MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2024

Steve Alford

Jarod Lucas

Kenan Blackshear

Thomas & Mack Center

Nevada Wolf Pack

Postgame Press Conference

Colorado State 85, Nevada 78

THE MODERATOR: For Nevada we have student-athletes Jarod Lucas and Kenan Blackshear. Coach Steve Alford, your thoughts on tonight's game?

COACH: Yeah. Obviously, we've been playing really good basketball. Very proud of our guys. I didn't think we had it. The first half we were a little out of character.

I think it favors the team that gets to play first, but I thought the second half if we could hang in there, we might be able to do something. I thought they played really well, and it's a credit to Niko, his staff, his players. I thought they played outstanding basketball.

We didn't have too many answers for them defensively. We've been a good defensive team all year, and we couldn't -- we just couldn't guard them. I think in the end that's what got us. We shot the ball better in the second half. They won the turnover game. They won the bench game.

I thought those ended up being pretty good keys for them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. For Jarod, obviously you wanted an opportunity to cut down nets here, and that's not going to happen. What do you guys feel right now?

JAROD LUCAS: It isn't easy losing the way that we did, but we knew we beat them twice this year, and they were going to come out and give us their best shot. It sucks, but the good thing about basketball is you have another opportunity. For us seniors both Kenan and I will have another opportunity in the NCAA Tournament, so we have to make the most of it, but it sucks it ended the way it did.

Q. Kenan, you guys were out of sorts offensively early. You had, like, a 5-minute stretch where you didn't score. What do you feel like led to that just not being able to get it going early?

KENAN BLACKSHEAR: As a point guard it starts with me. I have to have better pace. Coach Alford preaches that religiously to me, just have good pace and like that. I feel as if we just need to -- we should have been more connected really on the offensive end. We'll be fine. We'll figure it out.

Q. Jarod, for you guys defensively, this is one of the most breakdowns you have had this year. What do you think was the cause of that?

JAROD LUCAS: Coach mentioned it. We came out slow in the first half. I think there was a moment in the second half or a couple of moments in the second half where we cut the lead down. We just couldn't get over the hump and take the lead.

They played a really good game.

Q. Kenan, you have a week now. Everyone is saying that you guys will get a chance at the NCAA Tournament. I guess what do you guys want to try and show what Nevada basketball is as you get a chance to play in another tournament setting?

KENAN BLACKSHEAR: For me personally, it's just get better every year. First year, 13-18. Second year, 22-11. This year, 26-7. Go farther in the NCAA Tournament really and just represent Nevada it on our chest.

Q. Same question for you, Jarod. You get a chance next week to play on the game's biggest stage. What do you want people to know about Nevada, and what are you hoping to kind of prove when you get a chance to play in that environment?

JAROD LUCAS: We've been a really good team all year, so we know we'll be you will U up for the challenge. It was one setback tonight, but obviously there's going to be a lot of things we can learn from the video the next couple of days as we got ready for Selection Sunday and our next game.

THE MODERATOR: We'll let the student-athletes go at this time. We'll keep coach for a few minutes. Thank you, men. Questions for coach?

Q. Coach, obviously, you preach defense as being so important to you guys, and to give up 80-something points, obviously it's not where you want to be. Where do you feel like the breakdown was on defense?

STEVE ALFORD: Well, their bench hurt us. They beat us in the paint, which we don't get back on the paint very much. We got in major foul trouble. We haven't been in this kind of foul trouble in a long, long time. Months with this kind of foul trouble to key guys. You know, Kenan, Nick, KJ, we just had Tre. We had four starters with two fouls in the second half.

We win the free-throw game. We get there 37 times. I thought we did a really good job and got much more aggressive in the second half. We just didn't have much it answer defending them. We didn't keep the ball in front like we normally do. We weren't as physical as we normally are. It's been tough.

These guys have performed at -- you mentioned leaving their mark. They've done that. They're 26-7. They have played unbelievable basketball for two months.

There's only two teams in this league that went through the league and won 10 out of 11, and we're the only team that won seven in a row. They got the most Quad 1 wins and the most road wins. We're a little beat up. Hunter is at home. We have guys -- this is not an excuse at all. I told you we didn't deserve to win. Colorado State very much outplayed us, but I don't want our guys getting down. I want them getting healthy.

Kenan has been sick the last two days. He gave it everything. You could tell listening to Jarod where he is at. Yeah, I don't want to use that as an excuse at all, but we've got to get healthy before we get to the NCAA Tournament.

We have to get home and get healthy before we do anything else.

Q. Obviously 15 turnovers uncharacteristic for are your team. 11 in the first half. How much did you feel like that was really detrimental, those 11 first half turnovers?

STEVE ALFORD: Yeah, they were 18-9, and we were 11-15. That's a huge difference. The boards were pretty much equal.

I thought both teams competed. Both teams shot. We didn't shoot well in the first half, but we ended up shooting 48 for the game, and they shoot 50. You have a lot of similarities.

