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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SALT LAKE CITY

March 21, 2019

Salt Lake City, Utah

Gonzaga - 87, Fairleigh Dickinson - 49

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Fairleigh Dickinson representatives to the stage, student-athletes Darnell Edge and Mike Holloway, Jr. and Coach Greg Herenda. We will ask Coach Greg Herenda to make an opening statement really briefly and then we will turn it over to questions for the student-athletes. We will take our brief opening statement from Coach.

GREG HERENDA: I'd like to thank everyone for covering this great event. Congratulate Gonzaga on a tremendous performance. I think they were rested, ready. And maybe a little angry they did not win their Conference Championship. And they played incredibly well on both ends of the ball.

I'm so proud of my team. I felt that, you know, it was a really tough first half to go through. Again, what happened was these kids rallied and our goal was to win the second half. And we lost by two points and that might seem trivial to some, but we don't quit. We stayed together.

And these two guys next to me are what college basketball was all about. And our third senior, Nadi Beciri, who made that basket, he was out for 30 games or so, with a real bad back injury. And that was kind of our victory tonight, that we played a great team and fought and never quit. But we were beaten soundly by a team that has the potential to win a National Championship.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Darnell Edge and Mike Holloway, Jr., please.

Q. Can you describe the range of emotions for the last few weeks? You win the NEC title, you come here and obviously face one of the best teams in the country and lose, what the last few weeks have been like for you guys.
DARNELL EDGE: It's been a great experience for all of us being able to get back and win a Championship and then get to the tournament and win a game is just history. So it's something I will never forget, me and Mike have gone a long way. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of this team. I'm really happy and proud of everything we've accomplished.

Q. For both the players. Gonzaga's awesome offensively, they have been all season and everyone knows that about them. But how good were they defensively tonight, especially in the first half?
THE MODERATOR: Darnell?

DARNELL EDGE: They were real good, real long, athletic. It was hard to get down the lane on them. When you did, they had a shot blocker. So it was just difficult, on the ball, defense, they are really good and active, so...

THE MODERATOR: Mike?

MIKE HOLLOWAY, JR.: They were very, very good on defense. We know they are a National Championship capability team. We got downhill, we were not used to their size, but we were fighting, we kept pushing and all we wanted to do was let everyone know we weren't going to quit.

Q. Have you ever seen a team like that or played against a team like that?
THE MODERATOR: Darnell?

DARNELL EDGE: Not that offensively sound. Defensively, Cincinnati a few years ago was pretty good defensively like that. This team has so much firepower offensively.

Q. What are you going to remember the most about the last few weeks? Is there going to be one moment that sticks out with you the most and stay with you for years later?
DARNELL EDGE: Nothing in particular. Just the moment we won the Championship, you know, running on the court, cutting down the nets and then winning the game, you know, two nights ago was big for us. It was history. My phone wouldn't stop going off. It was a great celebration and I was happy, filled with emotion. It is something I will never forget.

THE MODERATOR: Anything more for student-athletes? We'll let them go and we'll return with questions for Coach as soon as they have left the stage. Thank you, guys. Questions for Coach Herenda.

Q. When you are playing a team that good and they get hot and they're just blitzing you guying, how do you make sure at half-time your kids are not completely deflated and that you did play them so well the second half?
GREG HERENDA: Yes, that's the core of our team, that we just rebound. Our first Championship year was 2016, we lost 15 straight games in 2015. So in '15 we lost 15 straight, then in 2016 we win a Championship. So we fight back, we have resilience. Rich Conrad, who is an alum that passed two years ago, Hall of Famer, we hung up his jersey, he said, Greg, your team is so resilient. So was Rich Conrad.

That's how we practice every day and how we play and how we approach life. You have to get off the canvas and fight, even though you know you're not going to win. And that's what the kids did in the second half and I was proud.

I'm still not happy. I thought we could have played better in the first half. I honestly think -- I don't make excuses -- but the turnaround from Dayton to here. Darnell Edge could barely run. Mike is a load, it's hard for him to get up the floor. It is not an excuse. It's what it is. And that's why a one-seed gets to rest and you have to get on a charter right after the game and fly. And so that played a lot into the game.

But take zero, zero, Gonzaga were awesome. We watched a lot of tape. All the credit goes to Gonzaga. But we were banged up and tired and they took complete advantage of that and they should.

But, again, to answer your question, we just keep on fighting.

