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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 15, 2019Mark SchmidtDominick WelchKyle LoftonWashington, D.C. St. Bonaventure 68, George Mason 57 COACH MARK SCHMIDT: Going into the game, our goal is to try to get to the NCAA Tournament and the only way we're going to do that is if we can win this thing. We've got to take it one game at a time. I thought these two guys, these from freshmen up here played extremely well. Dom hit some huge shots. Kyle had hurt his ankle, had not practiced in three days and came out and played extremely well. You know, when we defend, we're a really good basketball team. I think we're 15-0 when we hold teams under 60 points, and our guys, you know, we knew going into the game, George Mason, two really good guards, and we have to have at least one of them have an off-night, and I thought Kier played extremely well. I thought we did a really good job in Livingston, and that's the key. We kept them off the foul line. It was a good victory. Now it's on to Rhode Island, on to a team that's playing exceptionally well. Q. You guys were in control throughout the entire game and didn't lead by any less than seven in the second half. Seemed any punch they gave you, you responded back. What do you credit that resiliency of not relinquishing the lead at all? DOMINICK WELCH: I just -- I just felt comfortable out there. I didn't really get splitted (ph) up at any time in the game. I know how me and my team plays, so we just know like how we play and stuff. So we just -- I just felt comfortable out there. That's pretty much it. We felt comfortable out there. That's pretty much it. Q. You know that we go back to the PSA days back at Putnam Science. What is it like coming back to Brooklyn and New York and play in front of your family and friends and play against a tough team like George Mason. KYLE LOFTON: It's great. It's a great experience. Knowing I'm from New Jersey, growing up, I always watched the Barclays Center. It was like a childhood dream to play in, it, and I played in it. We got a victory and I got a lot of support from my family. Like you said, a lot of PSA people came, which is good. Q. Kyle, can you talk a little about your freshman season so far and playing in your first tournament? KYLE LOFTON: My freshman season so far, I think I've been doing good, but all the credit to my teammates and the coaches. I've just been listening, following the older guys and just taking it day by day getting better each and every day. Q. As far as freshmen go, you and Osun have gotten a lot of the headlines this season but how nice was it to see Dom have the game that he did today. KYLE LOFTON: It was very nice. I knew he's capable of doing it because in prep school, I played against him a couple of times because I just know what type of player he is because it's good that he wrung it out. Q. You guys missed your first six shots today and seemed like you couldn't miss at all. Why did you -- why were you able to turn things around and why were you feeling so good today, particularly from long range? DOMINICK WELCH: I just think we have to get used to the hoops in the arena. It's our first time playing here. We only got about like 20 minutes to get some shots up, so I think we just had to get a feel of the rim and everything. And I've been feeling good for a while, now shooting the ball, so I just knew after that first one went in, I just felt good every time I shot the ball. Q. For Kyle or Dom, even when you guys have slumps like you had at the start of the game, your defense has always kept you in it. How important to you guys is it to not let your offensive slump affect the defense? KYLE LOFTON: Like you said, coming into the game, we're a pretty physical team, and the goal was -- one of the keys was take care of the ball and make them score on the halfcourt. Like I said, even though our offense was missing shots, we started two for eight or something, we could always align our defense. Q. You always talk about playing for good coaches. I remember watching you play for Tom when you were at Putnam. What does a guy like Mark Schmidt instill in you? And Dominick, feel free to chime in, as well. What do you learn from a guy like Coach Schmidt? DOMINICK WELCH: He just pushes us every day. Makes sure we don't play like freshmans because we know they lost last year. So just make sure we play like juniors and seniors. He just want the best out of us every day so he with just wants to play hard. KYLE LOFTON: As you all know, he's passionate about the game, and then every day he just preaches hard work, dedication and just you follow those and you'll become successful. Q. You've hit 23 threes against George Mason in the last three games. Do you think those were more isolated games or was there something about the George Mason defense that you've been age to exploit? KYLE LOFTON: I'm not sure. We just got good shots. I think that's one of the reasons because the way they play ball screens is different. So we just got like open looks and just better looks instead of contested shots. Q. Great to see you as always, congratulations on tonight victory. I know that George Mason is a very tough team, as you mentioned, with guards like Justin Kier and Otis Livingston. What was the game plan going into today? