NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - COLGATE VS ARKANSAS

March 19, 2021

Matt Langel

Colgate Raiders

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Postgame Media Conference

Arkansas - 85, Colgate - 68

THE MODERATOR: We have head coach Matt Langel. We want to thank the media for participating today. We'll go with an opening statement from Coach Langel, then we'll open it up to questions. If you could give us a brief opening statement.

MATT LANGEL: Obviously disappointed in the result of today's game. I thought Arkansas really, really -- after we got a significant lead in the first half, they really made a conscious decision to turn up the defensive intensity. They played a smaller lineup. Clearly, Coach must put his toughest guys in the game, and we weren't ready.

I take ownership in that. I feel bad that I didn't have our guys prepared for that part of what Arkansas did. They hadn't done that very often, certainly not in the SEC, and it ended up being the difference in the game. Clearly, the points off turnovers led to points in the paint and just created a tide that we couldn't overcome. Super proud of this group, of this team, of our fight in the second half, but ultimately, we didn't take good enough care of the ball.

We've got a terrific senior class led by Jordan Burns, who has made as big of an impact as anybody in the history of Colgate basketball. What he's done as a leader and as a player, scoring points and getting assists, has certainly been noted, but I think, as I watch our team, they high five in practice as much as anybody I've ever come across. That's directly a result of Jordan and his leadership. Again, we'll be extremely sad to see him go but extremely grateful for all that we've been able to accomplish in his time.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

Q. Coach Langel, you guys got out to that huge lead in the first half. They kind of threw a haymaker at the end of the half, but your team seemed to respond out of halftime. Could you kind of go through that whole scenario and what you said to them to kind of get them going again.

MATT LANGEL: Again, they went to -- they played a smaller lineup with Justin Smith as the five man. He didn't come out of the game. He was super. His intensity really impacted the game. And they ramped up the pressure on the perimeter, so we weren't able to get into our offense -- a couple times, we weren't able to get the ball across half-court.

So we talked about some things to try to get into our offense in the second half. The guys came out -- true to who they are, any time we've been knocked back a little bit, they've responded, and we hung tough there for a while. I thought we probably shot a few ill-advised shots. We were trying to manage a little bit of foul trouble with Jordan and Jeff and Keegan.

Ultimately, it just -- as the game wore on, they got too many times into the paint and forced us into too many turnovers that led to some easy opportunities because, when we had them in the half-court, for the most part, I thought we did a really nice job executing the game plan and getting some good defensive stops.

Q. Coach, similar to the response you just gave, can you take us through the fight and determination from your guys? They were thrown so many different things. The run from Arkansas, all sorts of foul trouble, yet they never stopped fighting, and they were in it right there in the last few minutes. Can you take us through the makeup of these guys, especially in this last game?

MATT LANGEL: Individually, they're mentally and physically tough guys. Collectively, they're a fantastic team. I think, when you have those two things -- and they're not all the same as individuals. They certainly have found a way to complement one another.

So they've been able to play all season long as the hunted, and I think really were anxious and looked forward to and responded to being the underdog at the beginning of the game. Obviously, when Arkansas cranked it up, this group specifically hasn't had that experience in a long time now, since non-league last season. So it affected us.

But, again, true to their colors, they kind of found their rhythm again and responded to that style and what they had faced and found a way to make it a close game for a long time into the game.

Q. Coach, in the first half, at the end of the first half, Arkansas went on that run, but you guys came back, and you had it tied up with around seven minutes left. From then on, you had some offensive struggles. Do you think fatigue and that fast pace that Arkansas set with their pressure played any role in the offensive struggles down the stretch?

MATT LANGEL: I think it's two separate things. The pace is no problem for us, like running up and down is not really a problem. The intensity of their on ball defense is really something that we're not used to. In our conference, if somebody tries to guard Jordan Burns or Nelly Cummings or Oliver Lynch-Daniels or Tucker Richardson or any of our perimeter players, if they try to guard them that high up on the floor that close to them with that much ball pressure, they're able to make a good move and get by.

Same thing with Smith as the center. He's able to help and get back to our center but without any recovery necessary, and those are things we're just not used to. I certainly think their defensive pressure and intensity, much less than the pace of the game, where the up and down affected our team.

Q. Coach, you mentioned they left the tough guys in. Specifically, what was going on that you felt that the toughness part played into it?

