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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2019

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Northern Iowa - 61, Southern Illinois - 58

THE MODERATOR: Southern Illinois Salukis are here. Coach Barry Hinson is surrounded by his student body, Armon Fletcher and Kavion Pippen. We're going to ask Barry to start off with a statement.

BARRY HINSON: First of all, congratulations to Coach Jacobson and his staff and the Panthers of Northern Iowa. That's the first game we've lost all year long holding a team to 39 percent or under. Give them credit. They made a huge -- Green hit a big basket with a hand in his face, and our player Cook hit a big basket to put us up one. We were one stop and one rebound away from winning the game, and Northern Iowa made the play to win it. So congratulations to them for an outstanding effort on their part.

Q. Kavion, they tried to kind of challenge you with Lohaus around that screen. You guys were trailing, and you had to kind of make a decision and try to come out and challenge the shot or prepare for the rebound. How difficult was that today?
KAVION PIPPEN: It was pretty difficult. They were able to come off the screen and pull up. So I had to like adjust and either step up or just stay with my man. So they were smart plays.

Q. And offensively, how much did your confident grow when you knocked down a couple of those free-throw line jumpers and they were leaving you open there?
KAVION PIPPEN: My teammates and the coaches were telling me, "You can make that shot." They believed in me. They were telling me keep shooting it even though it wasn't falling at first. They just gave me the confidence to believe I could make it.

Q. If the players could just take me through the last couple seconds from seeing Cook take that three and just trying to get a stop on that last possession, or trying to tie in that last possession. I'm sorry.
THE MODERATOR: Armon will go first.

ARMON FLETCHER: He just made a big shot. That's all there was to it. The play broke down, and he did a good job of doing what he does, which is making big shots at big times. We came down and forced them into a tough shot themselves, and Green just made it.

Q. Armon, they tried to put you in difficult positions defensively, just with Trae and a couple different guys. How hard was it for you to find a good shot tonight?
ARMON FLETCHER: A lot of the shots, you know I took, that was just me missing them. They forced me into a few tough shots, but most of them were just my error. I can't blame anybody but myself for missing those shots.

Q. And just how disappointing is it to come up short today and end your careers here in the first game?
KAVION PIPPEN: It was very disappointing. We expected to win it. We believed we were going to win. I guess UNI just played better ball today, and we lost.

Q. Barry, could you talk about just why do you think the team -- do you feel like you got the team as far as they could go? Where do you think you came up short this season?
BARRY HINSON: I thought we played our tails off today, Todd. When you're down 11 under the ten-minute mark, most teams would just shut it down and not play. For us to come back and take the lead, I thought showed great character on these young men's part. This is not what we expected, but this is the Valley. I would think we're the first upset of the tournament, and there will be some other upsets that I would predict, and we'll just see what happens.

I'm not going to discount anything these young men did this year, and especially these two guys that are with me here on the podium tonight.

Q. To both the players, you guys just played possibly your last game of college basketball. What's going through your head right now?
ARMON FLETCHER: Just constant replay of like the mistakes you made in the game, just the whole season. Everything you've been through is just replay over and over again.

KAVION PIPPEN: Pretty much the same thing, constant replay. Memories with these guys and the coaching staff. Just reminiscing about playing with each other.

Q. Barry, how will you remember these two next to you and Sean Lloyd in particular?
BARRY HINSON: My memories of these two knuckleheads next to me won't be as much for basketball but for the pain in the ass they've been at times. No, I'll remember these young men -- Armon's been with me for five years, and I'll remember Armon and Armon's mother because they have been so dear to me as not only as a player and as a mother. I'll remember Kavion just through the recruiting process of him believing in us and believing in SIU to come play for us. Kavion carries a lot of pressure on his shoulders just because of his last name, and he's Kavion Pippen, and he deserves to be Kavion by what he's accomplished.

Both of these young men sitting beside me will have the opportunity to play professionally. Armon has already got his degree, and Kavion will get his degree in May, and that's the most important thing to me.

I tell these parents, when I go into their home, I could care less whether they could make a jump shot 15 feet, 15 years from now, but when they have a degree, it will last them the rest of their lives. It will show you the impact that not only they have made on my life but hopefully we made on their lives as well.