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: They have good guards. They are really well-coached. You know, we have a saying, no paint, no foul. In the league, I think they make 70 more foul shots than their opponent. So the key was to try to keep them off the line and try to keep them above the foul line, above Kier and Livingston are just so good off the bounce. We thought maybe we could survive if just one of them played well. So the key was the knowns (ph). We knew we had to do a good job on the knowns. I thought Kier, whatever he got, 20 points, but I thought we did a good job on Livingston, and you know, we have to take care of the basketball. We have to defend in the halfcourt, try to keep them out of transition. We took care of the ball, 17 assists, seven turnovers, so they didn't get any points off of our turnovers and I think if we keep them in the halfcourt, we're a good defensive team. We held them to what, 38 percent, 25 percent from threes and those are great numbers, and when we win, those are the numbers that need to be. You know, we were really successful in the half short. I thought Osun does a really good job of making our defense that much more difficult with him back there blocking shots. LaDarien did a really good job, he had a double-double. Going into the game, they are well-coached. They play all that ball screen stuff. We try to keep the ball out of the paint and try to make them take contested shots and do a decent job on the backboard. In Game 1 down there, they beat us by 20 on the backboard and beat us by nine today, but we can survive that. We can't survive if we get out rebounded by 20. Q. Dom scored the most points by a freshman since at least 2010. How unique is it to have freshmen go out there, him, Kyle and Osun with so little fear. COACH MARK SCHMIDT: Yeah, Kyle, he had 22, so I guess both of them broke a record. But yeah, our freshmen, we struggled early in the year. You know, with injuries, trying to rely on guys, young guys. But those guys have really -- you know, the reason why we're where we are at is because of the freshmen. We get good leadership from will he Darian and Courtney when they got healthy but those three young guys have really blossomed into really good players. Dom was a little bit behind because he lost eight or nine games because of injury, but they play like veteran guys. They are not caught up in the environment. They just play -- all three of those guys love to play. They compete. They are Bonaventure players, not highly recruited guys, per se. Osun got a little bit at the end but guys that have a passion for the game and guys we feel have a great ceiling and they just love to play. They are good guys. They are humble. I'm lucky to be able to have the opportunity to coach them and hopefully for the next three years. They are special players. Q. Just given the way that Dom had been shooting the ball with more confidence of late. Did you feel like this kind of game was going to happen at some point? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: You just never know. He's playing -- he's practicing better. Dom's defending better. He's got a really good sense of how to play now. You know, if there's anybody that made the most strides this year, it's Dom. He just defensively, you know, he caught on. We run a lot of stuff. He really did a good job of learning the stuff. He's playing with more confidence and as you saw that stroke, he's got a natural stroke and when you have a natural stroke and you put confidence on top of that, good things are going to happen. But to know that he's going to come play the way he did today, make 6-out-of-12, I wish I knew that. Q. What's it mean to get this team into the semis for the second year in a row, given that now you're relying on a bunch of freshmen and your backs are against the wall in a way they weren't last season? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: Yeah, we started off -- if anybody would have said that when we were 1-5 and 4-9 and 4-10,0-1 in our league, one, that we would get two byes and then win our quarterfinal game, you know, probably most people would say no. But our guys really did a good job of persevering. They blocked out the noise when everybody said that we stunk and just kept on working. We got healthy and we got some chemistry. The freshmen got a lot of confidence and we just started playing. You know, you watch us play and I think we played with an enjoyment, a fun, and it's just they are a special group of guys. You know, being able -- especially young guys when you get hit, it's easy to get knocked down and lay down and feel sorry for yourselves, but those three freshmen didn't -- and the veterans, you know, with LaDarien and Courtney, they deserve a lot of credit. I sit up here as the head coach, you know, get all these wins -- I haven't really done anything. It's those veteran guys. They lead this team. They help us. They helped us win. Even though the freshmen scored 40 points or 47 points, without Courtney and LaDarien out there giving, you know, great leadership, we're not winning, you know, so we've come together, and hopefully we can continue to come together and get better because we're going to have to play better tomorrow if we're going to beat Rhode Island. Q. Both you and Kyle both mentioned Mason's ball screens. Can you specify on what you see? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: We call it owning. You know, it's like they own it really hard and they get out and they get into the passing lanes and get their hands up. They do a really good job and makes it difficult. You can't really get slips against it. It was hard, trying to get the ball to the high post and so forth, but they are a really good defensive team. Coach Paulsen is terrific, and they play hard. I think they have got a great record when they keep teams under 65 points, but they are a really good team and they had a great season, and we're just lucky to move on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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