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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2019

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon again, everyone. The victorious Braves are here. They have a game tomorrow against Loyola. Brian Wardle is the head coach. Elijah Childs and Darrell Brown are the student-athletes. We'll ask Brian for a statement on the game.

BRIAN WARDLE: It was a hard-fought game for both teams. I thought both teams really competed out there, played extremely hard, physical game. Proud of our guys' resiliency again this year. We've had it a lot throughout the season. Shouldn't say I was surprised actually because we were down 7 at half. I like how we guarded. We didn't close out the first half very well. The last two, three minutes, they went on a little bit of a run. But I like how they guarded. I like the shots we made them make.

We had a good halftime. We stayed calm. We executed the game plan better in the second half. Offensively, we tried to get the tempo up as much as we could and picked our spots doing that. I thought how we started the second half really set the tone for our group. I thought we came out hungry, aggressive, and really got the momentum back to our side. We're just happy to advance. Survive and advance, that's this time of year.

Q. You were able to hold Da Silva to three points and the way you're able to guard Webster, I noticed going under a couple of screens and things of that nature. Just how were you able to control the Bears' offense there in the second half?
BRIAN WARDLE: I give my staff a lot of credit. We switched ball screens, and I thought, if you paid attention at the end of the shot clock, we thought take away Da Silva's dives. He's very athletic, talented player, and when he dives to that rim and gets lobs, gets offensive rebounds, we wanted to take that away and just try to keep the ball in front of us as good as we can. They've got some athletic guards that can really get in the paint -- Dixon, Kreklow, Webster -- are all problems when it comes to penetration.

I thought we did a great job of switching and fronting him in the post and putting a body on the defensive rebounding. These guys, I give them credit. They talked. They executed. I thought Elijah Childs was tremendous defensively in the second half. I know he's got a chip on his shoulder. He wasn't on All-Defensive Team. I don't know if there's a better guard out there who can guard one through five. He showed it in the second half when he wasn't in foul trouble. I thought Darrell really carried out in the second half offensively. But fronting them in the post, and I think switching some of those ball screens was key.

Q. It was kind of back and forth until the four minute mark when Elijah hit the three and Darrell hit the jumper. What was the last four minutes like? Was there a big momentum change? What was the mentality of the team?
BRIAN WARDLE: I thought the team was very focused. The huddles were great, positive. We were talking about execution and what we need to get done. We had some errant passes towards the end of the game, but overall we did enough to win, and we held the lead. And made the plays when we needed to make them. Darrell, obviously, free-throw shooting was key down the stretch and making free throws for us.

So proud of our guys and the resiliency, but I love how we competed the whole game and definitely in the second half. I thought we were the aggressors.

Q. Eli, two-piece question here: In that final sequence, first, can you describe what you saw in setting up that block of the three-point shot? And then I think it was on the next possession, coming inbounds when Kreklow took it in that toss-up at half-court.
ELIJAH CHILDS: To answer the first question, I knew he was going to -- I knew Cook was going to shoot it, so I knew I had to get my hands up and get out there quickly because he had a pretty good look, and if I didn't jump, I felt he was going to make it.

To answer your second question, the pass was kind of underthrown, but I knew I had to get a plan, and I knew the time on the clock and the score. I knew he was going to -- Kreklow was going to come down and shoot. So I wanted to get my hands in the play and give it all I can.

Q. Darrell, about three minutes left when you guys were kind of trying to exert control of the game, and Ja'Shon had a big steal deep in the corner. Do you remember that play? And then what happened on that from your vantage point? And how big was that for you?
DARRELL BROWN: I mean, we pride ourselves on defense, so it was a big stop. At that time in the game, we needed it. Ja'Shon did a great job moving his feet and fighting in the post. I think Da Silva was trying to post him, and he didn't let him know where he was and got around him and got a steal. That's a tremendous save to me.

Q. Darrell, what is working so well for you guys right now? You've won 8 out of 10. What's working?
DARRELL BROWN: I mean, first of all, we have a big chip on our shoulders. We started 0-5, and a lot of people counted us out. So we stayed together the whole time, and when people didn't believe in us, regardless of who it was, we stayed together, and we kept doing what we did all season working, constantly working and listening to the coaches. I mean, we're just playing some good basketball and doing the things that we know we need every night like defending and rebounding the ball.

Q. Coach, now looking ahead to Loyola tomorrow, what are going to be the keys for that matchup for you guys?
BRIAN WARDLE: Well, Loyola is playing really well today. Obviously, they performed well. We've got to be more physical, I think. We just played them a week ago, so that's the nice part is it's short prep. It's a mental prep for our group and for them, and we just came off playing at their place. I thought that was one of their best games of the year, especially in league play, that they played against us.

You know, we've got to do a better -- there's two or three areas we've got to do a better job in, but I'm not going to share it here today.

Q. Yeah, this is for Eli and Darrell on Eli's three-pointer: Early in the season, obviously, you were shooting a lot of them, weren't having much success, shot fewer. Where have you looked to take your threes here in the latter part of the season? And then can you describe that play, how it's set up, and why you had the confidence to shoot it at that juncture? And Darrell, what did you see in that in pitching it out to him? Go ahead, Eli first.
ELIJAH CHILDS: I mean, Coach and my teammates just give me confidence all day. So shooters shoot. I think I'm a shooter, so I'm going to shoot it. No, but my teammates just give me confidence. If it feels good and it doesn't go in, Coach tells me keep shooting it and don't get down on myself if I miss a shot. Just keep coming back to it.

On the last play, Darrell Brown came off the screen, I rescreened, and Da Silva was in the paint. I just trusted my follow through and knocked down a shot for my teammates.

DARRELL BROWN: I mean, Eli works a lot. Before practice, he's always in the gym getting shots up. If he's open, I want him to shoot that shot 10 times out of 10. He was confident in it. And I saw his man was playing off of him. He played off him the whole game, but Eli popped that time, and he was open. So I delivered the ball, and he knocked down a big shot.

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