NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: ST. BONAVENTURE VS XAVIER

March 29, 2022

Jonas Hayes

Adam Kunkel

Colby Jones

Madison Square Garden

Xavier Musketeers

Semi Finals Postgame Press Conference

Xavier 84, St Bonaventure 77

JONAS HAYES: First off, I would like to start off by saying that's a hell of a St. Bonny's team. They come with a lot of emotion and probably their whole student body in this arena. They were loud, they were proud. But you know what? So were we.

And that's what adversity is, expecting it and being able to meet your challenge, meet it head on and being able to make plays in the gut of the game, competitive greatness right here.

Q. Adam, what was that like to play in an environment like that that was heavily against you, and you in particular seemed like you thrived off of that?

ADAM KUNKEL: Yeah, I love road games. Honestly I like playing against a big crowd that's against us. Like you said, I just love to be the one to make that shot to quiet the crowd and just get our guys going.

Q. For either one of the players, pretty amazing the last three weeks. Three weeks ago tonight, you had a tough loss against Butler and were up late, but tonight you guys, every time Bonaventure came back, you responded. Can you talk about the emotions?

COLBY JONES: Yeah, I mean, we could have laid down when things happened a couple weeks ago, but I feel like our guys just love each other so much that we went out and played for each other and played for the university and played for Coach Hayes. I feel like all that just built up and prepared us for this moment, you know what I'm saying, and came back and we had the answer for them.

Q. Did you guys talk to Paul yet?

ADAM KUNKEL: We had him on FaceTime already.

Q. What was his reaction?

ADAM KUNKEL: Ecstatic. He was hyped for us. We wish we had him here, but we're playing for him. We're putting it on for him.

Q. Colby, what was the difference in this game tonight? Where were you guys successful, and why do you think you were able to put 40 minutes together the way that you did?

COLBY JONES: It just goes back to what Coach told us before the game, play smart, play together. And I thought we were all playing for one another. And those tough times I feel like throughout the season, it's prepared us for this moment, and I feel like we executed really well. Feel like a combination of that just allowed us to be prepared for this moment.

Q. What did St Bonaventure do in the second half? What changes did you see them make that allowed them to claw back into the game and cut it down to five?

COLBY JONES: It was two great teams going at each other. They made their run, like all great teams do, and I feel like we had to weather that and I feel like we did. It was just two great teams going back and forth in a competitive game.

JONAS HAYES: Going to remind you guys, softballs. I like the yellow softballs, not the white (laughter). I'm ready to go.

Q. Can you talk about the emotions over the last couple of weeks, considering you've been elevated to the head coach and you've got a head coach in waiting? How special of a group are these guys, considering the run you've had over the last ten days?

JONAS HAYES: It has been a wide-ranging of emotions, from sadness to anxiety to a little happiness for myself for being put in position like this, understanding the situation that we love Travis, Coach Steele, but meeting adversity head on, the way our guys have done that, is what Xavier Basketball is.

And so I'm not surprised by the heart, the mettle, the desire, the commitment, the conviction that's in our locker room, because we see that every day.

Q. The players talked about it, but what do you tell the guys in an environment like that where it's a neutral site game but feels like a road game with how the crowd was? What did you tell the guys in a situation like that?

JONAS HAYES: We rolled in here expecting adversity. We knew they was going to have their whole campus around. When you go through life expecting adversity, you can deal with it better. It's when you get caught off guard that you get back on your heels.

But we went into this environment expecting some adversity, and I think the guys stood up for themselves and came out and did what we have to do.

Q. What was the game plan other than put the ball in the hole? Seemed like you executed and were efficient.

JONAS HAYES: Just remain poised. We knew we had an advantage down low, and we knew we had an advantage on the bounce, and we wanted to live in the paint. So we actually had enough poise to execute, especially when the game was on the line in the gut of the game and the moment of truth.

Really, we want to run, get the ball in the paint and take care of the ball. We had 18 assists, you guys, 18 of them things. Only had ten turnovers. That's huge.

Q. It was a close game. First and foremost, congratulations. Talk about the weak side back help in the second half. You closed out a lot of the game and played tougher on the perimeter. What are the adjustments you made in the second half?

JONAS HAYES: So we just made that, that was just a recognition point. Our guys, we was playing so hard on the ball, but sometimes when you're away from the ball, you can kind of go to sleep. And our guys did a much better job of recognizing when they were away from the ball, and when there was a ball screen action, they did a much better job of that.

Q. In the lead-up to this game, you spoke about how your guys wanted this chance, this opportunity, to sort of rewrite what happened here three weeks ago. You know, with about a minute left, you guys are up six; and three weeks ago with a minute left, you were up six, and that game got away from you. What did you think of the way that your team finished this game and sort of did everything tonight that they really did not do three weeks ago?

JONAS HAYES: So I really, really, really, really wish in real life, you cannot rewrite stuff. You cannot rewrite it, but you can learn from it.

So we've got to use our prior experiences to learn from them. It is human to make mistakes. It's human to make them. You're going to make them, right. It is embarrassing to make the same ones over.

You learn from that mistake, and you move on from it and try not to make that one again. So that's where we were.