NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 16, 2022

Jared Grasso

Luis Hurtado

Peter Kiss

UD Arena

Bryant Bulldogs

Media Conference

Wright State - 93, Bryant - 82

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Bryant coach Jared Grasso and student-athletes Luis Hurtado and Peter Kiss.

COACH GRASSO: Credit to Wright State. I thought they played really well. Trey Calvin, Tanner Holden were terrific. They scored 33 points in the second half.

We wanted them to have to beat us over the top. They were 9-for-21 from 3 and made a bunch of mid-range pull-ups, which is what we were going to give up. I thought we did a pretty decent job inside on Basile guarding the rim.

But they made plays, they made shots, they got to the foul line. So credit to them. Well-coached team. Good team.

Proud of my guys. They kept competing. They kept fighting. We didn't have a great offensive night. We're 1-for-13 from 3 in the second half. We're not winning a game like that shooting the ball that poorly.

Credit to Wright State. Really proud of my group and everything they've given us this year. No one has any idea how much we've been through as a group and how much we've evolved. Really proud of these two guys and my seniors, and we'll really miss coaching this group.

Q. Peter and Luis, this journey, having it end here, how proud are you guys of what you accomplished? It's Bryant history getting here. Is this tough to kind of say goodbye to everyone right now and seeing it end this way?

LUIS HURTADO: The experience, it's sad it has to end like this, but like Coach said, we gave everything we had. And it was not our night. And I feel like for those guys that are on this team will carry that on their shoulders. And we are going to be back for those guys that aren't coming back. And I'm just proud of this team, like I say.

PETER KISS: Yeah, as a competitor, this doesn't feel real good, but taking a step back from it, like Luis said, I'm really proud of the guys on my team as well as the coaching staff. No one really knows how much adversity we've been through and how much we've grown from day one.

So I guess you could say I'm extremely proud of this group. And we'll be back, they'll be back. But Bryant is on the map. And I can't be more proud of everybody on this team and group.

Q. What was it like just in the final moments when you got pulled in the last minute, shaking everybody's hand?

PETER KISS: It didn't feel real. It's sort of similar to the last question. Just extremely proud of everybody on this team. And I'm just so thankful for this man sitting right next to me. He's done so much for me.

Q. We've seen you guys play this year with these big sparks where it's that one play, that one big moment and all of a sudden you guys go on a run. The end of the first half, you got the big bucket at the end to cut it to two and you start the second. Did you think that was the moment, okay, we're going to take off now? And was that what you guys were searching for the whole game?

LUIS HURTADO: I feel we didn't play well in the first half. Coach told us in the locker room keep our heads up that our second half was going to be better. So we just came out and was ready to compete. We are a group that work really hard and we never give up.

And I feel like coming out in the second half, we wanted to make a run, but it's kind of difficult. It didn't play our way. But we're really proud of how we competed and how the game ended at the end with us giving it our all.

PETER KISS: I mean, it was a great run. Wright State is a great basketball team. Coached extremely well. But we couldn't put it away or come back in the game. Credit to Wright State. I'm really proud of how we played and how much effort we gave on both ends of the floor. The ball just didn't bounce our way today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Grasso.

Q. Coming out, you guys jumped out 5-0, but then things fell out of rhythm. Was it something you guys weren't doing or something they were doing that was taking you out of sorts a little?

COACH GRASSO: I thought they played well. We shot 4-for-24 from 3, which, it's hard to win a game like this when you shoot the ball like that. And our emphasis was trying to get to the rim and attacking the rim. And in the second half we were 14-for-21 at the rim. We're 1-for-13 from 3. And most of them were pretty good looks. A couple of them were a little rushed. You get down -- there's no seven-point shot. Unfortunately sometimes you feel like you've got to make a 3. We took a couple of rush ones.

They played well. It's a well-coached team. And Calvin and Holden were terrific. Those guys played at a really high level. We didn't do a good enough job defending them. And credit to them.

Q. Jared, what did you think of the atmosphere out there, their crowd behind them? And how do you think it affected your team?

COACH GRASSO: To be honest with you, once I start coaching I have no idea how many people in the crowd. I don't really hear the crowd anymore. I can't answer that question.

