NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - WRIGHT ST.VS ARIZONA

March 18, 2022

Scott Nagy

Tanner Holden

Tim Finke

Viejas Arena

Wright St. Raiders

Media Conference

Arizona - 87, Wright State - 70

COACH NAGY: I think our game plan was good. We had to hope, honestly we had to hope that they missed some shots that they made. In terms of how hard our kids played and not giving in, I think all that stuff was great. I think we had at least two times and maybe three times down eight. And then they hit a 3 that goes 55 feet in the air and goes through the basket. That was very discouraging for sure.

We had to play tight and I think we did that -- in terms of our defense had to be tight. We forced them into a lot of turnovers. We had to hope they missed more shots. And they shot the ball well. So you've just got to tip your cap. But I think the game plan was right for our guys. But obviously we're very proud of them.

Q. Tanner, the other night you had a fantastic game. Tonight it seemed like you struggled to find some shots at times and to really get going. Was it something they were doing?

TANNER HOLDEN: No, nothing they were doing. Just a different game. Tim was on tonight. Everyone has a game where they get a lot of points, they're hitting shots. So for me I'm not just a scorer -- Coach always talked to me, if you're just a scorer, if you're not scoring then you can't contribute anything else to the team.

For me, I take pride in that. I don't want to be the guy that if I'm not scoring I'm useless on the floor. I was definitely trying to defensively step up. I had a few miscues. I talked to my team about that. Coach held me accountable.

But offensively, offense comes and goes. If you're not playing your best on the defensive end, especially things like that tonight, you get scored on, things like that.

Q. Tim, you were real active right from the get-go and a couple of their players commended you on it when they were in here. The mindset you took to it, both banging around with the big guys in there, trying to steal the ball, and shooting?

TIM FINKE: I knew it would be a challenge obviously to just come in here, but having to guard their big guys, I think it was just a mindset from the get-go, just trying to be physical and get around them and try to get the steals like we did. I think we forced them into quite a turnovers. So we did a good job with that. And it was, like Coach said, they were hitting tonight. So that's what it was.

Q. How has this whole March Madness experience from the First Four with Bryant and pushing Arizona to brink -- you guys had it within 10 points in the second half, what does it do for you guys experience-wise -- you have another year of eligibility, as far as this experience in building the program and what can you take away from this?

TANNER HOLDEN: Like we said, we're not just here for the experience we're here to make a name for us and our program. It's definitely a step in the right direction. We were in this game. We made our run. They hit some shots. Gotta tip your cap to them.

But this is just the start of it. And I think we're going to do a great job in the offseason working on our weaknesses, sticking together and we're going to get back to this point and hopefully win some more games.

Q. Just dealing with their size, what was that like when you're trying to get a shot off or trying to rebound against them?

TIM FINKE: Especially late in the game, I got my shot tipped twice, I think. The length, that's something we don't see to that extent in our league. So it was something that I had to adjust to and figure out.

But you know, I think it was a fun challenge. Like Tanner said, it's something we're not just coming here to have fun. I think just going forward it's something that we want to build on, like truly build on and just get better at.

TANNER HOLDEN: They have a lot of length, definitely helps their advantage. They can rake in the gaps and they're kind of everywhere. I thought we did a good job. We only had six turnovers. That's a Horizon League school going against one of the top teams in this tournament, picked to win in a lot of brackets. I felt like we did a great job. Six turnovers is going to win you a lot of games. We just didn't hit our shots tonight.

Q. Tim, Tanner kind of touched on it. But for you, when do you think you'll allow yourself to start thinking about next year? I know this is a bitter feeling right now, but it has to make you that much hungrier when you had the success you've had late in the season?

TIM FINKE: When I'm focused on something I've got blinders on. So I'm all in that. Now, with it being over, obviously I'll take probably a week or two, just relax and get my mind completely off of it. And I'll go from there and listen to myself and pray about it. And we'll see what I'm doing. It's something that I'm excited with this team. We had a great, great, especially second half of the year. So it's been a lot of fun.

