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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2020

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Bradley - 64, Southern Illinois - 59

THE MODERATOR: The victorious Bradley Braves are now with us. They have a date with Drake tomorrow in the first semifinal game at 2:30. With us is the head coach Brian Wardle, Ville Tahvanainen, Elijah Childs, Darrell Brown on the other side.

BRIAN WARDLE: That was a great basketball game. I thought two teams laying it all out there, played hard, played tough, played physical. We just were able to stay -- we struggled offensively. We missed a lot of shots around the rim, especially in the first half, even the second half. We couldn't get going offensively, but our defense and rebounding keeps you in the game. That's what March is all about; survive and advance. You've got to have an identity that keeps you in the game when the offense isn't going. We've proven we have that, and the guys believe in it, and they know.

The huddles are great. They just kept saying keep guarding, keep rebounding. This offense will come. Obviously, Darrell stepped up big time in the second half, made a lot of plays for us. Elijah was really good all game, Ville's threes. Then Ja'Shon's back cut at the end, Nate Kennell might have had one of his biggest assists he's had in his career on the drop-off to Ja on the back cut.

Overall team effort. Southern Illinois had a good year. They are a tough team. Bryan has done a great job there. It's going to be fun to compete against them in the future.

Q. Coach Wardle, you spoke last night and this morning about what it means to have big time players step up in big games like this. It seems like throughout the game, different players stepped up at different times. Can you talk about that?
BRIAN WARDLE: Every year when a team wins this tournament, us last year, someone's got to step up every game and make plays. Ville stepped up and made some big threes today for us. It could be someone different tomorrow. These guys are going to show up, and Nate's going to show up, Koch is going to show up. Those guys that have been in this tournament a lot are going to be there. It's the other guys that can make big plays for you to help win. I thought Ari Boya played really well for us too.

So just an overall really good team effort. Offensively, we struggled, but tomorrow it's going to be somebody different, for us or for Drake.

Q. Ville, did you feel like they were playing off of you. How long did it take you to feel like you were in a rhythm tonight?
VILLE TAHVANAINEN: The rhythm was there from the start. We moved the ball well on offense, played hard defense. We got guards to make great passes. It's easy to get in a rhythm from the start. I feel like even though I missed a couple of first shots today, I had the rhythm from the start.

Q. Coach, could you speak a little more on the play to Ja'Shon Henry there at the end of the game? Was that the plan to go to him?
BRIAN WARDLE: No. We were trying to get a pin down and a post touch for Elijah. And Nate kind of came off it and curled it because his man trailed him and attacked the middle. They're not leaving him and they were face guarding him so Ja'Shon just made a great cut, his man turned his head. Made a great back cut, and it was a big time finish.

Q. Darrell, they led for probably most of the first ten minutes. You guys were able to tie it and put them in catch-up mode. How easy was it for you guys to hold them off once you took the lead in the last couple of minutes there?
DARRELL BROWN: That's pretty much been the story of my career since I've been here. $100 team, most people count us out. I think, when we get down to stuff like that, we stay together throughout all of that. We kept sharing the ball, kept trying to compete on the defensive end.

I think once you just keep working hard and give it everything you've got, when your teammates are good teammates and you've got great guys in the locker room, you can pretty much overcome anything. I felt like we did that in the second half. We stayed together and got a big win.

Q. Darrell, first half you had five assists, but you weren't getting shots. Second half, you just started making things happen, which has been what you do. Can you explain a little bit what your mindset becomes in those situations? Are you looking at what the score is and say, I've got to get these now because we're just not going anywhere? What goes through your mind? How do you make that happen?
DARRELL BROWN: Just being the point guard and the go to guy. I saw that Eli had it going on. Obviously, if you're a great player and you're a good teammate, you feed the hot hand. I think the first half we tried to do that, keep feeding Eli, and making the right plays at the right time. And the second half, they kind of gave me some openings, and I was able to exploit those. They had some great screens and made some great passes.

Q. Eli, when the offense is struggling there in the middle of the game, especially in the beginning of the second half, it seemed like you stepped up and had some big buckets to keep you guys in the game. Take me through that stretch for you.
ELIJAH CHILDS: Just credit to my teammates and you know how they're saying, go to Eli, go to Eli. Credit to the coaches, the staff drawing up plays for me, and just knowing -- just at the finish give my team a spark, and that's what it's really all about.

Q. For Darrell, and I guess Elijah. Darrell, you mentioned you guys kind of having the underdog mentality. I'm wondering how much maybe just having last year's experience was a motivator, kind of helped you see, even if you aren't the Number 1 seed, you can keep advancing?
DARRELL BROWN: I think last year gave us a bunch of experience and confidence. Last year means nothing this year. We've got new guys in the locker room. I think, as long as they return the veterans and stay composed and show the new guys the way, this could be a great run for us, and the new guys will just follow along.

