MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2024

Joe Scott

Rytis Petraitis

Beau Becker

Thomas & Mack Center

Air Force Falcons

Postgame Press Conference

New Mexico 82, Air Force 56

THE MODERATOR: For Air Force we have student-athletes Beau Becker, Rytis Petraitis.

Coach, let's start with you and get your thoughts on tonight's game.

JOE SCOTT: I mean, I think obviously New Mexico is a very, very good basketball team. They've had a really good year. They have very good players. They're well-coached.

We knew they were going to obviously be ready to play. We went down to The Pit, whatever it was, a few weeks ago and won down there. That's what makes league play league play. It makes league play so intense, and that's what makes like what I just said to our guys, that experience, gaining that experience, learning those things, if it's really important to you, you learn from it, and you learn how intense it is.

You learn that you're in a league where you're playing a team where, I don't know, it looked like we were in New Mexico today. You know, give credit to them for that. Well, that's who New Mexico is, and that's the experience.

We're playing in that league and in that environment, and I can say another however many teams that are in this league with those kinds of fans, and that's what makes this league such a good league, and that's why this league as we keep going forward here, you know, there's five, six NCAA teams, seven NCAA teams. That's something special, man.

That's the experience we're getting. That's the experience we're having. It's only experience if you are mature enough to look at it that way and fuel your decisions going forward to say, okay, we're going to rise to that challenge, because that's the challenge in this league.

So you give them credit. They're ready to play. House was all over the place being House. Big time. Dent, you know, he's a really good player. First half, turnovers. Turnovers, offensive rebounds. That's the game right there.

Second half we did a better job, but then as that occurs, 1-for-12 as we only have two turnovers from three.

In the end they played really well. I know we can play better, but you have to give them credit for playing extremely well across the board.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Guys, after we talked, I think it was after the Colorado State game, about the losses getting closer, becoming more competitive, just going from that to a loss like tonight, how frustrating is that?

RYTIS PETRAITIS: Yeah, it can be frustrating. I think mostly our offense is what led to those transition buckets and the turnovers, like Coach said. That can really kill you and go on those kill runs. When you go on a 10-0 run, it's hard to come back from that. We need to learn how to mature and just be the players that we want to be and just stop those runs. That's something we need to get better at.

BEAU BECKER: I think we've shown we can compete. We had a win against them at their place. It's unfortunate we couldn't get that energy tonight. But it is frustrating knowing that we can compete and we didn't show it tonight.

Q. They had 26 points off turnovers in Clune, 7 points off turnovers in The Pit. Then tonight they get it back to 20. They're a team that seems to feed off the points off turnovers. Not just getting turnovers, but actually turning them into points. What do you guys see on the floor in the difference between when they're not doing it and when they are, like tonight?

RYTIS PETRAITIS: I mean, every single game they played the same way. It's just that it's the way we handled the ball. We just rushed. We weren't in our heads. We made bad passes. We tried to make everything back in one play when they did get a steal. It's something we need to work on is staying in control and run our thing and do our thing and listen to what Coach has to say.

BEAU BECKER: I think also, too, that it's about running our offense, being able to make the right decision every time. I know House is someone that feeds on turnovers. He feeds on playing fast, and he got involved tonight. He was able to get all of his players involved off of that. That's what led to that, so...

Q. Lowest win total for Air Force in a full season since '01, '02. After such a rough year, how confident are you two that you can become a more competitive team in this league?

RYTIS PETRAITIS: Well, we're a young team. If you look at every other team in the league, they all have all these fifth-year seniors. I feel like that's just some confidence we have. We've played together as a team for three, two years together now, and we have that chemistry and that bond that a lot of people don't have. Especially being at the Academy.

We've showed that we can play. It's just we've got to work in the offseason, get stronger, do what we do, and eventually hopefully we'll get back to where we are.

BEAU BECKER: I think with no seniors, it looks like all of us will be back. We'll have the same amount of -- same starters, same people to work with. It will be the same team, and we'll just get more experience from that.

Q. Going off of what you guys just said, no one is graduating, no seniors on this team. Despite this not being the result you guys wanted, all the experience will help you guys more next year. What are your goals going into 2024 -- or 2025, I mean?

RYTIS PETRAITIS: Personally one of my goals is to get stronger and just kind of work as a team and just play how we played when we beat UNLV and New Mexico. Just play that way, move the ball, shoot really well, and just get stronger. That's something we need to do is get stronger because the offensive boards is going to kill us.

I think we need to focus on getting stronger and just work at it.

BEAU BECKER: I would say the same thing too. Just getting stronger. We've done a lot in the weight room this year, but we need to do a lot more. Me being an undersized five in this league, I get pushed around a lot. That's something I need to be better at is being more stronger.

Q. In addition to being stronger, what else do you think this team needs to be more competitive, whether that's another big body in the paint, getting quicker, just working on certain aspects of your game? What do you think this team lacks that it can gain?

