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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2019Mark SchmidtKyle LoftonOsun OsunniyiWashington, D.C. St. Bonaventure 68, Rhode Island 51 COACH MARK SCHMIDT: We got off, and give Rhode Island credit. They came after us. For the first ten minutes, we didn't play very well, and they had a lot to do with it. We were, you know, a little bit nervous. You know, down, I think 22-12, maybe 22-10, but give our guys credit. They persevered. They fought through it, just like it's a microcosm of our year, as I said yesterday. We started 4-10, 0-1 in the league and things weren't going well and we had a lot of adversity with injuries and so forth. The kids never felt bad. They never got down. They kept on working and that's what we did today. You know, you're down 24-12 or whatever it was, and things aren't going well, and we've got a young team. It's easy for them just to lay down and say it's not our day. We found a way. The last five minutes of the first half were critical. We got some momentum, went into the locker room, talked about it. We needed to come out and make that first run and our guys answered. They played, and that's a heck of a team. I think 5-0 in the last five games, and big, strong guys, and our guys met the challenge and really proud of the effort. Now we move on and hopefully we can play well tomorrow. Q. Playing alongside a guy you know more than just at St. Bonaventure, turns in a big time double-double, what's it like being teammates with this guy and being the fact that you two go back to the Putnam Science days? KYLE LOFTON: It's great. I've got a lot of trust in him. I know how hard he works, and like you say, going back to the Putnam days, we have like a good connection. I know, like he's going to do rebounds, take charges, do all the dirty stuff for us. He's just a hard worker. Q. At one point you were down 15 points to Rhode Island with four minutes left, and you had only 14 points as a team. What were you thinking as the point guard to get the offense going and stay calm? KYLE LOFTON: I just told my teammates, we have to worry about defense. Shots are eventually going to fun. Basketball is a game of runs, and eventually our run will come. And the crowd gave us good momentum towards the end and that's what happened. Q. Towards the end when you guys looked like you had it in hand, it just seemed like you were really enjoying yourselves out there and you had that thing after the game where you ran off the floor at the same time. How much fun are you having making this run? Still another game, but as of now, how much fun are you guys having? OSUN OSUNNIYI: We're having fun, but at the same -- like you said we know we're not done yet and we have one more game to win, hopefully get a chance. We play well tomorrow, we can go to the NCAA Tournament. We're going to enjoy this one, but now we have to focus on who we're going to play tomorrow and comeback and keep the same energy. Q. We talked yesterday about the battle with Langevine. You didn't seem overmatched or overwhelmed at all. How good was that for you to be able to have confidence going up against one of the best big men in the league? OSUN OSUNNIYI: I had a slow start in the first heart. I wasn't really hitting my shots, rebounding and blocking shots. Coach just told me, just keep confidence in myself and keep going, so I just trust in myself. My teammates trust in me. Q. I think it certainly starts with making shots, the way you guys did down the stretch in the first half, but from that last four-minute mark of the first half through the end of the game, what just changed for you guys that you were able to turn a double-digit deficit into a double-digit lead. KYLE LOFTON: Our coach, he always preaches, taking the first hit. I feel like we took the first hit, instead of giving it and then towards the end, like we got more comfortable. People gained confidence and we just played tougher. Q. I think Courtney and LaDarien were 0-for-10 to start out. They were struggling early. I mean, we talked yesterday about how you guys aren't here without the freshmen. What do you say to the seniors when they are having a tough game? How do you help drag them along and get them back into it? OSUN OSUNNIYI: We know that they have been here before. They have been to the NCAA Tournament so we just tell them to keep heir heads up and don't get do you know on themselves. Because you know, when we don't know what to do, we lean on them to lead us. So we just tell them to keep their heads up, shots are going to fall and things are going to happen. KYLE LOFTON: You want me to answer? Q. Yeah, please. What do you say, when he's struggling like he has been? KYLE LOFTON: It was actually the last time-out, media time-out before the first half. I told him, "This is not going to be the last game of the season," and from there, they just picked it up and got more aggressive. Like they understood what I meant. Q. Kyle, we talked yesterday about the matchup going into Fatts, Russell and Jeff Dowtin. How did you manage to shut those two down? KYLE LOFTON: Those two are good players, but with any good players, you've got to take easy shots away and just make them take difficult shots, and I think we did that. Q. Congratulations again. How did that happen? Dumb question, but what do you attribute that kind of a turnaround? