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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTONMarch 19, 2019Byron SmithDennis JonesGary BlackstonDayton, Ohio Fairleigh Dickinson - 82, Prairie View A&M - 76 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the head coach of Prairie View A&M, Byron Smith, as well as student-athletes Dennis Jones and Gary Blackston. Coach, an opening statement. COACH SMITH: Great night. Tough loss for us, but I thought way to kick the NCAA Tournament off. Really a competitive game back and forth. But like I said tough loss. Could have gone either way, but I guess the best team made plays late and they were able to win the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Gary and Dennis only at this point. Q. Just thinking back to the start of your careers at Prairie View, is getting to the NCAA Tournament something that you had thought about? And just kind of reflect on the process of all the hard work that you put in to get there. GARY BLACKSTON: Most definitely. That was the reason why I committed to Coach Smith and the Panthers as a junior coming out of junior college because I felt as though I could win the conference both years. That was the biggest reason. DENNIS JONES: Yes, I feel that was the goal from the start. For us to get here this year is a huge accomplishment and milestone for our community as well as ourselves as well as the coaching staff. I feel like we did pretty good this year and they've just got to come back stronger next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. What was it about this team that maybe was a little bit different from previous teams you had had that got them to this level? COACH SMITH: I think they capitalized anytime you make a mistake, they make you pay. Obviously the kid, Edge, heck of a basketball player. We knew that coming in, but even more impressive in person. So every time we didn't guard the ball screen the right way or we made a mistake, we over-helped, they made us pay. And they didn't miss many shots. Great shooting team. We knew that coming in. But we were hoping we could catch them on an off night, but that wasn't the case tonight. Q. From your side, what made your team a SWAC championship-caliber team, and how is that maybe different from your previous years? COACH SMITH: I just think that this team plays so hard. I think the country, the world got a chance to see that. Sometimes we kind of speed ourselves up a little bit, make a few mistakes, but I think the effort is always there. Flying around, getting to the ball. Just trying to be a tougher and harder playing team than our opponents. That's definitely much different than I've had my teams in the past. That's going to be our trademark moving forward, want all our teams to be like this. I'm proud of my kids tonight. Obviously you never like to lose. They fought so hard, overcome so much; you feel for them. But I thought they represented themselves very well tonight on national television. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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