Q. Tanner, an emotional day for you compared to everybody else. Can you just talk to me about what emotions of this day were for you with everything going on?

TANNER HOLDEN: It was an emotional. It's my grandfather's birthday today, his first birthday in heaven. It was a big day. Family, they're all here tonight. So it was definitely an emotional day. I felt like I have guys in this locker room who care about me and love me. We have great faculty who all support us.

And it's definitely been a grieving process for all of us, all of our different situations have been tough. But I feel that's where we can bounce things, we can really reflect and talk about those things. We can have those serious conversations, because we have a lot of people on our team going through the same situation. Like you're not alone.

It's just a great atmosphere that we have here at Wright State. Like Tim said, we'll just keep building on it. So I'm excited for the future and I'm really happy that I chose Wright State.

Q. Tanner, did you also tweak your ankle or something? What happened in the first half there?

TANNER HOLDEN: Yes, I tweaked my ankle. It's been an ongoing thing. I did it in the Bryant game. I've been working with our trainer to get 100 percent. But with these quick turnarounds it's kind of hard. You don't have all your facilities and all the things you have back at home, like physicians. But I tweaked it a little bit. Just had to switch shoes and get some more tape on my ankle. I had to get back out there and play.

Q. I know you say you're not coming for the fun and all that, but what are you going to remember -- you played two games in the NCAA Tournament and you won one. There's got to be some good memories here.

TANNER HOLDEN: Being in March Madness is a special thing. But I don't think it's the March Madness that I'm going to remember so much. It's all the things we went through off the court that have brought us closer together. And whenever you go through those things, we had a lot of times we could split or enter the season or check out immediately. I thought we all did a great job of coming together, being a family.

And Coach talks about it all the time. People go through adversity on the court. But at the end of the day, if you're not going through adversity off the court -- we're more of a band of brothers, honestly. I feel like a lot of teams just have that on-the-court adversity. But we really faced life. We got tacked about a lot of obstacles we broke through and fought through.

The season is the epitome, we had a lot of games we were down double digit points, to came back from that. And I don't think if we didn't go through things off the court, I don't think we would have been able to do that.

Q. What does this do for your confidence and this team moving forward to the next season after all the success you've had and so many of these guys coming back to keep this group together?

COACH NAGY: It doesn't change. What I talked to the guys this year was being an at-large team. Obviously the start we got off to was so bad that we had no chance of doing that. But that will be how I talk to them again next year. Doesn't change anything. I think we'll be more suited for it next year.

Starting this year, learning how to play without Loudon, was -- we just weren't prepared. Plus, I wasn't prepared. Like I said this before, going through my father's death, I wasn't in a very good spot early.

But we'll be in a great spot next year in terms of we'll be deeper and obviously extremely experienced. We'll have a good team for sure.

Q. Talk a little bit about Finke's game. He took it to them right from the start. He was your one guy -- some other guys came on.

COACH NAGY: I think that early Tim and Trey played, like, they were there from the start. The first ten minutes we just didn't -- we weren't very good. That's really what cost us the game.

After that we started to play. It's like okay, now we get it. Now we understand and we're just playing with these guys. The first 10 just weren't very good. Tim, he was ready to go from the start.

I've said this all year, that, really, if you look at the stats and you just work down it, you're not going to say -- but our team knows that Tim is our MVP. He's the guy we lean on the most, the most steady, the best defender, for sure. But just proud and happy for him, too.

Q. Can you just talk about the growth of Tim and Trey, they've been playing their best ball over the course of the last month. Can you just talk about their development at the end of this year. Tim and Trey Calvin.

COACH NAGY: Both of them, I would say Tim's been pretty steady all year. He just has been. That's his personality anyway. And we were obviously very disappointed when he didn't make the All-Defensive team in our league, which, in my opinion, is kind of a joke. People look at stats and steals and blocks and all that stuff. You just vote on that stuff.

