NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IONA VS ALABAMA

March 20, 2021

Isaiah Ross

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Iona Gaels

Postgame Media Conference

Alabama 68, Iona 55

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Isaiah Ross. Questions, please.

Q. How much of an impact did Coach Pitino make not only on your game this season but your everyday life this season as well?

ISAIAH ROSS: Man, a huge impact I would say, man. He's a Hall of Famer. I really wanted to learn from him. As soon as he got the job, he texted me. I told him, You're probably going to get annoyed of me because I'm trying to learn as much as I can in this year that I have with you. Let's make it a great year.

Q. Everything that kind of happened from this year, from Iona hiring coach, the pauses, winning the MAC, pushing a Final Four contender for 30 minutes, do you look back on this year proud? How would you describe this season?

ISAIAH ROSS: Oh, man, I'm definitely proud. It was an up-and-down season. We had a lot of adversity. We had a lot of pauses. Guys didn't quit. I didn't quit. We kept our heads high.

Coach definitely believed in us from day one. That's all you can ask for from a coach like that. The guys stuck together. We had a lot of camaraderie. The adversity definitely didn't get us down. It actually picked us up and made us go harder.

Q. Did you wear down there the last 10 minutes?

ISAIAH ROSS: I wouldn't say 'wear down'. Alabama is a great team. They just got the looks that they wanted and executed better than we did.

Q. I know it wasn't the result you wanted, but as someone who didn't get to play during Iona's last NCAA appearance, what did it mean for you to be out there? How was it?

ISAIAH ROSS: It was great. Once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was on that team that got to the NCAA tournament, so it was a goal of mine to get back and help Iona get back there to March Madness.

Q. What did you feel kind of went wrong down the stretch that allowed Alabama to tip the scale into their favor?

ISAIAH ROSS: Nothing went wrong. Like I said in the previous question, they executed better than we did. They got the looks that they wanted. We didn't get the looks that we wanted and execute as well as they did.

Q. Rick talked about he wants to make Iona like a Gonzaga of the east, a big-time program at a smaller school. What is it about him that makes you think he can do that, that made you guys believe this season?

ISAIAH ROSS: His résumé. His résumé speaks all for itself. He definitely can do that. He came here first year and we went to March Madness, won the MAC. It's definitely achievable with a coach like him. It just takes time.

Q. Coach said this game, he believed strongly that you guys could win. I think a lot of people would say that's not the way it's supposed to go when you look at the seed lines. What does it do when a man like him comes at you with that sort of confidence?

ISAIAH ROSS: It does a lot. He had the guys ready, fired up. We watched a lot of film going into this game. We knew exactly what they wanted to do, their dos and don'ts for the game. It was definitely achievable.

But as the game went along, their execution got better, ours got worse, stuff like that. Just little things down the line. They out-rebounded us, all that kind of stuff.

Q. What did coach tell you after the game?

ISAIAH ROSS: He told us he was proud of us. We fought hard. We did what we were supposed to do. It's just the little things down the line that took away a W and made us lose. Just the little things.

Q. In a few years, what do you think Iona is going to be like with him there?

ISAIAH ROSS: Iona is definitely going to be a powerhouse on the East Coast, I would say. I believe it already is. What is it, five straight MAC championships? Definitely a powerhouse. With Iona bringing a coach like that in, it just boosts its character and stuff like that.

Q. You just mentioned that his résumé is what kind of gets your attention when he walks in the door. After several meetings, over time, it's got to be a little bit more than the résumé. Can you speak to just the manner in which he tells you things?

ISAIAH ROSS: Yeah. His IQ is off the charts. He sees things that other coaches wouldn't see. That's why he's a Hall of Fame coach. Just the way he goes about the game. He has us stay in the gym. He loves basketball. So it trickles down the tree. We all got to love it. We all have to fight hard, give it everything we have because we see him do that.

Q. With all the film you watched this week, was any of that watching Hoosiers?

ISAIAH ROSS: No.

Q. How would you say you and the team have grown this year as basketball players?

ISAIAH ROSS: As the year goes along, you start to learn more, you start to gain more confidence, you start to build chemistry. So we kind of started out rough. At the end the season I believe we did a total 360, way better defensive team than we started, way better offensive team. We know a lot of guys' spots and areas where they want the ball, where they can be effective at.

It was great. We didn't start off too hot because we had a lot of newcomers on the team, only a couple returners. We didn't have the summer. COVID kind of didn't help with that. I believe that we would be a way better team if we had the summer and if we didn't have as many shutdowns as we had because we got hit the hardest in the nation.

I think we gave it all we had. I feel like it would be a different outcome if we had those months to prepare and get better as a basketball team.

Q. Rick likes to talk about how he coaches everybody the same. He doesn't make a difference between scholarship and walk-ons. What did you think of Parker today?

ISAIAH ROSS: Man, that was tremendous. Parker is definitely a guy that comes in and gives you energy. When he got in, he gave a lot of hustle plays. He took a charge. That kind of amped me up. Do some dirty work down the line. It definitely helps you out.

Q. Not sure if you can come up with this. Was there a moment this season when coach said something that did something to you, Dang, that's not something I ever heard or thought of before, that kind of pinpointed that basketball IQ that he has?

ISAIAH ROSS: Every day. Every day I learn something new. He tells me something that I didn't know in the game of basketball. You don't know what you don't know. He goes out there and tries to teach you everything that he knows. So it helps you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.