NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - SOUTH DAKOTA ST. VS PROVIDENCE

March 17, 2022

Eric Henderson

Baylor Scheierman

Douglas Wilson

KeyBank Center

South Dakota St. Jackrabbits

Media Conference

Providence 66, South Dakota State 57

ERIC HENDERSON: Obviously, tip of the cap to Coach Cooley and his team. I thought our guys battled their hearts out. I thought we were defensively -- we were tough. We battled in every aspect of the game. We just didn't score enough points, but I can guarantee you this, our season will never be defined by one game. And all the guys in the locker room and these guys, we came in confident. We expected to compete, and we just fell a little short, but I love our guys, and nobody can take away what we accomplished this year.

Q. Baylor, you guys started pretty strong, and you kind of had some showtime going there a little bit with some alley-oops and things. It was really fast-paced, and then there were two back-to-back time-outs, and there was a long delay. Did it feel like that slowed some of your momentum? It seemed like you had a tough time picking it back up after that long delay?

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Well, for me I was happy because I was super tired after a long eight minutes. I guess I didn't notice it in game that it slowed down, so I don't think necessarily it did. I just think it just was part of the flow of the game.

Q. What impact did you feel like Providence's defense had on your guy's ability to score shots and get points?

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: They play really physical, and they're really long at pretty much all five positions, and they do a great job on defense trying to take away what they want to take away, and they were pretty good at it.

Q. Baylor, you guys were coming out of a timeout 16.5 seconds left in the first half. It was an eight-point deficit. You had a chance to cut into it right before the half. They made you give up the ball. Just how much was that really a concentration on their part to try to make you give up the ball to your teammates today?

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Yeah, I'm sure they were trying to get the ball out of my hands a little bit. I got off to a hot start, and I was kind of feeling it a little bit, and so they really started to shrink the gaps, but I have confidence in my teammates to pass the ball, and they're going to make the right plays and make shots too.

Q. Doug, you guys got down 14 in the second half, and then immediately went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead back down to six. What do you think allowed you guys to get back in the game right away?

DOUGLAS WILSON: Just playing our basketball. The game is never over even when they have big leads like that. It's just stay composed and just chip away at it.

Q. For Doug, did you think you fouled that shooter late in the game?

DOUGLAS WILSON: You know, no, not at the moment. I thought he kicked his leg there, and I sort of ran into him, but I don't make the calls, so, you know.

Q. Doug, how much of an impact is South Dakota State and being at this program made on your life?

DOUGLAS WILSON: It's made a huge impact on my life, honestly. Like I always say, as a kid growing up, I probably -- I never imaged myself being in the position I was in, and I'm really grateful that South Dakota State gave me that opportunity, and they really stuck with me from day one. I just -- I'm just really appreciative, and they're always going to have a place in my heart no matter what.

Q. Baylor and Doug, just what are the emotions right now as far as sort of balancing the disappointment of this loss but also, I would assume, the pride of the season that you had this year prior to today?

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: You know, I think the disappointment is a little more at the forefront right now. You know, we were really excited about this opportunity, and we were excited to make a run, and, obviously, now that it's over, it's tough.

I'm sure in the next week or so we'll reflect on the season and then it will show that regardless of what happened here today, our season, like Coach said, it wasn't defined just on this game. We had a hell of a season. Heck of a season, sorry.

DOUGLAS WILSON: Just to piggyback off what Baylor said, nobody can take what we did this season from us. We still -- although we lost in the first round, it's a big accomplishment just to even make it to the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of teams in college, and everybody can't be here, so just to have the opportunity to be here, it's really -- it feels really good for me and my teammates and coaches. So for the most part, yeah, it hurts right now, but like Baylor said, we're going to probably a week from now all be together and just reflecting on it, just talking about the time, good times, bad times we had throughout the whole season.

Q. Baylor, did this -- everything live up to your expectations of what this tournament would be and how much you want another shot at this in the years ahead?

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Yeah, absolutely. Once the game was over walking off the court kind of just turning around and soaking it all in because it was a dream come true for me. Being a kid from a small town Nebraska and having this opportunity, it's special, and I can't thank my coaches and my teammates enough for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to show what I can do on this level.

Q. Were they kind of what you were expecting as far as the size, defense, all those -- the strengths that you knew coming in?

