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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 21, 2019Joe GoldingJaylen FranklinJaren LewisJacksonville, Florida Kentucky - 79, Abilene Christian - 44 THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could, just some opening thoughts about this game tonight here in Jacksonville. JOE GOLDING: Yeah, Kentucky is all that. They're really, really good, the best team we've played this year, them and Texas Tech. We wish them the best of luck. I'm proud of our guys. They didn't quit. They represented our university and our city in a first-class manner tonight and they've done that all year, so I'm extremely proud of them. Q. Jaylen and Jaren, how tough was it kind of adjusting to what Kentucky has personnel-wise? JAYLEN FRANKLIN: It was pretty tough. We just couldn't make shots, shot 19 percent in the first half, and then the second half we pretty much shot 45 -- 45? Yeah, I guess. And just the first half, turning the ball over first half really hurt us. JAREN LEWIS: Yeah, it's tough adjusting to all the length at the rim, and we knew what we had to do, it was just a tough challenge for us getting on the glass. But yeah, the turnovers killed us, and then we just couldn't see anything fall in the first half, so it was tough. Q. Result notwithstanding, what was it like being out there and just kind of experiencing that and in this setting and this time of year? JAREN LEWIS: I mean, it was a great experience being out there for March Madness and everything. It was great knowing it was the first time in our school's history, but at the end of the day, it stings losing like that and being me, Jaylen and Hayden's last game, it hurts, but it was a great experience, probably something we'll never forget. JAYLEN FRANKLIN: Going off what Jaren said, it was a great experience. Something we'll never forget. Just knowing we were out there with Kentucky, one of the biggest schools in the nation and we were just out there competing. Q. Kind of off what the guys said, not the start you guys would have wanted, but just what was it like watching this group of guys get to experience what they did tonight? JOE GOLDING: Yeah, we couldn't score the basketball. I mean, that was the key. I thought we ran some good stuff there for a while, we just couldn't finish and we couldn't score. Honestly watching tape, I thought we could score if they didn't switch us 1 through 5, but Coach Cal knows what he's doing. It's obvious. He's got really good players, and he's won a ton of games. They switched 1 through 5 and we couldn't see the rim. That was the frustrating part, I think, but when you look overall at the game, I was really proud of our guys and the way they competed in the second half. It'd been real easy to lay down. Kentucky doesn't have their bench, with guys hurt. They're continuing to play the same dudes that played the whole game. I thought we did much better in the second half of competing, and we seen the ball go gown. So I was proud of them the way they finished. Listen, these two and Farquhar, these three seniors, they're going to be celebrated at Abilene Christian for the rest of their lives. They're first ones to ever do it. There will be second, there will be a third, but there'll never be a first. We're going to celebrate these guys and we're going to have a lot of fun celebrating when we get back to Abilene. It meant a lot. When I looked up there, we had more people in Jacksonville, Florida than at our game back home. I'm telling you we had more people tonight and that meant the world to me. Abilene Christian and March Madness filling up a whole section. If you know where our program came from, that's really, really awesome. Q. Nearly a thousand dollars have been raised on a GoFundMe page for those ripped pants. What are your thoughts on that? JOE GOLDING: Well, the suit is done. We are going to retire it. It wasn't very good luck tonight, man. It's been a heck of a run with it all year. We are going to do something fun with that money. I'm obviously not going to spend that money on a suit. I'm going to find a charity or something out there and we'll figure it out. Q. This has been one of the best seasons AC has ever had. I'm emotional because I'm going to be leaving you as a senior and I'm glad you waited until this year to do it. I've been enjoying covering it. But just talk about this season overall. You've broken a lot of records, a lot of firsts. Just talk about the emotions of this season. JOE GOLDING: Yeah, it's the second year we've been eligible for postseason play. This is just beginning. This is the beginning, man, it happened really fast. I'm really glad our university can experience this. I'm glad our players can. It's going to help our program. It's going to help recruiting and going to help our university exposure from it. We're going to celebrate it. But I think it was the best season in ACU history. I don't think it was one of the best, I think it was the best season in school history, and we're going to celebrate those three seniors and this team like it was the best because they deserve it. Q. Not to close the book too quickly on this year, but what does this do for you next year and down the road to bring back a group of guys that got to experience this? JOE GOLDING: Yeah, I mean, time will tell with that, but we have a bunch of young kids back. We're also losing three really good seniors, but we've got some good young kids back. We've got to recruit, losing those two four, five weeks ago made recruiting a little bit different now. We've got to go sign four guys, we thought we were just signing two. We've built this on high school kids and a culture and really developing, evaluating talent and trying to develop, and so we might have to get creative in recruiting here through grad transfers, JuCo or something, but we're not going to change who we are, and I think our program is going to move forward just like our university is going to move forward. I think our president and board, they had a plan. They wanted to put ACU on the national map and for the last 48 hours we were, and a lot of that is due to the University of Kentucky. We owe the University of Kentucky a lot, for being able to have the opportunity to compete with them, and when they talked about Kentucky, they learned about Abilene Christian, and that's what I'm most excited about. We've got a university that we're really proud of. It's good people there. It's a good school. It's good academics, it's a great town, and I'm glad it was celebrated the last three days. Q. Just again to clarify on the suit, this is the suit you're wearing, the one that was ripped, and did you get that repaired or managed your way through it, keeping it hidden from everybody? JOE GOLDING: Yeah, I just wore the jacket tonight. If you knew me well, I don't usually wear the jacket very long but I kept it on today. But yeah, there is a hole in there. There's no question about that. Obviously it got a lot of sound bite, and I'm glad it brought some attention to our university, but I want to make sure moving forward that this team is celebrated. It's not my hole in my pants, it's our team, and it's our university because they deserve it, man. These guys have been incredible, man. I'm fortunate to coach them. They took me on a hell of a ride, one that I'll never forget the rest of my life. And you know, and again on the pants, we'll do something with it. We'll have a little bit of fun and hopefully we can raise some money for a charity or something down the road. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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