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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2020

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Valparaiso - 74, Loyola Chicago - 73,

THE MODERATOR: The victorious Crusaders are here from Valparaiso. John Kiser, Ryan Fazekas, Daniel Sackey, and Eron Gordon represent the student body. Matt Lottich, the head coach, is in the middle.

MATT LOTTICH: This is a pretty big moment for us. Since we entered the Valley, Loyola is a team we haven't been able to beat. They've got tremendous players. They're very well coached. To come out here and get a victory in the fashion that we did, we're very thankful. Our backs were definitely against the wall. I thought they had planned for us. They did a great job taking us out of our offense. We challenged our guys to really just play a little bit harder, have a little more fight, have a little more grit, and they did.

It was a fantastic effort from a lot of guys, and we held on long enough, great execution at the end, unselfishness across the board. Really one goal in mind and try to get a win, and just really proud of these young men. They are so much fun to coach. We survived another round, and we're advancing. We're going to get them off their legs, get some fluids in them, and tip it up tomorrow.

Q. This is for John and Eron. Kind of take me through the last five seconds of that. What did you see on the drive, and what did you see on the shot?
THE MODERATOR: John first, please.

JOHN KISER: Just coming down, I knew they would close out on me a little harder. So drove past. Luckily, E.G.'s guy moved over to make it a little easier shot for him. So he got open and made a pass for him to make a play after that.

ERON GORDON: That's pretty much what happened. (Laughter).

Yeah, he was asked to make plays down the stretch through this game, and I know that's something we ask him to do from time to time. He's asked to do a lot. So when I saw him driving down, I just wanted to get to a spot where, if his man does come and help, I could just be open. So I just wanted to make sure I finished the play.

Q. For Matt, down 18 early in the second half, what do you think was the turning point for this game?
MATT LOTTICH: I thought we were playing much harder. I know they made a little bit of a run, but I thought we were playing harder. We weren't on our heels. We were delivering the blows, and that's important. It's hard to play basketball when you're tentative. I don't know if it's just a little bit nervous, opportunity to play against Loyola in an environment like this, but for whatever reason, we got out of our shell and really started executing and really started guarding.

I thought our full court pressure hurt them, got them a little bit tentative. Again, I just thought we were competitive. When you have like minded guys that are competitive fighting for one goal, it's a tough team to beat.

Q. Ryan, obviously, this could have been your last game. Just talk about the grit and the fight that you guys had to put on in the closing five minutes of the second half and then into overtime.
RYAN FAZEKAS: Yeah, I mean, I love it. My teammates -- really, we came out of halftime, they said, don't let these two seniors go out like this, and I really appreciate them. We battled, and we did everything. We were gritty. And we made plays down the stretch and came out on top. So it feels amazing.

Q. Daniel, you have been in this position, Illinois State, Drake, all of that. What is it about this team that allows you to shake off these 18-point deficits like it's nothing?
DANIEL SACKEY: Just the heart of this team. Everybody has big hearts on this team. Everyone is so selfless. Like Ryan said, he said, we've got to get it. We can't let them go out like that. These are our brothers. So out of respect to them and respect to ourselves and this program, we've got to at least go out with a fight, and that's what we did, and we ended up coming out with a win.

Q. For John, you got a little bit banged up toward the end of the game. How are you feeling going into tomorrow?
JOHN KISER: Just going to put my ankle in a boot. Feeling good right now. And hopefully the adrenaline stays with me throughout the night until 5:00 tomorrow.

Q. There's no question that Javon was off tonight. What did you see from him, and what do you need to see from him in the next 24 hours to feel good about tomorrow?
MATT LOTTICH: He's obviously a little bit under the weather. He looks like a young man that hasn't practiced. The thing about Javon and one of the coaching moments that we can have is just, when things aren't going your way, continue to keep your head up, continue to trust your teammates, and I thought he did a good job of that tonight. It just wasn't his night, but he also made a big shot in overtime for us. He got down the lane. I think -- was that the first lead that we had in overtime? It tied it, yeah.

So he kept his head up, and it wasn't his best game. These last two games haven't been his best game, but hopefully, he got some rest today on the bench and is able to give it a go tomorrow.

Q. After two close losses to a Loyola coach, is there something that you changed, or what went different this time around that you were able to sneak out a win?
MATT LOTTICH: I think, when you do play teams as much and you play them for a third time, there's some familiarity of really how they're trying to attack you. I thought we put in some wrinkles. We tried to take them off their rhythm. They're a great rhythm team.

Really we tried not to turn the ball over. I think, when they really made their run, we were turning the ball over, they were getting out on the break. I looked at the stat sheet, and they're one of the top turnover teams in the country, and we only had 13 in an overtime game, and we'll take that.

We tried to take care of the ball. We tried to keep them off their rhythm, and that was basically it.

Q. Matt, if you can just, what was going through your head when you saw the final five seconds unfold of this game?
MATT LOTTICH: Well, you put the ball in a senior's hand, and I thought Sackey did a great job of drawing help, getting it back to John, and John did have an angle. I thought he was going to shoot it, but he made the right play. Obviously, guy came up to help and was able to make the pass to Eron, and we got a layup for the game. And I thought we actually did a really good job. After we scored, there was three seconds left. Donovan got over there, pressured the ball without fouling, made sure they couldn't run down the floor and shoot a layup.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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