Q. Coach, yesterday you talked about how both teams were fast and quick and the difference would be that they were big. And their three bigs took it to you tonight, they got 50 points between them. Talk about that.
GREG HERENDA: We knew their size was really going to hurt. The key to the game, believe it or not, we gave up 87 points, was us not scoring. If we score, we can maybe get back and protect our goal line. It felt like a football game. Because when we didn't score, they were out and it didn't matter if we went back zone or man, they just come at you and come at you and they're bigger and stronger. I don't know if they're faster.

We went to the foul line more than Gonzaga. We drove by Gonzaga. But when we drove by, we found two more Gonzaga players. And in our league generally, we'll drive by a guy and there'll be one player and then we can make another pass and we get a great shot. It's a different level. And the Zags tonight showed that level and it's plain and simple to everyone who was at the game.

But just a lot of credit to Mark Few, the way he handled that game. When it gets out of hand, you know how coaches handle games. And he did it incredibly professionally and he did it the right way and that's why their program is a program that I look up to and all the people at our level and our Conference look up to Gonzaga. Because guess what, at one point they weren't Gonzaga. And he and their players did it and I respect those guys a whole heck of a lot.

Q. What does it mean for your program to get here, to win a tournament game and get to this stage?
GREG HERENDA: It was the next step. We lost at Dayton really bad, like tonight, against Florida Gulf Coast, and our goal was to get back and validate. We got back and validate.

Now our goal is to get back and win a first-round game, not a First Four game. That's hard, really hard. And it takes good players, it takes good coaches, it takes a little bit of luck.

I don't know who in America would play Gonzaga and beat them tonight. I told our guys, Man, I want your heads as high as a kite and you deserve to be that. They're champions. In every sense of the word, except in the final score.

THE MODERATOR: We have time for three more.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the logistics. I assume you got on a flight Tuesday night and did you get here really late Tuesday?
GREG HERENDA: With the time change, I don't know what time we got here. What time did we get here?

NEW SPEAKER: (Off microphone.)

GREG HERENDA: We got here at 1:30 at night, then the time change kind of helped us. But we got here on Wednesday morning and played Gonzaga on Thursday afternoon. You know what I'm saying? And I'm -- to answer your question, I'm being factual.

Q. Have you had any sort of turnaround like that before?
GREG HERENDA: We play in our Conference, we play Thursday, Saturday. Generally, we're playing home games or our road games are -- we've had some tough ones. Our last road trip we went from Emmitsburg, Maryland, to New Britain, Connecticut. We got on a bus and then slept and it was more, you know.

But I'm not complaining at all. I'm just giving you the facts that it was a tough turnaround but that's the deal. That's the deal. And I think there's so many coaches out there that would, including myself, prior to getting here, would die to do what we did, and we did it and we enjoyed it. We were taken care of, first-class. My Athletic Director and President were with us every step of the way making sure we were treated like champions and treated like men and I have zero complaints.

Q. Coach, can you expand a little bit more on Nadi and what that meant to you and to the program because that seemed like a special moment within a tough loss?
GREG HERENDA: Nadi is one of the nicest kids and grown men -- he's a grown man now -- that to know him on our campus, he is like the Pied Piper, he walks around and there's love and he's a great kibitzer, as my mother would say, he can talk, and you love him. When he couldn't play it really hurt. As we went down, he said, Coach, I want to dress, I'm feeling better, can I dress and can I potentially play? I said, Nadi, if you can play, I'm going to play you.

Tonight, our trainer said it would be safe for him to play. His back was really -- he couldn't travel. You guys know, when you have a bad back, you can't do anything. And how that ball bounced to him and how he like lumbered to the basket and then I'm mad at him, I said, Nadi, I need 50. That was the second goal, to get to 50, and he's got 49 on the foul line. But he was -- I don't think he knew where he was. (Laughter.)

Nadi Beciri, man, he is going to be a very successful person. Write that name down. He is a business major. And a beautiful person. And if sits down for an interview, he's got the job, trust me.

THE MODERATOR: Last question.

Q. It's the same question, but can you describe the emotion you felt when he made that basket?
GREG HERENDA: It was just -- if you can get beat by 38 points and be euphoric and hug somebody, it's special, you know what I'm saying? That's a hard thing to do, be on national TV and get a little bit exposed and be in front of the camera and then a guy cuts it to 38 and you are the happiest guy in the building. It's a special moment, or there is something wrong with me -- I think it's something in between. But Nadi Beciri -- every one of our players has a story in this tournament. Every single one has a story and Nadi's story amplifies what college athletics is about and it's way more than advancing and surviving. It's life. And he's going to have a great life.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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