And Tim doesn't necessarily lead in that stuff. But he takes everybody's best player every night, doesn't matter what position they are, point guard or center, he'll guard them. He's so steady.

He's unlike most players in that if he's struggling offensively, it does not affect his defense. Most guys, if they struggle offensively, it affects their energy on the defensive end. They mope around; they don't like what's going on on the offensive end. Tim never lets it affect him.

And Trey has been tremendous, had a very good first half today. But I think with Trey, tonight, I think him being ill these past two days, kind of caught up to him there in the second half.

And we played him -- yeah, almost 39 minutes. That wasn't easy for him. Now, he was feeling better, but throwing up for two days, it takes, its toll on you.

But he's had -- the second half of the season he's been tremendous. Tremendous ball handler, can get his shot on anybody, highly efficient offensive player, our best shooter and a tremendous defender, too, for his size. He has quick hands.

He had -- the second half of the season, I think probably when you look at Tanner and Grant and those guys coming back, with the confidence that Trey has now, he's going to be hard to deal with.

Q. Obviously a bitter loss, but a cool moment there at the end when TJ made his free throw. What was that like for you, and did you say anything to him?

COACH NAGY: No, I was happy for him. This is it for him. He graduated in three years. I'm proud of him. He's been a great teammate.

And I mean, when he got that ball, he took off. It's like, what's he doing, what's he doing? And so I'm happy for him. It's the first point he scored all year. And it's the last one of his career. But he'll always get to say he scored a point in the NCAA Tournament. So as a dad, I'm happy for him.

Q. When you brought Holden out a couple times early in the first half, sat him down a little bit, was that just to calm him down emotionally, or was it because of his injury or just to get him in the flow?

COACH NAGY: To calm him down. I talked to him about it yesterday. Coming off a 37-point game where everything just flowed naturally for him. And part of it was they zoned.

And Tanner sat in the middle of the zone, got a bunch of easy shots. Arizona plays man-to-man, puts a guy three, four inches taller, makes it more difficult.

I told him yesterday you've got to let it come naturally, you don't need to think, the scoring the 37 points, that you have to maintain that and keep that up. Sometimes kids feel pressure to do that, you've got to back that stuff up.

I just felt he was playing tight in the first half. Second half, he started to play. He loosened up, relaxed, starting cutting.

And Grant kicked it out one time, drove immediately, made a great pass. He started playing. I said, now he's playing, now he's back to Tanner.

Q. When you guys cut it to eight in the second half at that first media timeout and the rest of the crowd, the TCU and (indiscernible) fans, were starting to get behind you, what was that like? I know you were busy coaching, to have the No. 1 seed on their heels, what's that feel like?

COACH NAGY: It's great. We didn't win the game. But what was nice for me is in the timeout, I just looked at players, all I said was hey, and they all shook their head, we got it, Coach, now we can play. And that was a good moment for me. I didn't have to say anything. All of a sudden they were excited.

Like I say, when that 3 hit the back of the rim, went way up in the air, it was like you have to be kidding me. What do we have to do? I think that was very discouraging. We had the ball two or three times down eight and it's tough to score on them because they're so big.

Q. With what's going on with Tanner, with what today is, did you say anything to him, especially with this season being about handling emotions and trying to deal with that? Did you have any conversation with him going into this game?

COACH NAGY: You're talking about his grandpa? No. We've been dealing with that stuff all year. And so there wasn't anything I needed to say. They all know how we feel and what we've done. So there needed anything extra to be said.

Q. You've coached in the tournament now five times. I'm wondering, is there anything about this two-game spurt stand out or is it different than the others?

COACH NAGY: Yeah, what was different was playing in Dayton in the First Four. We've never done that before. And to get to play in Dayton with that crowd, is I will say it's one of the highlights of my career for sure. It was a lot of fun. And to get to stay in and advance and feel like you gotta win -- and I understand it was against another 16 -- but it still felt incredible. That's something that will always stick out to me.