NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - SAINT PETER'S VS PURDUE

March 25, 2022

Shaheen Holloway

Matthew Lee

Doug Edert

Daryl Banks

Wells Fargo Center

Saint Peter's Peacocks

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Saint Peter's 67, Purdue 64

Q. To all you guys, it seemed like you did a lot with no time-outs, like your coach depends on you to know what you're doing without time-outs, even at tense moments late in this game. Is that by design, and how do you feel about that?

MATTHEW LEE: I mean, Coach has been preaching to us to make sure we lock in, know what time to score and know what's going on in the game. We've been in these predicaments the whole season, close games, coming up to the end, we're down six, two minutes left, what are we going to do there. And it seems like we keep getting in those positions and we keep prevailing.

DOUG EDERT: Yeah, like what Matt said. He trusts us at the end of the game because we do it in practice. He demands almost perfection in practice which makes the game easier. We feel calm in these situations and we do our best to get the job done.

DARYL BANKS III: He puts us in these moments and different situations during practice, so coming out there, we're just executing. He has the confidence in us and we just have a little bit of experience on our hands. That's what helped us.

Q. Doug, can you guys just kind of talk about the emotions? Wells Fargo was absolutely rocking tonight and you completely had your fans engaged, and at the end you got on the table and you were getting excited. Can you wrap up what this feels like to keep this thing going?

DOUG EDERT: Yeah, it's amazing. We had a great crowd today. The whole environment, it was just unreal. I don't think any of us were nervous or really cared about how many people were there watching us. We just went out there and did our thing. We've been doing what we've been doing all season, which was defending and playing as hard as we possibly can. And then the emotions at the end, again, we're making history and we look forward to making more history.

Q. Doug, you made the free throw that sealed the game for Saint Peter's. Can you take me back to that moment? What did it feel like to hear the crowd erupt after at that game-changing moment?

DOUG EDERT: It wasn't just me that did that. Our whole team, we handled the pressure at the end, took care of the ball, did what we had to do, got fouled, made our free throws. But in regard to the very end, it's amazing. I love moments like that. I work hard to get into moments like that and to execute what I have to do, and we did it together as a team.

Q. You guys came out onto the court like an hour plus before the game with shirts that say "more is possible." What was the significance of that and why did you choose that?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Just a shirt that we had to wear. Just a shirt. (Laughter).

Q. Guys, what was the key to this defense tonight, especially the perimeter defense did such a good job against Jaden Ivey.

DARYL BANKS III: Coach did a great job preparing us with the scout. We knew their tendencies and what they did. We knew they were also going to go inside a lot with the height difference with us. But we just stuck to our defensive principles, executed when we needed to, and it worked out for us.

Q. Could you guys each put in perspective, you're in the Elite 8. No 15 seed has ever done that. You're the lowest seed that's ever done that. What are your emotions knowing you've achieved something like this?

DOUG EDERT: Well, we're happy. I mean, we're happy, but don't mistake, we're not satisfied. We're not satisfied at all. The job is not finished. We feel like we belong, and the more games we win, the more confidence we build. We have a great amount of momentum going into the next game and we're going to play as hard as we can just like we did all season to keep doing what we've been doing.

Q. Doug, can you talk about your Kobe-esque moment when you hopped onto the table and you started celebrating? What did that moment feel like for you and your team?

MATTHEW LEE: You hopped on the table?

DOUG EDERT: Yeah. I found a little opening and started moving stuff, so I don't know, I was so excited. Just next question. (Laughter).

Q. Can you guys talk about the job you did on Zach Edey and Trevion Williams? Seemed like you guys had hands on balls all the time and really kept them away from where they wanted to catch the ball.

MATTHEW LEE: That was part of our game plan. Coach preached to us and we saw on film that when they catch the ball deep in the post, it's hard to stop them. They're two of the best bigs in the country and we just did our job and pushed them out. Credit to the big guys on our team.

Q. When Purdue went up 56-52, looked like they were establishing Williams on the inside but you guys seemed to show a lot of grit coming back, just bouncing back from that point. Can you talk about the toughness and the heart you showed coming down the stretch?

DARYL BANKS III: Yeah, Coach always preaches to us it's a game of runs. So we understood that coming into it, that they were going to make their runs; we were going to make our runs. But we sustained their runs for as much as possible and we made our runs greater, and we just came back.

Q. 38.1 left, up four, Purdue ball, what did Coach say, and what did you think when you saw Coach hyping up the crowd? If you saw that.

MATTHEW LEE: Yeah, we didn't see Coach hyping up the crowd, but we were just --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I don't normally do stuff like that.

MATTHEW LEE: I mean, we were just locked into the moment. Like I said earlier, we've been in those type of predicaments before and we just tried to focus on the task at hand. We knew the game was coming down to free throws and rebounds and we just tried to do our best to do that.

Q. Yesterday Coach was mentioning that you guys just aren't intimidated by anybody. Where does this fearlessness come from for you all?

