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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 15, 2019Dave PaulsenJordan MillerJustin KierWashington, D.C. St. Bonaventure 68, George Mason 57 COACH DAVE PAULSEN: I think first of all, just want to give credit to St. Bonaventure. I thought they played really, really well. I thought we actually defended hard and well, and made them get to, you know, second, third, fourth options, and they made some tough shots, and they made some shots late shot clock and banked in a three, and sometimes those things happen. So you give them a lot of credit and I think they also defended exceptionally well. They have become, in any opinion, an elite defensive team. From our perspective, I'm proud of our guys. You know, we didn't play well offensively but we fought and competed and dealt with adversity of three starters in foul trouble in the first half, and fought and scratched and clawed and got back in the game. And that's kind of the way our season's been, you know, with a lot of injuries and a lot of adversity, and every step of the way, I think this group of guys, they have been a lot of fun to coach. This has been 25 years as a coach, the best group in practice that I've had. They work hard. They are coachable. They bought into the team. They deal with adversity and we came up short tonight. We're disappointed, but -- but really, it's an honor to coach these guys. Q. If you can reflect on the season a little bit, obviously you came in with high expectations with the whole team back. How do you in the Wake of this game judge the season? Do you see it as a success, failure, and now going forward with most of the team back? JUSTIN KIER: First, I want to credit to St. Bonny's, great game. They played really hard and have a great coach and they got it done, so credit to them. And also, with the season, I mean, there's not a group of guys I would have rather played with. And you know, a big shout out to Otis Livingston, he took me under his wing when I came in and he showed me, no one's ever worked harder. I've never seen anybody work harder than Otis. You know, big shout out to him. Throughout the season, we had some injuries, and I guess we didn't, you know -- it didn't look like the beginning of the year, guys thought that we were going to, you know, go undefeated and non-conference and all that kind of stuff. You know, things happen and I wouldn't want to go to battle with anybody else. You know, we had some ups and downs, but we had a lot of ups and those are the things and those are the things you always remember at the end of the season. So you know, great group of guys and I'm excited to spend the time with them in the spring and stuff like that, and enjoy it. Q. I believe you had 14 of Mason's first 15 points out of the break after halftime. Was there a point in the game that you understand that you've got a good match up and you're going to have to do the work there? JUSTIN KIER: I don't think it's about the matchup. I think it's about energy. You know, we weren't really hitting shots, and I just wanted to bring energy, and if that was scoring or rebounding or defending. It was whatever I needed to do. I got it going a little bit and try to get everybody else going and stuff like that, but we just came up short. Q. You're constantly cleaning up around the basket. Is that a skill set? Is that effort? What gives you the ability to constantly be grabbing offensive boards? JORDAN MILLER: First want to give credit to St. Bonny's team. I wish them luck in the future. No, I just want to impact the game any way and give my team positive energy, and if that's like Justin said, rebounding, scoring, boxing out, anything, really. That's what I just try to do, so yeah. Q. How do you look at this group, this team, coming back for most of the guys coming back for next year? What's your outlook about this group? JORDAN MILLER: It's a great group of guys. I'm excited. We just have to work hard in the off-season and try to get better. Q. It kind of came, you know every punch you gave at them they responded seamlessly. What were they able to do to make sure that the lead never got to a one-possession, two-possession in the second half? COACH DAVE PAULSEN: I think there were a couple things, you know, Welch, every time you turn around, he hit a back-breaking three, and some of them, you know, maybe weren't as defended as well as we'd like, but most of them I think were challenged pretty well. You know, Lofton hit some big shots. That's the mark of a good team when you're kind of on your heels a little bit, and getting punched, you know, to counterpunch. And there were a couple possessions where we got the ball deep in the paint and they were able to really block and alter shots. That's an athletic -- an athletic front line, so looking at nine looks. So Griffin, Osunniyi; Welch blocked some. So every time, I don't know, we had a break away lay-up that we missed. So every time we were going to try to cut it to, I don't know what we got to, maybe as low as five, but like, you know, they came down and hit a big shot, and they had the ability to really block and alter our shots. You know, they got really good length defensively. They play really hard defensively. So I think that's what they did. Q. I believe you took 26 shots in the first half, 17 of them were from three. Did it feel like the Bonnies had you out of your game plan a little bit there? COACH DAVE PAULSEN: Yeah, they did. And part of that is how they play. I mean, they really do, you know, statistically, teams shoot a lot of threes against them because they really pressure; they really rotate; they really help in the paint. So to some degree, you're going to have to shoot some threes and make them to beat them. They are going to make it very hard for you to score because of their help on dribble penetration and because they have an elite shot blocker, and then other guys are pretty good, as well. But it did rattle us, like we talked about that at the half; that we've got to touch the paint. I thought Justin did a good job of really attacking the paint in the second half. Not only the score, but find some guys. We left some bunnies on the table off penetration and passes on side that we've got to finish those. Part of it, part of it was they took us out of our game plan a little bit. Part of it is against them, you're going to have drive-and-kick and you're going to have to knock down some of those threes, and that has not been -- you know, that's been a weak spot for us throughout the season. Q. Going into this season, expectations were pretty high. Can you reflect on the season and just kind of what we can expect going forward? COACH DAVE PAULSEN: Yeah, I mean, expectations were high. I think that's a good thing. That's better than expectations being low. I think initially, those expectations put our guys on their heels because none of them had been used to those expectations, and that's unfortunate, but possibly that's part of the learning progression. Possibly that's part of the progression of a program. To our guys, great credit when we came back from Florida from the -- whatever the name of that tournament was we were in. You know, they really bought into like really becoming -- forgetting expectations and turning off the outside world, if you will, and just embracing the process of getting better. And from that point on, really attacked practice and stopped worrying about their own productivity, and I think when they were worried about their productivity earlier on, it wasn't out of selfishness. It was out of, I have to fulfill these expectations. So I'm hopeful that that process of going through that process will put us in better stead. You know, at the end of the day, I think that was a big factor. I think certainly injuries and the impact it had on our depth and our positional size at the wing positions, you know, certainly -- you know, certainly had an impact. At the end of the day, we have won more conference games than we've ever won, and you saw this team tonight, and it wasn't always pretty, but every single possession, every single second, that team fought, and I think that's a real tribute to our guys. Q. What did you see from Justin today, over the entire year, his performance, becoming assertive when you needed it today and now pivoting ahead to next year when Otis is gone, Justin will have a greater status with the club. COACH DAVE PAULSEN: Yeah, you know, Justin, the first eight games of conference play, he was playing like a Player of the Year player, and he's also got to guard that team's, oftentimes, best offensive player. I think that took a toll on him a little bit physically. I think it took a little bit of toll on him mentally. So he had a lull, if you will, in terms of productivity. And then the last couple weeks, you know, and in practice, he just kind of refocused, recharged and so yeah, 26 last night, I think it was, 20 tonight, but he guarded Stockard, and did an amazing job on Stockard after guarding Maceo yesterday. So he has that ability. Now to guard another team's best player, go score, rebound, assist, that's exhausting. That's why I push him so much because he has a chance to be I think one of the best players in the league, and again, we don't want to burden him with undo expectations, but also get him to see what he's capable of when he's completely locked in like he has been these last three, four games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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