Q. Looking back at all of the seniors playing their last game tonight, is there anything you have to say to each of them?
BARRY HINSON: You just heard me talk about these two guys, and I'm crushed for Thik Bol, but I hope people understand what this young man did. Coach Kill said he had a guy in Minnesota that played without a meniscus, but he never practiced. That's basically what we did with Thik. I thought the grit he showed playing this year for us was outstanding. I really -- I hurt that you didn't get to see the true Thik Bol, only got to see it in his junior year.

Rudy, I've never coached anybody from Latvia. If I go to Europe, I'm not ever going to have a tour guide. Just an outstanding young man and pleasant to be around.

I've had the opportunity to coach some guys from Philly before, but Sean Lloyd will be the most popular guy I've ever coached from Philly and what he's done for me. You talk about people judge a book by its cover. He's probably the meanest sucker on the floor, but he's the most gentle teddy bear you want to be around and one of the kindest individuals.

But these six seniors have had a huge impact on my life, and I'll forever remember that.

Q. You mentioned Thik and your player from Latvia. You had three international players. As a guy in Carbondale, Illinois, how do you find those guys?
BARRY HINSON: I think you're going to find out that mid-major basketball is going to do a lot of international recruiting. That's the one area that we can maybe find a diamond in the rough and still compete against the high majors. I have to give credit to my staff. Our network, I've been doing this for 38 years. I've got a lot of guys out there to help me. I will say this. It's always been a pleasure to coach those kids internationally because they really appreciate receiving a free education, a free meal, a free bus ride, a free plane ticket, free gear. They're very appreciative of it. It's always a pleasure to be around those guys.

Q. Coach, next season, Aaron Cook, Eric McGill, what have those two guys meant for you and showed you this year?
BARRY HINSON: I think the thing is with six seniors you always have to have some guys that will adapt around those guys. I couldn't be any prouder of Aaron Cook and what he did and how much better a player he is. Eric McGill, after breaking his hand last year and having to sit out a whole season, Eric's second in the conference in steals.

You've got two guys coming back next year that will solidify, and I thought you saw a little bit of Darius today that we could see the future, but there's three good perimeter players that are coming back to represent us. It will be interesting to watch those guys develop as they mature.

THE MODERATOR: At this point, we're going to suspend the questions and give the table to Coach Hinson.

BARRY HINSON: Hey, guys, I've been coaching 38 years, and I've been blessed to be a part of this conference for 16 years, and there's nobody that loves the Valley more than I do. Each and every venue that I've ever coached in has just been outstanding. I got to serve 9 years in Springfield, Missouri, started off at Southwest Missouri, and I was the last coach at Southwest Missouri and the first coach at Missouri State. And I got a second chance to come back to the Valley when Mario Moccia hired me to be the coach at Southern Illinois. Just a great program and a tradition rich program.

I made -- we made a pact that, if we didn't go to the NIT or the NCAA, that it would be time for me to step away. I've had the most enjoyable year, believe it or not, being around these young men and being around my current athletic director Jerry Kill. I couldn't be more excited right now for Saluki athletics than what I am because I know where it's headed, I know who's running the ship now. And I know we've had a lot of issues on campus there in Carbondale, but those issues are getting ready to go away.

If you quote me on one thing, I'd like for you to quote me on this. I am so sorry. I am so sorry that we couldn't get back to a tournament. It's haunted me. It's haunted me my entire life. But I'm a man of faith, and my dad taught me a long time ago, I know not what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future.

I've made great friends, and these coaches in this league that I've made over my 16 years will be lifelong friends. The players that I've coached against and the players that I've had the opportunity to coach, and I've had the opportunity to work under one of the greatest conference commissioners that a guy could work under. I've been so blessed. I've been so blessed. And I've had tragedy in my life, and every time I've had somebody, the conference or the coaching community or the fans have rallied behind my family.

But I want to thank you for giving me 16 wonderful years in this conference, and I'll do anything I can do to help it in the future, but it's time. It's time for me to step away. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: On behalf of the Missouri Valley Conference, thank you for your service and Godspeed.

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