BEAU BECKER: I think we have a lot of people on the bench that can step up and hit shots. We had a lot of open shots that we missed tonight. Myself included.

I think being able to have guys that will step up. I know someone that stepped up this year is Byron Brown. Having not played before, he stepped into a big starting role for a lot of the season. Having guys like that will step up and score points for us because what it comes down to a lot of times is making an open shot. That's something we can.

RYTIS PETRAITIS: I feel like maybe discipline. Just running our stuff and not getting out of hand when doing our own thing. We usually turn the ball over somehow, and so just being disciplined and mature and running our offense.

Q. I wanted to ask you a question. JT Toppin is a freshman, and he had 20-something in Clune. Tonight he had 18 and 11. What do you see in what JT Toppin is able to do and how he is able to get so many offensive boards in particular?

RYTIS PETRAITIS: He's a great player, great freshman. You can tell how hard he works in the paint. He got two fouls on me in the game today. Just gained position.

It's frustrating. He is a big body. He is strong, and he has a lot of potential. Just those offensive boards, he's just stronger than us sometimes and gets better position, and we just have to work at being better in that, but yeah, he is a great freshman.

BEAU BECKER: It's hard to guard him when he is on the block because he is a lefty, and not a lot of guys are lefty down there. I see a lot of potential in him also and just a lot of physicality and working. He'll work for offensive rebounds. He'll work for rebounds, and he will get -- run in transition. He's really athletic and really strong, so he is a good player.

THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time. Questions for Coach.

Q. Let me start with that.

JOE SCOTT: He has a maturity to him, the Toppin kid. He doesn't have highs and lows. He doesn't play like he is a freshman. There's a certain maturity. He is playing with some older guys, which that always helps. Those guards, they've been around and played a lot of games.

But what I notice from him is just sort of that type of -- he is just always like this. He knows who he is. He's got a game, he sticks to his game. That's how they played today as a team. That's why they played really well. They've sort of played to their individual strengths.

I think he's done that all year, and he seems to be getting better at that too.

Q. The points off turnovers that I asked them about, House in particular, he's a guy that feeds off of it and when he gets going, maybe they get going. Maybe it's all intertwined. Why were you guys able in The Pit to keep them from turning turnovers into points and in Clune and here you were not able to?

JOE SCOTT: Obviously we talked about that at length with our guys, whether it was film, practice. Just the differences between the two games.

We said, here, look, turnover, lead-outs. Like you said, they go directly to points. Then offensive rebounding. Those were the two things. That was our focus, and the reason is because when they play well, that's sort of the way the game goes.

Obviously when we play well, that's not the way the game goes, and it's really about your consistency as a team in that approach. How often are they able to make the game sort of be like that. That is the game, the back and forth. When they play that way, they're going to be really good.

That's the game. That's the nature of the game there. You have to win that game. Nope, you're not going to do that. We're not going to turn it over. Like I said second half I think there was 7:49 to go, timeout, and I was, like, all right, guys, we have two turnovers. The score was 20-11 in the second half, and we were 1-for-12 from three. Wide-open shot.

It's like those three things. It starts with the turnovers. Good offensive possessions. You have to make that shot to put some pressure on them. Tonight to their credit, we were never able to have the game be that way, and therefore, there was never any pressure put on them.

Q. We've talked a lot this year about struggles with opposing big men. Whether that's someone on the bench, someone at the prep school, anyone else, are you confident that you guys might be able to get a big body down there that might be able to neutralize some of these guys any time soon?

JOE SCOTT: I think no matter what, I know for a fact we got better as the year went long and went down to The Pit the last time and were good there. We were down the stretch interior defense. We were bad early in the league.

We ran into Osobor right off the bat game one. Like, who is this cat? Oh, he is the player of the year. So right off the bat. That happened with every one of these teams.

Every team in this league, they got that. We got much better at it. So whether we get a big guy, it's not a one-guy type thing. For us it's a five-guy type thing. We have to be better inside that way. We have gotten that. Part two is the rebounding. You have to finish that possession.

Obviously you saw 51 playing out there. Wes, he has been playing. Like I said to Wes and the team, in the grand scheme of things, Wes isn't ready to play in the Mountain West at this level or whatever it is.

Did he get better this year? Did he do things that made me look at him and say, Wow, this kid is coming along? There's a big difference between coming along and say, Get in there and play against these cats. Big difference.

But he made progress, which is the number one first thing, and now to what these guys just said, we're going to have a postseason program, and it's going to be about having that drive, that intensity.

There's got to be an intensity and a drive based off these experiences. You play here, if you don't have this intensity and you're not driven to get better, to get stronger -- you have to acknowledge, this is the playing field. This is the level of competition.