Just same thing in our home games with the crowds. I ask the guys after the game how good the crowds were and I see it on video. I didn't have a good feel for that. Obviously there was a lot of green. I'm sure it was a pro-Wright State crowd. But that didn't have anything to do with the outcome.

Our guys played hard enough to win. We just didn't play well enough to win. That's what I told them in the locker room. They competed. They fought. They scrapped. They clawed. They played better than us. And unfortunately it happened in this game, and the NCAA Tournament game. Again, that's a credit to them. They outplayed us and we have to tip our hats to them, and we've got to -- all I know is get back to work.

I love this group of seniors. They've been through a lot, all of them in different ways. It would take me an hour to explain half their stories and what guys have been through with injuries, and Pete played with a broken finger the whole last month of the season. Hall Elasias wasn't even supposed to be back with a knee injury, and he came back in in three and a half weeks. He hasn't practiced since he got hurt. Just plays in games. He was gassed today.

I'm really proud of our upperclassmen, and with the younger guys, we'll give them a little while off and we'll get back to work. It's all I know. We need to find a way to get back here and find a way to get a win in this tournament.

We get back to work. We improve. We go recruiting. We'll start recruiting tomorrow. And I don't love the way it ended, but it's part of the deal. Someone outplays you, you tip your hat to them and find a way to improve your program and get better.

Q. How did this team, this group, change Bryant basketball?

COACH GRASSO: I mean, in a lot of ways. First off, we had a group of seniors who, these guys all came in at different times, but they took a chance on a program that never won a conference championship, never went to the NCAA Tournament. Never -- so they took a chance on a vision, not something tangible, just something that I believed in and they believed.

And they continued to work over the last two years. And if we don't get hit by COVID the end of the last season I think we're in the NCAA Tournament last year, too. And this group worked really hard to bring this program to where it was. Obviously, first league championship, first NCAA Tournament for Bryant University. I think it's great for the university. Great for the program.

Am I satisfied? No, we wanted to win today. We wanted to go play Arizona. We wanted to beat Arizona. That was our mindset. And we believed we were going to. I believe -- there was no point in this game I thought we were losing. We made runs. I felt we were going to make one.

Unfortunately our big 2, 3, didn't play as well as theirs. Their guys made shots and plays and ours were not as effective. But every timeout, our guys felt we could make a run because we've always been able to. We just couldn't get over the hump.

We need score, stop, score. That's what we talk about all the time. We didn't get enough of them. We had to amp our pressure up. They were able to throw it over the top. They went to the foul line a ton. And they made free throws.

So this is the first step in Bryant basketball. I think we kind of, hopefully, put the program on the map a little bit and hopefully it helps this university moving forward. And we're not done yet. We'll keep improving. We'll get back to work and do what we do and hopefully be able to take the next step here very soon.

Q. We remember how last year ended in the conference championship game. This season ends the way it does. How do you think that might fuel the offseason?

COACH GRASSO: I mean, it's going to fuel the offseason. We're going to get back to work. Like, all I know is work; that's how you get better.

So guys who were bought in and dialed into I want to get better, I want to take my game to another level, will be really successful here moving forward. Just like this group of seniors were, they all improved a lot.

Charles Pride took his game to a whole new level in three years. Peter Kiss took his game to a whole new level in two years. I go down the line, Luis Hurtado. Hall Elisias wasn't healthy all year. He gave us everything he could. He had every injury known to man that you could possibly have.

Greg Calixte, Adham Eleeda, the best years of their careers. So the guys who are returning -- we have three mid-year transfers in the program, a couple of guys already committed to us -- we're going to work really hard.

And the guys who are bought into working and want to get better and want to be part of a championship program, because that's what we want to be -- every year we want to compete to win championships -- the guys who are ready to work and get better will have a ton of success. The guys who won't will get pushed to the back.

But we're just going to get back to work. Again, for me -- I don't know if it's coach-speak or not -- but it's all I know. You get back into the gym, you get better. Take a week off and we get back to work. It's what it takes. I've said it since I got here. It takes what it takes.

And hopefully these guys will be hungry to get back to this. It was a great experience for them winning the title, Selection Sunday, all those things. Today didn't work out the way we wanted. We'll get back in the gym and continue to do what we need to do.