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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SAN DIEGO

March 16, 2018

San Diego, California

Auburn - 62, Charleston - 58

THE MODERATOR: College of Charleston, head Coach, Earl Grant, student-athletes Jarrell Brantley and Grant Riller. We will begin with an opening statement from Coach Grant.

EARL GRANT: You know, I thought we gave great effort, came up a little bit short. Give Auburn credit they made a couple of big threes at the end, but I thought our team played with great heart and with great toughness. And, you know, our guys left everything on the court tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes?

Q. Grant, walk us through that last sequence and tell us what you were trying to accomplish and if you think you for the fouled on that play?
GRANT RILLER: About 13 seconds left when I got the ball, kind of wanted to come down and create space and hit a shot. I think I got touched, but it's not my job to worry about foul calls or not, so pretty good defense by him, too.

Q. Grant, you played forty minutes tonight. Jarrell, you played 38. How much did fatigue play a role at the end there, if any?
GRANT RILLER: No fatigue at all. Possibly the last game of the season, so didn't have time to worry about being tired or fatigued.

JARRELL BRANTLEY: Same. That was the last thing on my mind. We were making this run for our seniors for the most part. So trying to push as much as we could for them.

Q. At the end of the day, you guys were great competitors. What did you want to be remembered for as a program?
GRANT RILLER: Just toughness. Our program is built off that, so just being remembered as tough kids.

Q. Your team mate, No. 13, was he playing through an injury today? Looked like he was quite hobbled in the second half?
EARL GRANT: Yeah, you know, Joe is a senior and obviously he got the heart of a lion. He was our leader and done a lot for us this season and for the program over four years. He wanted to put his best foot forward to try to help his teammates and he just came up a little bit short. He had an ankle sprain and he couldn't do what he wanted to do. But, again, that's why it's called a team, and our guys, they left everything on the court, forty minutes, 38 minutes, doesn't matter. They had a chance to win it at the end.

Q. For Grant, the Auburn coach was really proud of his team's defense. Said you guys had more turnovers than is typical. What do you think of their defense and why were the turnovers up tonight?
GRANT RILLER: I think their defense was overall pretty good. We don't face the way they guard the ball screen too much during the season, so I just think that it's pretty good defense by them.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We will continue with Coach Grant.

Q. Coach, can you walk us through that last sequence when you had a chance to tie the game?
EARL GRANT: Well, 13 seconds left, and we had a guy who needed to have the ball had the ball. I don't know. I didn't see the film, you know. We had a big-time crew of referees. Those guys do big-time games. At the end of the day, Auburn played good defense tonight. We tried to contest shots hard and I think they tried to contest shots hard. So I don't know what happened. I just know we had the right guy with the ball in his hand. Came up a little bit short.

Q. Just like I asked them, talk about playing those guys that many minutes, leaving them out there?
EARL GRANT: Well, you know, they play a lot of minutes. Anytime you are a starter you're going to play 30 to 35 most nights, so they probably played 4 or 5 extra minutes tonight. Some of that was because of Joe Chealey. He didn't play much. He was in foul trouble. He wasn't 100%, so somebody had to fill the gap and I think that Marquise Pointer, Jarrell Brantley and Grant Riller all filled the gap and they played really hard.

Q. When you look back on the career of Joe Chealey how much of a difference maker is he in the turning of a program?
EARL GRANT: I mean, we've been together from day one, so I think the biggest thing is anytime you lose with a guy, I think losing with somebody is special because when you lose, you know, you gotta look at each other every day and you find out who each other really are. They're going to find out who I am and I'm going to find out who they are.

So we've been through some tough times. So I think going through tough times was probably a big part of turning the program around because we never forget how it felt to be at the bottom, and Joe was with me from day one. He's gotten better every year, and he deserves a lot of credit for really, you know, making an impact on this program and leaving big, huge, footprints in the sand for the program and for the city of Charleston.

Q. When you look back at tonight, how much of Joe's injury dictated what happened in this game?
EARL GRANT: You know, I don't know. I prepare my mind going into it. I love the kid. He loved the program. I prepared going into the game in my mind that maybe he couldn't give us what he wanted to give us. I think mentally he wanted to give us more physically. He just couldn't, and I was preparing myself for that.

But I was also preparing myself for the fact that we needed to win the game anyway. I think it had a big impact because he's one of the better players in our league. He's a great player. And he could have changed the game, but at the end of the day it's unfortunate he couldn't do what he was capable of doing.

Q. I'm wondering if you got to catch up with Gregg Marshall, and if so, what did you learn from your conversation?
EARL GRANT: Yeah, we talk. At the end of the day, hey, March Madness. You're promised one game, go out and play, put your best foot forward and play hard and that's what we did. Unfortunately, we just didn't do enough to win the game.

Q. Coach, we're in San Diego, so we weren't up to date on this. He had scored a lot of points in the Conference Championship. When did he hurt his ankle?
EARL GRANT: He hurt his ankle the last minute and a half of regulation. We went into overtime and he showed a lot of heart and a lot of toughness. Again, he's done a lot for this program, but he hurt it the last minute and a half of regulation. But he played through overtime with that high ankle sprain.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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