When you are mature, you look at that. I got that experience? I'm doing something with that experience. That's what Wes has to do. If Wes goes and does that, if we do that as a team, Wes, number 51, he will be way better. Will the day come? Probably going to take more than one more. You know what I mean?

But will the day come where we have a 6'11", 7-foot guy who is 21 years old and strong -- but it's only going to happen if he uses this experience to motivate him, to fuel him, to be that driven. It's that important to him.

We have to get that across the board. We have to get that. It's like a mentality. We have to get that across the board, but he's definitely a guy like that, and we have another one, Caleb Walker is 6'9". Okay, we're going to see. That's why I say, our place is a 47-month place. We have to get 47-month guys. When we do, we'll have the answer to that question.

Q. With how the season went, how confident are you that you are going to be able to retain most of you guys' underclassmen?

JOE SCOTT: I don't even -- I don't think -- I've moved on to what our postseason program is. What's our postseason program? What's it entail? It's fueled by here's the competition. They got 23 and 24-year-olds. It doesn't matter. They're playing. You got to be just as strong. You've got to acknowledge that and hopefully like I just said, that fuels guys to say, you know what, I'm playing at this level. This is one of the best leagues in the country. This is one of the top five leagues in the country. This league is going to have six teams in the NCAA Tournament.

If you're not driven by that, if you're not fueled by that, then you know what, you can go do something else. Listen, I know how I am. I'm a competitor. I'm trying to compete at the highest level. It don't get much higher than this league.

Hopefully that's going to answer that question.

Q. Rytis Petraitis had 26 points, 10 rebounds. Obviously it wasn't the result you wanted today. What have you seen from Rytis throughout this season and do you think going into next season he could have an even more expanded role offensively?

JOE SCOTT: No question. No one knows, Rytis had surgery last season. He didn't play basketball for nine months. He never played with our guys. From April 27th of last year until December or November 25th was the first time he got on the court and played with his teammates.

Now throw that out at our team and who we are and the kind of team we have to be now, hopefully Rytis is healthy, and he doesn't have another surgery, but I know this, that offseason, postseason guys keep playing together. He wasn't in the weight room with our guys last -- okay. Is everybody going to be in the weight room doing this offseason program? That's how a guy like him, he just keeps growing.

I think to his credit, he used the word "discipline," and it's really just, how is Air Force going to win? What do we have to do?

One, we have to get stronger. That's front and center. But then part B is the understanding of, yeah, we're getting stronger for one reason, to be so disciplined in how we do things because that's got to be our greatest strength against this competition in this league, and that's why there's a maturity that's required to sit there.

I think he gets that. He does, he'll keep growing and then the answer to that question, I know, is his ceiling is going to keep going up. Then our teams will as well.

Q. When you talk about the strength of the conference and depth of the conference, how different is that part of the equation from 20 years ago when you did turn the corner?

JOE SCOTT: What's different is the strength of the conference could be the same just in terms of, yeah, three of eight teams got in back then. Now it's 11. The whole environment in college basketball has changed, so these teams don't get young. The thing about this league is the top has stayed the top. I think the top is going to stay the top right now because nothing is changing next year with fifth-year guys and sixth-year guys.

I know going forward they're not recruiting 18-year-old kids. We have to take 18-year-old kids. There's an immaturity that comes along with being 18 years old, and every other team in this league is going out and getting a junior from another college who has played. They go get Division II guys that played four years, four full years.

The experience and the maturity that comes with that, that's why this league has gotten really good. Whatever the changes in the environment are, which we know are immense in college athletics across the board -- some football coach was talking on Capitol Hill yesterday about it. You know what I mean? The football coach is talking about how different college athletics is. I know in this league what's happened is the schools in this league, because of who they are, they're great venues. New Mexico, San Diego State. They have a history of basketball being important. These are basketball schools in this league.

Now they've done a really good job of taking advantage of the changing environment. They've done a great job of going out and being ahead of the curve and having places where, you know what, people want to go. A transfer might want to go to Boise State. They want to go to San Diego State. These are great programs. Now you say, there's six teams coming out of this league, there's five teams last year?

That's where I think the difference lies is nobody gets young. They're not coming out here next year, and we're not going to see a team playing next year with four freshmen. Never going to happen again. Never going to happen again.

So then, therefore, these teams stay up here because they're replacing someone who leaves with a 22-year-old, with a 21-year-old, with a guy who has already played. You know how much you mature?

Everybody knows how much you mature in your freshman and sophomore. I played two years somewhere else, and I might have gone to a prep school before that, and now I'm 21, and I played 65 college basketball games, and I played for a pretty good coach somewhere, and I was in that league over there, and I got ten a game. That guy, he's so far ahead of an 18-year-old freshman. It's ridiculous.

I think, you know what, this job, the coaches in this league, the schools in this league, they have done a great job of taking the environment and going with it and we got really good teams and really good coaches and really good players in this league. That's what this league is right now. I don't see it changing.