginning of the year when we were playing, like, D-IIs and D-IIIs. We didn't prepare for this moment the correct way.

We weren't preparing for each team. And myself included, it was just a learning experience. And it was a humbling experience because I've never been here before. And it was a great experience, but next year I feel like we have to prepare better for this. Not only for the MEAC or to win the MEAC Tournament, but for this.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach Moton.

Q. Same question for you about trailing at the half. Did that three times during the conference tournament. What did you tell this team knowing that they were able to overcome the deficit?
COACH MOTON: Number one, we just needed to calm down. We had zero free throw attempts. We had not made a 3-point bucket, and we were still only down 10. And in this magnitude and in this atmosphere, you want them to understand the value of one possession.

One possession can change the tide of a game. Everyone is not entitled to a mistake on our team. That kid Jordan Perkins, he's fought his heart out for me. He's a baby. He's a kid. He reminds me a lot of my own son, when I talk to him, because he's that young.

And some of the things I told him earlier in the year, he came back to the bench in the middle of the game and he said: Coach, I see why you told me that. It's not his fault.

But he just turned the ball over one time when we had numbers on the break, and instead of keeping it simple, he turned it over and they hit a 3. And we had one more turnover right after that and they hit another 3. So that's a six-point play.

So hopefully through that learning experience he can understand, Reggie can understand, John and all of those guys in the locker room can understand the value of one possession. We didn't respect the possession the way they respected the possession.

We have to respect the possession much more because we don't have the talent nor the firepower that they've had, even though we're injury prone and shorthanded, that's not an excuse. We are here and we just didn't get it done.

Q. I asked Raasean about the one shot attempt in the second half. Is that something Texas Southern was doing. Would you have liked to see the guys be more conscious of the ball?
COACH MOTON: He's going to say that wasn't the case. And every young man is going to say that because we're driven by ego.

The reality is 35 minutes is too many minutes for him. He's normally a 27, 28 player, to produce the way we needed him to produce.

I had to ride him a little more because our guards, we couldn't make a shot. So I was like, wow, we've got to have someone in there who can score. We were 0-for-14 from the 3-point line. These kids can shoot the basketball. That's just nerves and that's just this moment being too big for them.

I knew we were going to have to go through that. And I knew we were going to have an incredible performance or a poor performance. There was going to be no in between. And there's normally not an in between when you have inexperienced groups. It's going to be: They're oblivious to what's going on, so they perform at a high level. Or they're knowledgeable of what's going on and the pressure got to them. The pressure got to us tonight.

And it was a humbling experience as a coach. And hats off to Mike. They're so talented, man. They can just spread you and space you. You've got to pick your poison because they have shooters out there. If you help up -- they've got a seven-footer that can throw it at the rim and Donte can just drive the basketball. They have so many weapons all over the place.

Q. Coach Davis said he's glad he played you guys this year when you're young because he wouldn't want to play you guys in the future. Is the bright side of this experience that all five starters return next year as well as a couple guys off the bench and they've seen the bright lights now and they've been on the big stage?
COACH MOTON: Hopefully they can take something and apply it. That's the key. Traditionally I've always been older, like Mike. But this year we had some injuries to some critical wings.

And at the end of the day, and you guys watched this tournament and you watch this tournament every single year, your guards have to be outstanding. That's all that matters. Your guards really have to be outstanding.

Your 4 and 5, post play, that can be mediocre, that can be average but your guards have to be outstanding. And so tonight we played young. We coached young. We didn't look like a veteran group. In the huddles I was correcting body language as opposed to strategic planning, and that's because adversity hit and we didn't respond well.

So that's part of growth. That's part of maturation. They're mature. They've been here four out of five years they'll probably get here next year with all their talent. They're a mature basketball team and we have to learn how to be mature. And we'll get better as a coaching staff and we'll get better as a group and hopefully return.

I thought one of the critical things, and I told our guys in the locker room, no one believed in you. And that's a dangerous thing, because now when you accomplish what you accomplish, you can just become that guy that's happy to be here.

I thought we played like a group that was happy to be here instead of a group that was desperate to advance. They played desperate to advance. They wanted to go see Xavier. Our guys was happy to be here. And you can't blame them for that because they were the underdogs. Put that on me. I didn't have them prepared. It was difficult to practice. We had four games in five days last week. So you had to kind of manage everything and I tried to play everyone and throw something until it stuck. And we just didn't have the answers. But credit them, Texas Southern was better than us.

Q. With just four seniors on this team, a lot of people coming back next year, what can you say as you go towards the future for this program?
COACH MOTON: You know, it looks bright. Hopefully Rashann London tore his ACL early, he would have helped us so much because he brings so much Colonial Athletic experience and Jibri Blount will fill in. He's a man, mature guy.

We have some kids that we have committed during the recruiting process. And we have to finalize the recruiting. You couple that with the fact you have returners, the future looks bright.

Regardless of that, it didn't end the way we wanted it to end. Whoever comes up to this podium at the end of the year only one team is going to be happy and that's the part that sucks.

The same thing that makes you laugh will make you cry in this game. We were laughing last week. But now we're crying. But we're going to find the positives.

And I'm extremely proud of the group of young men in that locker room. They have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, and it was an honor and pleasure for me to coach them.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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