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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2019Bob McKillopLuka BrajkovicJon Axel GudmundssonWashington, D.C. Saint Louis 67, Davidson 44 COACH BOB McKILLOP: Congratulations to South Carolina. They played an outstanding game. They did everything they had to do offensively and defensively. They were outstanding in the way they broke our rhythm offensively with their changing defenses, and that's a credit to Travis Ford and his staff. Q. For either one of you, another rough start offensively, shooting like yesterday, was there any feeling like, hey, it's going to turn around and the shots are going to start falling? JON AXEL GUDMUNDSSON: I think we were getting open shots in the beginning but I think if we had played defense the whole game like we did in the first half, we would have been fine. But we were just making our offense -- in fairness with our defense, and it -- they allowed us -- they didn't make us play defense well enough. Q. For either one of you, Kellan again struggled offensively. When his shots aren't falling, how does that change things, if anything, for you guys? JON AXEL GUDMUNDSSON: I mean, he was just getting open shots. He was just unlucky today. Kellan is one of our best players and I mean, when one of us has an off-day, it's just someone else got to step up, but it didn't happen today. Everyone were making mistake on offense, but like I said, us, I think it was the defense we didn't participate well enough today. Q. I know it's tough after a loss, but you guys have had a good season. What's next for you guys, and do you feel like NIT, certainly, is in the offering for you guys? LUKA BRAJKOVIC: So we're going to analyze the game, see our mistakes and from there on, we're going to see what we're going to do. Q. It seems like when they changed to the 1-3-1, it went downhill from there for you. Just threw you out of your rhythm or you just couldn't adjust to it? Because you were going so well, and then boom, they switched and you never could get the flow back. COACH BOB McKILLOP: Yeah, we were 27-20 I think and had gotten in transition and had gotten some stops, and they did switch to the 1-3-1, and I thought we got a couple of good looks, but they didn't go down. And when they didn't go down, the 1-3-1 becomes even more lethal because it's a mental aspect, as well as the technical, physical aspect. But we allowed that mental, technical aspect to impact our defense. I thought our defense in the first 16 minutes was superb, was out standing, our work on the glass and our, would defensively was superb. And then when we started missing the shots, we carried it down into the defensive end, and you know, you look at our numbers, even in the first 16 minutes, we got some superb shots and they made a block here and a block there, but we did get some really good shots. And as their defense started to play chaos with our mind, much like Pete Carroll's offense plays chaos with the mind of an opponent, and they come down and they shoot quick shots and now Pete holes it, it's sort of that in reverse, because that 1-3-1 -- and you don't see it very much, and as you prepare for a tournament, you knew -- we knew it was going to -- possibility for it coming. But we had not seen it all year, other than against them back in January, and when we're preparing this week, you know, you're preparing first of all for either Saint Joe's or Duquesne, and then you're preparing either for South Carolina or Dayton. So you're trying to prepare for four teams, but you don't get the number of repetitions against a 1-3-1 as you normally would get if it was a 2-3. Q. About a minute when you took out the players, you called them over to the players and you said something to them. Do you want to share that? COACH BOB McKILLOP: Yeah, I told them they have had a magnificent season. A lot of the teams in the country would be very proud to have 24 victories, to finish second in the Atlantic 10, so I told them how proud I was of what they accomplished this season. Q. You guys lost on A-10 Player of the Year last season and you've got one of the youngest teams in the country this year. I wonder what your realistic expectations were and just how you thought these guys did, and you're obviously sitting up with a freshman and a sophomore in the A-10 semifinals, I just want to know. COACH BOB McKILLOP: KiShawn Pritchett has not practiced three weeks, four weeks. We tried to save him for a game and put him in for two and a half minutes, and have to take him out and put him in for two and a half minutes. He's an incredibly talented player that is half of what he was, and he's had to develop an old man's game because of what his body has done to him. We missed Kellan Grady when we lost to Temple, we lost to Wake Forest, we lost to Carolina, without Kellan Grady, and Kellan never really regained the fluidity that he had prior to his torn meniscus. You know, it led to I think an inconsistency in his confidence more than anything, and when you're dealing with two players like that, then you only have a short bench, you could see the impact it has, and of course, we had 12 scholarship players. Nathan Ekwu, who started for us as a freshman, played three minutes, four minutes the whole year. Mike Brown, another freshman, played three minutes, four minutes the whole year. Mike Brown, another freshman, tore his ACL in an exhibition game. So my expectations were that we were going to have to really nurse our way through this season, and I'm always the optimist. I thought we could have a 20-plus win season, and we did, and that's a credit to them. They were -- our guys and our assistant coaches were outstanding. Q. Your thoughts on what's next for you guys for postseason? COACH BOB McKILLOP: Well, we're hopeful that an NIT bid comes our way. You finish second in a great conference like the Atlantic 10, you win 24 games; three of the games that you lost were without arguably your best player, so I should think we should have an opportunity to compete in the NIT. Q. I don't think there's been a repeat tournament champ here since 2010. How hard is it to repeat in this tournament, in the A-10, do you think? COACH BOB McKILLOP: This is an incredibly challenging conference. And what's interesting about this conference, check the number of freshmen, sophomores and juniors that are playing. Yes, you alluded to the fact that we have a young roster. There are a lot of teams with a young roster. Look at St. Bonaventure is going to be in the Final tomorrow with one, two, three freshmen I think starting, and two seniors. So the future of this conference is very, very bright, and I think it needs to have some national attention for how many good freshmen and sophomores there are in this conference. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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