NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MONTANA ST. VS TEXAS TECH

March 18, 2022

Danny Sprinkle

RaeQuan Battle

Nick Galezas

Xavier Bishop

Viejas Arena

Montana St. Bobcats

Media Conference

Texas Tech - 97, Montana State - 62

COACH SPRINKLE: I'm proud of my team. We obviously didn't play our best today and almost 100 percent of that has to do with Texas Tech. What they've done for our university and how they represented us in the Big Sky Conference, I couldn't be more proud of a group of individuals that came together and really developed as a team.

Tonight was, I mean this is the first time I've seen my play card all night. It felt like they were guarding me. I couldn't even see my play card. They literally -- that's the best defensive team in the country for a reason. They make every catch hard. They contest not only every shot, they contest every pass, and they made it really difficult for us.

And when they start making 3s -- I think they started the game, they made 10 of their first 14. I don't know if there's anybody in the tournament that's going to beat them if they shoot the ball that well. Because defensively they don't have any weaknesses. Even if you do make a good decision and a quick pass and you have a shot, the space is closed up so fast. And it's impressive on film.

But seeing that in person, I've never seen anything like it to be honest with you. And I wish I could have helped my players a little more designing some stuff to make stuff easier, but they've done that to almost every Big 12 team too and teams across the country.

So give them credit. They're unbelievably well-coached and great kids. They were a class act even after the game. And I appreciated that.

Q. Xavier, when it comes to seeing it on film versus in person, how different was it watching Texas Tech's defense and the intensity and speed on film versus in person?

XAVIER BISHOP: Even on film it looked great, but just being in person, I mean that's an elite defensive team. Like Coach, said they have no weaknesses. Their 5s are able to guard small fast guards like me. They just make everything tough.

They just make everything tough. That's what's kind of amazing about their defense, they make everything tough. Everything felt challenged. Felt like they take you out of your sets and things you want to run. And they just don't have many weaknesses. And they're well-coached, disciplined. They all know what they're doing and they're on the same page, but, man, that's a great defensive team for sure.

Q. Xavier, coming in you know you're an underdog, but when they get out to a start like that how hard is it to seize momentum back?

XAVIER BISHOP: It's tough, but in the huddle we kept saying, keep fighting, keep fighting. Didn't have the great start we wanted. They were hitting shots, took us out of a lot of things. They brought it for sure.

But that's the thing about our team, we've never laid down for anything no matter how much we were down and just whatever was going on, but it was definitely tough trying to find some momentum. And eventually in the second half we kind of did get a couple of stops. But that's a great team. That's a great team. And kudos to them.

Q. How valuable will it be to play on this stage and teammates like yourself who will be returning to the program next year?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: It's extremely valuable. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity I got to have, especially just winning five games last year. We got 27 this year and making it to the Big Dance. I'm thankful, I'm excited for what's happening in the near future.

NICK GAZELAS: Like RaeQuan said, I'm very grateful to be here, grateful for the experience and all that it's shown to me. And I'm just ready for next year.

Q. X, despite the loss, the way that you finished off your career this year with the Bobcats, what does this mean to you?

XAVIER BISHOP: It's meant the world to me. I can't even explain sometimes what Coach Frank (phonetic) and our staff and just my teammates mean to me. You know my past. I came from a tough situation, especially wins-wise, and didn't have necessarily a lot of people believing in me, believing that I could be a point guard on a winning team, believe I could help a team become something like this.

And definitely felt along the way I'm proud of myself, you know, that I kind of did it. But I just have guys believing in me. And that's kind of just who I am. When you have people who believe in, you've got to believe in yourself, you feel like good things can happen.

Just this entire journey, this entire year has meant the world to me. It made basketball fun again. I truly enjoyed it. And I'll never forget it. And we left our legacy. No matter the outcome today we left our legacy at Montana State.

Q. Where do you, X, where do you think that this program can go from here?

XAVIER BISHOP: As high as they want to take it. Got a great core coming back, great foundation. The sky's the limit for these guys. I see the work they put in. I see the work that our coaching staff puts in, the effort, the time and how they value us.

And the young guys, this is definitely a learning lesson for them. They've got to enjoy the moment, enjoy the experience, but the goal was to win the Big Sky and get to the Dance, now the goal should be win the Big Sky, go to the Dance and win a couple of games. If they just continue to keep doing what they're doing what we do on a daily basis, the sky's the limit for this program. And it's going to be special. They'll be back, for sure.

Q. Nick and RaeQuan, you're losing X and Amin and Abdul from this team. Could you speak to what their impact has been on this program with your guys' short time on it? And their impact on the season helping you reach this point of the year?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Time is flying by. Feel like I just met these dudes. But I love them to death. They're brothers to me forever, especially what we've accomplished this year. I can call them whenever I want. Me and X had some deep conversations already.

That's why we're such a tight-knit group. With them going on, it just set the tone for me and Nick G coming back next year. Being the type of leaders they were, they inspired us to be some of the best players in the league. Not even that, we made to it the Big Dance, some of the best players in the country, I should say.

NICK GAZELAS: It's following in their footsteps, keeping the work they put in, just try to make them happy.

Q. Their intensity was so impressive so were they physically. Their length, athleticism, how much did that disrupt you offensively?