ERIC HENDERSON: I mean, they were the Big East regular season champs. They're so physical. Like I said in the pregame, they take on their personality of their coach. They're together. They play their heart out. They're very, very physical, so they were. They were. I thought -- I knew our guys weren't going to be intimidated, but they were physical. They were aggressive getting downhill, and I thought we did a good job of protecting the paint. We just at the end of the day didn't score well enough.

Q. Coach, game of runs there. You were able to get it down to three late in the game. Couldn't get quite over the hump. Can you talk about the ending sequences of the game and what was going on?

ERIC HENDERSON: The last media timeout, we were as confident as we've ever been. We can make threes. We can put some points on the board, and we hadn't gone on a run yet that we normally do, and so we were confident that we were going to get back in the game. And then obviously, we got it down to that single possession game and couldn't get a stop, and then obviously, we fouled, I guess, on that three-point shot. That was a back breaker.

Q. I'll ask the same thing that Matt asked the players. Do you think those back-to-back media time-outs kind of slowed you guys down?

ERIC HENDERSON: Well, it was a double-headed sword because we were cooking. We were playing at the pace we wanted to play at, but our guys were tired. I mean, they were -- so was the other team. I'm not saying that. So was Providence. We needed that rest. We needed to get our breath, be able to take a breath and get our legs back underneath us.

In a big moment, your nerves -- and to play that long of a stretch to start the game, that can take a lot out of you. I did think it took a little bit out of us with our flow, our rhythm and we did get stagnant. Doug's stomach was a little upset. That was a tough spot for us. I just felt like our movement was slowed down a little bit. I don't know if it was because of the stretch or not, but it did seem to change a little bit at that time. I know that.

Q. What did you see on that three-point shot that they called the foul on Doug?

ERIC HENDERSON: Yeah, I mean, we can look at that as a big play in the game, and obviously, it was, but I don't really want to focus on that, to be honest with you. I want to focus on -- I thought that stretch with about eight minutes to about two minutes left in the first half, that's where I didn't feel like we had -- we had second chance points and gave them a couple of easy baskets in transition, and then we gave them the flow and didn't score at those times so they were able to stretch it out to eight points, and that's really where I felt like probably was as big an impact as any other part of the game during that stretch.

Obviously, it was a tough call. It is what it is. Just like one game is not going to define our season, one call is not going to determine the outcome of the game. I would have liked it to be different, but ...

Q. Coach, this program has been very close now and especially in three of its last four games. Obviously, does it underscore how difficult it is to win in this tournament and what is it going to take to hopefully someday break through and be on the other side of this?

ERIC HENDERSON: I have great confidence that we're going to continue to put in the time and be a selfless basketball program to put ourselves in position to have opportunities like these. Things have to go your way.

Obviously, we went on a heck of a run and won 21 games in a row with a big-time target on our back in the conference tournament. At the end of the day, every chance we get to play in the NCAA tournament, don't ever take it for granted. Don't ever take it for granted because you never know. You just want to continue to embrace every moment, and if we continue to work, I have great hope that we'll be back here. Just like today, I had great hope that we were going to be successful. I think we will be in the future as well.

Q. Do you think it worked against you that so many people were identifying you guys as a potential Cinderella, and there was so much talk of them being primed for an upset?

ERIC HENDERSON: I don't know if it necessarily worked against us, but I know it probably worked for Providence, to be honest with you. Our guys have done a good job of really not really worrying about that. Like I've told you guys, we get everybody's best shot in the Summit League every night, so that's really not any distraction for us, so I don't think necessarily it affected our team, but I'm sure it helped Providence.

Q. Obviously, not the way you wanted it to end, but just how proud are you of this group going through everything and getting to this moment?

ERIC HENDERSON: Yeah, it's -- going through it, you know, you don't really appreciate what you're doing at the time, but like the players here, you know, they'll sit back and reflect on what this group did. I mean, it was a historical season, and nobody can ever take that away from us, and I had so much fun coaching this group.

We continued to get better and better throughout the year, and that's -- those are the things that really, really make me proud is our connectivity, our improvement throughout the year, and just the love that each one of our players have for each other.

Q. Doug was a guy your first year coaching, brought him out, he came out, and he was a great player right from the get-go. His final game here. What's he meant to you in this program?

ERIC HENDERSON: I don't like it when you get me choked up. That kid right there, like I told our players in the locker room, if you need -- if you need an example for what an incredible teammate is, you don't have to look very far because as special as he is on the floor -- and everybody knows what he can do and has done as player, but the type of person he is, the way he treats his teammates is so much more important to me than anything else, and that's what -- that's what makes Doug special.