	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2020

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Valparaiso - 74, Loyola Chicago - 73,

THE MODERATOR: Loyola Ramblers are with us. Keith Clemons and Cameron Krutwig represent the student body. Head coach Porter Moser is in the middle. We're going to ask Porter to make a statement about the game and then we'll go to questions for all three representatives of Loyola.

Porter, please.

PORTER MOSER: Obviously, it was a really tough loss. I got to congratulate Valparaiso. They made some really, really winning plays. I know Fazekas hit a tough three. Kiser hit a step back, shot another three, Sackey hit one. They just kept on making winning plays. It's been our Achilles heel all year. If we're not in that position to make free throws. We tried to hold off. We tried to do everything you could possibly do. If it wasn't tonight, it was going to be one of these other two nights. Can't win this thing shooting 50 percent from the foul line. Krut made two big ones. We were, I think, 12 of 25 going into those last two free throws. You can't win on this stage.

I got to give Valpo credit. They made some terrific basketball shots to put themselves in that position. That shot by Fazekas. Kiser hit two -- Kiser was probably the best player on the floor tonight. The shots he made, the toughness he had, and I got to just tip my hat to them. They made some really tough shots to put themselves in that position, and then we didn't finish it with the free throws.

Q. Cameron, after being up by 18, what did you see go wrong for you guys?
CAMERON KRUTWIG: I don't know. I thought we all were pretty positive. We talked about it a lot throughout the year, just when teams make runs on us, just try to counterpunch and just try to stay positive through it. I thought throughout the whole huddle and stuff, there was no kind of shock or anything. We were all really, really positive and stuff.

It's just credit to them. They made plays and hit some big time shots, like Coach said.

Q. Porter, after Valparaiso made such a strong second half surge, what was your message to the team heading into overtime?
PORTER MOSER: I think it happened with Northern Iowa at home. We talked about, hey, we've been here before. Northern Iowa made a huge surge at home, and we came out and went on an 11-0 run. Our message was it's a five minute game. Got to win this five minute game. Got to stay aggressive. We talked about being aggressive breaking the press.

I thought Marquise got us off to a good start and made a couple baskets. I thought Keith -- I mean, 28 points, his career high. He was just terrific for so many things. Our bench was good. I think our bench was 8 for 12. Krut and these guys carried us all year long. Take them any time, any place. I'll take them by my side going into these games.

Our message, back to your question, was, hey, it's five minutes. We've been here before. Same thing that happened with Northern Iowa and they came back in that flurry. But it's been a thing for us. I mean, Valpo, we were up the same thing at our place, and it came down almost the last thing. Why? Because we were under 50 percent for the foul line. I think we missed two or three straight front ends and one and ones. Those things, when you start getting into nine, 11 when they're fouling, then that shot -- they're just different.

It happened to Drake, happened to Northern Iowa, it's happened to us a number of times. Now that the season is over, we're gonna get back to work. We've got capable guys. It eventually caught up to us, and it caught up to us tonight.

Q. Porter, you guys had a lot of newcomers, some veterans too, injuries at the start of the year. Just how would you kind of sum up what this year was and what you want guys to take from this?
PORTER MOSER: It's just tough because it's such -- I'm just -- I'm sad. I'm bummed. Just I'm upset. A lot of emotions going on right now, but I know I'll reflect on just how proud I am of the guys. We lost two back-to-back Players of the Year. We really had three guys that have played in this tournament. And didn't have a senior. Bruno, I love, had a great career, but in our top nine or ten scorers, we had no seniors.

I said -- I know I'm going to get this question, but I said to our guys at pregame lunch, what was the first thing I walked in and said? I said, nothing that's happened today is going to affect us. They knew all the eyes were on Northern Iowa losing. That didn't come into play. We addressed that at pregame. Nothing that's happening today is affecting us. We have Valparaiso. We didn't take them lightly. The newcomers, I thought, were ready to play. This guy was phenomenal tonight.

It's tough because now you've got to go in the off-season with that taste in your mouth. You've got to go in the off-season with that taste in your mouth knowing that -- but we'll sit down and reflect on what we did. We got everybody back. That's not what we're going to talk about right now, but it's probably one of those games that's just tough because we really were in a great mindset coming into St. Louis. These guys were ready. Everything -- I thought we did a lot of things we needed to do to be up 18.

But we've been skating on thin ice for many, many games with this free-throw shooting, and tonight it caught us.

Q. Keith, Coach mentioned it a couple times. Obviously, you had a career high 28. What did you see out there, and what was going right for you?
KEITH CLEMONS: I just took advantage of what they were giving me. They kept going on their ball screen, so I just stepped and take the shot. Continue to be aggressive. If they went over, just go to the hole.

Q. Apologies about asking about the other team, but I know you mentioned seniors. Valpo had two, Fazekas and Kiser, who made big plays down the stretch. What did you see from those guys going up against them tonight?
PORTER MOSER: You don't have to apologize. I've got a lot of respect for those guys. It's hard to beat a team six times in two years. That's the sixth time we've played Valpo in two years. It's hard to beat a team six times. So I -- you don't have to apologize. I've got a lot of respect for them. They made huge shots on that stage in just -- it seemed like they were both like I've had enough. I've had enough. That's how they were playing down the stretch. I've had enough.

I know one of the coaches said at the luncheon, at this stage, guys have got to make big shots, big plays to win three days in a row. Fazekas and Kiser made huge, huge plays down the stretch, and I respect that.

Q. You pounded the free-throw thing throughout the season with these guys, but can you pinpoint anything? Just even in the past, it seems like one of the things that it's hard to know why. Is it mental? What would you point to on that?
PORTER MOSER: I've been really studying it. They're totally capable. We've done a million things. We've had just -- I think we were 60, and the ninth place team was 70. There was a ten percentage point difference between 10 and 9. We're capable of that. We're better. We're going to be better in the off-season. But it just seemed like it got a little contagious. It just got a little contagious. That was a hard snowball to stop going downhill, no matter what we were trying.

And they're all capable. They're all capable.

Q. Porter, Tate only had four shots today. What were they doing defensively that kind of took Tate out of the game?
PORTER MOSER: I'll look at the tape. I haven't seen the tape yet. I know he wishes he had that one back. Tate's been great all year. I'll have to look at the tape. I don't know specifically, to answer that question. I know he's disappointed. He's tough. Wants to win. Everything you want in a kid. Had a great year. Third team all league. I don't know specifically what happened. I've got to look at the tape.

Q. Cameron, similar to what I asked your coach, just what do you want the team to take from this season?
CAMERON KRUTWIG: Yeah, like Coach said, he was super proud of us. I've said this -- Coach will probably remember, but I've said this the last three years. The faces change, but the expectations don't. The good thing for us is we don't have a lot of faces changing the next year. We didn't live up to our expectations and our standards. Coach always talks about standards, kind of our standards for ourselves and as a program. This season, we didn't live up to them.

So you've got to get back to work. You've got to come with a better focus, more of a grind in the off-season and in the summer, and, yeah, like I said, faces change, but the expectations don't. It's fortunate for us because we don't have that many faces changing. So everyone's got another year under their belt -- you know, Marquise, Keith, Pip, Pax, Tom, those guys. So yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297