COACH SPRINKLE: A whole lot. They've disrupted everybody they've played against. It's tremendous. Like I said, when you see it in person, up close, their point guards are 6'6", 220 and long and athletic. It's not a normal team. But that's how their staff recruits for Coach Adams because that's the players he likes. They're dogs. They are literally as real as real gets.

And there's no fake toughness. There's no fake chip on their shoulder. And for us, they exposed some of the things that we don't do well with our size, our skill level and some of our passing.

But they've done it to everybody. And it's hard. You have to make some crazy shots against them. But if they're shooting the basketball like that, I'm telling you, there's not many teams in this tournament that's going to beat them if they're shooting that well offensively.

Q. When they shoot 70 percent, that's going to be tough to beat, but when you were going through your game plan before this game, what was going to be the potential recipe to beat Texas Tech?

COACH SPRINKLE: You couldn't turn the ball over. I knew we'd struggle with it at times. I wanted to still be aggressive. I didn't want our guys on our heels, which we were anyways. But you can't let them get easy baskets. And I thought Shannon, when he started making some 3s early, that got them all the confidence that they needed. We had to do a really good job moving the basketball and trying to get it skipped because they load so heavy to the ball side that the only thing opened sometimes is a skip.

But you've got to skip it over two guys that are 6'6" and jumping jacks. And I knew that was going to be hard for us. When we did a couple times we got some decent shots.

But they just react and play so hard, that even if you're open for a split second, you better make the right decision, you better make the shot.

Q. When you see Nick hitting some shots, RaeQuan hitting some shots, and even Patrick McMahon in the second half hitting some shots, how important was it to get some of those offensive contributions from guys outside of your main core four?

COACH SPRINKLE: It was great. Hopefully that builds some confidence in the offseason. Almost every player scored. Borja and Carter only got in the last minute. But other than everybody on the roster scored.

And it's huge. I was happy for Patty McMahon. I've been telling people how good a player he's going to be. He's got upperclassmen above him that are good players. But I think with this spring and summer, he's going to be -- he could be an impact guy for us next year, I really believe that. Great Osobor and Sam, they played well, and Nick. They competed. As soon as Nick and RaeQuan got in, they jacked up shots. That's what they do. That's what makes them good players.

Q. How limited was Jubrile Belo today, if at all?

COACH SPRINKLE: He was very limited. Those that have seen our team, he's a Big 12 athlete. I know he didn't look like it today. He's got no lift. He hadn't practiced all week.

It's one of those, he doesn't have his explosion, which is 90 percent of his game. Especially when you're playing against big guys, Williams and Obanor, Batcho, you have to have your explosion to get those shots off, especially as physical as they are.

They made it hard on them. And I felt bad for him because he's probably playing at 50, maybe 60 percent.

Q. Looking back at this year and the success you've had, sitting up here, what has this entire season meant to you and your alma mater in the program?

COACH SPRINKLE: It means everything. I'm so happy for these players. Like watching their face when they go into the locker room and March Madness stuff, when they were walking out, I was purposely watching their face, when they were looking in the arena. That's why, when they're little kids, that's why they play. That's why kids go Division I is to play in this tournament.

It's the biggest tournament in the world. It's this and the Super Bowl. Those are the two biggest sporting events in the world. And Montana State is a part of that.

And for Bobcat Nation back home, I know they're all watching on TV, the support they've given us this year and the energy they've given us, the fans are back in the fieldhouse, like the energy's back, the excitement is back. And now we have to continue to build on that.

We have to still do a really good job recruiting to replace some of these seniors, and we've got to kind of keep the culture and the toughness that we've had. We've got to continue to take steps.

Q. The three seniors, what will you miss most about the three, and what have they brought to the success of this program?

COACH SPRINKLE: I already cried enough in the locker room. They believed in me when nobody else did. The only people that believed in me before that was my mentors and Waded Cruzado, our president, and Leon Costello.

I didn't have an interview anywhere else to be a head coach, not a junior college, nowhere. They took a chance on me. Those three kids took a chance on me. I couldn't be more appreciative. They're family for life. What they've done to reinvigorate Montana State basketball, on and off the court, I could never -- there's not enough words. There's not enough money, there's nothing, there's not enough of anything that could express my gratitude and thanks to them for what they've done. Not only to me, to my staff and the teammates.

Q. You've talked a lot about your vision since you took this job three years ago of winning the Big Sky and reaching this tournament. Does your vision of the program growing from here get easier, tougher, now that you've actually attained this part of your initial vision?

COACH SPRINKLE: It gets tougher now. You've got a bulls-eye. It gets tougher. But that's as a competitor that's what you want. Texas Tech had a bulls-eye on them all year. Every single team tries to score on them and they don't allow it. And I'm more motivated than ever. Literally I want to go recruiting right now. I want to watch this. I want to see what we have to do better. I want to put our plan and our weight room together right now.

Our young guys, I said I hope you saw what kind of bodies those guys have, what kind of athleticism. That's what we have to do. That's the level. That's the highest level of Division I. That's where I want to get to.

And all this does is motivate me more. Like, I'm not one -- you know, I don't get satisfied. Even if we would have won today, I wouldn't be satisfied. There's something always you can do better. And we've got to continue with that attitude to take this program to new heights.