NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - COLGATE VS TEXAS

March 16, 2023

Matt Langel

Tucker Richardson

Oliver Lynch-Daniels

Wells Fargo Arena

Colgate Raiders

Media Conference

Texas 81, Colgate 61

THE MODERATOR: Joined by Head Coach Matt Langel of the Colgate Raiders, along with Tucker Richardson and Oliver Lynch-Daniels.

Coach?

MATT LANGEL: Hats off to Texas. We watched a lot of film over the last week. They assisted 20 times on 13 made three-point shots. Some of them we were -- we picked that poison to give them a chance to make those shots, and they really stepped up and buried them, made it hard for us, put us in a hole.

These guys, their teammates fought like crazy to make it a game. I think they should be incredibly proud and hold their heads high. I know I'm proud to be their coach. They left everything they probably had on the court, so tip your cap to Texas. They're a really good team and they played really well.

Q. If either Tucker or Oliver can answer. Texas emphasized guarding the three-point shot for you guys. What made them especially effective on the perimeter defense?

TUCKER RICHARDSON: Yeah, they are a really athletic, quick team, especially those guards when they got Rice in there as a third guard. They're just really quick and it's kind of hard for us to get open.

We tried to find ways to create open opportunities, but obviously they were ready for that. The fact that we only got 15 threes up, clearly they did a good job of that, so credit to them.

OLIVER LYNCH-DANIELS: Yeah, they just denied and tried to blow up a lot of our actions and make it really difficult. We got some open looks at the basket, but I think their game plan was to try and run us off the line.

So a lot of guys flying at you hard. We take good threes. We don't just shoot threes to shoot threes, so they took that away from us.

Q. Coach, those guys sitting beside you have meant a lot to this program. What do they mean to you?

MATT LANGEL: Shoot, it's hard for me to talk about these guys, Mario. They represent everything that's good with the game and everything that's good with college athletics.

Both of them could have chosen not to come back to Colgate last year, found a way to graduate, move on and go play somewhere else. I think it speaks to who they are, the families they come from, the pride they have in the program that they have helped to build, and their commitment to their pursuit to do what they did this year again -- I think we led the country in three-point shooting and Tucker is in the history books at Colgate and the conference that he plays in.

They're two of the finer human beings I have ever been around. I have a 15-year old daughter and I hope -- she is a long way away from getting married -- but if she ends up one day marrying a guy like this, I couldn't ask for anything more and as a father. I think that's about as good of a compliment as you can pay to another man.

Q. This is a question for Tucker and Oliver. I know it's hard right now in the moment. Touch on what your Colgate experience was like. Tough way to go out, but what the past few years have meant to you guys?

TUCKER RICHARDSON: Yeah, definitely hard to even put into words. I would just say these last five years I've been so proud to represent Colgate and everything that Colgate means. Even in here having family and coaches watching this, it means a lot. It just shows how much of a family this team has been.

I feel like everywhere I go from here on, when I meet someone that went to Colgate or knows something about Colgate, I will have a special connection with them because of everything this place has meant to me.

Just super proud of everything. Even outside of basketball. I just love being a part of this school and this program, and it's meant everything to me. It's hard to process that it's over, but I'll never forget everything that happened here. It's just been an incredible ride.

OLIVER LYNCH-DANIELS: Yeah, I would like to just second that. It's been an amazing experience for me. I started off elsewhere and didn't know exactly where things were going to go. Then I came to Colgate and kind of everything just turned around.

You know, I fell in love with the team, fell in love with the coaching staff. Every day I just enjoyed getting up and going to practice and hanging out with the team.

It really just shows how much that the program has meant to me and how much it will mean in the future. I can't thank them enough, really.

Q. Coach, y'all got it down to single digits a couple times in the second half. When you got there Texas extended the lead back out. What stopped you from closing the gap further in the second half?

MATT LANGEL: Texas. No, it was really cool. We played a game last year in Milwaukee against the Badgers, and no matter what happened in the game, 717,000 people were rooting for the Badgers.

This year I was hoping that we could get it close enough and keep it close enough, and this crowd and Des Moines has been incredible. The hospitality, the kindness of the people, the event that they have helped put on here with the NCAA has been incredible.

To have the crowd chanting "Colgate," I think it was a testament to the resolve of our players, their commitment, their fight, their togetherness, to kinda keep fighting to hope that we could get it to single digits, and then, you know, get it a little bit closer and make it a two-possession game and find a way, like they have in so many situations at the end of the game.

But it was a different guy every time. Dylan Disu made a 12-foot, one-hand floater that he's really good at.

Sir'Jabari Rice, what he does for his team to come off the bench. I think he's in his fifth year. He's as good of an overall basketball player as I've seen all year. His intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up.

He made seven threes in the first half, and they weren't that easy. We were giving them those shots but they're off the dribble, so they were poised. They've been through a lot as a team. They're veteran guys, they didn't all start at Texas. They went there for a reason and I was really compressed with their resolve and their togetherness, their ability to navigate.

I think it probably, you know, has positioned them well at this point all that they've been through this season. So, you know, quite frankly, we got where we needed to be amidst the circumstances, and they were together enough, and they didn't fracture, and they stepped up and made plays for one another. I think 20 assists is really impressive.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.