They get 22 at the line. We get 27. I thought the difference was just they got eight more shots on goal because of the turnovers. When you are playing in March and you are playing possession-possession basketball, you can't have one team get nine and another one get 15. We've been on the flip of that a lot this year, but not tonight.

Q. Niko had commented about the strength of the conference and the fact that they're a 7 seed here, and they might be a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament. There might be a couple of teams in this tournament that are in that situation. I guess can you just speak to -- someone might look at this you lose to a 7 seed, but the quality of what the Rams were and just the entire league.

STEVE ALFORD: Yeah, somebody has to slot into the 4, 5, 6, 7 in this league. The Mountain West Conference has been so good throughout my 11 years in it, but it's never been at the level it's been this year. This is the best it's ever been.

You have a team in UNLV who lost tonight that that was the 7 team, and they were really good. We're definitely a six-bid league if you look the all the résumés. We're one of the few leagues that have six teams in the top 36 in the NET. I don't think the NET is all it is to be. I think Quad means more.

If you look at our top six teams, what we've done in the Quad has been really good. We're one of those teams. Our résumé looks really, really good.

So I don't think losing to this game and losing to Colorado State, who has been ranked -- we've been ranked one time, and that was Monday. This is a league that has been very, very demanding for the last eight, nine weeks. I think we've done our job as a league/non-league in what we did. Got some really key wins within our nonconference. Had several teams win championships and MTE events, and now the competition for fans and everything, it's unbelievable.

The last two and a half months have been an unbelievable stretch of good basketball in the Mountain West Conference. We were fortunate to be a part of it. To go 13-5 in the regular season, obviously distraught about not being able to play another game here in the tournament, but I like what our guys have done. They've really competed all year long. We've got to get home, get healthy, and hopefully get a good seed.

The NCAA Tournament is about matchups, so we'll be praying for a good seed and good matchup.

Q. As you look into that NCAA Tournament, obviously there's a group of people that will sit in a room and decide your fate, and a lot of people feel like you are a shoo-in to get in. What would be your message? You talked about some of the metric that is you had in terms of road record and Quad 1 wins. In terms of your team on the floor, the way they play, the character of this team, what do you want I mean to know about your basketball team?

STEVE ALFORD: Well, just like Kenan and Jarod said, they represent the front of their jerseys the way it should be represented. They play very hard. We got down early tonight. If our first two games we didn't get down. Yeah, we won on a last-second shot against Colorado State, but we led that game almost start to finish.

Tonight we got down, and I thought we really responded in the second half. I thought we competed harder. We talked about that at halftime. I thought they out-competed us. Both teams worked hard, but they out-competed us.

In the second half I thought it was two teams really competing, but we got ourselves in a hole in the first half. These guys have been very consistent. Kenan mentioned it over two years. Two years ago he wasn't a point guard, and now his point guard record is 22-11, 26-7. He's done a phenomenal job.

Jarod has been a prolific, consistent scorer for us. Tre Coleman, Nick Davidson, KJ, Daniel, Tylan Pope was great tonight. We've had so many guys that have improved over the course of the year.

That's what you want, but March is nasty. It's why it's madness. I shared that with them. Season one you're going to get a lot of games. 13, 14 games. Season two you're going to get to play all your league games. You get to season three and get to season four, you're guaranteed one.

That's the nastiness of March. You work awfully hard to get yourself in position and our guys did that, and we weren't able to advance in this tournament, but hopefully we can go and play well and advance in the next tournament.

It's not easy. It's hard to get in it, and it's hard to advance in it. I think these guys on every level -- academically, socially, what they've done in the community, what they've done for our community of Reno, how they've represented -- they've been top-notch all year long. For that I'm most pleased.

Q. I know this wasn't the result that you want, but I can kind of see between your face and from Jarod Lucas and Kenan Blackshear you guys all have a lot of confidence still despite the result of tonight. What could you say about overall the team's confidence level going into the NCAA Tournament?

STEVE ALFORD: I think we'll be fine. We need these two days to just get back to Reno and rest. We have to get some rest.

This has been a long haul to get to this point, and our guys have played -- you win eight games on the road -- we won six. I think we were 6-3 on the road in this league. That's hard to do.

So it's been a grind, but it's been a fun grind. It didn't go well tonight. We just have to get rest. I think the next 48 hours about getting rest, find out who we're playing on Sunday, and then Sunday night put in the hours as a staff and get to work.

This team will be fine. I know they're going to respond. They're upset that we were one-and-out here in this tournament, but we have got an opportunity next week to get in the national tournament, which is always a huge accomplishment and try to win a game or two or even more.

I think this is a team that can move through the tournament if we're playing our best basketball, but you have to be doing that. Colorado State won tonight because they played better basketball than we did. You get to March, you can't play your B game, and we played a B game really tonight. They played an A game, and they deserved to win.