ELIJAH CHILDS: To piggy-back on what Darrell said, we've been down before. We don't get discouraged. We don't get down on each other. We try to stay positive. Like Darrell said, we've got new guys in the locker room. If we get down, they get down. Just try to stay positive and encourage each other.

Q. Coach, any thoughts on tomorrow's matchup with Drake?
BRIAN WARDLE: They're hot right now, played well today. Played well last night. So we'll dive into the film as soon as we get back to the hotel. It's a short turnaround, it's about you. Honestly, there's a few tweaks you can make maybe in a night, but with our six returners, with Ari and Ja'Shon as sophomores, we've got nine newcomers. They're learning a lot right now on short prep, how to take care of your body and how we do things. That's what we're going to be diving into in the hotel tonight.

They're playing well. They're a good team. Best 8 seed I've ever seen. You've got to be kidding me. They're tough. We've got our hands full. We know that. As long as we defend and rebound, we'll be all right.

Q. You've got the red shoes again. What was the decision to do that? I think last year you were commenting they were a little uncomfortable. Are they broken in now?
BRIAN WARDLE: These are way more comfortable than last year's. I'm not very superstitious, maybe a few things. A lot of coaches are very superstitious, but if I didn't wear my red shoes, my kids would have killed me, put it that way. My three kids were all over me about wearing these red shoes. Whatever gives us a little spark or energy, I'd love to do it.

But it's these guys that win the game. It's the effort they put out there, the composure they played with, and believing and having faith in our identity and knowing it can get us through a game when we're struggling offensively.

Q. This is for each of the players. Just start with Darrell and Eli and then Ville. First half offensively -- and Coach talked about how your identity is the defense, and you just stuck with that. Okay, that's fine. But when you are in there getting the ball down on the block in the paint, missing point blank layups, missing point blank put-backs, how frustrating is that, and how difficult does that become to maintain that defensive identity? And when it gets to Ville, I just wonder from a newcomer's perspective, how you feed off the veterans on that?
DARRELL BROWN: I would be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating as a player when you miss layups at the rim. It's very frustrating. But at the same time, all summer, when you get on campus, everything starts with the defense. So I mean, as long as you keep playing and stay positive and keep giving it everything you've got, things will work itself out. We're all hoopers on this team. We spend hours in the gym. At the end of the day, it will go in when you need it to.

ELIJAH CHILDS: Just what you work on in the summer. You miss shots in the summer, you work on moves, you miss shots and keep doing it over and over and over it again. It's going to fall sooner or later. We know our offense dictates our defense. We miss a couple shots, we say come down and get a stop, get a deflection, get a charge, get a block, and that leads to offense. Get your defense going, definitely your offense is going to come.

VILLE TAHVANAINEN: It's, of course, frustrating, but we knew coming into the game it was going to be a tough game. There's going to be tough times, that things don't go as you want them to go. As long as we trust each other, as long as we play defense, we're going to be good. I mean, feeding off the old guys, like you said, it's pretty easy for me to feed off them because, even though things don't go as planned, especially Eli and Darrell, they're both leaders. So they just always bring the spark, like whatever happens.

Q. Ville, this one is for you. Nate kind of struggled today as one of those veterans. Did you take that as a cue to step up? And also, throughout the season, how much has Darrell and Elijah helped you with your development leading up to this moment?
VILLE TAHVANAINEN: I mean, even though Nate was struggling or not, I'm just trying to help my team win, whatever it takes. I was just concentrating on making winning plays. I mean, these guys made great passes today, and it was just my job to shoot the ball. Like talking about Eli and Darrell, like I said, they're both natural leaders. They're good leaders both, like, when things don't go as planned, they're there to help. So I learned a lot from these guys.

Q. A couple questions. This is for all the guys on the panel. Usually with most great teams, there's a point in the season where either in the preseason or regular season things just start to click or come together. Has there been a moment this season for you guys when you realized how good you could be?
THE MODERATOR: We're going to start with Eli, go to Ville, and end up with Darrell.

ELIJAH CHILDS: I think we've shown flashes of how good we can be, but like Coach said, I think we still can be better. There's still things we can tighten up. I think there's still holes in our game that people can expose. Once we tighten that up, then I think we'll really be clicking.

VILLE TAHVANAINEN: Like Eli said, I feel like we can still get better. There will be some good games, and there will be some bad games, but every day is a new chance to get better. That's what we strive for. We're trying to get better every day. I feel like we can still get a little bit better.

DARRELL BROWN: In college basketball, you really don't have too many games where you have a perfect game. As long as you stick with it, keep working, and just do what you do every day in practice, and I think that will come out in the games. You can always pull up close games or blowout wins when you need them. As long as you just stay true to yourself, everything will work itself out.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.

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