MATT LANGEL: Well, again, guys that could just really guard the ball and scrap for loose balls and get on the offensive glass. I mean, Smith played 40 minutes, and he had 29 points, drew 10 fouls, 5 offensive rebounds, and 13 rebounds total. He had just two turnovers. I think he took a big charge in the game. Like that's a tough guy in my mind. It's not always necessarily the prettiest that he does. And he shot 11 for 13 from the free-throw line. That's well above his percentages over the course of his career.

So in many ways, that, to me, exudes toughness. I thought that they really guarded the ball on the perimeter. Jalen Tate uses his length really well. Davonte Davis really hawked the ball. I thought he played a nice game, made some nice pull-up jump shots.

Again, they got out, they forced some turnovers and ill-advised shots from us playing a little bit outside our character, and that led to some easy scoring opportunities for them in transition.

Q. Matt, you had a little moment with Jordan as you guys were leaving the floor. You hugged him a little bit. I don't know if you said anything to him or I don't know if you will say anything to him soon. What kind of sentiment do you have for him -- I know you mentioned it up top, but for the way him and your program has sort of surged over the past few years with him as your main guy?

MATT LANGEL: I think we just exchanged pleasantries. He said thank you, and I couldn't be more grateful for everything that he's done. Again, as much as he's accomplished as a basketball player and as talented as he is and as bright as his future is as he continues to pursue the game, I'm just so proud of the man that he's become.

Again, he's spent so much time and effort and energy on his game, sure, but he's going to graduate from Colgate University with a lot of different perspective than he got here -- than when he got here four years ago.

So to have watched that and had him influence our program in so many ways, again, the two things that I tell everybody that make him as special as he is are that he is supremely confident because of all the work that he puts in, and he's extremely hard working. And when you have your guy who's the leader and is getting all the accolades, when they have those two things about them, it rubs off on everybody else.

I mentioned again, just like little high fives and tapping each other on the shoulder, the connectivity and the synergy that exists in our program is in large part because of him. And not to diminish the everything else that anybody else does in our program, because we've got a lot of terrific guys who I think we have a chance to continue to have an extraordinary team and compete for championships.

I really like our group returning.

But Jordan, again, has had a storybook career, and not everybody gets to do that. So I'm super proud and happy for him that everything has worked out the way it has and thankful for the impact he's had on our campus and in our program and in all of our lives.

Q. Coach, did they do anything different in the half-court? Because you all are punishing inside. Or was it just a matter of them trying to speed up the tempo?

MATT LANGEL: Well, I don't know if they were trying to speed up the tempo, but they were trying to not let us run offense. Like when we were running offense, we were getting some penetration that we were used to. We were being able to read the defense.

So I think they just determined that they were going to dictate where we were going to go and they were going to take away some options, and we weren't able to get the ball moving well enough and connect on enough passes, and that's a direct impact of us not having -- I think our guys are capable of doing that, but we weren't able to do it this afternoon, and we haven't faced that all year. It's not something you can simulate.

And to be honest, it's hard to show it on film because they hadn't done that for long stretches over the course of their season. They hadn't been forced to do that, to play Smith 40 minutes and Moody 35 minutes and Tate 38 minutes, which they had to in order to make sure that they could try and advance in this tournament.

Q. Coach Langel, again, could you just kind of put this all in perspective for us. You've had such a great four-year run. A lot of people were picking you guys to win this game, didn't turn out. How do you balance that disappointment with kind of the progress your program's making?

MATT LANGEL: Yeah, it's definitely disappointing. I think the country got to see the team that we are with the lead that we got. Obviously, we weren't able -- the game's 40 minutes, and Arkansas was very deserving of the victory.

But I couldn't -- for me, big picture, it's our choice of how we learn and grow from this experience. The journey that we've been on this season was unlike any other, hopefully any other that will ever exist in NCAA basketball, but the lessons that we learned and the perspective that is there for us to gain if we choose is significant.

So as elated as we were on Sunday and celebration and joy for winning our conference tournament after being favored in every single game this season, to have the disappointment is part of life, and it's your choice of -- it's our choice of how we learn and grow and move forward. It doesn't diminish the pain and the difficulty of taking the jersey off for one last time or not coaching David Maynard or Jordan Burns again, but big picture, this program is positioned extremely well. The culture is in place. It has been for even beyond just the four years of successes here.

Jordan in his first year learned from a couple guys who had other difficult experiences before that. So big picture, when the pain goes away and you're hurt for those guys who aren't going to get to come back and lace them up and get back at it goes away, we'll be able to address the opportunities ahead and what we can take from this and move forward, which I feel great about.