MATTHEW LEE: I don't know, it just -- we're just like -- we know we're just as good as any team in the country. As long as we stick to our game, play defense, and give it 100 percent, we feel like we can hang with anybody.

Q. Every year in the tournament there seems to be a team that everyone rallies behind, an underdog team. Obviously you guys are well aware of that now. Today the UNC crowds and UCLA crowds were cheering for you as hard as they would the Tar Heels or Bruins. What does it feel like to be America's darling right now?

DARYL BANKS III: You know, it's amazing. Growing up playing basketball as a kid, you dream of moments like this. It's just a very wonderful feeling to have everybody supporting us and just being there for us. It helps us with this run, and it's just amazing.

Q. Clarence tonight starting off the game, first seven points in his homecoming. How big was his contributions early in the game and being able to pull out this win?

MATTHEW LEE: Like Coach said, he was huge for us in today's game. His presence down low is amazing. He did a great job defensively as well as offensively, obviously getting us into a rhythm with those early points.

Q. This was kind of asked, but could you guys put it in perspective what it's like to play at Saint Peter's where, let's face it, you guys may only have a few hundred at a game, maybe a thousand, and now you have 20,000 people rooting for you here and thousands more across the country?

DOUG EDERT: Yeah, it's awesome. Obviously we have a lot more fans now, but I don't think it affects us while we're playing. I feel like there's no pressure, we're just going out there like we would if nobody was in the stands, just like there was however many people in the stands. Our game is our game regardless of who's watching, and that's it.

Q. There were a few times in that second half it seemed like you guys were on the ropes. Doug missed the front end of a one-on-one and then he missed a lay-up. What do you think it is about this team that you're able to deal with adversity so well?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: You know, that's what we've been the whole year. That's who we are. We're not a team that's going to blow teams out. That's not our DNA. We try to keep it close and try to make them make mistakes down the stretch. Once again, like I said -- first of all let me say, Coach Painter is a great coach, great program. They do an unbelievable job. But when you're playing against teams like that who's supposed to win, when you keep it tight, certain things can happen.

I told my guys just keep battling, keep battling, let's see what happens. We kept battling, I knew the ball was going to bounce our way, and it did.

Q. KC Ndefo is the heart and soul of your team, he was kind of sidelined with foul trouble. I saw your reaction after he fouled out, obviously wasn't ideal for you guys, but you guys still kept up the defensive pressure. Is there anything strategically you have to change when he goes out or is it next man up for you guys?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Like I said, that's why if you've been following us throughout this whole tournament, I always let our six guys who start our program come up and do interviews. Those guys are the heart and soul of our program, the five juniors and KC. So when KC fouled out, the other twin was up, and that's kind of what was going on the whole year. Yeah, did we miss KC's intensity? But when you bring the twins in there, they are a different type of you-know-what.

Q. Did you think you were going to be able to keep up that ball pressure all game? It's tough to go man-to-man like that, trapping and --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, that's who we are. I played 10 guys, wasn't very happy with the way the second group was playing so I kind of took them out, but we played 10 guys and we've been wearing teams down the whole year.

Q. Yesterday Eric Musselman of Arkansas said he spliced videos of his team being doubted to prepare for Gonzaga. Did you do anything as a double-digit seed to prepare your guys?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, Coach is a great coach. No, I'm not into all that stuff. We just go out there and we play, do what we do, don't worry about the noise and just play basketball.

Q. Just to follow up on the defensive performance, your team has played great defense a number of times, especially in this tournament, but given the situation tonight, given their size in the post, is this as good of a defensive game as you have seen them play?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: You know what, I'm going to say no. If you watched us play the last month, like we've been locked in. Like really locked in. Teams in our league are really good. Their guys are prepared for this moment. But we've been locked in. It wasn't one of our best defensive performances. I know you might say I'm crazy for saying that, but if you watched us play, then you would know that it's not.

Q. You've spoken about how the COVID break kind of helped you guys conditioning-wise. What was it like to ramp them back up from literally being sick and how much is it paying off now with their conditioning?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It was everything to us. We've had a chance to get like a mini camp. We didn't play in 28 days so they got a chance to go out there and -- especially for me, things wasn't going well in the first half of the season. It got me a chance to really change some things around, go back and watch film and get back to the drawing board. No, the break was everything for us.

Q. It seemed like all of Jersey City was in this building tonight. What do you want to say to the people who came down to support you?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, you don't understand. First of all, my phone, I had to turn it off. Everybody wanted tickets. I can't get tickets for everybody. I'll tell you what, man, I can't believe the support that we're having. This is unbelievable. Jersey City has been unbelievable for us. But I want to give a shout-out to our student-athletes and the whole student body. They're taking buses down here, they're doing videos, watch party. It's been tremendous. I'm happy for the school and the community and everybody involved. It's been great.

Going back to the shirt thing, that's something that we wanted to do. That's what we believe in, right, so we kind of do -- Adidas sent it to us, and we thank them for that.