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: You know, as I said it was a microcosm of our whole year. We've been down. We've struggled. You know, things weren't looking good, but the kids, they believe. We have, you know, Courtney and LaDarien were terrible especially in the first half. Osun wasn't much better. But they just -- they rebounded. And I say it all the time, it's a great lesson. You're going to hit adversity in life, and things are not going to go your way all the time and you've got to figure out a way to get it done and that's what we've done. We couldn't have played better in the second half. We always emphasize: Defend, rebound take your other basketball and make your foul shots. You look at the second half, and we couldn't have played better. We missed one foul shot the whole game, and going into the game, you know, Dowtin and Russell are really good players, and we needed -- they were the knowns, we needed to do a good job on them. They shoot, you know, 8-for-27. You know, in Game 1, they annihilated us, you know, defensively. It was almost like the first ten, 12 minutes of this game was what happened in Game 1. But we've grown. The freshmen don't play like freshmen. Kyle in my opinion was the best guy on the court. You know, the veteran guys, we win, we beat Rhode Island, a heck of a team by 17 and our best player goes 1-for-11. It says a lot about the other guys on our team. Osun didn't play well in the first half. Comes up with a double-double and did a really good job on Langevine who has probably 40 pounds on him. We just fought, and I'm proud of our effort, and hopefully we can play well tomorrow. Q. It's another team that you guys held below 60 points. Just given the way that you've defended, especially down the stretch, today, on the biggest stage of the season, where does this team just sit defensively in the grand scheme of things of what you've seen as a coach? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: It's the best defensive team that we've had since I've been the coach. They sit down; they guard; they do a good job on the ball. Osun does a really good job of being a rim protector, but we're connected. We're committed at the other end, and for the most part, we're disciplined. And when you do that and you have a should beer back there, Kyle is a really good defender and can really move his feet and Courtney has got great length and LaDarien can switch ball screens, and when you have a 4-man that can switch those ball screens, it makes it harder for the offense get the ball below the paint. And that's what Rhode Island tries to do, they try to get the ball below the paint and attack the basket. And when you can move your feet and keep guys in front, we took charges -- to be able to out-rebound Rhode Island by six is a testament to our guys. Like I said it's a mindset. We are not a great offensive team and we have not been a great offensive team all said, but the staple -- and the kids have figured it out, in order for us to win, we have to defend and they have taken that and they have run with it. Q. You just partially answered my question a little bit, but Rhode Island was really getting downhill on the first half, patrol, in addition to that. What changed for you guys in terms of being able to go up in the second half? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: We played ball screens a little bit different, a little bit harder. We stayed a little bit longer. I thought in the first half, we call it shocking the ball screen, trying to knock the ball back but we would release it a little bit too early and they would hesitate and then go, you know; and the adjustment at halftime was to try to stay another second, so our guy that's guarding it can come back and square the ball up, and that's what we try to do. Believe me, it wasn't perfect, but that was the plan in the second half. Q. Similar to the regular season finale against Saint Louis, you guys got out-rebounded in the first half but were able to come back and out-rebound the second half. What do you attribute that tale of two halves rebounding to? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: I thought we got comfortable. The last four or five minutes of the first half were critical. Gave us a lot of confidence. If we went into that halftime down double-digits it would be a different ballgame, but I thought we got a lot of confidence. Like I said, our guys, they didn't give up. They persevered. They understood that we didn't play well for the first 15 minutes of that half, but we were still in the game, down by two. You know, if we can play that poorly in the first half and still be in range, it gives us -- gave those guys confidence and we came out and played -- like I said we could have played better in all facets. To be able to shoot 54 percent against Rhode Island, that's pretty good. That's hard to do. You know, to defend 35 percent, or 28 percent, 22 percent from threes, that's how you win games, especially in tournament time. Q. Considering the young talent on both teams, how much might this be a start, a first chapter of some high-stakes games between these two programs? COACH MARK SCHMIDT: We had good games last year. We had a great game at the Rally Center (ph) at the end of the year. Rhode Island, they do a great job, great players, well-coached, and we feel like we have really good players and yeah, it's two teams just going at it competitively. You know, hopefully -- everybody's a rival, in this league, everybody's a rival. You have to play well in order to win a game in the Atlantic 10. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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